At a time when neutral news articles detail “chaotic” fallout from San Diego leaders’ rollout of deceptively enacted trash collection fees and their moves to begin charging for parking at beloved, iconic Balboa Park, residents were reminded that local government dysfunction extends beyond City Hall.
That came Monday, when an arbitrator awarded about $2.5 million to former San Diego Association of Governments’ Director of Accounting and Finance Lauren Warrem, who was fired in 2023 after calling attention to evidence of what proved to be a huge scandal: The county’s regional planning agency had for at least six years tolerated and covered up the dishonest overbilling of tens of thousands of drivers using the toll-charging 10-mile segment of State Route 125 in East County. Warrem’s attorney fees are likely to cost taxpayers millions more.
Those responsible for Warrem’s firing — then-CEO Hasan Ikhrata and CFO Andre Douzdjian — are long gone. But their actions were in keeping with SANDAG’s scandal-filled history. For one example, in 2016, the agency’s proposed county sales tax was pitched to voters with what its leaders knew to be grossly exaggerated projections of how much money it would bring in and thus how many projects it could fund, leading to executive Gary Gallegos’ exit.
But Ikhrata, who resigned in December 2023, may have been even worse than his predecessor. Besides the overbilling scandal, he ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized spending, including lavish bonuses, and was indifferent to staffers running up more than $300,000 in improper bills using SANDAG purchase cards.
His replacement, former Caltrans executive Mario Orso, has said all the right things about transparency and accountability. But a September report from SANDAG’s internal auditor was discouraging. It detailed how the agency — which has a $1.3 billion annual budget — kept close ties with consultant HNTB despite HNTB’s central role in the toll road corruption. It noted that missing documentation of related contracts continued to be a problem years after previous audits called for improvements.
But is this on Orso? Or ultimately on the elected officials from the county and its 18 cities who make up the SANDAG Board of Directors?
These questions bring us back, alas, to San Diego City Hall. Because of a 2017 state law requiring SANDAG to base member cities’ voting clout on their population, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is the single public official most capable of forcing change on the agency. If SANDAG’s stumbles continue, they could prove one more “chaotic” chapter of his legacy.