Who leaked 'confidential' complaint against MWD GM to Politico?
Who leaked 'confidential' complaint against MWD GM to Politico?
Which water buffalo did it? Everybody knows who did it but nobody knows that they know it. Water agency leaks weaken due process rights for MWD employees.
On October 21, the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) voted in a closed session to extend the administrative leave it issued to its General Manager, Adel Hagekhalil, on June 13.
GM Hagekhalil's situation arises from an ongoing investigation into workplace harassment allegations filed against him by his Assistant General Manager and MWD’s CFO, Katano Kasaine, in a written complaint dated May 27.
The MWD supplies imported water to 26 member agencies, serving 19 million residents across six Southern California counties, and operates with an annual budget of $2.4 billion.
As the general manager of the largest water supplier in the western United States, Hagekhalil plays a crucial role in water management that extends beyond Southern California, encompassing the entire Colorado River Basin and northern Mexico. His primary responsibility is to help the region's human civilization and natural environment cope with diminishing water returns from the Colorado River and northern California amidst a growing climate crisis.
Currently, however, GM Hagekhalil is sidelined, unable to implement his visionary “One Water” management plan, which led to his hiring by the MWD nearly three and a half years ago. His plan is to mitigate dwindling supplies imported from the Colorado River and northern California by enhancing local and regional resources through conservation, wastewater recycling, and increased groundwater storage, effectively creating a “fourth aqueduct.”
After several extensions by the board, GM Hagekhalil’s forced-absence is nearing its fifth month as the investigation slowly proceeds. It is the latest part of a political drama that began in 2021 with the retirement of GM Hagekhalil’s predecessor, GM Jeffrey Kightlinger, and it has no end in sight.
Due process
During investigations of workplace harassment or discrimination, it’s vital to control for political or personal bias to ensure a fair outcome for everyone involved.
It’s all about due process, even when the standard of proof is “a preponderance of the evidence” or just “fifty percent plus a feather” as in civil court.
Due process means that “employers should be fair to all parties during an investigation,” says a guide published by the State’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Maintaining confidentiality during an investigation is an important part of ensuring fairness. But the need to gather evidence can make that difficult if not impossible to do. Still, information should be shared on a need-to-know basis only.
Divulging confidential employee information to external parties, such as the press, is illegal. It can hinder investigations, damage reputations, incite retaliatory actions, and create bias against both parties in the investigation.
Reforms
Under GM Hagekhalil’s direction, and following guidelines mandated by a state audit of MWD’s investigative methods, new policies were implemented to enhance transparency, prevent conflicts of interest, and establish time frames for investigations and subsequent disciplinary actions.
Clearly, the complaint against GM Hagekhalil was handled outside of regular procedures, as I will explain in detail in my next related post.
But the most dramatic exception to proper procedure is that Asst. GM Kasaine’s 14-page complaint was leaked to and subsequently published in Politico, the online news magazine, which gave the public intimate knowledge of her accusations against GM Hagekhalil.
MWD’s Chairman of the Board, Adán Ortega, lashed out at the unnamed leak perpetrator on June 13, just before taking the board into the first closed session board meeting that resulted in GM Hagekhalil’s administrative leave. Ortega assumed out loud that the perpetrator was in the boardroom or listening to the meeting and his speech by phone or live stream.
“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,” Chairman Ortega declared. “They were trying to take advantage of that, but I’m not going to let them.”
“At a minimum,” Chairman Ortega said, “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.”
Then, speaking defiantly to the unnamed culprit, Chairman Ortega declared the board’s solidarity “in believing that our general manager and CFO deserve the due process prescribed by law and our administrative code.”
Inspired by Chair Ortega’s determination to hold the culprit(s) accountable, I sent him an email on June 17, followed by another this month, inquiring if he planned to arrange an independent investigation to identify the leaker(s). I haven’t received a response yet, but I remain hopeful.
Then, who leaked Asst GM Kasaine’s confidential harassment claim against GM Hagekhalil to Politico, one of the most widely read online news journals in the world?
Chairman Ortega, remember, surmised that “the person who set of the chain of events overnight is in this room or listening in,” which means that just about anybody at MWD could be the perp.
The fact is, dear reader, that Chairman Ortega and every board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California knows exactly who the culprit/s in the leak caper is/are. They know, in other words, who “set in motion a narrative that is potentially harmful to the general manager, the chief financial officer, this board and this agency,” as Ortega put it.
But they’re not going to tell you who it is/they are, so I will.
On Monday, Nov. 4, I will reveal the results of my own independent investigation, which proves well beyond “50% and a feather” who is responsible for the leak of Asst. GM Kasaine’s confidential information to Politico.
For now, in the administrative case of Asst. GM Kasaine v. GM Hagekhalil, the pressing question is whether justice for both the accused and the accuser—by even the weight of a feather—is still possible.
Equally important is the ethical (or unethical) role in the investigation played by Politico, whose journalist and editors knew full well about the ethical ramifications of their disclosure.
In coming posts, I will also try to lay out step by step what led to the current epic power struggle at MWD.
Next: The leak perpetrator and their accomplices are revealed. MWD leaks like a sieve and more violations of due process.This will be a subscriber’s (free or paid) only story.
The governance structure at MWD obscures accountability and leads to decisions being made without adequate public oversight. The juvenile infighting among power hungry politicians isn't likely to end but I thank you John for continuing to shine a light on the flawed culture of this behemoth agency.