Grenell charges District $14,856.25 for personal attorney Mark Watson

Did Peter Grenell force Jean Savaree out so he could hire his own attorney?  

Peter Grenell (AKA The Ole Beardo) created a sexually charged drawing of an administrative employee who worked at the Harbor District. Peter Grenell was the employees boss at the time. The drawing depicts the female employee nude, lying in bed, partially covered by a sheet. Grenell presented the employee with his artwork at the Harbor District office.

Why did Peter Grenell recommend his personal attorney Mark C. Watson as a suitable replacement for Jean Savaree of Aaronson, Dickerson, Cohn & Lanzone?  

Why didn't Mark C. Watson disclose his attorney-client relationship with Peter Grenell in advance of his interview with the board of Harbor Commissioners?  Why didn't Mr. Watson disclose to Commissioner Brennan that he was representing Peter Grenell regarding a pending sexual orientation and gender harassment complaint she made against Grenell?

Mark C. Watson is Peter Grenell's personal attorney

May  21, 2014

Six law firm responded to a RFP, three of the six firms were recommended by Peter Grenell, and all three recommended firms were interviewed by Harbor Commissioners.

• Mark C. Watson  $185.00 per hour  (Peter Grenell's personal attorney)
• BBK, Christopher J. Diaz  $275.00 per hour
• Hanson Bridgett, Steven Miller, Partner  $345.00 per hour

June 4, 2014

Harbor Commissioners met with Peter Grenell to hire a law firm to replace Aaronson, Dickerson, Cohn & Lanzone.  Commissioner Brennan left closed session early.  Nothing was reported out of closed session.  

 June 18, 2014

Harbor Commissioners voted in open session to hire Steven Miller of Hanson Bridgett.

• Agenda Item 5—Selection of Law Firm Hanson Bridgett LLP to Provide Legal Counsel Services & Approval of Contract  18:00
• Commissioner comments  19:48

Aug. 20, 2014

The board of Harbor Commissioners approved Peter Grenell's request for reimbursement for his personal attorney Mark C. Watson.

Read the $14,856.25 invoice. 

Why did Mr. Watson charge his client Peter Grenell a higher rate ($425.00 per hour) than the $185.00 hourly rate he proposed the Harbor District pay if Commissioners agreed to hire him to replace Jean Savaree?

If Mr. Watson had been awarded a job as the District's new legal counsel would Grenell have requested reimbursement?  

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Birthday card artwork by Peter Grenell (AKA The Ole Beardo).  Mark C. Watson is Peter Grenell's personal attorney.

"Cash is Cash," said Realtor Jan Gray

Is the Harbor District considering selling property to a company with links to organized crime?

When Peter Nguyen and Kara Chau were told to vacate Pier 45 in San Francisco it was because their company Next Seafood owed $143,172.20 in back rent and $77,881.25 in attorney fees to the Port of San Francisco. The seafood wholesalers continued their business under a new company name, Global Quality Foods located in Hayward.

Harbor District realtor Jan Gray confirmed that she recived a cash offer from Global Quality Foods for a 2.5-acre property in El Granada known as the the Obispo lot next to the Post Office.  An article published in the  Half Moon Bay Review on Nov. 20, 2014 said the following:

The company indicated it could pay for the land in cash without the need for loans. The company later sent proof of funds, Jan Gray said.

“Cash is cash, and they’ve proven they have the cash,” Gray said.

The Harbor District has owned the land since the 1950s, when it was donated to the District by two women in memory of their fishermen husbands. News of the offer has commercial seafood business owners and commercial fishermen concerned that Harbor Commissioners might enable a money laundering scheme if an offer that included ill-gotten gains was accepted. 

It's been alleged that Dzunt (Peter) Nguyen and Kara Chau have been involved with racketeering and corruption. In 2014 the couple testified that $150,000. was paid for an ice machine in three sacks containing $50,000. each. 

Some in the fishing community are under the impression that Harbor Commissioner Jim Tucker may have a connection to Next Seafood/Global Quality Foods through one of his campaign donors.

Inquiring minds want to know if Commissioners Jim Tucker and Will Holsinger are counting on "sacks of cash" when a  deal on the Obispo lot in El Granada moves forward at their final board meeting on Dec. 3, 2014?

Will Holsinger's Form 460

Will Holsinger paid Clique Factory $5000 to generate a fake Twitter following and post attack tweets from multiple fake Twitter accounts in the 2014 Harbor District election.

Read the last page of Will Holsinger's Form 460. Notice the $5000. payment to Clique Factory midway down the page.

(Click the button and read Will Holsinger's Form 460.)

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Mike McHenry's Letter published in the San Mateo County Times

Mike and Kim McHenry published this full page ad in the San Mateo County Times on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014.

Please join with the McHenry family and vote for change.

Bay Area News Group quotes

"The district's proposal to destroy records raised eyebrows because it followed several unusual occurrences over the past year, including the reported discovery last summer of $38,000 in checks from district tenants that had never been deposited and the board's decision in November to stop videotaping its meetings."

Aaron Kinney, Feb. 3, 2014 

"San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner compensation, $25,757 in cash and benefits for attending 21 meetings that lasted an average of 77 minutes each, came out to $955 an hour."

Editorial, Dec. 30, 2013

Half Moon Bay Review quotes

"The San Mateo County Harbor Commission has lost its way, and constituents are paying the price. The most disappointing fact of all is that violations of law, breaks in decorum and offenses to the practice of good governance are too numerous to mention in this space."

Clay Lambert, Editor, Sept. 26, 2013

$38,000 in tenants' checks were missing. The 37 checks, some dating as far back as early 2012, were never deposited and had been sitting for months in an employee's desk drawer. The checks were first discovered in July by the district's newly appointed finance director, and the incident was related to the commission two months later.

Mark Noack, Oct. 31, 2013

Commissioner Sabrina Brennan criticized Scott Grindy and other top harbor staff for not reporting the leak to board members. She said she learned about the problem only because an anonymous emailer sent her messages between harbor staff about the December leak.

In those emails, Assistant Harbormaster John Draper warned Grindy and General Manager Peter Grenell that a segment of pipe was rotten and leaking. He recommended the entire line should be replaced. Grenell agreed, and he recommended staff should contact Valentine Corporation, an engineering firm in San Rafael.

Brennan was outraged that she was learning about the leak 11 months later.

“Our own Harbor Patrol made clear that pipe had to be removed, and it shouldn’t have taken this long to do it,” Brennan said. “We have a Clean Water Act, and it’s critical that it’s enforced, and we’re not doing our due diligence.”

Mark Nowack, Nov. 14, 2013

Whatever the rationale for replacing video with audio, the perception will be that commissioners are afraid of the light that comes with those cameras. Good politicians know better than to court that kind of perception.

Clay Lambert, Editor, Aug. 21, 2013

“This seems like an odd time for document destruction to be on our agenda,” Sabrina Brennan said. “It would be unseemly to go forward with this at this time.”

Mark Noack, Jan. 23, 2014

Jim Tucker said, "I could sell you a washing machine in five minutes."

Mark Nowack, Dec. 5, 2013

San Mateo Daily Journal quotes

"Harbor District officials need to shape up."

Dave Pine, President, SMC Board of Supervisors, July 10, 2014

"The Harbor District needs a sustainable financial plan, their audit reports are inadequate."

Don Horsley, SMC Board Supervisor, July 10, 2014

In 2012, the Harbor District began charging the highest fish buying fees in the state. The decision has been at the center of upheaval between the District and those in the commercial fishing industry.

 Samantha Weigel, June 6, 2014

“There’s ongoing distrust and frankly, our commercial fishing association has not been happy with the way commissioners have been conducting District business,” Steve Fitz said. “We simply want to be considered because the decisions they make, impact our businesses directly. And we deserve to be at the table and we haven’t been.”

Samantha Weigel, May 29, 2014

"As one observer commented, the meeting could be summed up in one action, when Commissioner James Tucker asked a staff person, whose imminent maternity leave had just been approved, to waddle across a crowded room to fetch a glass of water."

Lee Engdahl, Aug. 12, 2013

Jim Tucker said, "I feel like a horse’s patootie."

 Samantha Weigel, March 21, 2014

What's up with Peter Grenell's Bank Club?

It appears that Peter Grenell authorized the Harbor District web designer Georgia Wright to do work (web design and brochure design) for the California Maritime Infrastructure
Bank and Authority (CMIB/A).  During the Aug. 6th board meeting Grenell stated that Ms. Wright's company Market Web Consulting had never invoiced CMIB/A or been paid by CMIB/A.  He also said that Market Web Consulting had worked for the CMIB/A for about 8 or 9 years.

It appears that the San Mate County Harbor District may have been paying Market Web Consulting for CMIB/A work/billable hours.  Peter Grenell may have authorized spending Harbor District funds on the CMIB/A website and marketing materials.  Georgia Wright may have been told to bill the Harbor District for her time/work for the CMIB/A and told not to include the CMIB/A billable hours as a line item on Market Web Consulting invoices to the SMCHD.  Its possible that Ms. Wright lumped her CMIB/A hours in with her Harbor District hours and invoiced the Harbor District for both.

It's unusual that Peter Grenell invited Brian Foss, CMIB/A Board Member and past President and David Hull, CMIB/A Executive Director to be on the Harbor District committee to interview candidates for the Harbormaster position.  

At Aug. 6, 2014 Harbor District meeting Peter Grenell said that for about 9 years the Harbor District web design consulting firm Web Market Consulting had also been providing web design for the CMIB/A.  Read the Web Market Consulting Invoice.

During the same meeting Commissioner Brennan asked Peter Grenell if Web Market Consulting was paid to design and update the CMIB/A website. Peter Grenell said, "Number one, they don't get paid, they've never invoiced for their services. So there's no money changing hands. Number two, It seemed a matter of convenience to have Web Market Consulting pickup the rather minimal website needs of CMIA, that's how that happened." 

Commissioner Brennan asked if any SMC Harbor District staff, employees or consultants have engaged in any CMIB/A activities?   Peter Grenell said, "No."  2:10:12

Commissioner Brennan asked if any SMC Harbor District employees of Harbor Commissioners have attended any CMIB/A events or meetings?  2:10:42  

Peter Grenell said, "Harbormaster Scott Grindy attended the Northern California seminar, a one day thing in San Francisco."

Questions

• Who was on the interview committee when Scott Grindy was interviewed by Harbor District?  Read the PRA email below. 

• The email indicates that Brian Foss, CMIB/A Board Member and past President and David Hull, CMIB/A Executive Director may have been on the interview committee or in some way involved with the interview process. 

• Were any Harbor Commissioners on the interview committee?

• Did the SMCHD pay Web Market Consulting for any work for the CMIB/A?

CMIB/A Website Emails

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Grenell's Email About Harbor District Interview Committee

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Gone Fishin'

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Pietro Parravano was removed from the Roots of Change Stewardship Council in 2011

We're delighted to learn that Pietro Parravano was removed from the Roots of Change Stewardship Council in 2011. It's good to know that the citizen initiative to broaden awareness about this crooked commissioner is successful.

Michael Dimock, President of Roots of Change tweeted the correction below on June 26, 2014. 

Will Holsinger is the man on the tarmac tossing grenades

Commissioner Will Holsinger's verbal attacks on women and bullying of women must stop.  Vote him out of office in November 2014. 

Daily Post . July 10, 2014

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Daily Post article published on July 10, 2014

Grand Jury gives Harbor Commission a shellacking

The Civil Grand Jury ripped into the San Mateo County Harbor Commission in a new report titled, "What is the Price of Dysfunction?" The report was released to the public on July 9, 2014.

The report says, "It is impossible for the Grand Jury to ignore the negative public comments that the District’s general manager frequently receives. He is most often the public face of the Harbor District. However, it should be noted that the general manager serves at the pleasure of the Harbor Commission with whom final oversight resides."

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Will Holsinger Bullies Women

Commissioner Holsinger's 2014 campaign website neglects to mention that he bullies women. 

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Will Holsinger:  Twice Appointed, Never Elected

The board of Harbor Commissioners appointed Will Holsinger twice, once in 2012 following the death of Commissioner Sally Campbell, and a second time in 2013 following the death of Commissioner Leo Padreddii.

Appointed in 2012 & 2013

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Two Time Loser

Will Holsinger lost two Harbor District elections, the first was Nov. 2, 2004 and the second was Nov. 6, 2012.

2004 Election Results

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2012 Election Results

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Ladies and Gentleman we give you President Pietro Parravano

At the June 18, 2014 Harbor District meeting Pietro Parravano was elected president of the board of Harbor Commissioners.

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Jean Savaree severs ties with Harbor Commissioner Will Holsinger

Click this image to watch the video.

In June 2014, Jean B. Savaree, attorney with Aaronson, Dickerson, Cohn & Lanzone, ended a 25 year engagement with the San Mateo County Harbor District.

In March 2014, Jean Savaree informed the board of Harbor Commissioners that her firm would not renew its contract with the District. The announcement followed a heated meeting where Commissioner Will Holsinger accused Savaree of "poor legal scholarship" and disagreed with her findings. Read about the "research" Will Holsinger disagreed with and his repeated harassment of the only woman member of the Harbor Commission. 

Aaronson, Dickerson, Cohn & Lanzone first engaged to serve as Harbor District legal counsel with the appointment of Kenneth M. Dickerson in 1989, and he was succeeded by Marc L. Zafferano in 1998, and by Jean B. Savaree in 2011.

We confront bullying and aggression head on.  Harbor Commissioner William Holsinger has crossed the line too many times.  The unacceptable bullying must stop now.

Pier Pressure

This cartoon from the Half Moon Bay Review pretty much sums it up.