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Email correspondence between the Imperial Irrigation District and the Imperial Valley Press is being sought by a law firm that represents members of the Imperial Group in litigation against the IID.
The IID will be turning over the requested emails, IID General Manager Kevin Kelley said Saturday.
The request was filed Nov. 29 pursuant to the California Public Records Act by the Law Offices of Patrick J. Maloney.
“We request copies of all emails sent to, received from, forwarded by or replied to, between the Imperial Valley Press (including its reporters, agents or personnel) and Kevin Kelley, Jeffrey Garber, IID board members or any other IID personnel,” states the request for correspondence between the district and the newspaper.
A similar request for correspondence between IID directors John Pierre Menvielle, Stella Mendoza and Anthony Sanchez was filed Nov. 28.
Kelley said he had not yet spoken with IID attorney Vance Taylor on Saturday, and couldn’t say whether those emails will be released.
It is not certain on whose behalf or for what reasons the requests were filed. Officials with the law firm declined to comment, citing attorney-client privileges.
Brawley farmer Mike Morgan, a vocal critic of the district and a plaintiff in lawsuits against the district, has been represented by the law firm that filed the request for some years. He did not respond to telephone requests for comment.
Officials with the district said they favor transparency.
“I’m sure I may have emails that are embarrassing,” IID Director Jim Hanks said. “I may not have used the right terms. I favor turning them (emails) over. We have a responsibility to serve the people.”
Members of the Imperial Group have accused the newspaper, both in reader comments on the Imperial Valley Press’ website and through social media, of colluding with IID officials, especially when the newspaper was under the direction of different management.
Kelley has an idea of what the requests involving the newspaper may be about.
“I had a continuing relationship with the paper, where I wrote editorials on national and international events assigned by newspaper editors and (former Publisher) Dave Leone. I believe that arrangement ended in 2010,” Kelley said.
Before taking a job with IID that eventually led to his position as assistant to the general manager, Kelley was editor of the Opinion Page of the newspaper under Editor Brad Jennings and Leone.
He said there has been a longstanding assertion that he wields influence over the editorial direction of the paper.
“It is fantasy,” Kelley said. “The only way I can refute that is to point at the record.”
Richard Montenegro Brown, local content editor for the Imperial Valley Press, said the newspaper has nothing to hide.
“Kevin did write some edits for us for a while, but he never wrote anything local, and especially nothing that had to do with the IID while he worked there,” Brown said.
“This newsroom, editorial board and newspaper in general is under different management now; this idea of collusion is silly,” Brown said. “People like to believe that Kevin or some of the directors still have the newspaper’s ear. I can tell you they don’t have mine — at least no more than anybody else in the community.”
Brown said he and the Press have an open-door policy for anyone who wants to tell it their concerns, and he believes the same goes for Publisher Gerard Delaney and Opinion Page Editor and News and Production Editor Peggy Dale.
Staff Writer Antoine Abou-Diwan can be reached at 760-337-3454 or aabou-diwan@ivpressonline.com
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