Balliew: "I am not an advocate of the policy"

"I was not advocating for the policy and am not an advocate of the policy." - John Balliew, CEO of the EPWU.


In my post yesterday Give Me a Break I used the quotes from Aaron Martinez's story in the El Paso Times. 

I wrote: "What John Balliew said as reported by this story stunned me the most: '...if you are speaking as a Public Service Board member, you should speak through the chair, president or vice president.'" Again I quoted from the story: "'This rule is just to make sure we give a clear and unified message to our customers. The purpose of a board like this, an appointed board, is to operate the water, wastewater and stormwater systems in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso. Hopefully, it would be done in a unified voice.'"

Today I received this correction from Mr. Balliew:

"Just to clarify, the Times article did not accurately reflect anything I said. I was not advocating for the policy and am not an advocate of the policy. I do not recall having seen the policy prior to Wednesday morning. There was some debate over the meaning of the last paragraph and I was asked by the reporter to give my opinion as to what I thought it said. Even the attribution about other organizations having similar policies was a quote from Bob Andron. I was definitely not trying to enforce the policy."

These words make much more sense coming from the new CEO of the EPWU.

Let me repeat what I wrote yesterday:

"EPWU/PSB is not a private company and it is more than just a utility. We El Pasoans have asked them to manage land and stormwater as well as water and sewage. We understand that there are tough political decisions to be made about water scarcity and conservation, urban sprawl and groundwater. In other words, they are not just responsible to us for delivering a product that is safe and clean, but helping us with far greater issues of conservation and sustainability - issues that are political. Debate, doubt, discussion and dissent must be out in the open and must include the public. This is not a bad thing but a healthy thing. It is, of course, detrimental to those who like to use power without accountability.

"What should have been discussed behind closed doors in executive session yesterday was the resignation of the supercilious Schoephoerster and those in the EPWU legal department who are shielding him from open records requests."

By the way, of the people who responded to the poll that the Times ran yesterday with the Martinez story, 77% said that the Communications Policy of the PSB would hinder the public's right to know.

Enough said.