Give Now
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
  • Full Schedule
Watch Live

KPBS Midday Edition

UCAN Dissolving Amid Investigation

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host,  Megan Burke / News Editor,  Amita Sharma / Investigative Reporter,  Mark Sauer / Host, The Roundtable
Published February 29, 2012 at 6:08 AM PST
This story was published more than 12 years ago.
Complaints Against UCAN
Federal Grand Jury Investigating UCAN
GuestsMichael Aguirre is former San Diego City Attorney and partner with the firm Aguirre Morris & Severson LLP Amita Sharma, KPBS Investigative Reporter Craig Rose, is the editor for Photon Magazine, an alternative energy publication.
UCAN Dissolving Amid Investigation
San Diego's Utility Consumers Action Network — UCAN — is reeling from allegations of misconduct by board members resulting in a Grand Jury investigation.

San Diego's Utility Consumers Action Network — UCAN — is reeling from allegations of misconduct by board members resulting in a Grand Jury investigation.

Below is a news advisory just issued laying out the controversy. The highly unusual release — posted by "Anonymous" -- could be an attempt by UCAN directors, including Michael Shames, to get ahead of the scandal and an attempt to calm contributors. It says the organization is being restructured, a" Superior-court supervised voluntary dissolution."

UCAN News Release: UCAN Begins Reorganization Process

Advertisement
Become a KPBS sponsor
UCAN has initiated a Superior Court-supervised voluntary dissolution designed to allow the organization to continue to continue its core mission of ratepayer advocacy while addressing some persistent legal challenges.

In filing this Petition with the Court, UCAN seeks to resolve a number of issues and threatened lawsuits in a venue while preserving its assets which will allow resolution of the issues and emerging with new public interest entity to continue UCAN's tradition of watchdogging local utilities.

After a one-year process of reviewing available alternatives, the UCAN Board determined that this process offered the best means by which to resolve the outstanding legal issues. UCAN plans to continue its aggressive ratepayer advocacy at the CPUC through the process, as well as preserve its privacy and internet-advocacy projects (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and New Media Rights).

UCAN will be sending a letter to its donors in the coming weeks to describe, in greater detail, the objectives of the Board and the process underway. In the interim, UCAN expects that UCAN staff members, represented by local counsel, will file highly critical lawsuits against the UCAN Board. In mid-2011, UCAN retained a number of attorneys and financial experts to assist in addressing these criticisms. After significant investigation, the experts determined that there was no little merit to any of the criticisms. However, these extensive efforts appear to have heightened, rather than reduced, their fervor for litigation. Thus, the UCAN Board has chosen to use the court system to resolve these matters expeditiously.

Among the allegations lodged against UCAN’s senior management by such third parties included (a) embezzlement of UCAN funds, directly, through kickbacks or via other routes, (b) private bank accounts in which assets were being siphoned, (c) failure to comply with state audit requirements, (d) engaging in unlicensed legal activities, and (e) entering into illegal contracts. However, no evidence confirming such allegations was provided by those lodging allegations, nor discovered by any of the professionals retained by UCAN’s board.

UCAN board engaged several San Diego County firms to assist it in evaluating multiple allegations leveled against UCAN by third parties. Those assisting the UCAN board include law firms: Dostart Clapp & Coveney LLP; Iredale and Yoo APC; among others. In addition, AKT LLP was retained by the UCAN board for forensic accounting, business consulting and auditing services.

UCAN also has confirmed the receipt of a federal Grand Jury subpoena on February 22nd. UCAN will cooperate fully with the investigation.

Tags

KPBS Midday Edition EnergyConsumer
Maureen Cavanaugh
Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.
What do you want to hear host Jade Hindmon talk about on Midday?

Megan Burke
Megan Burke is an Emmy-award winning news editor overseeing the environment, health, and racial justice and social equity reporting beats. Prior to her current role as editor, Megan spent more than a decade as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition, a daily radio news magazine and podcast. Other news production credits include KPBS Evening Edition, KPBS Roundtable, and San Diego’s DNA, a two-part documentary highlighting the region’s oldest traditions and culture using personal artifacts and oral histories of San Diegans.
See stories by Megan Burke
What do you want to hear host Jade Hindmon talk about on Midday?

Amita Sharma
As an investigative reporter for KPBS, I've helped expose political scandals and dug into intractable issues like sex trafficking. I've raised tough questions about how government treats foster kids. I've spotlighted the problem of pollution in poor neighborhoods. And I've chronicled corporate mistakes and how the public sometimes ends up paying for them.
See stories by Amita Sharma
What issues need to be exposed in your community? Who should be called to account? When and how will long-festering problems be solved?

Mark Sauer
A newspaperman for more than 30 years, Mark Sauer joined KPBS in October 2010 and previously served as the host of the KPBS Roundtable. He spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune after stints at The Houston Post and at two papers in his native Michigan. A features/human-interest writer in the UT's Currents section for many years, Mark also spent about a third of his UT career as an editor and reporter on the Metro Desk. He has covered a wide range of events: Wild fires in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; Super Bowls and the World Series; foster care and child-abuse issues; the Roman Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse scandal and bankruptcy; royal visits of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princess Diana; Republican and Democratic national conventions; high-profile criminal trials; and many other stories, from the silly to the sublime. Along the way, he interviewed everyone from presidents to pan-handlers. His work exposing the false accusations and prosecutions of several San Diegans for murder, rape and child abuse garnered Pulitzer Prize nominations and many regional and local journalism awards, including Best in the West, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism and several San Diego and California bar-association awards. Mark has a degree in journalism from Michigan State University.
See stories by Mark Sauer
More News