We are sending out this special edition blog rather than a press release due to time constraints and because we cannot verify all information. However, after hearing from multiple independent parties, we felt that these topics needed sunshine.
We have received information about significant ethics problems regarding the interview process for a new General Manager at Metropolitan Water District. Normally, we would produce Public Records Act requests to learn more. However, water agencies and the Department of Water Resources take months to answer those requests as part of a stalling tactic to stop transparency around planning activities, finances, and other important information from seeing the light of day.
We understand that rushed interviews are occurring for the General Manager position starting today, Monday, August 11, 2025.
Linked here you will find a letter from ASCME, one of the unions affiliated with Met. Employees are very concerned about the lack of transparency and the rushed nature of the hiring process.
We understand that the rushed process has been driven by Board Chair Adan Ortega, who is behind the legislative effort to fast track the Delta Conveyance Project (Tunnel). He is driving this process, even though polling shows 62% of Californians prefer spending on local water projects over the Tunnel. We have been told that he wanted to be General Manager and asked to serve as the Interim General Manager last spring and then asked if the Board President could be paid.
We cannot verify the why or how, but we understand that the Met Ethics Office had to opine as to whether Chair Ortega could be paid as Chair or serve as Interim General Manager. We believe the press can and should verify that information.
In addition, we were told that as Chair, Ortega could not receive clearance to be paid or serve as Interim General Manager, so he and Board Member Jeff Kightlinger made a short list of candidates who will service their directives and set out to fast track the hiring process. In other words, they are seeking a cut out General Manager. We understand DWR Director Karla Nemeth is at the top of the list, cementing Met’s commitment to the Tunnel and Governor Newsom’s Tunnel legacy, despite the majority of Southern California ratepayers either being unaware of the costs, and outright opposing the project when given costs and choices regarding water management.
We have been told a great deal more about the political interworkings of Met. If half of what we have been told is accurate, then California water is being led by professionals driven by problematic self-interests. We hope Met employees and ratepayers reform the institution fully. We hope the press asks the right questions.
To all the good people we have worked with at Met over the years, we pray this gets resolved the right way. We know in our bones that the Delta can work successfully with Met to solve all our water needs once reform happens. You are all in our best thoughts.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Restore the Delta