Some items from The Rio Linda Elverta News, March 4, 2004:
KCRA-TV Channel 3 hatchets
Water District
Watching the County (Sacramento County
Taxpayers League)
Ready for Broadband Internet?
KCRA-TV
Channel 3 hatchets Water District
by Jay O'Brien
KCRA-TV Channel 3 aired a report on special districts Monday evening.
The report included a hit piece on the Rio Linda/Elverta Community
Water District (RLECWD).
KCRA-TV's anchor Dave Walker's bobble, introducing the story, was just
the beginning. "After months of research, KCRA 3 found a quite a bit a
look in to a good place to start the state looks for ways to save money
as part of our California governmental system that is often overlooked
and seldom understood", said Walker, with co-anchor Lois Hart looking
on in awe. It gets worse.
KCRA-TV interviewed Rio Linda/Elverta Recreation and Park District
Director Charlea Moore, who claimed she and her husband spent $9000
with a lawsuit against RLECWD. KCRA-TV, in error, captioned Moore as
"Rio Linda Elverta Rate Payer", even though Edie Lambert, the KCRA-TV
reporter, clearly understood Moore is not a rate payer. KCRA-TV did not
report on the $18,000 it cost the RLECWD ratepayers to defend the
District against Moore.
KCRA-TV
asserted a judge threw out Moore's lawsuit on a technicality. "Their
characterization of the Moore lawsuit that was won by the District on a
'technicality' disregards the fact that the petitioners purposely
withheld information from the public that would have allowed them to
make an informed decision. This was such a blatant miscarriage of the
petition process the judge had no other option but to rule in favor of
the District", said RLECWD General Manager Dave Andres.
KCRA-TV aired Moore's claim "The people in the community were ALL
outraged. They were outraged that they were being ignored, they were
outraged that the water board, having operated in the red for this
length of time, would go ahead and pass a hundred percent increase
without even considering public input. There was no public
input." KCRA-TV did not mention the fact that only nine comments
were received at the public hearing on RLECWD rate increases in
December, with the other 4300 ratepayers silent. KCRA-TV did not report
that there was a recent citizen's committee on setting water rates that
formulated the rates now in place.
KCRA-TV claimed that the RLECWD General Manager's compensation jumped
from $69,000 in 1997 to $122,000 today. The actual amount in 1997 was
$81,000, a figure easily obtained had KCRA-TV asked. KCRA-TV claimed
that in 1997, the average utility operator received a compensation
package worth $40,000. Today, KCRA-TV claims the average is $78,000.
Again, by asking the RLECWD, KCRA-TV could have learned that today's
amount is $66,000, not $78,000.
KCRA-TV
aired RLECWD Director Mary Harris, who specifically identified the
exact amount being paid for health benefits for a retired General
Manager. The airing of this benefit may be a violation of Public Law
104-191, 45CFR164.501, by KCRA-TV, as it reasonably identifies the
individual and payment for the provision of his health care. This law
is identified as the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996" (HIPPA).
KCRA-TV, in another caption error, demonstrated that it couldn't spell
Director Mary Harris' name correctly. KCRA-TV's caption is "Marry
Harris".
KCRA-TV claimed the Sacramento County Grand Jury agreed with Harris'
contention that the health benefits for the retired General Manager
were outrageous and "padding the pockets". KCRA-TV claimed the Grand
Jury said about RLECWD "It's the culture within the district that
permits the abuse. Golf at district expense is not proper. Expensive
restaurant meals charged on the district is not proper. Increasing
retirement benefits to benefit a retiring general manager is not
proper. These practices should stop immediately."
When
The NEWS learned of the KCRA-TV investigation, reference information to
The NEWS articles was provided, and assistance was offered to KCRA-TV.
The KCRA-TV Producer, David Bruns, responded to the offer but
apparently didn't review the material provided.
Had KCRA-TV's Bruns reviewed The NEWS
article on the Grand Jury report,
he would have found a web link
directly to the Grand Jury report. There
he would have found the RLECWD response to the Grand Jury's findings
relative to golf, meal expenses and retirement benefits to a retiring
general manager. The RLECWD response says "...golf expenses have never
been charged to the District account, meal reimbursements are limited
by Board policy and public safety-level benefits have not been provided
to a retiring General Manager."
"This was a deliberate and appalling fabrication. At no time have any
of these actions taken place at the RLECWD, nor did the Grand Jury even
allege that they took place at the District." said Andres.
Responsible journalism would have at least mentioned the RLECWD
disagreement with KCRA-TV's assessment.
KCRA-TV said they will forward a copy of the tape of their story to the
Governor's office for the use of the government performance review
team. The NEWS will forward a copy of this article as well.
Andres sums it up, "It appears from the nature of the report that they
had already decided on their message and then went out and made up the
story to fit those conclusions. They deliberately misled the public on
the issues surrounding the RLECWD and totally disregarded any
journalistic ethics in the process."
The NEWS did not review KCRA-TV allegations about districts other than
RLECWD.
Click here for letters about this article
published March 11, 2004.
Click here for the August 14, 2003 article
on the Grand Jury Investigation. There is a link at the bottom of
that article to the Grand Jury
web page with the Grand Jury report and the responses from the
districts.
Click
here for
followup article on March 18, Water District asks KCRA-TV for
retraction.
Click
here for
followup article
on April 1, Water District cleared; KCRA-3 airs
clarification
jump to top of page
