Obscure Water Agency Spends to Pump Itself Up

Downstairs at the Hollywood Park Casino early on a Thursday morning, the night-shift workers moved in on the poker tables. The hard-core regulars, the guys with the creased jeans and pointed boots, greeted them and the morning the same way some of them looked to have greeted the night--with the blank gazes and silent mumbles of sure losers.

Upstairs, the soft click of chips was replaced by real noise.

A little jazz trio kicked out a bluesy wake-up call to go with the coffee. The Thunders of Eden thundered gospel. The pastor prayed. One hundred fifty tables were set with silver and real napkins. Pastries overflowed plates. Goblets sparkled. And everybody present thanked the Lord and Ken Orduna--one for the water and the other for leading them to it.

Welcome to the annual Water Awareness Breakfast of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.

Orduna, a member of the district board of directors, was host and head cheerleader.

The Water Replenishment District governs the underground water basins in south Los Angeles County. The agency is so obscure it might as well be underground itself. It was established to make sure local water agencies don’t pump too much water out of the basins, and to sell water but to ensure that the basins are replenished.

Seven years ago, the district was so small it didn’t have a staff. One person working out of the offices of two other water districts handled all the chores.

This year, the district has a $38-million annual budget financed by its water sales. It has grown from that one clerk to an administrative budget of $2.5 million. Insiders say that as much as $500,000 is spent on public relations.

The district began having breakfasts in 1994 as a way of letting people know what it does. Each of the five members of the board of directors plans and hosts a breakfast in his or her territory each year. They started as modest, informal gatherings. Gradually, says Director Albert Robles, “these water breakfasts have taken on the personalities of the directors.”

The personality that by all accounts dominates the Water Replenishment District is that of Ken Orduna. Orduna has had a long career in California politics, most of it as chief aide to Mervyn Dymally, former congressman and lieutenant governor. Almost 10 years ago, Orduna helped conceive and orchestrate Dymally’s plan to recruit and run slates of candidates for local water district boards.

On election night in 1992, when the first of those candidates won, Orduna crowed: “Water will never be the same.”

At least insofar as the Water Replenishment District is concerned, he has proved prophetic.

The Hollywood Park affair was by far the biggest, glitziest, not to mention most expensive, event the district has mustered. About 1,200 people showed up.

It was Orduna’s show all the way. Advertisements for it in community newspapers featured his name and color photograph. His name topped invitations that were mailed to more than 10,000 people. His name was etched on glass goblets at every place setting.

The history-makers drank fresh juice and coffee and ate pastries and fruit as a first course, then bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes and pancakes. Best of all, for a crowd collected from some of the metropolitan area’s poorer neighborhoods, it was free.

Or, at least, it seemed to be. Actually, it was all paid for indirectly by the monthly water bills of the people doing the eating.

They were thrilled when Orduna announced that they could take the floral centerpieces. There were murmurs of approval when they were told they could also take the glasses inscribed with his name.

They were not told that the flowers cost $1,721 and the goblets $4,500.

The total cost of the breakfast was at least $39,000 and possibly as much as $60,000, according to district records.

In addition to the food, the breakfast eaters were able to hear Orduna’s work for the district extolled by several speakers, including the keynoter, county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who started her speech by saying how little she knew about water but thanked Orduna for his role in providing it nonetheless.

The breakfast occurred in late September, just six weeks before next week’s election, in which Orduna is being challenged by former Assemblyman Willard Murray. “Clearly, they do these things for political purposes,” Murray said.

Orduna said each director hosts a breakfast each year. The timing of his this year shortly before the election was pure coincidence, he said. That roads to and from the event were posted with “Reelect Kenneth Orduna” signs was also coincidental, he said.

“People can take out of it what they want, but it was not a campaign event,” he said. “It was more of a spiritual water awareness event. It was informational.”

He said he has been pleased to have since received a number of testimonials from constituents who attended.

“I have a strong social commitment to serving people. That’s been my whole life story. I went into this as a consumer advocate,” he said.

Not all of the consumers are happy. The district has tripled rates it charges cities for its water and has, in the process, accumulated a $60-million surplus.

The district has gone through a significant amount of internal turmoil in the last year and has just recently hired a new general manager. Even that was done lavishly. The board spent more than $13,000 on a reception to welcome him.

Each of five board members, who are nominally volunteers, is provided free health insurance, a $308-per-month car allowance and most recently a toll-free cellular telephone.

The directors are reimbursed for all expenses and paid $170 apiece to attend board meetings, which generally last a couple of hours. They are also paid $133 to attendother meetings, no matter what their duration.

Orduna is a past candidate for Los Angeles City Council. After that campaign, he was fined $187,500 for what the state deemed blatant laundering of campaign contributions. It was the second-largest campaign fine in state history. Oddly, the fine levied by one public institution is now being paid by another: Orduna never made any attempt to pay the fine on his own, state officials said. So they have begun garnishing his water district expense account.

None of this seems to have fazed Orduna. He recently sent letters to area labor leaders seeking endorsements for his reelection. The letters were written on district stationery, which appears to be a violation of state campaign law.

Orduna said the letters should have had a disclaimer on the bottom stating that they were not prepared at public expense. If they did not, it was a simple clerical error, he said.

District employees say they are frequently assigned tasks they regard as political or otherwise inappropriate.

Sources said the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has been asked to investigate and is pursuing the matter. The agency declined to comment.

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