A former administrator at the West Valley Water District in Rialto alleges in a lawsuit that he was fired in retaliation for complaining about misconduct and malfeasance, including death threats and coercion by board directors.
Naseem Farooqi, the district’s former director of government and legislative affairs, filed the lawsuit Tuesday, Sept. 27, in San Bernardino Superior Court, naming as defendants water district board President Greg Young, board member Channing Hawkins and former human resources director Deborah Martinez, among others.
Farooqi alleges that while employed at the district from December 2018 through August 2022, he was retaliated against and ultimately fired for “blowing the whistle” on “blatant waste and mismanagement of public resources; the awarding of lucrative government contracts to personal friends of board members,” as well as retaliation and bullying.
The lawsuit claims the district believed Farooqi was paid too much and eliminated his position because it wanted to cut costs.
According to the government and public pay website Transparent California, Farooqi was earning more than $202,000 in 2021 as the district’s director of government and legislative affairs. Following his termination, the district changed the job title of Farooqi’s former position from director to manager.
His successor, Socorro Pantaleon, makes $126,227.
Death threats
Farooqi’s most serious complaints were directed at Young for allegedly making a death threat against him at a San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee event in Mentone and trying to get him fired following the incident.
In July 2019, when Farooqi was serving as the district’s public affairs manager, he issued a news release at the direction of his supervisor, Jeremiah Brosowske, saying that Young and board colleague Clifford Young Jr., who is no relation, voted against a state controller audit of the district.
The audit slammed the district for entering into millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, improper hiring practices and excessive spending on travel, lodging and meals by board members.
Although an administrative investigation conducted by an outside law firm concluded Farooqi’s complaint was substantiated by a witness, the district failed to take any disciplinary action against Young, according to the lawsuit.
Young, according to the lawsuit, pushed former interim General Manager Shamindra “Rickey” Manbahal to fire Farooqi in exchange for Young’s support of Manbahal for the permanent position of general manager. Manbahal, however, rebuffed Young’s offer and filed his own complaint with human resources.
Manbahal subsequently resigned from the water district, which serves 82,000 customers in the communities of Bloomington, Colton, Fontana, Rialto and parts of unincorporated areas in San Bernardino as well as Jurupa Valley in Riverside County.
In a statement, Young said: “I have dedicated almost a decade of my life to serving my community through public service. Sadly to be a decent and honest person in politics it often makes you a target of people who seek power and money over what is best for the community.”
PR contract
In December 2019, according to the lawsuit, newly elected board President Channing Hawkins called Farooqi and told him he wanted to get his friend, publicist Charles Chamberlayne of ChamberlaynePR, a contract with the district to “help him out.”
To avoid any negative appearance of awarding his friend a contract, Hawkins, according to the lawsuit, ordered Farooqi to make the proposal to the board as if it were his own, or else he would be fired.
When he received a draft of the proposal, the lawsuit alleges, Hawkins directed Farooqi to make revisions that would instill a sense of urgency for the hiring.
Four months later, the board approved ChamberlaynePR’s contract for $150,000 — 66% more than the $90,000 contract Chamberlayne bid on.
Pantaleon, the district’s spokesperson, said the district no longer contracts with ChamberlaynePR. Its last contract was approved on May 7, 2020, and a 90-day extension was approved on May 4, 2023. It expired on Aug. 4, she said. District records show its most recent payment to ChamberlaynePR was for $7,500 in July 2023.
Chamberlayne’s contract was not the only one Hawkins came under fire for in 2020. Hawkins also successfully pushed for an employment contract with a law firm where a friend, fellow Howard University alumnus Rodney Diggs, works. The firm, Ivie, McNeill & Wyatt, still contracts with the district for legal services.
In response to the scrutiny, Hawkins, during a February 2020 board meeting, said the issue was not about cronyism, but about race.
“I find it offensive and hard to digest that anyone would suggest that a reputable, minority-owned enterprise did not earn this work based on their own expertise and body of work,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins, now an attorney working in San Bernardino, did not respond to a request for comment.
“We are hopeful that a jury will find that Hawkins’ conduct was consistent with a pattern and practice of both unethical and illegal behavior,” Farooqi’s attorney, Anthony Nguyen, said in an email. “We are confident that this case will vindicate Mr. Farooqi’s rights in speaking up against what he believed was wrongful and illegal conduct, and hope that it may set an example for other whistleblowers to follow.”
Pantaleon said in an email that the district has yet to be served with the lawsuit and, therefore, she could not comment on it.
District exposed
A yearlong investigation by the Southern California News Group that began in 2019 uncovered myriad problems within the district, including the employment of consultants without contracts and the hiring of managers and consultants with dubious backgrounds and legal difficulties. The findings were later confirmed by the state controller’s audit.
Additionally, a federal investigation into corruption in Baldwin Park revealed that its former police chief, Mike Taylor, conspired with former Councilman Ricardo Pacheco to have Pacheco help Taylor secure a seat on the water district’s board of directors in exchange for Taylor getting Pacheco an executive-level job at the district at a salary of more than $189,000.
Another West Valley official with links to Baldwin Park, Robert Tafoya, resigned as general counsel of the water district in November 2022, nearly a month after he resigned as Baldwin Park’s city attorney amid the federal corruption probe into a bribery scheme surrounding cannabis businesses.
In March 2020, West Valley officials announced they would undertake sweeping reforms to address what Hawkins described as concerning and irresponsible financial practices uncovered in the state audit.
