We’re told Irvine Council member Christina Shea doesn’t read this blog,but she has no problem calling me to demand I correct information she says is false. We’re tipped off to some inaccurate information she’s posted on her Facebook page about Gafcon (it’s attached above) so we believe she’s obligated to correct the record herself.
Gafcon has offered this statement in regards to the final issued report by the city’s Star Chamber. I believe the investigators were firm is saying “public relations plays no role in the design phase.” They couldn’t be more wrong. Public relations touches every aspect of an organization’s operations from accounting to manufacturing to planning to employee relations to recruitment to research. To say Forde & Mollrich shouldn’t have been involved in the design phase of the park is about as smart as saying the city attorney shouldn’t sit in on city council meetings.
Here’s Gafcon’s statement.
Gafcon has repeatedly called for the completion of the January 2014 audit. The publication of the latest reports by Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro Accountants (HSNO) and Aleshire & Wynder, is a feeble and failed attempt to validate the City’s previous claims. We are disappointed by the City’s decision to release two more reports scattered with inaccuracies and ridden with unproven accusations. Throughout this so-called “audit,” Aleshire & Wynder and HSNO have repeatedly put forth unproven and misleading allegations. We are glad to see the City withdraw the initial 2014 audit which Gafcon refuted in a 90-minute video that addressed every allegation using footage and material from Council meetings. The City should have never released these current reports that fail to acknowledge previous errors and simply release a barrage of new false charges.
The final HSNO report has made it clear that despite their use of the word “audit” throughout the past months, this report was never intended to be an “audit” but rather a targeted investigation directed and controlled by the City Council and Audit Subcommittee. The City Council continues to make outrageous and false claims. Councilmember Shea has now gone so far as to post on her personal Facebook that “Assemblywoman Gonzalez is a former employee of Gafcon,” which is completely untrue. All Gafcon has ever tried to do is ensure that information released publicly by the City is accurate. Gafcon’s reputation has now been damaged by not one, but four, error packed reports and updates made public by the City.
We continue to rely on a bipartisan coalition in the State Legislature that has filed a request with the Legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee to investigate the conduct of the City of Irvine through this audit process. Irvine, which has run its own investigation, now wants to stop the State Legislature and the public from finding out the truth. What does Irvine have to hide?
The release of these latest Irvine reports does not dispel the countless lies and errors published within the pages of previous reports, and the ineptitude conduct of the Council and City staff throughout this investigation will not be overlooked. Gafcon will continue to supply the State and other agencies with all needed information and materials to hold the City accountable for the misleading allegations that have damaged the company’s hard earned reputation.
Gafcon continues to hold itself to the highest level of integrity and service to its clients and its employees, and will not allow the City to continue to harm the company and those in its realm, through the unproven allegations they have publicized. Since beginning work on the Great Park project in 2005, Gafcon cooperated with all requests from the City of Irvine but has been ignored and mistreated despite numerous attempts to seek the truth. With the release of the “audit,” Gafcon is all the more committed to shed truth on the errors publicized by the City.