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By Brian Hews
There is a reason we are given two ears and one mouth, it’s better to listen and understand first, then talk.
Central Basin Municipal Water District Director Leticia Vasquez has been reaching out to several members of the media during the past several months in hopes of landing a sympathetic ear.
She apparently has found one in a well-known public television and radio investigative journalist.
Despite her campaign being funded by a convicted felon, voting to fire people who found the infamous slush fund, and despite facing legal challenges including being under criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office of Public Integrity, Vasquez has found a friend in KPCC Public Radio investigative reporter Karen Foshay.
Foshay and KPCC entered the CBMWD saga back in May 2013, five months after Hews Media Group-Community News wrote its first article on the current crisis at the embattled water agency.
Foshay is a smart reporter, one of the most respected in Southern California, winning several awards for her work in the past.
But she is using her mouth and not listening with her ears.
HMG-CN had written nine articles, most about Vasquez, Roybal, and Apodaca before May. Foshay, realizing what a story CBMWD has become, suddenly joined the fray in May.
Sources inside the water agency are saying that Vasquez is now manipulating Foshay for her own personal gain.
Based on what Vasquez told her, Foshay published a slush fund article in December 2013 that portrayed Vasquez as a hero and a savior to CBMWD.
Vasquez never told Foshay the truth about a whistleblower lawsuit she had filed way back in August of last year against the very agency she was elected to represent trying to cash-in on millions while using insider information to file the lawsuit.
And Foshay did not seem to want to hear that from anyone, including HMG-CN.
Sources inside CBMWD are telling HMG-CN that those involved in the investigation of the lawsuit, the FBI and Arent Fox who represents CBMWD in the investigation, were “extremely angry” at Foshay for the December article.
Some are even saying that the current massive criminal investigation could have been compromised when the journalist wrote and published a story on the fund that and used Vasquez as a source.
Then Foshay wrote another online article about the massive legal fees in relation to the slush fund. Again it showed manipulation by Vasquez.
Vasquez leaked privileged documents to Foshay, documents that should have been redacted, in which Foshay published the contents. The story on page 1 outlines what Vasquez did.
Again, high-level sources and Arent Fox were extremely angry and indicated they will refer this leak to the LA District Attorney’s office for prosecution on obstruction of justice against Vasquez.
They said the FBI is now very suspect of Arent Fox/CBMWD, where before they were working hand-in-hand with Arent Fox; that is obstruction of justice by Vasquez.
What’s worse, now Foshay is ignoring investigating Vasquez, witnessed by a recent Foshay radio show on KPCC where she slammed all players in the fund investigation with the exception of Vasquez.
Two ears, one mouth.
I met Leticia Vasquez at a recent career day in my city. She talked to us like she was Queen Elizabeth talking to her people. This fat old lady dresses like a Crenshaw hooker and smells like cheap perfume and out of control perspiration. I could tell she’s one of those slobs who sprays her clothes with air freshner over and over because she too lazy to have them dry cleaned. I was disgusted. She reeked!
My father told me that she was a crook when she was on the city council and should have gone to jail with the rest of those scumbags. He loved that she was recalled and couldn’t believe she had the nerve to run for water board. Now we have to hear about her being the first female mayor, the first water board Metropolitian board member, the first former streetwalker to be hold an elected position….wish she’d be the first speaker of the day to take a bath.
I hope she goes to jail so all of us who heard her that day will learn that we do not want to become her…unless we want to become a two-bit whore.
My concern continues to increase with each article published by this paper. Ms. Vasquez has crossed a very troubling line by releasing documents which can be traced with certaintly to her. These are serious matters given Federal authorities are investigation alleged crimes at the water agency.
Unfortunately Ms. Vasquez apparently does not seem to appreciate the severity of the crimes she possibly has committed. Even more distressing is the realization that she probably doesn’t care either.
Quite possibly this matter may be resolved if she is indeed indicted and hopefully prosecuted. At the very least, she’ll be forced to resign which would greatly benefit the entire Central Basin.
Very good investigative reporting.