[env-trinity] Eye on Sacramento calls on Steinberg to fully disclose details of relationship with MWD

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/6/2/1533845/-Eye-on-Sacramento-calls-on-Darrell-Steinberg-to-fully-disclose-details-of-relationship-with-MWD



Eye on Sacramento calls on Steinberg to fully disclose details of  
relationship with MWD

by Dan Bacher

Eye on Sacramento (EOS), a group championing the adoption of  
“meaningful transparency and ethics reform” in the City of Sacramento,  
on Thursday called on Mayoral Candidate Darrell Steinberg, the former  
Senate President Pro Tem, to “fully disclose” the details of his  
contractual relationship with the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of  
Southern California.


The Sacramento Bee first exposed the contractual relationship in an  
article published online on May 31 after obtaining a copy of the  
controversial contract.  Steinberg’s law firm, Greenberg Traurig, has  
been collecting $10,000 per month from MWD for Steinberg’s services  
since July of last year. (www.sacbee.com/...)

The politically powerful Metropolitan Water District has played a key  
leadership role in promoting Governor Jerry Brown's plan to build the  
massive Delta Tunnels, designed to export Northern California water to  
agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and  
Southern California water agencies.

Local County and City governments oppose  the Delta plan, along with a  
broad coalition of fishermen, environmentalists, Indian Tribes and  
family farmers, because of the enormous environmental damage it would  
inflict on fisheries and the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin  
River Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas.

MWD was also a key backer of the controversial water bond/water policy  
package that Governor Arnold Scharzenegger and Steinberg pushed  
through the Legislature in November 2009 , as well as Governor Jerry  
Brown’s Proposition 1 Water Bond that was approved by the voters in  
November 2014.

In the contract, Steinberg is tasked “to provide strategic advice on  
approach, outreach and messaging for matters related to Metropolitan’s  
public policy to ensure effective communications with stakeholders in  
Northern California.”

Two of Steinberg's key duties are to “assist in the development of  
strategy and outreach plan for a multi purpose project in the Yolo  
Bypass” and to “identify and pursue outreach opportunities with  
elected officials in Delta counties to build relationships for  
advancing common ground.”

The contract, at Steinberg’s request, states, “Consultant will not  
engage or advocate on matters specifically related to new Delta  
conveyance,” the term often used by state and federal officials to  
describe the Delta Tunnels/California WaterFix plan.

The contract between MWD and the Greenberg Traurig law firm involving  
Mr. Steinberg’s consulting services to MWD may be viewed on the EOS  
website via this link.

Steinberg said he entered into the Metropolitan Water District  
contract last summer before choosing to enter the mayor's race and  
said he will end his full-time position with MWD when the contract  
expires at the end of June.

In a written statement from his campaign, Steinberg said,  “As I’ve  
made clear from the day I announced, if I’m fortunate enough to be  
elected mayor, my full-time energy and attention will be focused on  
doing that job to the best of my abilities for the people of  
Sacramento, and I will relinquish my full-time role with my current  
employer.”

“I get innuendo,” Steinberg told the Bee. “As long as the work is  
consistent with my values and the interests of my city, I don’t see a  
problem. (www.sacbee.com/...)

In a press release, Craig Powell, President of Eye on Sacramento,   
disagreed with Steinberg's claim that his work for MWD is consistent  
with the city's interests.

“Sacramentans learned for the first time yesterday from a Sacramento  
Bee story that Darrell Steinberg, while actively seeking the support  
of Sacramento voters for his mayoral bid, has been covertly providing  
strategic consulting services to the politically powerful Southern  
California-based Metropolitan Water District (MWD) whose interests are  
very much at odds with the interests of the City of Sacramento and its  
residents on just about every major water issue facing our region,”  
said Powell.

“We are troubled that Sacramento voters who have already voted via  
absentee ballot (now fully half of all Sacramento voters) did so  
without the knowledge that one mayoral candidate was effectively on  
the payroll of the MWD. While nothing can be done at this late date to  
cure that significant informational failure, there are some immediate  
steps that Mr. Steinberg can and should take to fully explain the  
nature and extent of his relationship with MWD for the benefit of  
voters who will be casting their ballots on Election Day,” Powell  
stated.

The group compiled a list of questions they believe Steinberg should  
answer. These include:

• When did he and MWD first begin discussing a consulting arrangement?

• How much of his time over the past year has he devoted to providing  
“strategic advice” to MWD as called for in the contract?

• Has he been maintaining time records of his services?

• Will he publicly disclose such records?

• Has he provided any “deliverables” to MWD, such as reports and other  
documentation?

• Will he and MWD now disclose such documents?

• What public officials in our region did he meet with in the service  
of MWD’s goal of building relationships with North State stakeholders?

• Will he and MWD voluntarily release copies of their e-mail  
communications with one another, without the need for submitting  
formal public records requests?

Powell noted that Steinberg was providing “consulting services” for  
MWD, not legal services that would have been protected from public  
disclosure under the attorney/client privilege.

”The voters of Sacramento deserve to know if Mr. Steinberg, in  
providing consulting services to MWD while campaigning for Sacramento  
mayor, has been acting appropriately, ethically and loyally as both a  
Sacramento resident and an aspirant to the mayor’s office or has he  
acted in a manner that is at odds with the long-term best interests of  
Sacramento and its residents,” he stated.

“By promptly and fully disclosing these matters to the Sacramento  
public, Mr. Steinberg will go a long way towards allaying legitimate  
public concern over the role he is playing with MWD. If Mr. Steinberg  
fails to provide such disclosures, we would encourage the Sacramento  
County Civil Grand Jury to consider initiating an investigation into  
Mr. Steinberg’s relationship with MWD to uncover the facts. One way or  
the other, Sacramento voters deserve to know the facts and  
implications of Mr. Steinberg’s dealings with MWD,” Powell concluded.

Steinberg is running against the current Sacramento Vice Mayor,  
Angelique Ashby, in the current mayoral election.

Ashby told the Board of Directors of ECOS, the Environmental Council  
of Sacramento, at a recent meeting that she completely opposes the  
Delta Tunnels plan. At the same meeting, Steinberg didn’t discuss his  
position on the Delta Tunnels plan.

According to the Bee, Steinberg said in 2013 he was “not ready to sign  
off on any particular-size tunnel, but I think the idea that we both  
have to restore the ecosystem of the Delta and at the same time  
provide water reliability conveyance for the entire state by going  
around the Delta is true, and accepted. And I accept it, and I’m ready  
to work with the governor to figure out the details.”

Delta  advocates believe it is crucial that Steinberg take a  
definitive stand against the tunnels.

"It's really important for any mayor of ‘River City’ to be committed  
to protecting our river,” said Osha Meserve, a Sacramento lawyer  
representing local environmental and farming interests on Delta  
matters. “Steinberg's waffling on this issue indicates he has not yet  
made that committment and he should.” 
  
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