A Big Water Fight and a "Secret Society"

I suspect that the people in power at Metropolitan Water District aren't doing this simply because they want their personal water bills to be lower. There must be some benefit to them that is not readily apparent.

Five Takeaways from a Big Water Fight
March 21, 2012
By Rob Davis
Voice of San Diego

...If you're a public official and you're going to call your exclusive group something secret, you'd better not do it by email.

A group of 20 water agencies that are members of Metropolitan has been meeting and discussing the County Water Authority's lawsuit and even hired a former Metropolitan general manager, Ron Gastelum, as a consultant. Their meeting agendas and many emails the authority released blandly refer to the group as the "Member Agency Managers MWD Working Group."

But in one email the County Water Authority obtained, a public works official for the city of Beverly Hills, an agency participating in the effort, calls the group "The Secret Society."

"It's what I briefed you about from the last Secret Society Meeting," the official, Chris Theisen, says in the email. "Ron Gastelum is the former [Metropolitan] CEO that the Secret Society hired as an advisor."

Metropolitan has said the meetings aren't secret. But they're not open to the public or to the County Water Authority...