Roundtable: The Marne Foster Mess, Women Marines, New CPUC Head, Nuclear Waste

Newly released emails show the extent of meddling in school affairs by Marty Foster. Women in the Marine Corps, are they ready for combat? Abortive sit clear -- KPBS roundtable starts now. Joining me today are Mario Koran, Voice of San Diego, Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union Tribune, Alison St. John, KPBS News. The rulebook for members of the San Diego unified school board is clear. Board members are responsible for the welfare of the district as a whole, school Board President Marty Foster may have blown through the firewall more than once. Let's start the story of Mitzi Lizarraga. Which is first removed as principal last year, there's a lot of mystery. He recently spoke with her and got some emails, what have you learned? There has been mystery and a lot of times these sorts of things happen, principals are removed there's always a faction of parents that are upset about the removal. This is one that hasn't died. The reason is because school board president had a son who attended the school at the time. There have always been speculation on what role Marty Foster played and having a principal removed. The emails show the role is specific and clear. We see Foster against war policy was involved in the day-to-day operations of the school. The board policies they are clearly that that should not happen but it did. She also asked for special treatment for her son, what kind of special treatments? We have statements from Mitzi Lizarraga who spoke recently -- what was the question? What kind of special treatment was she seeking for her son? We hear Marty Foster have picked a counselor. There's allegations she pushed for grade changes and things of this nature. We haven't proven that sort of thing yet but we see Marty Foster was pushing for sanctions against counselors that wrote a negative evaluation for her son. There was a lot of controversy around the liquor of recommendation -- letter recommendation. Counselors have to weigh-in and see whether they recommend a student at college or not. In this case, the counselor said the recommendation SS is no basis for her to recommend this student to college. That happened to be Marne Foster son. We don't know how Marne Foster got a hold of that letter and evaluation but she knew about it immediately. She jumped up the chain of command, with two district officials and got the ball rolling on changes at the school. They ended up taking with that letter and putting a new one in, there is a glowing evaluation for the students. In the second letter, a characterized her son as being an outstanding students were in reality, he was ranked 100 out of 147 students is that correct? This. I think the second letter is pretty clear that as his academic achievements were exaggerated at the least. It didn't mention problems he had at the school. The letter spawned some changes and the principal was ultimately removed and the counselor who wrote the original letter was put on suspension. Cindy Martin has not spoken about this. She has released a statement saying she is solely responsible for personnel decisions. What to make of her statement? Are people in the district satisfied what she said? This question is awkward for them. If they they are hamstrung by personnel matters their confidential. Best case scenario, there's a good reason to remove that principle that had nothing to do with Marne Foster not liking her. Worst-case scenario, Superintendent Cindy Martin listened to Marne Foster and dismissed her as principal. Is no evidence to say that's why the decision was made. We note that Martin was at least aware of what was happening at the school. Great investigative work. Where's the teachers union on this? Is she a big favorite of players? The superintendent won't sit down for an interview and answer any questions whatsoever? She hasn't talked about SR is answering the questions of why she made that decision to remove the principal no, she hasn't said it to me or any other outlets, citing confidentiality Does the board have any sort of firewall with the school board members? There is a written policy on it that is clear that that should not happen. Where's the board centering their colleague? That is a good question. To this point, I haven't heard any sanctions even as simple as a century taking place. How serious is this. It reminds you of some of what we heard himself Bay last year were some of the school board members ended up pleading guilty to felonies. In this case we have school board member was confusing her role as a mom and a school board member forgot most of what she did appears to be in favor of her son and there is money involved as well. There was an attempt to get money. Another fascinating piece of the story, a negative evaluation later became the basis of a complaint that was filed asking for $250,000 to make up for the loss to scholarship money the negative evaluation supposedly cost the boy. Who wrote the complaint is a matter of dispute. It was submitted in her exes name. That's with the school district thought was submitting its. Recently he has come forward and say he didn't even read the letter. It didn't get any money out of it, the claim was dismissed. Can you fall claims if your kid doesn't get the grade of recommendation you want? Apparently, there wasn't enough to warrant any further -- it's notable she didn't follow lawsuit once the claim was dismissed. This is the school Board President in the second largest district in the state of California, is she not going to respond to questions? She hasn't given any indication that she is willing to talk about this openly and honestly. That is a trait Mark of Marne Foster. She may have legitimate reasons for the cagey with the press but she has never been responsive to me. I understand it's a similar situation with others. Anybody leading up to run against her? Not to my knowledge. Elbie has started her hat will give an indication they're going to run. When you have school board member who is doing these questionable things, she's going to run for reelection unopposed. We'll have to leave it there. Will stay on top of this issue. I knew ten-month study found that women don't measure up when it comes to combat skills. Experiment has come under fire for sitting women up to fail but the critics are taking heat themselves for not accepting the studies findings. KBPS talked with rain Lieutenant. clinics are weekend that with the drinker hope to discover. What do we need to learn about that so we can understand better if opening of the specialties and the types of units were women are assigned, what next most cents. Tony Perry is here to sort of the findings and the opinions, tell us about this study, how is it conducted and what were its findings. 400 Marines, a quarter -- they found that male only platoons did better across the board that gender integrated, shooting accuracy, speed, how well they do things, how many injuries, all sorts of things like that. Men who had never had it that you training still did better than women. Bottom line, it would appear according to the study, women are not seated in large measure for effigy. The Secretary of Navy said no, it's like the methodology, rejects the findings and he said I'm not going to ask for an exemption from the Secretary of Defense for the Marine Corps. Make it work. That's where we are. Has been called for a resignation. We have yet to hear from the man at the top, general James Dunford. There is a deadline of January 1 and we will see what Dunford says it will see what others say. This isn't over yet, they had a study, it's methodology has been questioned, did you try to find what the average woman is doing and to the average man do well? Is all over the board and the Marines are not happy at Mavis's rejection of the study. The women who represented the study were athletic. What -- they don't shoot as well, the women trained in separately from the men, they don't get as much training on the F-16 and the M4. Also, that upper body strength, they can't go over an 8 foot wall as well, they can't carry 200 pounds as well, maybe they don't work independently as well or move as quickly as the men. These were the kinds of things, their numbers involved with all of its. A lot of it was averages as I understand it. We're not looking for the average, we are looking for the elite. Two women have passed the Army Ranger course, not an easy course, suggesting there are women who can pass the toughest tests with the man. Kenny's limits performances be improved by trading? Yes. Upper body strength is what it is but that can be improved as well. This is traditional Marine Corps. This is the most tradition minded of the military services. They honor their tradition more than the other services, I am not surprised that asked to make this an enormous change, there is resistance with a tee it up in a way that it doesn't come down right. On the other hand, the history of the Marine Corps on this is such a thing, when they get a direct order, they make it work. The truth is, women have been in combat. Absolutely. There are a lot of different positions that women are there interacting. They are outside the were dealing with the foreign women. They have to in 03 11 which is the infantry so far it goes and patrols, a female engagement member may be with them so they have gone out on these patrols but in terms of the classic zero 311, not yet. That seems to be what the dispute is. We'll see with the general says. Do think any part of the military last for exceptions. Ray Mabus has said he is not going to ask . The seals has said we would give it a go. The Air Force has said no problem, the Marines are allowing it certain of the billets, artillery for example, I don't see widespread exemptions being asked or granted. said they are not going to ask for any. Congress is living out there. Duncan Hunter once Ray Mabus scalp and wants him to resign and lost his ability to lead. I would look for Ray Mabus to resign. This isn't over, we'll hear more from Congressman. Senator. McCain is not happy with aspects of this . It seems like at least one of the things that Ray Mabus said it shows you need to be more careful about how you select people to be a part of these combat activities. The Marines would say that they did that.saying not enough. Disputes over methodology are indecipherable and you can't resolve them. It seems to try to argue that women are the same as men is a futile endeavor. The real goal is to try to find where women can actively contribute to combat. Two women have passed the Army Ranger course. And I've heard Marines it is not as difficult as our course. Our next segment begs the question what does it say to not get confirmed by the California Senate. We asked because this month is state Senate confirmed Michael picker. He is under investigation accused of not turning over documents and a state criminal probe and there are questions about his own dealings with utilities consultants. Jeff McDonald is here to shed some light on this murky subject. Senators Marty block and then way so were critical about how picker handled requests for documents. What has changed, why do they confirm that. They said they were satisfied by his answers. It's not clear, I watched that committee meeting and he wasn't pressed on a number of issues that any reasonable person would have asked. Why do you think that is. I do that they were willing -- were not willing to go to bat against him and the governor for other projects they hope the governor science. No one will say that on the record -- Apparently they didn't want to challenge the governor. They were letting -- willing to let him serve Kassie said all the right things. Hasn't done a lot of the right things consumer advocates want to see done including turning over thousands of patient records they've been asking for four several months. When I press the Senators on them, neither came to the phone after their vote to confirm this nominee. They said in statements a were satisfied with his performance before the rules committee and they wanted to give him every opportunity to reform the organization. Has only been president for nine months. He has done some things like Institute new training for his workforce and adopt a code of ethics for commissioners. Things that appear to be windowdressing. We will see. Why do they do it? There are these for bills that have passed the state legislature and their purpose is to reform. A couple things that could make a measurable difference in the administration, the first's inspector general type position that is outside the commission. It be overseen by the state auditor's office and that would be a position that looks at regulatory decisions and makes recommendations for improvement the way the state auditor does right now. They don't have any enforcement teeth so that probably going to be signed. Another thing is expected communications is private back channel emails, meetings, it was so apparent -- Were they already illegal? They are not illegal. You have to disclose them. They are allowed as long as he disclose and within three days. The disclosure is not always adhered to. We know that Edison, the majority owner of the plant had several key meetings with Mr. picker's predecessor. They negotiated a settlement to the agreement -- to the case, dividing up the cost of the plant closure. That is problematic because they did disclose that earlier this year. It also requires commissioners -- I lost my train of thought. What's the bottom line, is this a money thing? They haven't been on the ball in guarding my pocket but. I pay the bill, I grit my teeth. I think it's clear they're not strongly related utilities. Essential question hovers over nuclear power plants is where to put all the radioactive waste, the issue is getting more urgency locally now that the generating station has shut down. This week the San Diego board of supervisors weighed in. Ousts St. John is here to tell us what they want from the federal government. Supervisors agreed to write a letter, what with a letter say? It will say take the stuff away and remove it from our coastline, it's too dangerous to be kept here. The actual likelihood of there being effect is minimal. I think the department of energy looks the same way. Congress has not agreed on a location. Is it any more dangerous now that the plant has been shut down? I think the owner Edison said especially now that it is shut down, they have security in place for these plants which they are trying to wrap down the decommissioned the plants. It's more vulnerable on the site is being decommissioned. That is one of the possibilities. 8 million people living within 50 miles is an archetype or case of a site that is not appropriate for long-term storage of radioactive spent fuel. We want to have the spent fuel moved and relocated from this region. It is just pushing it somewhere else. To locate spent nuclear fuel, on the coast in a high earthquake zone, subject to any number of natural disasters that could occur. We have learned in Japan makes no sense whatsoever. Some of this is being stored in these dry casks, how safe are they? This is a question that I cannot answer. The cost are licensed for 20 years. There have been storing nuclear waste for a couple of decades already on site but only since 2003 in dry casks. The question is it's all a matter of time. We are talking about different timescales, you can may be stored on-site for a couple of decades but right now we have nowhere to send it and this will be dangerous for hundreds if not thousands of years. This problem is not unique to San Diego County. The first elected officials in the state will draw attention to this problem and I wonder where our state delegation is on this. I spoke with someone who said he has been beating the state legislatures and justice to their starting to get the ball rolling. What is interesting is when you look at the amount of political pressure is put to stop nuclear waste, it was huge of the amount of money spent. The amount of political pressure trying to get the nuclear waste off of our shores in earthquake prone spot, it's a negligible. What this vote by the supervisors was missing this is important, we're going to weigh in. They said there was form a subcommittee and push for the -- We have to leave it here. That wraps up another week of stories of the KPBS roundtable. A big thank you to Mario Karen, much attitude to -- much gratitude to our other contributors. All the scores -- stories we discussed today are available on a website. Thank you for joining us today on the roundtable.