California’s Public Records Act requires utilities to disclose all documents when requested, said a journalism advocacy group, yet the Antelope Valley water district has threatened to fire any employee doing so or speaking with the press.
In this case, employees aren’t waiting for an official request from a news organization.
The Antelope Valley water district is drowning in debt and mismanagement, and memos sent to employees by management regarding the utility’s current situation are being leaked to the Antelope Valley Press faster than water streaming out of a broken water main.
According to
City News Service:
The Antelope Valley Press says its staff was singled out by Palmdale Water District general manager Randy Hill for a press blackout after the manager met with a newspaper editor Friday.
Hill, accompanied by an assistant, complained to the editorial board that his memo about:
…budget shortfall contingencies, that include possible layoffs or even bankruptcy, had been covered as news before he was ready.
One memo in question written by Hill, which was immediately leaked, said:
"Effective immediately while working for the PMD no employee is to converse, or share information in any way with Antelope Valley Press reporter Alisha Semchuck. Failure to follow this directive will subject an employee to disciplinary action up to and including termination."
The Antelope Valley Press has been reporting details of the leaked memos written by Hill including the fact that the water district has only about $140,000 left in reserve from it $25 million a year budget.
To date, the district has raised water rates by between 65- and 140-percent, cut the pay of its employees by 10 percent, and possibly most disturbing, the fact that Hill has offered to:
…take a pay cut of 7 percent but keep his controversial $1,000 per month vehicle use reimbursement untouched.
In a subsequent memo, which was also immediately leaked, Hill said the informant:
"has broken trust with all of us and made it more difficult to share openly with all employees in the future. What a shame."
Shame, indeed! But all the shame belongs to Hill.
Every day we hear how duplicitous and corrupt politicians, corporate heads, utility company leaders and those who wield a modicum of power are these days.
This isn't just about one tiny utility, which is small potatoes compared to what goes on in Washington, D.C., at the state level and in large urban cities. This is about general corruption and mismanagement everywhere...in every aspect of government and the people's right to know.
Releasing the memos to the press was not a breach of trust to Hill or the utility.
To not have released the memos would have been a greater breach of trust to the people who pay for the utility through their taxes and water rates.
The public deserves no less than full disclosure on how their money is being mismanaged -- literally stolen from them -- and what undeserved perks CEOs are getting.
Disclosing the facts won’t necessarily change anything, as with the corruption and mismanagement that goes on daily in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, but any and all information gleaned by the press makes it all the easier to try to effect changes whenever and wherever possible.
