Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006 | Since when is it Council President Scott Peter’s prerogative and privilege, by virtue of being an elected official, to perpetuate the myth that the Kroll Report exonerates him (and other council members) from any wrong doing!
In January 2002 Peters knew the city’s sewer rate structure did not allocate the costs of providing service proportionally among users; he knew the city was in violation of the Clean Water Act; he knew they were in violation of covenants in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars of grants and loans, and Peters knew that the necessary changes would have reduced the sewer bills for a vast majority of San Diegans thus increasing the sewer rates for certain large commercial users.
Peters and the Council made the decision to remain in violation of the Clean Water Act and force residents to continue subsidizing the rates for businesses. The Council deliberately concealed from the public both the city’s knowing violation of law and the fact that the violation continued the reality that San Diego residents were largely footing the sewage bill for the industrial class. All of these facts were told to the Council in closed session discussions.
The Kroll report states that the above facts “demonstrate that Mayor Murphy and Council members, Atkins, Maienschein, Madaffer, Inzunza, and Peters knowingly and improperly caused the city to violate federal and state law, and the conditions of its grants and loans.” These deliberate actions mean San Diego homeowners have been improperly overcharged on their monthly sewage bills with the excess being unlawfully used to subsidize the sewage costs of large industrial users. Are we taxpayers supposed to be okay with that impropriety?
Shame on Scott Peters! It’s time to come clean to the taxpayers and acknowledge your wrong doing! We the voters will decide whether these violations of law are career-enders or not. A vote of confidence for Mr. Peters is not only questionable it is political hypocrisy.