The first two parts to this story can be read in full here and here in chronological order.
First, a summary of my reporting so far on the case of Metropolitan’s Assistant General Manager/CFO Katano Kasaine versus General Manager Adel Hagekhalil.
In an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint-letter dated May 27, AGM Kasaine accused GM Hagekhalil, her boss, of harassment and discrimination. On June 12 the online political journal Politico published her complaint.
On June 13, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors voted to place Hagekhalil on administrative leave. This leave is still in effect, pending the completion of an outside investigation.
I previously explained the critical importance of maintaining confidentiality during investigations of workplace harassment and discrimination allegations. This is essential to protect all involved parties from retaliation and to ensure impartiality throughout the investigation until a final conclusion is reached. It’s a matter of due process and the law.
Additionally, leaks to outside parties, especially the media, before the completion of an impartial investigation, are prejudicial to both parties and constitute a violation of due process.
Metropolitan’s Administrative Code safeguards workers’ confidentiality by outlining a series of investigative steps to handle EEO investigations. I explained that the Admin Code and workplace policies had been updated under GM Hagekhalil’s leadership to reflect reforms recommended by a State Auditor’s report, as well as in another independent report by the Shaw Law Group.
According to the Admin Code, AGM Kasaine should have directed her complaint to Metropolitan’s independent Ethics Officer, who would then forward it to an outside independent investigator.
The ethics officer must present any substantive findings made by the investigator to a three-member ad hoc subcommittee. The ad hoc group would then recommend corrective action to the full board. Only at that stage would any board members need to know details of the investigation, but not necessarily all of those details.
There is no reason to doubt AGM Kasaine’s knowledge of Metropolitan’s Admin Code or state law, based on her demonstrated knowledge and experience.
Yet, AGM Kasaine leaked her dramatic 14-page complaint against GM Adel Hagekhalil to Chair of the Board Adán Ortega, Legal Counsel Marcia Scully, and 10 board members, presumably selected for political advantage. One of these board members had an ethical conflict of interest, and none of them had any apparent need to know the contents of the complaint at that time.
Media and Board silence
Neither the LA Times nor other media that regularly cover Metropolitan Water reported the unusual fact that AGM Kasaine violated her own right to confidentiality and that of her alleged harasser, GM Adel Hagekhalil, as reported by SoCal Water Wars.
Nor did they point out Chair Adán Ortega’s similar, but more imposing, conduct as an accomplice, knowing or not, to the act of leaking AGM Kasaine’s confidential complaint to Politico. This oversight occurred despite the fact that anyone attending the related Metropolitan board meetings witnessed that conduct. Furthermore, none of his fellow board members called him out for it, so they, too, must be considered accomplices.
Additionally, neither the Ethics Officer, the EEO Officer, nor Legal Counsel addressed the issue, raising questions about Metropolitan’s commitment to obeying its own laws and procedures after twenty years of warnings from the State.
Chair Adán Ortega’s confession
On June 11, during a closed session meeting of the board of directors, Chair Ortega, who also knew the Admin Code’s rules protecting confidentiality, copied the complaint to 40 other people, 38 of whom were board members. None of these individuals had a need to know the contents of the complaint.
Like AGM Kasaine, Chair Ortega was fully aware of the years-old, bitter power struggle between opposing factions within the Board of Directors. The old guard consists of supporters of the previous General Manager, Jeffrey Kightlinger, and his water management vision. The new guard consists of supporters of GM Adel Hagekhalil. This struggle was associated with numerous leaks of confidential information to the media.
On June 12, Politico, one of America’s mostly widely read online political journals, published AGM Kasaine’s entire 14-page complaint in dramatic detail. The name of the person who delivered the confidential document to Politico, is unknown to the public, but it’s likely that it belongs to a member of Metropolitan’s board of directors.
On June 13, just before calling the board into another closed session about AGM Kasaine vs. GM Hagekhalil, Chair Ortega asked it to temporarily waive confidentiality imposed on the June 11 closed session so that he could make a related statement.
“I believe in times like these we need to go beyond general gestures of transparency,” he explained, “because it’s the only way to ensure (sic) our workforce, the press (his emphasis) and the public that the board is united and determined to see matters through and bring stability so we can do our work of supplying water to Southern California, undistracted.”
After a vote in favor of waiving confidentiality, Metropolitan Chair Adán Ortega vehemently criticized the last link in the chain of leakers—the unknown person who directly passed AGM Kasaine’s complaint to Politico. His self-righteous passion was so intense that it nearly overshadowed his own confession. Ortega’s incriminating speech can be heard in the video clip above. The transcript of his remarks is printed below.
Remarks made by Metropolitan’s Chair of the Board of Directors, Adán Ortega, to the Board of Directors on June 13, just before going into closed session on the matter of AGM Katano Kasaine vs. GM Adel Hagekhalil:
My comments are addressed to Metropolitan’s workforce, the press, especially those that are interacting with the person who released the sensitive document containing complaints of our CFO which are now being published in the press.
First, I want to say, that at my [Chair Adán Ortega’s] direction, the document was released by our general counsel to 40 people under the strictest label of confidentiality
I would surmise that the person who set off the chain of events overnight is in this room or listening in. So, my comments are directed to that person as well. The person who released the sensitive document knows that we as a board and as individuals are constrained by law not to reveal closed session proceedings and related documents. They were trying to take advantage of that, but I’m not going to let them.
At a minimum, by releasing the document, that person has tried to set in motion a narrative that is potentially harmful to the general manager, the chief financial officer, this board and this agency. And they know it.
The truth is that the Board met on Tuesday and referred the matter to investigations already. That’s not happening today. In fact, we acted there in order to avoid the leak that happened anyway.
The letter and investigation are only one thing and not the only consideration for any action that this board may take. [Chair Ortega also made that statement to Politico, which quoted him in a new story that same day. On (dated) the LA Times published a story that gave details of one of those additional accusations.]
The board is united in believing that our general manager and CFO deserve the due process prescribed by law and our administrative code [The same due process that a board majority voted in-effect to violate.]
The confidentiality that they were to enjoy in order to correct matters has now been compromised for the benefit of an undeclared individual, who, depending on our silence, thought that they could deceive the press. Thus the person who releases the document should not be considered a whistle blower but should be questioned by those listening to him or her about their motives and the personal gain they would like to achieve by violating the rights of others and trying to taint our agency.
While I can’t reveal the extent of our continuing deliberations today or guarantee outcome, on behalf of our board I want to assure our workforce that we will continue to act in a transparent way to bring security, harmony, and protection of rights for everyone who works here so we can do the work of bringing water to Southern California.
Metropolitan Chair Adán Ortega’s full response is next. After that: sleazy leaks; Metropolitan board members eschew confidentiality guarantees; and more.
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