District Attorney's investigators found Southwestern College administrator Nick Alioto staying at the home of a construction executive. The Corner Lot project at Southwestern College is at a stand still.
College Probe Finds Bidding Issues
Written by: Wendy Fry
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Alioto, 46, rents a guest house at the Poway estate of Chris Rowe, president of Echo Pacific Construction. The company was granted a $4 million program management contract with the college in July 2010, although it has since been terminated.
Alioto played a key role in granting that contract, after the company paid $15,000 at a scholarship fundraiser to attend a Napa Valley golf weekend with Alioto. Alioto did not respond to requests for comment.
His residency at the five-acre property near Maderas Golf Club starting in July 2011 has not been cited in court documents as indicative of any wrongdoing. He moved there after he had been terminated from Southwestern — and therefore lost his authority over contracts.
Still, the relationships between contractors and officials are at the center of the DA's investigation into South Bay politics, which resulted in 24 felony and eight misdemeanor charges against four former and current Sweetwater schools officials last week. Prosecutors have indicated the criminal probe is expanding.
Rowe said Echo Pacific donated to the scholarship fundraiser to give back to the community, not to win the contract.
"We don't pay to play," Rowe said. "But once we're there, we do view it as our civic responsibility to give back to the community where we're working."
Rowe noted that other companies seeking the Southwestern contract also bid at the fundraising auction for the Napa trip, and he said, "I don't suppose our 20 years of spotless construction record had anything to do with us getting the contract."
Southwestern College has a new board majority, which ousted Alioto and others from the previous administration after the November 2010 election. They are also conducting their own investigation of contracting practices.
That investigation has turned up an irregularity with how Echo's contract was granted under the $389 million Proposition R construction program. Bidders on a project known as the Corner Lot were given a construction budget of $55 million.
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