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High-flying water board member resigns amid turbulence
July 1st, 2009, 3:00 am · 14 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
Ergun Bakall - the man who flew on a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California airplane rather than drive 80 miles to a flip-switching ceremony (and whose true residence has long been a matter of debate) - resigned his seat on the powerful Met board, effective today.
Bakall represented the Municipal Water District of Orange County at Met, and has resigned from MWDOC as well, effective Thursday. He has been on the board for seven years (barely a blink of the eye in Water World, where many directors are on the boards for decades).
Bakall doesn’t actually live in Orange County right now, and his residence was an issue in the November election, when challenger Glenn Acosta put Bakall’s picture on a milk carton.
While Bakall is registered to vote in Orange County, his address is listed in some official-type places as La Quinta - where the Met plane picked him up. La Quinta is in Riverside County.
Bakall rented a place in Irvine, and the La Quinta manse was his retirement home, he told us last fall. But Bakall’s lease on his Irvine place ran out this month, and now he is without an Orange County home.
Bakall was going to look for another place, but informed officials of his intention to resign Monday, and followed up with a letter on Tuesday (which you can read below).
“We appreciate Director Bakall’s years of service,” said MWDOC general manager Kevin Hunt.
WHY DOES LONG ARM OF THE LAW STRIKE NATIVO, BUT NOT ERGUN?
The whole situation prompted attorney and Flash Report blogger James Lacy to comment on how similar Bakall’s situation might be to that of Nativo Lopez, who was charged last week with four felonies for registering to vote in Los Angeles, while actually living in Orange County with his family. Seems Bakall could be in big trouble if someone complained, Lacy noted.(Read Lacy’s take on the Lopez thing here; and my colleague Martin Wisckol’s story here. )
The Lopez case grew out of confidential complaints to the California Secretary of State’s elections fraud unit, said SOS spokeswoman Nicole Winger. Officials there follow up on every tip, and if they find evidence of possible wrongdoing, they share it with local prosecuting authorities - in this case, the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The D.A. decides to prosecute, or not.
“It is perjury if you lie on your voter registration form,” Winger said.
The law says that you must register to vote where you actually live.
Of course, complaints have been made re: Bakall and his residency to the Orange County District Attorney’s office and the Orange County Registrar of Voters. No Lopez-like reaction here.
OC District Attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami said that it would normally follow up on situations submitted by a local police department or the Registrar of Voters. Registrar of Voters spokesman Brett Rowley said that it is not an investigatory agency, and forwards complaints to the D.A.
Last fall, Bakall’s challenger Acosta sent complaints to both agencies. Perhaps things might have gone differently if he had contacted the Secretary of State…? Or…if we all lived in Los Angeles?
Anyway, here’s Bakall’s most recent resignation letter (note, er, the address atop the letter):
81245 Kingston Heath
La Quinta, CA 92253
June 30, 2009
Municipal Water District of Orange County
PO Box 20895
Fountain Valley, CA 92782
Attention: Mr. Wayne Clark, President
Dear Mr. Clark:
Please consider this as my letter of resignation from the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as representative of Municipal Water District of Orange County effective July 1, 2009.
I would like to thank the Board for giving me the opportunity to serve the past seven years to the effective date of my resignation.
I also hereby resign from the Board of Directors of Municipal Water District of Orange County effective July 2, 2009.
Sincerely,
Ergun Bakall
Cc: Mr. Kevin Hunt, General Manager
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I applaud Mr. Bakall for doing the right thing here and resigning. At a time when water is scarce, there shouldn’t be any distractions from the water agencies’ efforts to ensure that Orange County has water. Both the Municipal Water District of Orange County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California go through a lot of planning and engineering to improve water reliability and supply. A lot of dedicated and bright professionals work hard for the people of Southern California. Hopefully, with this distraction behind us, we can focus on meeting the water needs of Orange County.
Glenn Acosta
Director, Trabuco Canyon Water District
Why should I applaud a man who has been doing the wrong thing for so long just because he finally makes the right decision to resign? He probably only resigned because he realized that a negative impact was hitting him rather than trying to ‘do the right thing’. All I can say is it was about freaking time! And this man should pay back every penny it cost to take an airplane 80 miles instead of getting in his car and driving to a ceremonial event. Mr. Acosta and other members involved in the water district…you aren’t viewed favorably by much of your public. The problem with people of power is that there’s a tendency to be selfish in your thinking. Rather than applaud a former coworker why don’t you express outrage at his reckless waste of money by taking planes for what would have been a nice drive which would have been a little over an hour commute. Seriously.
Chefgal:
I appreciate your dismay of elected officials. There are certainly many examples that validate your sentiment. This latest one being a prime example. There are some of us, however, who are simply working professionals trying to make a difference and taking time away from family to ensure that public money is spent on the right things, such as infrastructure and water reliability, while not breaking the bank in the process or overtaxing the public.
Sometimes we do accomplish good things. There are many, many examples that I can point to from each water agency. Ensuring water supply during years of extreme drought is not an easy endeavor and takes significant coordination and planning. I had no real appreciation for that until I became involved. Now that I am involved, I can personally say that there are a lot of talented professionals doing great work for the good of the community.
Glenn Acosta
Director, Trabuco Canyon Water District
His resignation was the quickest way to end the flap however I’m sure that Mr. Bakall will quietly turn up as a consultant. While some take exception to the Grand Jury report it seems commonplace to work folks such as Mr. Bakall into the system somewhere.
What happens next? Is there going to be a special election or are they just going to appoint somebody?
Fascinating. The Municipal Water District has to appoint somebody with 60 days (Water Code 71254 and Gov Code 1780) or call for a special election. What makes it interesting is the Grand Jury Report, where the Grand Jury blasts water districts for appointing their cronies. Tough decision here. Hope you follow this one, Teri.
Just appoint the runner up (Glenn Acosta) from the November election. He was a close 2nd. It would show that Muni is not appointing a crony and wouldn’t have to spend oodles of money in a special election. But, hey, I’m sure Muni will ignore the obvious and the Grand Jury and find some crony to put in.
Just recycle the same losers from another agency .While I’m glad Bakall hit the road he gets zero points for doing whats right. Adults forgo pats on the back.
Acosta wouldn’t have exposed Bakall’s sham if he was like him.
I remember Dir Bakall when I worked at MWDOC. He was a jerk back then and from the article is still a jerk now. Good Riddance!!!!
This man was a notorious sexist, racist, arrogant fraud. He was sued successfully over 4 years ago to change his name from Eric back to Ergun on the ballot, but only offered the voters a good ballot title.
This is what needs to happen: 1) pay the money back to MWDOC for the perks that he abused, 2) pay MET the $600 back for the flight, and 3) be charged by the D.A with voter fraud. Leaving office is not enough, he needs to atone to the voters for what he has done.
One does not deserve forgiveness just because they resign. I do not applaud him for resigning.
Flip-switching ceremony?
Glenn Who? Let’s remember who first sounded the alarm on Mr. Bakall. It was former Tustin Mayor Jeff Thomas. He was the first to expose Ergun’s phantom residency and even went to court on the issue. And as I recall, Jeff Thomas received far more votes when he challenged Bakall than did Mr. Acosta. If there is going to be an appointment, it should be Mayor Thomas.
Funny how the political vultures come out when there’s a carcass on the road. I’m sure there will be many coming out for the open seat.
Okay, since you brought up an old political figure, I looked at the election results. When Thomas ran in 2004, there were 104,451 that voted and he got 37.1% of the vote. When Acosta ran in 2008, there were 85,014 that voted and he got 37.9% of the vote. You can’t make your comparison when there were 20,000 less people that voted in 2008. Besides, why didn’t Thomas run in 2008 if he is so interested in water issues? Has he been engaged on water issues since 2004? Been to any meetings since 2004? He may have been, I don’t know, but it is a water agency not a city.