Posted on 04/08/2005 9:50:19 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger became the highest-level official to call for investigations of Bay Bridge construction as Caltrans ordered a halt to a welding operation that is part of an FBI fraud probe that widened Thursday.
Caltrans Director Will Kempton ordered Bay Bridge construction team KFM Joint Venture to cancel a concrete pour over four of the remaining footings where workers allege shoddy welds are being done.
Kempton also called for a reinspection of all the welds that would have been buried by the pour, even as the state agency and KFM insist that the nearly 5,000 welds were done properly and the extensive inspection system is working.
Kempton's action came as Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, told him he would seek a new investigation by the Federal Highway Administration's inspector general.
If granted, it would be just the latest probe launched since the Oakland Tribune reported Wednesday the FBI was investigating allegations of covered-up weld defects in the steel piles holding up the new $1.5 billion skyway.
Meanwhile, the FBI issued subpoenaes to Caltrans, while it interviewed key people in the agency's bridge construction team and several KFM employees, according to Caltrans, lawmakers and welders.
Caltrans could not provide copies of any Bay Bridge-related subpoenas because they could not be found, a spokeswoman in the agency's Bay Area office said Thursday.
Schwarzenegger, facing his administration's first big scandal at a time of falling support in polls and rising protests, said his office is investigating Caltrans and will help pursue prosecutions against anyone who has endangered public safety.
"I think the more investigations you do about something like this, the better it is," Schwarzenegger said at a Capitol news conference. "Our office is ready to work with everyone from the state attorney general, to the federal government, to the FBI — everyone will work together to protect the people of California."
Asked what he would do to scrutinize Caltrans' role in the welding scandal, the governor said: "We will do our work. If there is a problem, there will be prosecutions."
The governor urged the state Justice Department, California's principle investigatory agency, and others to swiftly dig deep.
Justice Department spokesman Nathan Barankin said only that the agency remains "very interested" and is "following developments closely." The department's policies prevent it from discussing probes. Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Schwarzenegger top a rapidly growing list of officials probing allegations of worker safety abuses and faulty construction on the new Bay Bridge. In addition to the FBI, the inspectors general of the U.S. Labor and Transportation departments are investigating, and there are calls for multiple legislative hearings.
Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, said in a radio interview she will ask for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to open hearings, when asked if lawmakers should invoke subpoena power to get to the bottom of the allegations.
"There is a little lack of credibility on this project," Chan said. "I don't know what it's going to take to test these welds, but I would agree that we need massive reforms."
Torlakson wants federal highway investigators to lead what he called an "independent inspection and verification of all the data, protocols and allegations."
He also asked for the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission and its hired engineering consultants at Bechtel Corp. to review the work and Caltrans' oversight. MTC oversees the collection and spending of bridge tolls, and could have broader authority to manage the Bay Bridge construction, if a Torlakson bill becomes law.
He and Kempton are trying to schedule the second legislative investigatory visit of the new Bay Bridge construction site in a month.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Bay Bridge welders were sent home with paychecks a day earlier than usual and told they would have no work today.
Someone with legal experience, an accounting background, engineering knowledge, and a cynical eye needs to take a hard look at the contract between KFM Joint Venture and CalTrans. Find a good retired engineering project manager who used to work at a competing firm to lead the investigation.
Huh??? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this work began under Gray Davis and most if not all of the principals are Democrat appointees.
California politics and its coverage is so cut throat these days, dems get a FRee pass for the most part on almost evrything...
Altho, in fairness, the GUb did himself no favors by appointing Sunne McPeak to head the Transportation side of things ,, Sunne being a long time Bay Area demmie bureaucRat that migrated to StinkyMento a few years back.
It's a mess , for sure, and there are cracked welds on both sides of the table, imo. ;-)
Another chapter in the long pathetic road to building the new Bay Bridge.
Going to be great when this bridge is done. When we will be flying over it in our flying cars.
Agree! The contract award history is very interesting.
You know xthat the welders are well aware that they are risking jail if these accusations prove false.
The charge they would allow work not meeting the requirements of the contract documents is lie.
Unless you were there, you don't know that.
The potental liability so far out weighs any possable savings in cost to construct as to make the charges laughable.
Low-level supervisors often don't think that way when they get stand to be penalized for delays while the rewards for on-time performance are nothing to write home about. Meanwhile the union workers get fat overtime checks if they drag their feet in the name of "safety."
If this is a fraud, it's more likely payback from union workers who don't like getting laid off while Arnold decides what kind of bridge he wants. Arnold effectively pulled out the hatchet when he stalled the project. His cheapo bridge will require new design work and another environmental impact study, both of which usually take over a year. The cost of construction delay is astronomical and produces nothing. The only winners will be the contractors who get to back-charge the State for his feckless fling at project management, and wouldn't you know but Warren Buffet is nicely tied in to that very contractor.
Users may end up paying just as much for a crappy bridge as they would have for the gold plated version already begun. If Arnold was looking for a way to save money, this bit of his usual grandstanding wasn't it, because the bridge isn't financed by taxes.
From your response I can tell you are not involved in the business.
The welders are called Dockbuilder, the low level supervisors are call Dockbuiler Foreman and all have a great deal of pride in what they do. Kiewit instills in their employees, both Craft and Management a sense of pride, just go to their web site.
The Kiewit Company stress two things as the most important, first is SAFETY, safety is paramont and the second is QUALITY, build the best product for the owner.
Profit is important, it makes everything else work, but Kiewit is driven by the first two, the next comes as a result.
The statements are the opinions of the trades, because a charge is made doesn't make it true, and there is no risk of jail if they did not act with bad intent.
Yes Warren Buffet and Walter Scott are friends, Walter Scott has guided Kiewit since 1979.
What is your point? What does this have to do with the project?
Contrary to what you may think, the contractors cannot "backcharge" the owner for delays, this job is a design/build, the Contractor has a lump sum to complete the project and the Owner has oversight and acceptance of the final design and construction. They are not building a "cheapo" bridge.
The political demogogery is what I would expect from the party that drove California to the edge of the abbis.
Don't impune the Contractors, I know them personaly, the are good, honest men who deserve better than "trial by media", especialy by reporters that know nothing of the construction process and who couldn't find their butts with both hands.
Not in bridge work per se, no. I did project management in a chemical facility that required millwork. They were small projects of no more than a few million. I was the engineer, designer, project manager, and onsite construction supervisor. No welding requiring inspection was involved (although I have dealt with that on spacecraft). However, I have dealt with inspectors (electrical and such) in the US, Canada, and Belgium.
I wasn't just some hands off manager. I worked occasionally side by side with the union millwrights, often doing work that was too risky or specialized for them to touch (that's the way it is in a thirty year old vinyl plant or with the specialized equipment I designed). I also weld myself, and can say with certainty that I do better work than most of the millwrights. They knew it too and there was no rancor. When I grabbed a tool it was because it was necessary, not because I was trying to make a point; I was helping them out of a tight spot (although in Canada it was to fix flakey workmanship). The tools didn't hit the floor. That's respect. They were moral people.
The welders are called Dockbuilder, the low level supervisors are call Dockbuiler Foreman and all have a great deal of pride in what they do.
I don't doubt that for a minute. I also know that there are losers in any large group, having been on the ground with more than a few. Losers often have pride in their work too.
Kiewit instills in their employees, both Craft and Management a sense of pride, just go to their web site.
As a former craftsman, whose work experience goes from antique yachts to spacecraft hardware, I can say with some authorty that pride of craftsmanship comes from a moral center. It's not something externally "instilled" no matter how badly the bigshots might wish it to be. Dump the corporate speak and get with reality.
The Kiewit Company stress two things as the most important, first is SAFETY, safety is paramont and the second is QUALITY, build the best product for the owner.
Profit is important, it makes everything else work, but Kiewit is driven by the first two, the next comes as a result.
While a correct position (especially considering the degree to which the safety racket has corrupted the construction engineering business), this sounds like it comes straight out of Kiewit's marketing department, with no connection or experience with what actually happens on the ground. While "profit may follow," in this case, it followed a VERY disturbing bidding and award process. Morally, I don't know how you can condone handing AB Fluor's 30,000 man hours of work to Kiewit so that they could bid against it. I frankly don't see how you can defend the way Kiewit got the job after an independent review by Bechtel recommended AB Fluor and not Kiewit. Further, the union people they hired for this job most likely didn't all come from Utah, did they?
The statements are the opinions of the trades, because a charge is made doesn't make it true, and there is no risk of jail if they did not act with bad intent.
The worker should refuse to cover a bad weld and say it is ready for inspection. If it isn't a crime, it should be. It is detectable. We will find out.
Yes Warren Buffet and Walter Scott are friends, Walter Scott has guided Kiewit since 1979.
Does friendship include stock, loans, or other financial involvement?
What is your point? What does this have to do with the project?
Arnold has political and business associations that his clearly affect his decisionmaking as governor. He has business affiliations with the organized gambling interests seeking to penetrate California. He holds investments in solar energy producers seeking to penetrate California and has made decisions reflecting their interests. Schwarzenegger's brother in law, RFK Jr. and other chief environmental advisors are ALL tied into the NRDC, the most corrupt energy racketeering group in the US and key players in fomenting California's $12 BILLION dollar power fiasco. They wrote Arnold's environmental policy for him.
Warren Buffet and Walter Scott are friends. Warren Buffet is a big backer of Arnold too. Arnold is infatuated with power and likely would do what Warren asked, even if it didn't benefit him immediately because he knows Warren would return the favor. Arnold overruled Bechtel's reccomendations and awarded the job to Kiewit. It stinks of more of the same, which is what I implied. Believe me, if I knew more than that I wouldn't be writing it here (much less in some newspaper), it would be going straight to Lockyer's office, instead.
Contrary to what you may think, the contractors cannot "backcharge" the owner for delays, this job is a design/build, the Contractor has a lump sum to complete the project and the Owner has oversight and acceptance of the final design and construction.
If the delay is due to an engineering change or change in the scope of work, you bet the contractor can charge the buyer. For you to say otherwise is pure misdirection.
They are not building a "cheapo" bridge.
Arnold stopped the work to reconsider the design as "too expensive." That high cost is primarily due to aesthetic considerations. Those aesthetic features involve new technology. They are risky and expensive. AB Fluor was willing to build it as designed. Now Arnold is suddenly getting cold feet. Given his prior behavior, one has to wonder if it isn't in defense of Kiewit's interests, and in that respect what I wrote is speculation, which is entirely appropriate on a public forum.
The political demogogery is what I would expect from the party that drove California to the edge of the abbis.
That would be "abyss" and "demagoguery." You might want to learn to use the spelling checker that come with the posting box.
Regulatory racketeering, using police power of the state to favor particular individual interests, has this state in an economic death grip. The California Power Crisis was just such a scam. It is killing innovation and risk taking, and killing small business with them, which are the real engines of the American economy no matter how your corporate fantasies may delude you. Killing risk taking (and thereby fattening government contracts) in the name of "safety" is making this nation non-competitive, as is virtually every other form of regulation which has turned so far from its original purpose as to have become a thinly-veiled form of corporate welfare. Corporate influence buying is what drove the California Republican Party over the edge.
Bray Davis was a crook, and so is Arnold, who belongs lock stock and barrel to the same people Davis did.
Don't impune the Contractors, I know them personaly, the are good, honest men who deserve better than "trial by media", especialy by reporters that know nothing of the construction process and who couldn't find their butts with both hands.
That would be "impugn," "contractors," and "personally."
I am not a "reporter." Ma href="http://www.naturalprocess.net">I am an author of a book proposing a system that corrects regulatory corruption. It was hand carried into the White House by former Senator Malcolm Wallop (you can read the cover letter here). I was not paid for what I wrote and have no dog in this fight other than a distaste for Arnold's behavior and a desire to see California return to greatness (my family has been here five generations). I could easily write similar disparaging comments as yours, but won't so indulge.
I think you have an agenda, I and all Contractors have a moral responcability to provide and maintain a safe work enviroment, safety is not a "racket", men work more productivly when they are not in fear of getting hurt or worse. My sentiments are from my moral center, Peter Kiewit didn't give them to me, but Peter Kiewit made working safe a condition of employment.
My comments on Kiewit are from experience not the company public relations deartment.
I am very proud of my association with Peter Kiewit, it was an education the equivalant to a MBA from Harvard.
I am from the trades, Operation Engineers Local 825 in New Jersey. I have worked on Roads, Tunnels, Bridges, Utilities, Cofferdams, Deep Sewers and Heavy Structures with the tools and as a manager.
The politics of the award is bases on who's side you are on, the Betchel and Kiewit Companies are friends and comptitors, and occasional partners in joint ventures.
The contract was awarded base on BEST VALUE, not friends.
I know Walter Scott, I worked for him and I believe him to be fair, honest and honorable. I have no knollege of his business relationship with Warren Buffet, but I know Walter Scott is very wealthy and selfmade, befor Warren Buffet.
The outcome of this issue will not be decided here in this forum, I only wanted to add my experience with the Contractor, too often wild charges are made about my industries by the uniformed and are accepted as gospel because "it was in paper"
Thank you for your VERY educational reply in #10!!! That answered so many questions I've had about Schwarzenegger's screwing around with that Bay Bridge!!! Thank you again!!!
For more details, here's an informative article:
http://enr.construction.com/news/transportation/archives/041011-1.asp
Thank you! I went and absorbed it all!!!
Yeah, I had an agenda, one derived as a lifelong Bay Area resident. It was and is a good bridge for the money, a thing of beauty, creativity, and integrity. We didn't get one. What do you have to say about that now?
Ping to the above.
Uh, no. It was a lot more systemic than that, but then, you apparently didn't read the article.
Why don’t you enlighten us on the details.
And I did read the article and the follow up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.