WiLD Blog

Last Thursday evening the Bajagua family — Jim Simmons, Gary Sirota, Marco Gonzalez and various hangers-on — showed up in full force to the International Boundary and Water Commissions (IBWC) Citizen’s Forum at the beachside city of Imperial Beach Dempsey Holder Safety Center. There they enjoyed an evening of tense exchanges in broken Spanish with hapless bureaucrats responsible for improving Tijuana’s aging sewage infrastructure system.

The colorful Bajaguas of Rancho Santa Fe were more than likely a little disappointed that during the presentation by Toribio Cueva (Assistant Director of the Sanitation Department, State Public Services Commission of Tijuana (CESPT)) about improvements being made in TJ to the city’s sewage infrastructure, he did not once mention the Bajagua project.

The bizarre notion that Bajagua occupies a major space in the Mexican bureaucracy for future planning of sewage treatment plants, is a fantasy spun by the company’s PR rep, Craig Benedetto and bought hook line and sinker by the gullible San Diego media.

Luckily Scott Lewis of the Voice exposed the first Bajagua media hoaxthat their project was a “comprehensive solution” to the border sewage crisis that had been common currency for years among many reporters covering the company.

But some people never learn. On Aug. 9 Benedetto issued the following press release:

Bajagua Announces Issuance of Concession to Use Federal Property by Government of Mexico

Bajagua, LLC announced Wednesday that it has received a critical concession from the Government of Mexico to use federal land in the construction of the Bajagua sewage treatment facility.. “This is a major step forward for Bajagua and for clean water,” said Jim Simmons, Managing Partner of Bajagua, LLC. “There were those who have doubted Mexico’s support for Bajagua and our ability to get permission to use federal land for this important bi-national purpose. Those doubts should now be put to rest,” he added. “This important milestone brings all of the environmental and economic development benefits of Bajagua much closer to reality,” said Simmons.

According to an Aug. 31 review of the original Spanish language “concession” conducted by Fernando Ochoa of the Northwest Center of Environmental Law (and one of Mexico top environmental attorneys) that Bajagua claims is a “critical” is the conclusion that,

This concession is not valid or in effect UNTIL Bajagua complies with the following (see pages 4 and 5 of the Resolution):

• Submit to CAN {National Water Commission) the construction plans of the project for review and approval.
  
• Obtain environmental impact assessment authorization from DGIRA-SEMARNAT
  
• Pay all costs required
  
• Once Bajagua complies with the requirements stated in the resolution and submits the series of documents CNA has required, Bajagua should get the TITLE OF CONCESSION issued by CNA.

The afore mentioned resolution does not represent the Mexican Federal Government’s support for Bajagua LLC’s wastewater project. The project is still pending authorizations from other Federal Agencies such as Direccion General de Riesgo e Impacto Ambiental (DGIRA).

What Benedetto informed the media as a critical concession is really nothing than an application review letter that means very little at all in Mexico. What counts is a “title of concession.”

If the San Diego media would have bothered to contact someone with some knowledge about Mexico’s legal system, they would have learned this. But Bajagua is desperate to get a favorable ruling on Sept. 14, in a state lawsuit against the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, an arm of the State Department. and will do anythingg to win a federal contract that will earn the millions.

So not surprisingly, San Diego reporters lapped up Benedetto’s press release. With the UT’s Mike Lee printing parts of the release verbatim without corroborating the “truthiness” of Benedetto’s release:

Sally Spener, a spokeswoman for the boundary commission, said yesterday that her agency is evaluating Mexico’s land concession documents and would not comment on them.

Hint to the U-T: get reporters who speak Spanish and know Mexico well to cover issues that take place in Mexico. Otherwise your reporters will have to rely on overworked American bureaucrats like Spener to verify Mexican legal information for you instead of taking advantage of an entire country filled with Spanish-speaking sources.

KPBS’s Ed Joyce just quoted Benedetto’s incoherent interpretation of his own release:

Craig Benedetto … says getting land from the Mexican government is key to moving the project forward. Benedetto: The land itself is federally owned land and it was important because it shows one, Mexico’s commitment in putting some skin into the game by contributing that land. As well as showing their formal support contractually by issuing a concession to the company.

Ironically, since the company has no title of concession Craig admitted that the company actually doesn’t have any support, land or any “skin.”

Here’s a free hint for San Diego reporters covering issues in Mexico — never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever trust the word of a public relations consultant and developer spinmeister when he compares his “critical” letter from the Mexican government to a piece of skin.

– SERGE

originally published in the VOICEOFSANDIEGO.ORG

 

If you’re a sleazy wannabe federal contractor begging for earmarks who has benefited from close personal friendships with Dick “Shotgun” Cheney, Duncan “Baseball Bat” Hunter, Duke “Jailbird” Cunningham, and Brian “Skiploader” Bilbray, it has to hurt when Fox News (national that is) turns on you.

That is exactly what happened to Bajagua last Friday when Fox News did a hit piece on the Rancho Santa Fe company. Things are so bad at Bajagua these days that the company could only field its hapless CEO, Jim Simmons, for the Fox cameras instead one of his younger surrogates such as Craig Benedetto, Gary Sirota and Marco Gonzalez.

For a company in a free fall like Bajagua, getting hammered by the “fair and balanced” folks at Fox is like having someone throw you a cement life buoy when you are drowning.

The Fox News piece was almost as bad for the company as the headline in the U-T on July 15, “Bajagua Plan Maybe be on the Brink.” According to the article:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein could deal a decisive blow to a decade-old proposal by Bajagua LLC of San Marcos. Bajagua has spent millions of dollars pushing its plan to build a U.S.-funded sewage-treatment plant in Mexico instead of upgrading a troubled facility in San Ysidro. But now, Feinstein wants Congress to spend $66 million on improvements at the San Ysidro site, which the federal government owns. She wields budget influence as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The San Ysidro project “offers the most certainty to the people of Imperial Beach and Coronado that the wastewater coming in from Mexico will be treated to U.S. standards,” Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

What the UT story did was also provide more detail on the GAO study:

Although Feinstein backs the San Ysidro expansion plan, she asked the Government Accountability Office on Friday to compare it with the Bajagua proposal. She wants the GAO to look at factors such as cost-effectiveness, practicality and timeliness of completion.

The most interesting part of Feinstein’s GAO letter with implications for the army of consultants, lawyers and lobbyists on the Bajagua payroll was this question:

Are Bajagua LLC investors, employees, consultants or legal counsel associated with organizations participating in lawsuits against the International Boundary and Water Commission regarding the Tijuana River sewage?

Next up in the bad news train for Bajagua was the letter from the Regional Water Quality Control board that the UT reported on,

Also on Friday, regional water-pollution officials said for the first time that Bajagua does not seem to be a viable option. Improving the San Ysidro plant “is the best way to move forward expeditiously,” Susan Ritschel, chairwoman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, said in a letter to Feinstein.

A few year ago when Bajagua landed Cheney and company to shill for its sole-source no bid contract (after sending them fat campaign checks), Simmons and his partner Enrique Landa must have partied like Wayne and Garth backstage with Def Leopard . Now, they are like the only guys at an N’Sync concert — feeling pretty lonely and a little ripped off.

If you are going to tie your fortunes to a bunch of San Diego congressmen who assure you they have a “lock” on the White House to deliver your fat government contract, you better make sure they really do before you put them on the payroll. Since the White House forbade former Surgeon General Richard Carmona from helping the Special Olympics because of its connection with Ted Kennedy, do you think Bush and Rove are going to do anything to help Hunter and Bilbray, when the North and East County duo helped kill their immigration bill? Why would 43 reward Bob Filner with a contract for his campaign donors when the Chula Vista congressman opposes the war in Iraq and the expansion of the border fence?

Bajagua has been a great deal for a few elected officials and lawyers who have collected big checks by making all kinds of promises they couldn’t keep. To save face, the Bajagua team made a show of badgering a couple of bureaucrats for show in congress recently when the contract didn’t get signed. Maybe Simmons and Landa can have the following bumper sticker made up for their Cadillacs, “I spent $40 million and all I have to show for it was a lousy congressional hearing.”

– SERGE DEDINA

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE VOICEOFSANDIEGO.ORG