McCormick Contract Extended; Late Contributions to Dagastino’s Campaign Disclosed
Last Tuesday, the Council voted by a 6 to 1 margin to extend the McCormick emergency transportation and billing services contract for another year. McCormick received a ringing endorsement from Fire Chief Serna as data provided by the City showed they had met or exceeded contract expectations, including the critical response time requirement of 92% as reflected in the table below.
Councilman Milton Herring, the lone nay vote, expressed concerns about McCormick’s involvement in past campaign finance violations and said he wanted the City to undertake the Request for Proposal (RFP) process so they could evaluate other potential bidders.
Councilmembers Griffiths and Ashcraft joined Herring in expressing reservations about the contract, but ultimately approved the extension indicating their belief that there was insufficient time at this point to complete the RFP process. They also noted that they had recently voted to release a solicitation seeking other vendors for the service, but that such motion brought forward last April was not approved by their colleagues on the Council.
During her comments, Councilwoman Ashcraft stated:
“I have consistently voted against the City’s contract with McCormick Ambulance because of what I have perceived as a “pay to play” situation involving them during the election campaign of 2014 that got them the contract … It’s regrettable to me that McCormick thought they had to pay to play in order to get the contract, because I believe they would have gotten it other than that.”
Resident Linda Gottshall-Sayed, who previously served on the Ethics Commission with Mayor Furey, forcefully reminded the Council during the meeting that McCormick and the Mayor had broken the law and also urged the Council to seek additional vendors for the service in the future.
Prior to the vote, Mayor Furey acknowledged an e-mail received from former Councilwoman Maureen O’ Donnell wherein she wrote to the mayor, “Because of circumstances well known to you, please be honorable and recuse yourself from voting on the McCormick contract.”
Torrance City Attorney, John Fellows
With regard to the issue, Mayor Furey solicited advice from City Attorney John Fellows who responded by saying:
“There is no legal requirement for recusal here. To the extent that the request for recusal hinges upon campaign contributions generally speaking those are not considered an economic benefit to an elected official.”
Fellows made no comment on the unusual arrangement in which McCormick paid Mayor Furey’s FPPC fine and whether that relationship arose to a conflict of interest requiring recusal. Fellows has also thus far declined to pursue any action against the Mayor for violations of municipal law revealed in the Fair Political Practices (FPPC) investigation.
Perhaps due to all the hoopla surrounding their involvement in the 2014 election, McCormick was much less visible in the recent 2016 election. Required post election disclosures did reveal, however, three $1,000 contributions made to the campaign of Leilani Kimmel-Dagastino from representatives of McCormick. These contributions were made in late June 2016 after the election had already concluded. Dagastino was endorsed by Mayor Furey and the public employee unions, but ended up losing despite outspending all of the other candidates.
The post election financial disclosure also revealed another $14,846 payment to RFC Communications bringing the total paid to that firm to nearly $50,000. RFC appears to be the latest incarnation of Patrick Furey Jr’s political consulting firm due to it sharing a phone number, address, and client list with Furey Jr’s prior firm Liberty Campaign Solutions. Dagastino had hired Furey Jr. to work as her campaign manager, but tried to distance herself from him during the campaign by saying she only hired him to design some print material.
Furey Jr. resigned from his post on the Traffic Commission earlier this year after public outcry due to his role in the events that led to McCormick and Furey being fined $35,000 by the FPPC. In his resignation letter, he blamed extreme elements of the City he referred to as racists. In similar fashion, Dagastino attributed her campaign loss to racism as well as a “hate campaign” that was waged against her.
Furey Jr. still serves the City and its schoolchildren through his role on the Torrance Unified School District’s Personnel Commission. That Commission is designed to ensure favoritism and nepotism are kept out of the District’s hiring practices and that employees are hired based only upon demonstrated ability and not on who they know. Furey Jr. was appointed to the Commission by the California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapter #845. His mother, Teresa Furey, is still currently listed on CSEA’s website as its First Vice President.
Same old, same old.
Furey Sr. hasn’t a lick of sense; the McCormick renewal fiasco would have happened without his vote, but he’s so stubborn and self-righteous that he just can’t bring himself to recuse.
Torrance citizens don’t like it? He has one word for you: “Tough”.
(I think it’s actually two words, but those barely qualify for PG.)
It’s sad to see after Ashcroft and Griffith had expressed doubts against the contract that they didn’t have the backbone to vote against it. It turns out that Herring was the only one with backbone and integrity. Mike Mora is correct,it seems the Scotto party continues.
I’m sure the numbers are nanipuksted. Everytime I see a McCormick ambulance it’s with lights and sirens while competitor was not allowed to. Of course they pass with flying colors. Shame for those on council who voted to extend the contract!
More clean up to do during next election.
The minute you go against the grain by speaking up about issues, you are automatically labeled angry, racist, bigot, etc. Mayor Furey decided to unfriend me and his whole family blocked me on social media. This is because I went against his dearly beloved “ASS KISSING LIE-LANI” He also accused me of attacking his family which isn’t true. I used Pat Jr. as a tool against Lie-Lani. Anyways, the Mayor is vindictive and only supports people and organizations that agree with his politics. He constantly pokes at Mike Griffiths and soon enough he will not like Milton. OUR MAYOR DOES NOT UNDERSTAND DEMOCRACY. He can’t govern with hatred towards Conservatives. This is not his city. Come 2018 he will have to answer to the people. He went as far as spitting his gum out in a trash can inches from my left arm. He is a bully, and needs to be replaced. Sick and tired of these types of politics ruling Torrance. I am not going to sit on my hands and allow an ignorant, chest puffing, bully to do as he pleases. I know you will read this Mayor, next time you dare to spit in my presence, I will have my attorney make you lick it up. Leilani was a disaster in the making, all you needed is a puppet for you on council. Guess what Mayor, 2018 is coming quicker than you can say “Single Term Mayor” Raise all the money you want with your Unions and special interest BS under the table deals. TORRANCE wake up !!!
I am so disappointed by the leadership in our city. The mayor, city council, and city attorney should be ashamed of their actions in dealing with the McCormick issue. A lot has already been said about the lack of ethics exhibited by the mayor so I won’t belabor that point. But I will say that you can see how $29,000 from McCormick and its’ officers, plus $17,500 McCormick paid for the fine levied by the FPPC against the mayor can affect the mayor’s vote. As for Mr. Fellows, I have a lot of respect for his judgement, wisdom, and integrity, which is why I am at a loss to understand why he hasn’t pursued any action against the mayor and McCormick for violating Torrance municipal code regarding campaign contributions during the 2014 mayoral campaign. The mayor and McCormick violated the law! For the city council, all but Mr. Herring voted to condone the conduct of the mayor and McCormick. You could have extended the contract for six months to allow the city to put together a new RFP and then get rid of the law breakers, AKA McCormick. It’s great to make speeches, but your vote speaks more than your words. Time to clean house in 2018.
Sue Hughes
I agree 100% Sue
I hate to sound too negative, but unfortunately much of the leadership in the city is coming from those sitting in the audience instead of those sitting on the dais. Until that script flips, I don’t see much change on the horizon.
Thanks for the summary of the McCormick contract renewal matter that council voted on, and the “shout out” you gave me, Clint. I cannot disagree with any of the comments posted … but I can say that the council had two choices … to renew the McCormick contract for one yer, or delay that decision for a date closer to the contract expiration in December. And, although Kurt Weideman claimed there was time for counsel to vote on whether to send out requests for proposals, that option was NOT on the agenda; making such a move IMPOSSIBLE under the City Council rules. In any event, he voted to extend the contract anyway, rendering his snide and belittling lecture directed to Ms. Ashcraft and Mr. Griffiths (and possibly even me. LOL) moot. And, in any event, the enormity of the task of sending out RFPs (Request for Proposals) to other ambulance companies was emphasized by the City Manager during the hearing, So, while Coucilman Herring voted not to extend the contract, the rationale of Mr. Griffiths and Ms. Ashcraft’s votes to approve the contract is understandable, given the small amount of time remaining before the contract expires to seek and compare other vendors during an RFP process, as well as the remaining councilmembers who have consistently blocked Ms. Ashcrafts and Mr. Griffiths efforts to look at other vendors based on McCormick’s substantial and illegal campaign contributions to Pat Furey. It seems clear the majority of the council don’t mind at all that their Mayor broke the law, or that they are providing and exclusive 911 emergency contract to a vendor who broke the law with him … and those violations of law involve McCormick getting this exclusive contract. I remain hopeful that the voters in this city will make ethics/integrity in their city representatives a priority and demand transparency in all of these matters. Less than 2 years to go …………
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