Invoices of Senator’s Son Draw Scrutiny

The son of a state senator billed water agencies and cities thousands of dollars last year for work that included writing speeches, organizing Senate hearings and arranging “photo opportunities” for his lawmaker mother.

Tom Soto, president of the Santa Monica public relations firm PS Enterprises and son of state Sen. Nell Soto (D-Pomona), was hired by two San Bernardino County cities and two water districts in June 2002 after Sen. Soto established a task force to deal with groundwater contamination by the industrial solvent perchlorate. Since 1997, such contamination has forced the closure of 20 drinking water wells in the area.

PS Enterprises was to help the agencies recoup cleanup costs from the companies that spilled perchlorate.

In the course of doing that, according to invoices paid by the city of Rialto, PS Enterprises also “developed Sen. Soto’s speech for opening of task force meeting,” “prepared talking points for Senator Soto for the soil and groundwater remediation seminar on 10/2/02,” “edited and added to speech for Sen. Soto to groundwater conference in Downey” and “organized photo op at Senator Soto’s office regarding SWRCB [State Water Resources Control Board] funding.”

The work, which would normally have been done by the senator’s staff, was charged to residents of Rialto and Colton and customers of Fontana Water Co. and the West Valley Water District.

The cities fired Tom Soto’s company in February for reasons that included ethical concerns over the work for his mother. Pleased with the work of PS Enterprises, the two water purveyors continue to do business with the company.

In all, PS Enterprises billed the four agencies nearly $38,000 between June 2002 and January 2003 for work typically done by a lawmaker’s state-paid staff, including arranging a Senate committee hearing chaired by Sen. Soto. The billings also included lunch and dinner meetings attended by Tom Soto, his mother and other officials.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, called it “inappropriate” for the cities to be paying for work that the senator’s staff is already paid to perform.

“That’s what her staff is for,” said Stern. “It’s like one government subsidizing another government.”

“Why isn’t the staff writing the press releases? Why isn’t the staff prepping her?” asked Stern. He said the cities should be congratulated for terminating the contract with PS Enterprises.

“Probably the cities should be asking for their money back or asking for the Legislature to pay it back,” Stern said.

However, Stern said there does not appear to be a conflict of interest. His opinion matches that of Legislative Counsel Diane F. Boyer-Vine, who was asked last January by Sen. Soto whether it was a conflict for her to hold investigatory hearings on a matter that was also the subject of a public affairs campaign mounted by her son.

The legislative counsel’s office concluded that no conflict exists because Tom Soto does not depend financially on his mother and because his mother would not gain financially from holding hearings.

“Although the Member’s child could be viewed as receiving a publicity benefit from the hearings if the committee’s findings were consistent with the child’s positions in his or her public affairs campaign, the provisions of the Code of Ethics ... do not address possibilities of this nature,” wrote Boyer-Vine.

Rialto City Atty. Bob Owen said he was “not comforted” by the legislative counsel opinion because it appeared that Boyer-Vine had not been given all the relevant facts. The legislative counsel did not know, he said, the extent of PS Enterprises’ involvement with Sen. Soto’s staff.

Sen. Soto, who has filed papers declaring her intention to run next March for a San Bernardino County supervisor’s seat, said in a recent interview that she saw no problem with her son working for agencies in a perchlorate task force that she created. Tom Soto is a longtime environmental activist who is a past president of the Coalition for Clean Air and an appointee of Gov. Gray Davis to the California Coastal Commission and the Board of Corrections.

The senator also said she knows little about what work her son has done on her behalf.

“I don’t ask who wrote the speeches when I see them,” she said. “Usually it’s staff.”

Tom Soto defended his work on behalf of his mother, saying it’s “in support of the clients’ efforts while also providing some coordination and support for the Senate offices.”

Public relations firms commonly write speeches for lawmakers and help organize legislative hearings, he said.

Five longtime legislative employees asked by The Times agreed that special interest groups, lobbyists and public relations firms often help identify witnesses for hearings, draft legislation and will occasionally write a press release to be approved by staff. But rarely, they said, will an outside group write a speech for a lawmaker.

Tom Soto said that Rialto, Colton and the two water sellers got their money’s worth from PS Enterprises. The two hearings held by Sen. Soto’s select committee on urban economic development in October 2002 and January 2003 helped to push polluters to begin discussing cleanup costs, said Soto.

An oxidizer used in the manufacture of rocket fuel, munitions and fireworks, perchlorate has been shown to disrupt thyroid function in people and can potentially harm unborn children. It was first detected in drinking water wells near Rialto and Colton in 1997. A several-mile-long plume has forced the closure of 20 wells, and Rialto has asked residents to voluntarily conserve water. The cities and water purveyors are each in various stages of constructing treatment systems. Experts say the pollution may date to the 1940s, and dozens of companies and the federal government are being investigated for possible liability.

In January, Goodrich Corp. paid $4 million to be split among the cities and water sellers as an interim settlement. Last November, the State Water Resources Control Board approved giving the agencies $3 million to pay for groundwater cleanup.

Tom Soto suggested that Rialto and Colton ended the contracts in January because PS Enterprises and attorney Barry C. Groveman, who had been directing the perchlorate task force, targeted a landfill owned by San Bernardino County as a potential source of pollution. Property near the Mid-Valley Landfill in Rialto now owned by the county was used for many years by companies that stored explosives and perchlorate salts.

Rialto and Fontana earn at least $2 a ton in “host fees” from the Mid-Valley Landfill. Colton also earns $1 a ton from a different county-owned landfill.

Soto said the cities are protective of the county and have resisted an investigation of Mid-Valley as a source of groundwater pollution.

City officials with Colton and the Fontana Water Co. did not respond to repeated requests for interviews.

Owen, the Rialto city attorney, denied any connection between the dismissal of Soto’s company and an investigation of the county.

The termination of Soto’s contract, said Owen, relates to Sen. Soto’s introduction of a bill that would have created a new regional water authority to deal with perchlorate pollution.

Owen also said that PS Enterprises, whose bills were split four ways among the cities and water sellers, also failed to stick to a budget approved in advance.According to Owen, the four agencies hired PS Enterprises based upon the recommendation of Groveman, who was named by Sen. Soto to head the perchlorate task force, and after considering several other public relations firms.

Butch Araiza, general manager of the West Valley Water District, said that he values the expertise of Groveman and PS Enterprises. The Fontana Water Co. and his district, which serves 50,000 people, continue to pay the firms.

“I think they’ve been doing a great job for us,” said Araiza. Araiza said he has reviewed the invoices from PS Enterprises, which averaged a total of $29,120 per month between June 2002 and January 2003. He said that he was not troubled by the portion of the work done on behalf of Sen. Soto.