Commentary: San Diego provoked a budget battle at MWD that helped take down its GM
The letter that brought down Adel Hagekhalil, the general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, is getting buried by the news it generated. Politico first revealed … claims of dysfunctional management and harassment led the Metropolitan Board of Directors to place Hagekhalil on administrative leave and appoint an interim general manager. Hagekhalil is probably done. Environmentalists are worried Metropolitan’s establishment is forcing him out for siding with them. But the letter itself hinted at a major disagreement between its author, Metropolitan’s chief financial officer, and San Diego representatives on the Metropolitan board. And that disagreement could have been part of what provoked the CFO to write the letter and thus led to Hagekhalil’s downfall.