“Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.”Joseph Wuld Krutch
Given the voluminous amount of stories Hews Media Group-Community News has published about Central Basin Municipal Water District President Bob Apodaca and directors Leticia Vasquez and James Roybal (the Roybal Three), it seems as if the Roybal Three is a confident bunch.
With Ms. Vasquez a party plaintiff to a Qui Tam-whistleblower lawsuit filed against the very agency she was elected to serve and under investigation by the Fair Political Practices Act, Mr. Roybal attending Central Basin meetings and drawing a check while he was in LAUSD’s infamous “teacher jail,” a violation of LAUSD policy, and Mr. Apodaca’s sexual escapades costing Central Basin $670,000 in a harassment lawsuit, they are, to this day, still confident in their actions.
But the latest act by the Roybal Three, a closed session vote to settle former GM Tony Perez’s wrongful termination lawsuit, defies all logic.
History
Back in October, the three voted to fire Mr. Perez “for cause,” indicating misconduct.
Immediately after his firing, they voted to hire the Los Angeles-based law firm of Tafoya and Garcia for $100,000, paying the firm an immediate $20,000 retainer to “investigate” Mr. Perez.
Directors Art Chacon and Phil Hawkins slammed the vote and walked out of the Central Basin board room.
The questionable law firm investigation was conducted five months before Mr. Perez filed his lawsuit.
The newspaper conducted an investigation of the billings of thelaw firm — and the investigators they were using — and found they billed $90,000 in less than 35 days, with David Garcia and another attorney frequently working 13-hour days, each billing $350 per hour.
In addition, the firm’s investigators who arrived at 9 a.m., logged 15 hours per day working at Central Basin, often working past midnight.
Interestingly, all Central Basin employees leave at 5 p.m.
After the story was published, the newspaper obtained documents that showed the law firm billed the city of Lynwood $175 per hour, half as much.
Then last week at Mr. Perez’s worker’s compensation hearing, the commissioner-judge, according to sources, soundly rebuked the firm and essentially their $100,000 investigation.
The judge told the firm that their investigation was “after the fact,” that they could be “manufacturing information,” and that the judge would only speak to the Central Basin representative who was at the hearing.
Imagine that: Spending over $100,000 on an investigation that could not pass a worker’s compensation hearing.
The word kickback comes to mind here.
In a closed session meeting this past week, one of the items discussed was former Mr. Perez’s $8 million dollar wrongful termination lawsuit, first reported by Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper.
The Roybal Three, in a move that can only be called completely irrational, voted to tender the Perez termination lawsuit to Central Basin’s insurance company in an attempt to settle.
Logically, the Roybal Three want to settle with someone they voted to fire for misconduct in October.
And this after they spent over $100,000 to investigate the alleged misconduct.
The insurance company’s maximum exposure is $2 million. After they pay, they are released from any future liability.
Given the lawsuit is for $8 million, one may think they will settle.
Now Mr. Perez can take the $2 million, go after Central Basin for the remainder, or settle.
Given the lawsuit is now for $6 million, perhaps the Roybal Three would settle and pay Mr. Perez.
And who cares?
Certainly not the Roybal Three. It is not their money they are giving Mr. Perez.
So let’s recap the logic.
It is well known that Pacifica Services, Inc. CEO Ernie Camacho wanted Perez fired for questioning Pacifica’s no-bid contracts that amounted to over $5 million.
The Roybal Three, who owe everything to Mr. Camacho, subsequently found a way to fire Mr. Perez in October for cause, with all observers saying it was clearly wrongful termination.
Then the Roybal Three hired a bogus law firm, spent over $100,000 to investigate Mr. Perez on the assumption he would file a wrongful termination lawsuit, and the bogus law firm cannot even win a worker’s compensation hearing based on the evidence they acquired.
Seeing this outcome, the Roybal Three vote to settle with Mr. Perez for $2 million, exposing Central Basin to a $6 million settlement.
Mark Twain once said, “To succeed in life, you need two things: Ignorance and confidence.”
Seems like the Roybal Three have both in this case. Only their aim is not success.
Mr. Hews may be contacted at loscerritosnews.net
