When Janice Keating ran for a seat on the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Board of Directors, she promised to be a budget hawk. Keating argued that her experience as an accountant would bring MID ratepayers a keen eye and sharp pencil to the MID. Since her time on the Board, Keating has been more of a budget buster than hawk.
Her single most notable action was a failed lawsuit against the District and fellow Director Robert Frobose on charges of gender discrimination and harassment. The case had so little foundation that Keating ended up having to pay a large portion of the attorneys’ fees.
Since then, Keating has seemed to have trouble staying focused on issues critical to MID’s financial security, most especially the Byrd case. Last September, MID launched an investigation into credible allegations that Director Larry Byrd had irrigated out-of-district orchards with in-district water. The investigation by 4Creeks Engineering determined that Byrd could not have irrigated the orchard in question with groundwater, as he had claimed…