Sexual harassment scandal triggers ouster of lobbyist for PG&E wildfire victims
A lobbyist trying to secure state aid for PG&E Corp. wildfire victims has been removed from his post over a sexual harassment scandal at a CSU campus where his wife is president.
Patrick McCallum, a veteran lobbyist who came out of retirement to work for the PG&E Fire Victim Trust, was dismissed one day after briefing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s aides about a possible bailout for the beleaguered trust.
McCallum’s dismissal is a potentially significant setback for the trust’s efforts to secure financial help for fire victims. McCallum spent years lobbying at the Capitol on education issues and became a high-profile advocate on fire-related issues after his house burned down in the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa.
“Providing economic benefits as quickly as possible to the Trust’s 70,000 wildfire victims has been our highest priority,” said retired Appellate Court Justice John Trotter, who oversees the trust, in a prepared statement. “We want our entire focus to be on what we’re doing to help fire victims rebuild their lives, not on unrelated issues that have become a distraction in recent days.”
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that the California State University system paid a $600,000 settlement to a former Sonoma State University official over claims that McCallum – the husband of university president Judy Sakaki – had sexually harassed several women.
The former official, Lisa Vollendorf, said she was subjected to retaliation after she reported the harassment allegations.
On Monday, the day before McCallum briefed the governor’s staff about the wildfire victims, Sakaki announced she was separating from her husband.
State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who has criticized Sakaki’s handling of the matter, said he was pleased that the fire victim trust had dismissed McCallum.
“This was a prudent decision that will allow the Legislature and governor’s office to have someone credible we can work with to support wildfire victims,” he said in a prepared statement.
McCallum said he’s “very proud of the work that I’ve done for the (trust) in helping come up with solutions, and in setting up with the governor’s office and legislators the opportunity for them to step up and help the 66,000 wildfire victims.”
The trust, which is independent of PG&E, is supposed to dispense $13.5 billion to fire victims. It was given $6.75 billion in cash and 477 million shares of PG&E stock – the latter to be sold off periodically to help pay claims – as part of the utility’s bankruptcy settlement.
The trouble is that PG&E’s stock price has been trading at around $12 a share – about $2 less than what’s needed to fully fund the payouts to victims.
The trust hired McCallum to lobby the governor and the Legislature for a $1.5 billion loan. McCallum said the loan would enable the trust to sit on its PG&E shares long enough for the stock price to rise above $14 a share. That could happen about a year from now, when PG&E is expected to resume paying dividends to shareholders, a move that could boost the stock price.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 3:40 PM.