Will Bigham reports that Three Valley’s Director Xavier Alvarez’s days could be numbered on the water board.
Brian Bowcock said Alvarez’s false claim that he won the Medal of Honor has embarrassed the district and bogged down staff members who continuously field calls and receive e-mails from people outraged over Alvarez’s lies.
Bowcock said he will urge Alvarez to resign after reading a three- page list of what he says are Alvarez’s lies at this morning’s board meeting.
Former Valley County Water director Dolores Holguin is facing one count of miuse of public funds. She is going to appear in court Wednesday morning in West Covina. I don’t know the details of the charge yet, but she was previously sued by Valley County for allegedly inappropriately billing the district for $15,000 worth of meals, health care and cell phone charges. That lawsuit was settled last month. Look for story tomorrow.
I just came up with a list of public water board officials that are elected that serve all the SGV and Whittier areas – a total of 16 agencies. Out of 81 elected officials, 13 of them are women.
That’s 16 percent.
That seems really low. I wonder how that number stacks up to the city council’s.
As you may have noticed, there have been more stories and blog entries about water agencies, water officials and water issues. Thats because I am now assigned to the water beat.
The stories that I would like to focus on are those of malfeasance. There are about 45 public water agencies in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas, and about half of them have elected water officials. As weve seen from Dolores Holguin, Xavier Alvarez and Albert Robles,* elected water officials certainly have their share of legal troubles.
And these people are responsible for making decisions that affect nearly 2 million people, and are running budgets that are larger than those of many cities.
But there is more to water just like in government than corruption. Gasp. So, the Tribune will also be running stories covering the water crisis we are in now.
So far, it hasn’t been easy learning about water. The learning curve is extremely high. Last weekend, I went on a trip to a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California trip to the Colorado River Aqueduct with a bus full of people invited by director John Morris, who represents the small and affluent community of San Marino. San Marino is one of 26 member agencies of the MWD, and was part of the original 11 when the district formed in 1926.
During the two-day trip, we stopped at several reservoirs, dams and pumping stations. What I found amazing was that the technology in the 1930s and 1940s was enough to provide water to millions of residents, even until today.
During the trip, I asked everyone dozens of questions about water, the challenges of water, how we get our water and how we should prepare for future water problems. For each answer, I felt as though I had five more questions. The complexity of the water industry is one of the reasons that no one pays attention including the media to water. As one director put it, People go the faucet, water comes out, so the public doesnt think there is a problem.
As the water industry deals with increasing environmental pressures, that means that we will pay for it. Thats not just on our water bills. But just as it took a nearly $220 million bond measure approved by voters during the Depression, building new canals or developing new technology is going to come with a price to tax payers.
What Im hoping is that within the next six months, my stories on water will expose corruption, tell the story on water, and make it easier to understand how water works. That way, when were asked to pay for new water projects, well know what the issues are.
*Dolores Holguin is a former Valley County Water Director who is being investigated for misusing public funds. Valley County is out of Baldwin Park. Xavier Alvarez is a Three Valleys Municipal Water District director who is being investigated for lying about having received the Medal of Honor. There are also charges now that he lied about still being married to his wife, who has been receiving health benefits. Albert Robles, a director at the Water Replenishment District, is facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly distributing illegal mailers.
A former four-term Assemblyman is still serving two masters even though the Attorney General said he shouldn’t. Willard Murray, who represents the Water Replinishment District of Southern California and West Basin on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, has continued to sit on these boards despite a ruling that said he shouldn’t.
What wasn’t in the story is that Murray gets paid by West Basin for his MWD representation, at $207 a meeting. He also gets a car allowance and a phone allowance. Interesting, because he gets those same things from WRD, and also gets paid for his meeting attendance. I haven’t researched it, but I am going to assume that he also gets a nice retirement package for all those years he spent on the Assembly.
Murray’s son is also a representative on the MWD, and Murray’s daughter works for the District Attorney’s office. I’m sure the lectures Murray gave to his children went something along the lines of: “Government jobs are the way to go.”
I wish I would have gotten that lecture.
I used to think that elected water boards were just the place where those on the verge of retirement go to make a few extra bucks — well, about $35,000 a year, which is pretty damn close to my salary. Oh yeah, and a place where they can get health perks, travel budgets, car allowances and cell phones.
But it looks like it is also the place where it continues someone’s political career. I just got off the phone with a water official who said that West Basin Municipal Water District Director Donald Dear has his eyes set on Assembly. When I get some more time, I’ll try to come up with a list of other water officials that have used their water seats to springboard to higher office.
Here’s a bit more on Dear:
Board President Donald L. Dear was elected to the West Basin Board of Directors in November 2000 to represent the cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale and unincorporated portions of El Camino Village. He is currently serving his second term after being re-elected in November 2004. Director Dear came to the Board with a vast array of experience in public service, serving as the Gardena Mayor for nine consecutive terms before retiring in 2001. He is also a widely respected, award-winning teacher who taught at Stephen White Middle School in Carson for 37 years.
There’s more Albert Robles drama, Airan Scruby reports. Robles, a Water Replinishment District director, is scheduled to appear in court today. He is being charged with committing misdeameanor campaign law violations.
He is also running for the job of District Attorney Steve Cooley.
“How Steve Cooley is manipulating our justice system … should shock the conscience of all Americans,” Robles said. “The DA’s office has never prosecuted anybody for what they’re accusing me of.”
Here’s more from Airan’s story:
Robles, 39, will discuss his motions to dismiss the charges against him, including two counts of sending campaign mailers without return addresses on behalf of Pico Water District candidates.
He is also charged with one count of making a campaign expenditure of more than $100 in cash, and one count of making a campaign contribution of more than $100 in cash, two ways of prosecuting for the same act: paying for the campaign mailers he allegedly sent.
If convicted, Robles could face a $10,000 fine and six months in jail for each offense, and would lose the ability to run for public office for four years.
The charges against him come from the Political Reform Act, a set of California statutes meant to increase campaign openness. Robles said cases like his are usually handled by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, and that the charges against him were filed because District Attorney Steve Cooley has a vendetta against him.
Central Basin Municipal Water District, which manages ground water pumping from its basin, sued the giant of the Southern California’s water industry, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Central Basin believes that MWD’s recently approved conservation plan is just another way to stuff money into MWD’s coffers, Central Basin director Art Aguilar tells reporter Mike Sprague.
“Although Metropolitan would like us to think of this as a `conservation plan,’ it is actually an economic plan that virtually robs from the poor to pay for the cost of new development in more affluent areas,” Aguilar said.
Central Basin is one of 26 member agencies of MWD that buy water from the district and then re-sell it to private and public water utilities
As if the water supply outlook in So Cal wasn’t bleak enough. At least one water insider told me that the writing is on the wall and that water supply to Southern California will be cut even more because of the enviornmental impacts pumping the Delta has had on salmon.
Today, the Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said a federal report supporting increased water exports was scientifically inadequate.
Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said the agency is unsure how Wanger’s ruling will effect water deliveries, but said it was “further evidence that the delta is teetering on the brink of collapse.”
Holy crap. Are you packing your bags yet?
Here’s the whole story:
Judge: Feds failed to study how delta pumping affects salmon
By PAUL ELIAS Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 04/16/2008 02:46:14 PM PDT
SAN FRANCISCOA federal judge on Wednesday ruled that water regulators failed to consider the effects of global warming and other environmental issues related to the decline of California salmon populations when they approved increased pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said a 2004 study prepared by federal regulators to support the increased water exports was scientifically inadequate.
“There is no analysis of adverse effect on critical habitat,” Wanger wrote about winter-run chinook salmon.
The judge also ruled that there was a “total failure to address, adequately explain, and analyze the effects of global climate change on the species.”
The study had concluded that more water could be taken from California’s Central Valley to quench residential and agricultural thirsts throughout the state. The new pumping plan was already on hold because of a similar ruling the judge made about the Bush administration’s failure to address its effects on a threatened fish species called the Delta smelt.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agencies that prepared the study at issue, plan to submit a new study by the end of the year, said NMFS spokesman Jim Milbury.
“I’m sure they will look at the judge’s opinion in developing it,” he said.
Wanger scheduled a hearing April 25 to begin determining how the delta should be managed until the new study is published.
Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said the agency is unsure how Wanger’s ruling will effect water deliveries, but said it was “further evidence that the delta is teetering on the brink of collapse.”
A group of environmentalists, fishermen and American Indians sued the two federal agencies in 2005.
“This is a historic decision,” said Mike Sherwood, an Earthjustice lawyer who represents the environmentalists. “It may well be the turning point to reverse the decline toward extinction of these fish.”
Some scientists have pointed to increased water exports from the delta as one possible cause for an unprecedented decline in the number of chinook salmon returning to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries last fall. Other researchers blame changing ocean conditions for the decline.
Earlier this month, federal fishery regulators voted to ban salmon fishing along the California coast and most of Oregon to protect California’s shrinking salmon stocks.
The past few weeks, Tania Chatila and I have been compiling a list of all the water agencies in the San Gabriel Valley. Easier said than done.
One of the agencies that has intrigued me most is the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, which was formed in 1999. Recently, Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, authored legislation extending the life of the authority. It was scheduled to end at 2010, but that was extended to 2017.
The authority was formed by the Legislature to “address the critical need for coordinated groundwater cleanup programs in the Basin,” according to its Web site. I’m not exactly sure what that means, how much money the authority receives and what the authority’s track record is.
They have a board meeting tomorrow, which I plan on attending. Maybe then I will have a better understanding of why the Legislature just extended its lifespan. It employs seven people, and there is also a seven-person board, including Rosemead Councilwoman Margaret Clark:
Greg Nordbak
Chairman
Representing cities with water pumping rights
City of Whittier
Bob Kuhn
Vice-Chairman
Representing Three Valleys Municipal Water District
Jim Byerrum
Treasurer
Representing water producers
Margaret Clark
Rosemead Councilwoman
Secretary
Representing cities without water pumping rights
Carol Montano
Board Member
Representing San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District
Michael Whitehead
Board Member
Representing water producers
San Gabriel Valley Water Company
Alfonso “Al” Contreras
Board Member
Representing the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District