By Michael G, Stogner
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
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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.
Let me know if I should also alert Don or others.
Michelle Durand (she/her) Chief Communications Officer
County Manager’s Office 400 County Center, 1st Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063 650-363-4153 T 408-910-4724 M Mdurand@smcgov.org http://www.smcgov.org
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.
BOS Meeting of January 25, 2022 Video
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?
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