CA: Bridge memos lead to top - Documents: Governor's office knew money short before bid

Oakland Tribune ^ | 3/24/05 | Sean Holstege

[NormsRevenge]

The governor's office knew California could not afford to finish the Bay Bridge reconstruction at least one month before Caltrans opened bids on the remaining tower.

Newly released Caltrans documents, obtained by the Oakland Tribune after a protracted public records request, show for the first time that top state officials were briefed in April 2004 that the bridge would cost more than expected.

The memos throw the official line into question.

Until now, the Schwarzenegger team had insisted — through heated state Senate investigative hearings earlier this year — that Caltrans sat on a secret April report that showed California could need another $1.5 billion to finish all the area's bridges.

Most of that cost was due to the elaborate Bay Bridge design, but the officials to whom Caltrans reports said they never saw the findings.

The draft report to lawmakers and the governor was never released — contrary to state law — and first came to light after a previous Tribune record request.

On May 26, Caltrans opened a lone $1.4 billion bid, doubling Caltrans' official estimate for the cost to build a tow-

er. The result threw the entire earthquake safety project into chaos, and it has been mired in political limbo ever since, as total costs soared to $5.9 billion.

"If we had known, we could have addressed it in a more orderly manner,"said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley. "Instead we are stuck with no funding and no plan, at the cost to taxpayers of millions of dollars and untold amounts of trust in this administration."

Other lawmakers from both parties were unavailable for comment.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto said he could not comment on memos he had not seen. But he and Pat Dorinson, a spokesman for the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, both said there was no way to know the true bridge costs until bids were opened.

"Until you get that bid in your hand, you don't know, and then you do your diligence. That's exactly what we did," Dorinson said.

Transportation Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak testified earlier this year that she knew nothing of that April report and has insisted since May that she was surprised by the enormity of the latest bridge construction bid.

"That's true," Dorinson said.

But two Caltrans memos written days after her testimony suggest early, high-level knowledge of the looming cost increases and discussions about switching designs.

Caltrans tollbridge chief Dan McElhinney explained in a summary report to McPeak that the secret memo was actually a number of internal documents stapled together, all of which were prepared at the request of then-acting Caltrans Director Tony Harris. Harris wanted "to prepare for any scenario," the report said.

"Harris often indicated these program cost and schedule evaluations were at the request of the secretary," McElhinney wrote. He meant McPeak.

"We completed a Powerpoint presentation at the governor's office on or about April 30, 2004, with staff to outline in more detail a potential funding need to complete the (bridge program)," he added.

Caltrans' Bay Area district director, Bijan Sartipi, painted a similar picture in his synopsis.

"To the best of my knowledge, there has not been any official document that was developed within this program which was not shared with the department director and/or the chief deputy director," Sartipi wrote.

But knowledge of the looming cost problem did not end at Caltrans' doorstep. In the newly released documents, McElhinney wrote that McPeak's deputy, John Ferrera, "often attended portions of the April and May meetings," and had been plugged into bridge conversations with top Caltrans officials since February.

In March and April 2004, Caltrans reviewed a cost-reduction report prepared by consultants and, McElhinney wrote, "Harris said the secretary was interested in" a plan to let contractors "modify the design or contract" before bids opened.

Elsewhere, memos indicate that even before the bids, top state officials discussed the option of tapping the voter-enacted third dollar on bridge tolls, which was earmarked for transit improvements.

In an e-mail to the two Caltrans supervisors, McPeak concluded "no one was telling you to intentionally withhold information from the Legislature. Is that the case?"

They concurred.

McPeak also reiterated her testimony in writing: "It was my direction to determine exactly what was going on and what could be done to control costs. But I personally never saw the (April 2004 documents) during the timeframe they apparently were prepared."

But that report sparked State Auditor Elaine Howle to widen her probe into the Bay Bridge fiasco. In February, Howle demanded an explanation why the secret memo had not been shared with her investigators. Howle reminded McPeak that state law requires "full and unfettered access to records" and noted that failure to comply would be a misdemeanor.