Steve Knell: Responding to columnist’s jab at OID

Re “Will MID’s ag-water subsidies be jolted by lawsuit?” (Page 1B, April 17): Jeff Jardine’s column was full of political rhetoric about Modesto Irrigation District power issues and short on factual substance regarding the Oakdale Irrigation District and OID director Gary Osmundon. How Jardine ties the two together is a journalistic mystery.

Director Osmundson contacted OID’s general counsel well in advance of his decision to sign up for OID’s On-Farm Conservation Funding Program. He did so to get clarity and certainty on whether his participation or voting on the subject matter created a conflict of interest. It clearly does not, as reported by general counsel in open session on March 15. For Jardine not to acknowledge Director Osmundson’s due diligence, nor to confirm OID’s general counsel’s legal opinion on the subject, was unfair and misleading.

To clarify another error in Jardine’s column: OID and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District have not sold power to PG&E since 2009. He should do his homework before he editorializes, not afterward.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Steve Knell: Responding to columnist’s jab at OID."