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Southwestern College Seeks Redress from Contractors
Hernandez, Ricasa and Sandoval all worked together at Southwestern well before either Ricasa or Sandoval were elected to the Sweetwater Board. Questions were asked as early as 2007 regarding the legality of all the crossover between Sweetwater and Southwestern College employees. Chris Moran wrote an article on this very subject in the San Diego Union Tribune. The article he wrote said that the interpretation was that the overlap was legal but it wasn't quite ethical because it could lead to the very thing it led too which is pay for play politics not just with contractors but also with legal services--Garcia's law firm worked for the college, Sweetwater and South Bay as well as the Otay Water Board where some interesting decisions regarding lifetime medical benefits were made. Dominguez reported to Sandoval and Ricasa at Sweetwater and Ricasa and Sandoval reported to Dominguez at SWC. I don't know if Hernandez reported to Dominguez when she was president of the college or if he was elected later. Both districts hired contractors and law firms in common. Ricasa was put on paid adminstrative leave in January 2012 but the internal investigation hasn't concluded yet. Do investigations generally take 5 months? As for the board at Southwestern caring about the peoples hard earned dollars--who is paying for the lawsuit. Is the money coming from the general fund because if it is that means that it is being for by the five percent pay cut they are asking all their employees to take.— April 20, 2012 9:46 p.m.