the $1.6 billion "Superfund" program which provides for the emergency cleanup of chemical spills and hazardous waste dumps. EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch described Lavelle as bringing "over 12 years of professional experience in state government and private industry to the agency" and went on to say that "she has demonstrated expertise in getting results, as shown by her record with the executive branch of government in California, with a mid-sized chemical firm and with a large diversified international corporation." Lavelle had held several positions of responsibility in the California Republican Party, including membership on the executive board of directors of California Federated Republican Women and the Sacramento and Alameda County central committees. Superfund conviction Lavelle was indicted on federal perjury charges after an investigation was launched based on evidence submitted by another EPA employee, whistleblower Hugh Kaufman. The evidence showed that Lavelle was involved with misuse of the EPA's "Superfund" money during her tenure with the agency, and irregularities at the Stringfellow Acid Pits, a major hazardous waste site. In 1983, Lavelle was charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about why she was removed as head of the toxic waster disposal program, but was acquitted at trial. In 1984, Lavelle was convicted of lying to Congress and served three months of a six-month prison sentence, paid a $10,000 fine and was under probation for five years. Environmental conviction Lavelle and a partner owned NuTECH Enterprises, Inc., an environmental consulting firm in Oceanside, California. Lavelle and Robert V. Cole, a part owner of Denova Environmental, Inc., a hazardous waste storage facility in Rialto, California, forged documents that purportedly bore the signature of Joseph Bertelli, the owner of Lemco Corporation in South Los Angeles, to make it appear that Bertelli owed Cole's company more than $52,000 for the removal and storage of hazardous waste. Those documents were used to obtain $36,441 from Capital Partners USA, Inc. Only when Capital Partners attempted to collect from Bertelli did it realize that Bertelli had neither signed the documents nor agreed to the bill, and Denova had never removed hazardous waste for Lemco. On September 24, 2004, a jury in Los Angeles federal court found Lavelle guilty of one count of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Cole pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced on December 16,