The 760,000 residents of San Mateo County might have first starting hearing about the more than $10M of PPE and the Convoy of Garbage Trucks filled with PPE leaving the San Mateo County Event Center in November or December of 2021. The Breaking News Story was brought to you by ABC7 News Investigative Reporter Dan Noyes on January 13, 2022 it aired at 6:12 PM.
The simple question I have had since first hearing about this PPE Scandal is, How is Mike Callagy still employed by the FIVE Supervisors of San Mateo County. Why was he not placed on Administrative Leave on January 13, 2022?
Notice the DATE of this e-mail, it is BEFORE Mike Callagy had any knowledge according to what he told Dan Noyes.
From: Michael Callagy <MCallagy@smcgov.org> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 9:58 PM To: Peggy Jensen; Scott Johnson; Michelle Durand; John Nibbelin; Roberto Manchia; Justin Mates; Daniel Belville; lliana Rodriguez
Subject: Re: PPE loss documentation
Peggy yes you are correct as that is the approach | was going to take on the purchase. | think Dana and her staff will start the clean up tomorrow as it appears it is all individually packaged. It will need to be wiped down, but every package | opened was dry on the inside. The process of getting it indoors will take through Friday. There is a ton there. It would be great if we got a definitive answer from the VA on their desire to take lots of the PPE. Almost all of the gowns expire May 2, 2022. The approach I’m taking is this is surplus, (goggles, buckets, face shields, odd sized gowns, bleach) not hospital grade that we moved outside as we were trying to give it away. We made a mistake not moving it back inside, but with all that was going on with our focus on boosters and then Omicron and testing, it got lost in the process. We appreciate it being called to our attention and we are looking for a home for the items. Our medical grade gloves, gowns, mask, etc. are secured and occupying almost 7000 sq feet of space. We have distributed a great deal of PPE to local medical facilities (| will need to know where) and have enough PPE to last several years.
This e-mail was sent 14 minutes before the Board of Supervisors Meeting on January 25, 2022. Alex Tourk is the Owner of a Public Relations Firm and his monthly fee has been reported to be $15,000 per month. SMC County Manager Mike Callagy hired him, Did he need the Supervisors permission for that hire, or is he paying for Mr. Tourk’s services out of his own pocket.
From: Alex Tourk <tourk@gfpublicaffairs.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2022 8:46 AM PST To: Michelle Durand <mdurand@smcgov.org> CC: Michael Callagy <MCallagy@smcgov.org>; John Beiers <jbeiers@smcgov.org>; John Nibbelin <jnibbelin@smcgov.org>
Subject: Re: Heads up for BoS mtg
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of San Mateo County. Unless you recognize the sender’s email address and know the content is
safe, do not click links, open attachments or reply.
I would give Don a heads up just in case they get out of line and he can keep order.
The above e-mail is in response to the below e-mail sent 2 minutes earlier by Michelle Durand. WCM stands for a 501C called the Wine Country Marines of Sonoma, California. The President of WCM is James Brown who is also the CEO of West Coast Security, San Carlos, California.
On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 8:44 AM Michelle Durand <mdurand@smcgov.org> wrote:
Good morning all
Just spoke with the WCM president who said ABC7 plans to join the meeting via Zoom bc they received a call from Brent Turner who said he plans to attend and question the decision to work with his organization. In James words, Brent said he wanted to “cause a ruckus.” I told him Brent is not unfamiliar to the Board and staff.
So based on these two e-mails 2 minutes apart we can see the Michelle Durand had a conversation with James Brown the President of Wine Country Marines about ABC7 attending by ZOOM the BOS meeting that starts in 16 minutes. Wouldn’t all Governments want the Public’s Business to be viewed by the Public and wouldn’t they welcome the News Industry and Reporters to attend.
Think about that for a moment, it’s a San Mateo County Government Public Meeting on Zoom.
Who was Alex Tourk concerned about getting out of line?
There was only one Supervisor that even bothered to ask any questions and that was David Canepa. Don Horsley quickly jumped all over him.
At the 330:35 mark Supervisor/Candidate for Congress David Canepa asks this question, “There is some PPE that has gone unaccounted for right? That was a great great question, it’s too bad he didn’t wait for Mike Callagy to answer it. ABC7 Investigative reporter Dans Noyes who broke this story on January 13, 2022 reported a “CONVOY of garbage trucks filled up with brand new PPE” in the previous 2 months that would have been November-December of 2021.
At the 3:33:00 you can hear Don Horsley the President of the Board of Supervisors interrupting Supervisor David Canepa’s question. Did Don think David was getting out of line?
The San Mateo County PPE Scandal continues to grow as is always the case when the simple facts are lied about. It’s always the Coverup that becomes the story.
San Mateo County Government doesn’t want a citizen/resident, or employee asking any pesky questions like, How did you choose the Wine Country Marines of Sonoma California to distribute the more than $10M of PPE on January 25, 2022? How many other 501C’s from San Mateo County did you consider?
San Mateo County Government Change a few words and problem solved. $10M PPE Scandal
SMC Supervisor David CanepaKevin Mullin
Supervisor and Candidate for Congress David Canepa and Kevin Mullin who is also running for Congress. Take care of San Mateo County Business first.
San Mateo County Executive Officer Mike Callagy works for the 5 Supervisors, he is your at will employee.
San Mateo County News.com has 2 E-mails dated January 11, 2022 that show:
10 San Mateo County Employees who knew about the PPE on January 11, 2022
Roberto Manchia, John Nibbelin, Michael Callagy, Peggy Jensen, Justin Mates, Michelle Durand, Daniel Belville, Iliana Rodriquez, Scott Johnson, Kim-Anh Le
On January 13, 2022 two days later the San Mateo County Government lied to the public telling ABC 7 News Investigative Reporter Dan Noyes the County only learned about it because of Mr. Noyes contacting them.
Here are a couple of changes the Government made the next day January 14, 2022 . Changed the first sentence to remove “the County learned” as to not reinforce the idea we knew nothing . Clarified that the investigation is by an external person . Removed reference to FEMA and changed value to app. $7M
November 10, 2021 San Mateo County Risk Manager Scott Johnson stated in letter he sent to Kim-Anh Le “in my professional opinion, it is a total loss.” he’s talking about the PPE moved outside at the San Mateo County Event Center in September 2021.
Photo from Scott Johnson’s letter November 10, 2021
This was two months before San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy said He didn’t know anything about it. Thank goodness Scott Johnson was wrong or was he?
November 10, 2021 To: Kim An Le, Finance Section Chief From: Scott Johnson Logistics Section Chief Risk Manager, County of San Mateo RE: Inspection of Damaged PPE at event center I have examined the store of PPE that was stored at the Event Center. My understanding of the timeline based on interviews with the staff is as follows. The PPE was stored in an indoor facility. The staff was directed to move the PPE to a fenced area outside to accommodate an event that was to occur at the event center. The PPE was stored without incident using tarps, elevated pallets and plastic wraps. Unfortunately, a rain event called ? River occurred on a few days between October 21st and October 25th with intensity not anticipated. The Bay Area experience up to 10 inches of rain in one day. It was the most rain recorded in the month of October in 173 years of record keeping. At one point it rained for 34 straight hours. Winds averaged 25 mph during the event but gusted as high as 60+ mph. While the PPE had been protected, the protection was easily overcome by wind and rain. There was no time or place to move the substantial amount of PPE to a different location. I have attached photos and an inventory, but in my professional opinion, it is a total loss. I question the efficacy of PPE meant to keep people safe from Covid-19 given the damage. It is simply not worth the risk to human life. Should you have any questions, please let me know. I can be reached at extension 4387.
Some follow up questions for Scott Johnson what method did you use to come to the conclusion on NOVEMBER 10, 2021 that all of the PPE that was moved out of San Mateo County Event Center by September 27, 2021 according to Steve Perich of the SMCEC Staff. What are the names of the Staff members that you interviewed per your letter. Where is the Inventory list of all the PPE that you declared a Total Loss?
The obvious question is How did San Mateo County Government Officials go from a “Total Loss” to “We didn’t know anything about it until ABC7 Dan Noyes broke the story on January 13, 2022” To 98% of the PPE is Useable and Undamaged and the Wine Country Marines of Sonoma per President James Brown will be Distributing all of it on January 25, 2022 to whoever he determines is a qualified organization.
San Mateo County News.com is also requesting the Partnership Agreement mentioned above.
January 12, 2022 San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management DEM Director Daniel Belville who works directly for Mike Callagy communicated with James Brown President of Wine Country Marines out of Sonoma. The next day January 13, 2022 at 6:00 PM the WCM posted on their Facebook page:
WINECOUNTRYMARINES.ORG Large Donation of PPE The Wine Country Marines are excited to announce a partnership with the San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management. Specifically, the County DEM has graciously donated to the Wine Country Marines a very large supply of excess inventory of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that they were p…
PPE Donation to Community Organizations Time & Location Jan 25, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM San Mateo, California
On January 17, 2022 I requested a copy of the Document for Donation of $10M PPE to Wine Country Marines James Brown.
From: Michael Stogner michaelgstogner@yahoo.com Date: Monday, January 17, 2022 at 10:55 AM To: Michelle Durand mdurand@smcgov.org Subject: Document for Donation of $10M PPE to Wine Country Marines James Brown CAUTION: This email originated from outside of San Mateo County. Unless you recognize the sender’s email address and know the content is safe, do not click links, open attachments or reply.
Hello Michelle, I hope things are going well for you. Could you please send me a copy of the Donation agreement to Wine County Marines, James Brown mentioned on his Facebook page January 13, 2022 6:00 PM The Wine Country Marines are excited to announce a partnership with the San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management. Specifically, the County DEM has graciously donated to the Wine Country Marines a very large supply of excess inventory of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that they were provided by FEMA, to be shared with the community at large.
Thank You, Stay Safe Michael G. Stogner San Mateo County News.com
Caiti Busch <cbusch@smcgov.org>
To: Michael Stogner
Cc: Jennifer Stalzer
Thu, Apr 14 at 5:02 PM
Mr. Stogner,
There was no written agreement between the County and Wine Country Marines that predates the January 27, 2022 agreement I produced to you. There was no written agreement prior to January 13, 2022 at 6PM, and there is no separate Financial Agreement. Because Mr. Brown is not a County employee, I cannot know what he meant in his blog post, but as far as we are aware, he was not referring to a written record.
The reason I asked for this document is simple, every time someone gives me more than $10,000,000 of something I like to have some kind written verification, proof, evidence etc that I in fact do have the authority to distribute this PPE which was paid for with FEMA money.
It took San Mateo County Government 90 days to say the truth.
There was no written agreement between the County and Wine Country Marines on or before January 13, 2022.
April 5, 2022 Board of Supervisor Meeting, Supervisor Canepa asked President of the Board Don Horsley to place the Dr. Jim Lianides PPE “Independent Investigation” or “Progress Report” depending on who you talk to on a future Agenda of a regular meeting or a Special Meeting so that the Public would have the opportunity to discuss it. President Don Horsley approved that request.
Not one of the other 4 Supervisors had a comment about Dr. Jim Lianides 12 pages of words.
This e-mail explains alot, No wonder the pages Dr. Liaindes provided doesn’t look anything like an Independent Investigation, He wasn’t hired to do one. it’s that Simple.
Subject: Process Review Dear Colleagues, | retained the services of Jim Lianides, retired Superintendant of the Sequoia School District, to do a process review in regard to the storage and handling of PPE at the Event Center.
Best regards, Mike Mike Callagy (he/him)* County Manager Attorney Client Privilege Attorney Client Privilege County of San Mateo | 400 County Center, f* floor, Redwood City, CA 94063 650-363-4129mcallagy@smcgov.orgwww.smcgov.org
Notice none of the 5 Supervisors were included in the above e-mail.
San Mateo County Executive Officer Mike Callagy is an at-will employee who works directly for the 5 San Mateo County Supervisors.
More questions every day about the more than $10,000,000 of PPE at the San Mateo County Event Center.
Alex TourkSan Mateo County Manager Mike CallagyMichelle Durand
That is not earth shattering News for San Mateo County Residents, SMC has a long History of Sheriff and UnderSheriff lying to the residents in public press releases, April 2007 is just one little example. SMC has Sheriff Sergeants and other Sheriff employees committing Felony crimes PC115(a) and even Perjury in the Courts. The Rachel Amanda Quintana case of Half Moon Bay and SMCSO Sergeant Mike Otte committing Perjury is just one example.
What date and time did San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy hire Alex Tourk for $15,000.00 per month to create and distribute a lie to the 760,000 residents of the County?
Mike Callagy should pay for Alex Tourk’s work out of his own pocket.
ABC7 I-TEAM Investigative Reporter Dan Noyes and James Brown President of the Wine Country Marines both made Public Announcements on January 13, 2022 about the PPE, San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management generous donation of the large amount of PPE that was to be distributed by WCM on January 25, 2022.
Dan Noyes accurately reported on January 13, 2022 that the value was more than $10,000,000.00
Dan Noyes accurately reported on January 30, 2022 the “Blatant Lie” from SMC Government Officials.
San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy on January 13, 2022 said “He did not know the value.”
This is where Alex Tourk, Principal of Ground Floor Public Affairs comes in the picture.
Less than 24 hours after SMC Manager Mike Callagy said he didn’t know the value, a PR piece is mass distributed on a bunch of Bot media news sites regurgitating the exact same B.S..
Here is what Alex Tourk, Mike Callagy and Michelle Durand put out to the residents at 3:30PM 1/14/22
“The estimated value of the supplies based on the original purchase prices is $7 million.”
Today’s Google search: Mike Callagy $7M PPE Here are the results of just the 1st page notice the names of these News sites. That is what a PR firm does.
Jan 14, 2022 — San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy said there will be an investigation into how an estimated $7 million worth of surplus safety equipment …
Jan 15, 2022 — The boxes should have been brought back indoors once the event was over, according to Friday’s statement from County Manager Mike Callagy. “It …
About $7 million worth of surplus personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, … according to Friday’s statement from County Manager Mike Callagy.
Jan 14, 2022 — But the items were not returned inside following the event. “It clearly is a mistake by the county,” County Manager Mike Callagy said to ABC7. ” …
Jan 15, 2022 — A surplus of personal protective equipment worth $7 million was left outside … San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy said in a statement.
10 hours ago — Mike Callagy told the Board of Supervisors on January 25, “We know that approximately seven million dollars’ worth of protective equipment …
Jan 17, 2022 — The boxes should have been brought back indoors once the event was over, according to Friday’s statement from County Manager Mike Callagy.
(AP) — About $7 million worth of surplus personal protective. … once the event was over, according to Friday’s statement from County Manager Mike Callagy.
San Mateo County Residents might recall seeing that exact Public Relations Spin in the Hillsborough resident Zain Jaffer Criminal case in October 2017 where he was arrested by the HBPD for Attempted Murder of his 3 year old son and 5 other Felony Counts. People vs. Zainali Jaffer 17NF012415A.
He is the only defendant that I am aware of who had already hired Michael S. Sitrick who the L.A. Times calls “The Wizard of Spin” who had already prepared a Press Release about Zain Jaffer’s case being completely dismissed before anybody knew that District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and DDA Sharon Cho were going to ask a San Mateo County Judge to dismiss ALL of the charges. He (Zain Jaffer) read the prepared press release at court.
Thanks to ABC 7 News Investigative Reporter Dan Noyes on his January 13, 2022 report of San Mateo County Government moving and leaving more than $10,000,000.00 of PPE outside and unprotected at the San Mateo County Event Center. He also reported the Convoy of Garbage Trucks full of PPE that left the site in the previous two months.
In his first report of several, Dan Noyes Interviewed Mike Callagy and Supervisor David Canepa a Candidate for Congress. They both stated They had No Knowledge of this. They both were quick to call it a MISTAKE, and launch an Independent Investigation to assure the public this would never happen again. Isn’t that nice.
The Question I have for San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy and ALL FIVE County Supervisors is, How is that possible?
A New Name for an Expanding Mission: Department of Emergency Management
“Frequency and complexity” of emergencies prompts change
San Mateo County President of Supervisors Don HorsleySMC Supervisor David Canepa
I have personally seen this several times going back to when he was on the Sequoia Healthcare District Board with Jack Hickey. He simply is unable to control his childish outbursts. As soon as Mr. Hickey started to speak about a topic Don Horsley wanted to control, He would interrupt him.
He did it again, this time to Supervisor David Canepa. Watch the ABC 7 Video below at the 2:06 mark
Yesterday the Board of Supervisors were having the regular scheduled meeting and Item 5 was an update on the more than $10,000,000.00 of PPE (according to Dan Noyes Investigative Journalist who first broke the story on Jan 13, 2022).
This is the same PPE that President Don Horsley said “Remember it’s just a bunch of Buckets and Mops” he made that statement at the January 25, 2022 BOS Meeting Item #12. Why would SMC Government order so many Buckets/Mops and Bleach in the First Place, and why wasn’t it used by the Sheriff’s Office and other agencies in SMC by now?
Deleting government emails too quickly is not OK A fundamental principle of a free and open society is that citizens have a right to know what’s going on inside their government. A crucial way Californians exercise this right is with the state’s Public Records Act , which allows people to see email correspondence, contracts and other documents held by local and state officials. It’s how, early in the pandemic, journalists were able to reveal the details of California’s scramble to obtain medical masks, including the collapse of a nearly $800-million deal with a politically connected vendor and the decision to secretly wire nearly half a billion dollars to a company that had been in business for just three days — only to quickly call off the deal and claw back the money. Emails obtained under the law allowed The Times and environmental activists to expose how Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration worked to influence decisions in favor of a controversial water desalination plant. And documents The Times obtained under the law showed that the state parks department let some employees live at government-owned homes in some of California’s most scenic locales for cut-rate rents averaging $215 a month. The law is clear that state agencies must, with some exceptions, release records in their possession. But what’s not clear is how long they must hang onto those documents. And this is critical, because the government can effectively hide records it doesn’t want the public to see by destroying or deleting them before anyone asks for them. Nothing to see here! Literally. Legislation moving through the Capitol addresses the issue by requiring that all state agencies retain digital and paper records for at least two years. State law already requires that local governments do this, but state agencies have been allowed to decide for themselves how long to hang onto different kinds of records, and the range is huge. Just within the California Environmental Protection Agency, for example, retention timelines vary from 90 days for informal emails, to a decade for documents related to environmental justice investigations of birth defects, to permanent storage of correspondence with tribal governments. Recently, when the Department of Insurance announced plans to start deleting emails after 180 days, an employee complained that they needed access to older emails to keep track of past communications in enforcement cases. The department, already facing litigation for not releasing detailed calendars requested under the Public Records Act, backtracked on the plan to speed up email deletion. Assembly Bill 2370 would make clear that all state records, including email, must be retained for at least two years. Its author, Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-Greenbrae), is running for insurance commissioner this year with a campaign echoing the same concerns raised by Consumer Watchdog, the group that sued current Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara for calendars detailing his appointments with industry executives who contributed to his campaign. So this bill clearly has some political overtones. But that does not negate the fact that it would advance government transparency and serve the public interest. We urge the Legislature to continue advancing the bill. Similar legislation passed in 2019 but was vetoed by Newsom, who said it would be too costly to store data and hire the necessary personnel to manage retaining records. The Legislature’s price tag on that bill was vague, saying that “state costs could reach into the millions of dollars.” Lawmakers ought to do a more thorough cost analysis this time around, including taking into account advances in technology that are continually reducing the cost of data storage. And then weigh that against the moral penalty for keeping the public in the dark.
San Mateo County Government E-mails should be preserved Not Deleted.
