Just as a note, one way we found to refute the statements of the Dept. of Gen. Services "misstatements" shown below was to get the past 18 months' reports from Plan Rooms and check up on just how many of the reported school districts and more had such roofing applied....but the cost was more than I alone could bear ($15,000). So I couldn't refute it. I don't have thousands of dollars to access such reports, but I do have the ability to carefully investigate and log in all of the data that applies...to refute such "reporting back" by California Government Officials.
If these scams are going to get stopped, the best way is with all the data - tracked, and then handing it over to investigators, reporters, and legislatures. There's nothing like overwhelming evidence...and the costs of sole-sourcing in actuality, totalled....
Second Update, 09/26/08:
The Monterey County Herald Article referred to below was apparently noted by Caltax.org - a reporting agency that tries to report on all issues of note across California. The date of their notation is July 28, 2003, and they state:
" Monterey Schools Criticized by Paper on Roofing Contract. The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District picked an out-of-state, “high end” company to supply roofing materials to the district, causing the Monterey County Herald (July 22) to suggest the district is paying twice what it should to re-roof schools. The sum could run into the millions, the paper said. Superintendent Daniel Callahan said we got a good deal with its contract with the Garland Company of Ohio. The district eschewed competitive bidding for the project and considered only Garland for roofing supplies."
The article referred to refutes the Dept. of General Services' statement shown below that California only had one school district - Monterey Peninsula Unified School District - with only one of the New Jersey SCI Report named scammers operating in their "sampling - in only five of the 18 schools the article stated were being done by such company. That's the key article that independently shows the lie put out by the GSA within the Dept. of Education, directly to the State Allocation Board and to the Governor's Offices.
The Caltax.org notation can be found at:
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:98ApcHwEijgJ:www.caltax.org/Caltaxletter/2003/Caltaxletter.7-25-03.htm+%22San+Diego%22+%22roofing+contract%22+Garland&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
___________________________________________________
In 1999 and since, many roofing industry insiders from 24 states called and wrote - and have given me great information, in the hopes the California Court system would observe the whistleblowing laws and hold UC accountable for their actions.
During that process, thankfully, many of you sent me information on involved school systems and public works facilities in California.
As a sample, recent bidding surrounding the three NJSCI Report manufacturers this Spring (one day's listing) in the SF Bay Area includes roofing work being done at:
Balboa HS, School of the Arts
2008 Re-Roofing Project, Package 5
Garland
San Francisco
Thurgood Marshall HS
2008 Re-roofing Project, Package 4
Garland
Chenoweth Elementary
Re-roof Bid #2007-12 Membrane Re-Roofing
Shoreline Middle School
Manufactured Metal Roof Panels
Garland
AND IN SEVEN JOBS IN 2007, IN RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA -
For Tom Butt's blog reports, read here:
"Roofing Scam Debate Continues:" http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2007/070414.htm
"Hyperlink Corrections": http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2007/0704010a.htm
"You Get What You Pay For": http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2007/0704010.htm
"Peel and Stick": http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2007/070408.htm
"The Payoff": http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2007/070411.htm
See the (partial) list of California Pubic Works projects and California involved School Districts, as well as a few Federal Jobs in California, compiled in the document below.
And lest I forget.....here's the realllllll kicker - California Dept. of Education GSA Government Officials LIED about the extent of the scam to the Governor's Offices in 2005 to 2006:
The Department of Education, the department pulling in the lion's share of California Taxpayer Dollars - through the Department of General Services???? Lying?????
And refusing to produce the specifications they say they had reviewed, saying they didn't "have them"?
They denied in writing to myself that there were numerous School Districts and jobs involved in California over the past 40 years and said that there was only one school district involved (told just 5 such roofing projects were done in that district) by only one of the big three in California in the early 2000's (over a 5 year period.)
Worse, they told the State Allocation Board this "story", who told the Governor's Offices - let me be absolutely clear about where that chain of reporting went - to the top.
Pity for the DGS that the sole-identified school district, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, was in the Monterey County Herald's article on the scam in their school district (June 29, 2003). In that article, the Herald delineated 18 such projects being done and in-progress AND done by Garland (sole-sourced) - note that the article occurred during the same time period as the state's "review of sample projects" time period.
And pity for the California Department of General Services.....they had listed Monterey Peninsula Unified School District as the only one of those districts in California that they had surveyed that was involved with one of the three manufacturers listed in the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation's (NJSCI) Report, 2000, "Waste and Abuse in School Roofing Projects."
According to multiple sources and documents, etc. seen over that same time period, 2000-20005, other districts on that state-produced "sample" listing were involved with one of the three NJSCI manufacturers.
For instance, there is an architect well-known in the roofing business for sole-sourcing Tremco in the Fresno area and in schools in that area, one identified by sources as being the Fresno Unified School District. The firm got known for it when despite all contacts and explanations, roofing reps working for various companies couldn't get heard, and the bids came out, constantly sole-sourced and that way for years.....
Yet in roofing projects from 2000-2005 listed in the Fresno Unified School district, not one was seen by the Dept. of General Services to have been sole-sourced to Tremco.....and I was not allowed to see the specifications from the Dept. of General Services that the DGS said that they had reviewed, because "they did not have the specifications."
The Dept. of General Services said they had reviewed these now non-existent specifications - "they never have them" I was told when I called, that "only the local Facilities Department have them".
I then asked for warranties kept.
The California Department of General Services told me they have no listing or copies of warranties for roofs paid for by the state - that the local school facilities departments may or may not keep such.
So what did the Department of General Services "review" in their denial of involvement letter to the State Allocation Board, who was asked by the Governor's Offices to look into the issue?
And they also denied production of specification documents to that public records request.....
Further, roofing industry sources during that time period, 2000-2005, have identified the following districts as involved in the illegal sole-sourcing of roofing projects, also on the list of "uninvolved" School Districts the Dept. of General Services identified:
Alameda schools (Alameda City listed)
Berkeley Unified
Fremont Unified
Oakland Unified School District (for a comparison of costs, look here re: a recent school bid in the Oakland School district: http://schoolroofingscam.blogspot.com/2008/02/comparable-costs-between-manufacturers.html )
San Ramon Valley Unified School District
West Contra Costa Unified School District
("alllll over Contra Costa County"...)
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
Roseville schools (City Elementary on list)
San Francisco Unified School District
Redwood City schools
San Mateo County schools (Union High Schools & Foster City on list)
Santa Clara County schools (especially Campbell on the list,
to a fourth-known operator in the San Francisco Bay Area; also
Palo Alto) Campbell was an interesting case....they had an architect
in Burlingame, CA sole-sourcing a fourth roofing product, and prior
to my knowing of his involvement, he was attacking me in Planning
Commission hearings (he sat on the Burlingame Planning Commission).
His attacks were extreme, completely untrue, highly irregular, and
slanderous. It was only after receiving copies of those sole-sourced
specs that we put two and two together, having tracked down the
ownership of the three-letter name of the architectural firm who
wrote the specs - his sole proprietorship.....
Yes, I got calls and documents and more information on
these and other schools as being involved.
And they are on the list produced by the California Dept. of
General Services as NOT being involved.
Caught!
Little wonder they denied access to documents requested...
For the California State Allocation Board and the Department of General Service's Letters, go here:
http://roofingscam.blogspot.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#7323406404097827491
For the California Department of General Service's Listing of sample roofing projects going to Tremco, Garland or Hickman in California schools, go here:
http://roofingscam.blogspot.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#9121526323715459893
For the Monterey County Herald Article of June 29, 2003, go here:
http://roofingscam.blogspot.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#2869258055437328673
And don't get tooooo upset when you see the list below of those areas known to be involved in the roofing scam in California - I've heard of a lot more. You'll be making yourself upset all day long, instead of doing something proactive about it!
