School officials and their attorneys make sure nothing ever changes: San Ysidro spent almost half a million on Manuel Paul

The shenanigans never stop. It's ridiculous to keep pursuing Manuel Paul without cleaning up the corruption that exists currently. Paul was just playing the game; he just wasn't as good at it as most school officials, attorneys, etc. who get wealthy off of schools. The truly greedy players stay in power while the public is distracted by small-time crooks like Paul.

Even so, the money spent on lawyers regarding Manuel Paul is negligible compared to the $3 million MiraCosta College spent on a case involving $305 in stolen water for palm trees. In the end, MiraCosta let the palm trees die. Obviously, many, if not most, schools are run for the benefit of individuals, not the public.

San Ysidro School District Has Spent $480K Trying to Recover $291K From Ex-Superintendent
Ashly McGlone
Voice of San Diego
October 16, 2017

San Ysidro School District is still trying to recover more than $291,000 from disgraced former superintendent Manuel Paul, and has racked up far more than that in legal bills trying to make it happen.

The district has paid Long Beach law firm Leal-Trejo $480,000 as part of the lawsuit against Paul, filed in February 2015, according to figures provided to Voice of San Diego in response to a Public Records Act request...

“I will consult with the Board of Education to find the best remedy for this case,” Deputy Superintendent Arturo Sanchez-Macias wrote in an email. Sanchez-Macias, who is currently serving as interim superintendent, declined to comment further on the fees...

Ex-San Ysidro district superintendent Manuel Paul admits squeezing contractor for donations

If we look at the extremely high percentage of women and people of color among the officials indicted by the District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit over the years, we are forced to conclude one of two things:

1) either women and people of color are more corrupt than white males; or

2) the people who are targeted for prosecution do not enjoy the same protections and immunities that white male public officials in San Diego tend to enjoy.

I'm not saying that the DA is racist.  I don't think that's it.  I think the explanation for the gender and color imbalance is simply that the public officials with the most power tend NOT to be women or people of color.  The truly powerful public officials are mostly white males, and the DA wouldn't dare go after them.

And the big money isn't in parking lots in San Ysidro.  It isn't even in $20 million solar panel deals.

A few years ago the FBI was investigating kickbacks to public entities in San Diego from insurance companies. Nothing ever came of that. My guess is that they couldn't find an ideal defendant to indict: someone without connections in the high ranks of the San Diego political establishment.

Here is a link to my page about the County of Santa Clara vs. Driver Alliant Insurance Services, Inc., et al lawsuit.  These are the types of transactions that involve significant amounts of money.  The really big deals are not as much fun for the political establishment to talk about as a small cash envelope in a parking lot--so you don't read about them much in the paper. The big players almost always avoid criminal court. Note the lack of prosecutions in the 2009 Financial Crisis that was caused by the greed of the wealthy and powerful.

The big guys generally don't see the inside of a criminal court, and their civil cases get settled, not tried, where the public might get wind of what actually happened. (Of course, the Manuel Paul case wasn't tried in court, either. Why no trials? Who knows what information might come out in a trial that might expose a big fish?)

Here's a sample of a school district deal worth $1 billion: Superintendent John Deasy of Los Angeles Unified school district (LAUSD) probably isn't worried. I suspect that you need a lot better political connections to become superintendent of LAUSD than you do to get the top spot in San Ysidro School District.

Given that we live in a system in which huge corporation and billionaires believe they can buy elections, it's sort of embarrassing that the FBI is chasing down such small-time players.

Clearly, Bonnie Dumanis and the FBI aren't going to be able to stop campaign finance corruption.

But wouldn't it be nice if the public--and Bonnie Dumanis--started looking a little closer at some of the well-heeled districts on the north side of town?

In CVESD we also had a superintendent using his power to affect the school board election.



See all posts on white chalk crime.

Ex-San Ysidro district superintendent Manuel Paul admits squeezing contractor for donations
Channel 10 News
Aug 20, 2014

SAN DIEGO - A former San Ysidro School District superintendent pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to extracting political contributions from a prospective contractor by threatening to withhold work on future building contracts.

Manuel Paul, 63, faces up to a year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine when he is sentenced Nov. 18.

According to his plea agreement, Paul admitted he asked a contractor to contribute $3,600 to three political candidates for the 2010 School Board election...

Read more.

San Ysidro School District wants no mention of cash handoff, burning records or criminal charges in EcoBusiness case

San Ysidro Schools doesn't think opposing attorneys should be allowed to see public records showing how much San Diego County Office of Education has paid to San Ysidro's lawyers for work in the EcoBusniess case. See also story at bottom of this post of punishment of a teacher who called in law enforcement when he saw documents burning in a San Ysidro school dumpster.

See all posts re Manuel Paul.
See all posts re Dan Shinoff.
See all posts labeled San Ysidro School District; also, a few stories are listed under "San Ysidro SD".
See all posts re Ecobusiness or Manzana/Ecobusiness.

MORE EFFORTS TO CONCEAL EVENTS IN SAN YSIDRO SCHOOLS AS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASES PROCEED

Our school tax dollars are hard at work in San Ysidro School District where the public is paying lawyers to tell the Superior Court that the burning of district records had nothing to do with a pending $18 million lawsuit about San Ysidro School District's decision to drop a contractor.

Photo: Aaron Burgin, SDUT

San Ysidro's lawyers also told the court that a cash handout from a contractor to Superintendent Manuel Paul sheds no light on how San Ysidro officials make decisions about contractors.

Stutz law firm was chosen by San Diego County Office of Education's Joint Powers Authority, which provides legal liability insurance to schools.

The California Bar Association says that public entity lawyers have no obligation to the public and are only beholden to the public officials they represent. If they are right, as they may well be, perhaps the law needs to be changed.

I think a school district belongs to the people who pay for it and the people for whose benefit it was created, not to the officials and others who have obtained power in its hierarchy.

P.S. I am wondering why the San Diego Union-Tribune laid off Watchdog reporter Aaron Bergin. It probably didn't help when Bergin wrote about another school attorney firm, Fagen Friedman Fulfrost, and its shenanigans at Carlsbad School District. SDUT owner Doug Manchester perhaps decided he had one Watchdog too many.

CNN reports that education attorneys at Lowndes County Schools insist the video they released recently of the day student Kendrick Johnson died is "a raw feed with no edits."

However, forensic video analyst Grant Fredericks says, "(The surveillance video has) been altered in a number of ways, primarily in image quality and likely in dropped information, information loss," he said. "There are also a number of files that are corrupted because they've not been processed correctly and they're not playable. I can't say why they were done that way, but they were not done correctly, and they were not done thoroughly. So we're missing information."

--Maura Larkins



San Ysidro tries to limit testimony
District wants cash handoff, criminal charges excluded from civil matter
By Jeff McDonald
SDUT
Nov. 17, 2013

Manuel Paul, 61, San Ysidro schools superintendent, is accused of filing false documents, perjury, and accepting gifts above state limits Manuel Paul, 61, San Ysidro schools superintendent, is accused of filing false documents, perjury, and accepting gifts above state limits.

Lawyers for the San Ysidro School District filed several motions last week in an $18 million lawsuit over solar installations, attempting to exclude any mention of cash handoffs, burning of district records or criminal charges against officials.

Daniel Shinoff, the attorney defending the South County district in a dispute with EcoBusiness Alliance, asked a judge to bar from the upcoming trial references to former Superintendent Manuel Paul’s admission that he accepted $2,500 in cash from a contractor looking to secure business.

Paul has said the money was for political signs, and the motions also ask the judge to omit references to amended campaign disclosure forms filed by trustees after Paul testified that’s what the money was for.

The district argues that its former superintendent is not involved in the lawsuit.

“First, this is a breach of contract action between the San Ysidro School District and EcoBusiness Alliance,” one motion states. “Manuel Paul is not a party.”

The documents also ask the judge to exclude witnesses and references to an FBI investigation into district business practices and an FBI probe into the burning and shredding of documents on district property in July.

The motions have yet to be ruled on by the judge hearing the suit, in which EcoBusiness Alliance is objecting to the 2012 cancellation of its $18 million contract to install solar power systems at district campuses.

The company is attempting to prove that the contract was canceled in part because officials maintain a “pay to play” culture that awards contracts to vendors who contribute gifts or cash to top district officials. The district rejected that claim, saying the deal fizzled because the company did not act on the agreement.

The attorney representing EcoBusiness Alliance called the motions a ploy and a waste of public funds.

The lawsuit is unrelated to criminal charges filed against Paul and Trustee Yolanda Hernandez, who were among 15 South County educators indicted by the grand jury a year ago on corruption charges. The DA is attempting to prove a pay-to-play atmosphere regarding school construction contracts in South County, at San Ysidro and two other districts.

Hernandez has pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of filing a false form. Paul has pleaded not guilty to six remaining corruption charges.

The criminal case is scheduled for trial in 2014. The civil suit is expected to go to trial early next year.


MORE EFFORTS TO SILENCE REPORTS OF EVENTS IN SCHOOLS



Did Manuel Paul illegally burn San Ysidro School District papers?
Whistleblower placed on administrative leave
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
Aug. 4, 2013

Curious reports continue regarding burned papers retrieved from a burn barrel in the maintenance yard of the San Ysidro School District...

A new twist to the story, however, is that the district has placed the whistleblower on administrative leave.

The sequence of events on July 3 began when a San Ysidro school teacher got a call from his union president who informed him of the possible burning of documents. He called his acquaintance, Art Castanares, one of the owners of EcoAlliance, a solar-power company. EcoAlliance has filed a breach-of-contract suit against the district.

The teacher and Castanares showed up at district headquarters at about the same time and found the burn barrel. They called the FBI and the San Diego police.

“I can’t even have an open burn in my backyard," said the teacher in a recent interview. "It doesn’t look right for someone in the district to be doing this.” The teacher said what appeared to be legal documents were visible among the ashes.

Though the teacher declined to release his name until he meets with his attorney, he worries he is already suffering the consequences of being a whistleblower. The district placed him on administrative leave on Tuesday, July 30...

White Chalk crime is real, even though defense attorney Pokorney is right that the public doesn't want to believe that school board members could commit crimes

Attorney James Pokorney, representing Bertha Lopez, Manuel Paul and Jim Cartmill is right that the public doesn't want to believe that "these kind of people"--school board members--committed crimes.

I myself wouldn't have believed it twelve years ago. Then I got an education in corruption by Bertha Lopez herself, as well as Cheryl Cox, Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham.

“The DA is leveling very serious charges against people who have no criminal records — people who have seen fit to devote their lives to students in south San Diego County,” Pokorny said. “The jury is going to have to swallow a lot to believe that these kind of people ... committed the kinds of acts that the DA is alleging.”

Indeed, the only problem with these indictments is that so many corrupt school officials are not being investigated.

See White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail: Untold story of crime that has destroyed our schools by Karen Horwitz.

The net widens
Allison K. Sampité-montecalvo
Chula Vista Star-News
Jan 05 2013

A South Bay county corruption probe led by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis broadened recently to include more defendants.

A San Diego Grand Jury on Dec. 28 returned indictments on Sweetwater Union High School District board members Bertha Lopez, Jim Cartmill and San Ysidro schools superintendent Manual Paul, according to criminal defense attorney James Pokorny, who represents all three.

In total, Pokorny said that 35 misdemeanor and felony charges were brought against the trio last Friday, including filing a false instrument, perjury, offering a bribe and receiving gifts.

The charges stem from actions taken by the DA’s Office in the last year with the arraignment of three current and former school board members, a former district superintendent and a contractor, according to Pokorny.

Sweetwater district board members Pearl Quiñones and Arlie Ricasa, former board member Greg Sandoval, former superintendent Jesus Gandara and contractor Henry Amigable pleaded not guilty to 26 felonies and eight misdemeanors, including perjury, filing a false document, accepting gifts and bribery on Jan. 13, 2012.

Dumanis said the defendants traded their votes for bribes when they neglected to report gifts on their statements of economic interest, required by law, and by participating in pay-for-play in multi-million-dollar construction contracts between 2008 and 2011.

The 19-member grand jury panel began meeting in November to investigate in lieu of holding a public preliminary hearing in open court.

A hearing is set for Monday, Jan. 7, where defense attorneys will enter another not guilty plea and a trial date will be set.

Gandara’s attorney Paul Pfingst said he received a letter Dec. 27 stating a complaint had been filed against his client.

However, a search on Monday at the County Clerk’s Office revealed no complaint had been filed, according to Pfingst.

“I’ve got a letter that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said. “The charges they sent me are essentially the same charges as before.”

Pokorny and other defense attorneys said they’ve not yet seen the facts alleged in the indictment.

“We are assuming that the groups of these counts relate to various dates,” Pokorny said. “I don’t know what dates the prosecution is alleging… We’re not going to know the specifics for quite some time.”

Pokorny said with the grand jury indictments the case in essence starts all over

. “The complaint is being abandoned,” he said. “The district attorney gave up the ghost on that attempt and decided to go by way of grand jury indictment so instead of presenting probable cause in an open court they’ve decided to do it secretly. We have to deal with that as best we can.”

Pokorny said that although the DA’s Office is well within its rights to proceed “by way of indictment,” a fairer decision would have been to proceed through a complaint.

“The DA is leveling very serious charges against people who have no criminal records — people who have seen fit to devote their lives to students in south San Diego County,” Pokorny said. “The jury is going to have to swallow a lot to believe that these kind of people ... committed the kinds of acts that the DA is alleging.”

Lopez, Cartmill and Paul are scheduled to be arraigned Monday, Jan. 7, at 2 p.m. in San Diego Superior Court.

A representative from the DA’s Office said that no comments could be made on an open case.

Other individuals scheduled to be arraigned include Gary Cabello, Jeff Flores, Jesus Gandara, Yolanda Hernandez, Pearl Quiñones, Arlie Ricasa, Greg Sandoval, Nick Alioto, Raj Chopra, Jorge Dominguez, Yolanda Salcido and John Wilson.

Bertha Lopez and Manuel Paul indicted, and, surprisingly, a white male Republican: Sweetwater's Jim Cartmill

Sweetwater Union High School District board
Back Row (Left to Right): Jim Cartmill, Dr. Ed Brand, superintendent, John McCann
Front Row (Left to Right): Bertha López, Arlie N. Ricasa, Pearl Quiñones

I am shocked. Bonnie Dumanis' Public Integrity Unit has indicted a white male Republican. Jim Cartmill has learned the hard way that he can't count on Bonnie anymore. But the D.A. has spent years going after people in the South Bay that Jim Cartmill wanted to destroy politically, so he should man up and pay the piper.

After Being indicted, former CVESD trustee Bertha Lopez (currently on the Sweetwater Union High School District board) said she has nothing to hide. In fact, she has been covering-up crimes at Chula Elementary School District for over ten years, along with CVESD board members Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham. Teachers were pressured to perjure themselves to conceal the wrongdoing of Bertha and her fellow board members. The board included Pat Judd and current Chula Vista mayor Cheryl Cox.

The Union Tribune has long been a fan of Bertha Lopez.

Regarding Bertha Lopez:

"According to court documents, a contractor paid for Lopez and eight guests to attend an award ceremony hosted by the YWCA in 2009, which she did not disclose on state-mandated forms. She and her husband were also at Morton’s with Amigable and Paul, according to court documents, and she failed to report the meal on state forms."

3 more indicted in South Bay corruption probe
San Ysidro superintendent is among the new targets of the DA's investigation
Aaron Burgin
UTSD
Dec. 31, 2012

A probe into corruption among South Bay school leaders has widened to include another district, with indictments against three additional officials.

Manuel Paul

A grand jury has indicted San Ysidro School District Superintendent Manuel Paul and Sweetwater Union High School District board members Jim Cartmill and Bertha Lopez, according to a criminal defense attorney who represents all three.

Two other Sweetwater school board members were charged a year ago, along with a former board member and former Superintendent Jesus Gandara.

Attorney James Pokorny, who represents Paul, Lopez and Cartmill, said the grand jury has indicted them on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts including perjury, filing false documents, accepting gifts and bribery. He said they maintain their innocence.

“My take on this is that DA believes that they can target people in the community that have given their energy and lives for betterment of students and that they can topple these people and cripple them from running for office ever again,” he said. “Knowing the people the way that I do, I don’t buy what they are accused of, and I don’t think a jury will either.”

The District Attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.

Pokorny said he received a letter from the District Attorney’s office notifying him that his clients had been indicted, but has not seen the full indictment. He said that Lopez faces 19 felony and misdemeanor counts, Cartmill faces 10 counts and Paul faces six.

Paul admitted in a June deposition in an unrelated lawsuit that he had taken $2,500 in cash from a contractor seeking work from his district. He said the handoff in the parking lot of a steak house was a campaign contribution for a school board member.

It is not clear if the indictment stems from that incident, which has been under review separately by a federal grand jury.

Paul’s name has already appeared in some documents related to the Sweetwater corruption investigation, in which prosecutors are alleging meals, sporting events, plays and other considerations were exchanged for multimillion dollar construction contracts.

Paul and his wife, for instance, are listed in court documents as guests at a $1,700 meal at Morton’s steakhouse in July 2008 hosted by contractor Henry Amigable.

Other guests included three of those facing charges in Sweetwater — Gandara, former board member Greg Sandoval and current trustee Pearl Quiñones. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Amigable pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in May and is cooperating with county prosecutors.

Lopez and Cartmill largely stayed out of the fray as their colleagues were charged a year ago, although Lopez’s home was raided a year ago and she has been questioned in connection with the case.

“The district attorney is doing their job and I don’t have anything to hide,” Lopez said the day of the raid. “That is the bottom line.”

According to court documents, a contractor paid for Lopez and eight guests to attend an award ceremony hosted by the YWCA in 2009, which she did not disclose on state-mandated forms. She and her husband were also at Morton’s with Amigable and Paul, according to court documents, and she failed to report the meal on state forms.


Update Jan. 16, 2013:

I found another white male Republican that Bonnie has indicted. The case is discussed in this article about the bizarre and unsuccessful prosecution of Steve Castaneda:

HIGH STAKES IN CORRUPTION PROBE
DA aims to regain credibility after unsuccessful prosecution while South Bay figures fight stereotypes
By Aaron Burgin & Katherine Poythress
U-T
JAN. 12, 2013

...Since 2007, only one case lodged by the unit against an elected official has resulted in criminal punishment. Former Encinitas Councilman Dan Dalager was fined $1,000 in 2011 after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge stemming from accepting deeply discounted appliances from a store owner, then voting in the owner’s favor in a dispute with the city. His case was prosecuted after the transaction was exposed by The Watchdog. A lot is riding on the outcome of the latest cases, also sparked by initial reports from The Watchdog about the relationships between contractors and officials in South County...

Bonnie Dumanis' Public Integrity Unit goes after another Mexican-American (current target: San Ysidro School District)

Manuel Paul

UPDATE: Manuel Paul indicted, along with Bertha Lopez and Jim Cartmill.

So far, Bonnie Dumanis' Public Integrity Unit has always acted on behalf of Republican officials.

Is it because Republicans in San Diego have more integrity than Democrats? Clearly not. Republican Mayor Dick Murphy planned the deal that earned San Diego infamy as "Enron by the Sea." But the only people charged by Bonnie Dumanis in the secret pension deal were employees, not officials.

The District Attorney is very selective about her public official targets.

With one exception, they are all from Greg Cox/Cheryl Cox's district (South Bay), and they are always Mexican-American (or assistants of Mexican-Americans), and they are all Democrats (except for one Republican Mexican-American who had the temerity to run against Cheryl Cox). The one exception is Kathleen Sterling, a North County Democrat.

Former Superintendent Lowell Billings of Chula Vista Elementary School District covered up crimes, and seems to have padded his pockets.

Superintendent Says Cash Exchange was for Campaign
By Wendy Fry
Aug 4, 2012
NBCSanDiego

The superintendent of San Ysidro school district said in a June 20 deposition that he accepted $2,500 in cash from a contractor in 2010 in the parking lot of the Chula Vista Butcher Shop, a South Bay restaurant that has since been renamed the Steak House.

The superintendent of San Ysidro schools said in a June 20 deposition that he accepted $2,500 in cash from a contractor in 2010 in the parking lot of the Chula Vista Butcher Shop, a South Bay restaurant that has since been renamed the Steak House.

San Ysidro schools superintendent Manuel Paul said the money was for a campaign contribution for board member Yolanda Hernandez.

“It was cash given to me by Mr. Loreto Romero,” Paul said. “He gave me cash for campaign posters for Mrs. Yolanda Hernandez.” Paul later added the amount was about $2,500.

Hernandez did not respond to multiple requests for comment made over several weeks. Loreto Romero concurred with Paul’s description of the cash exchange, saying the money was a political donation. When pressed, Romero admitted he was hoping to compete for a construction management contract with the school district at the time the money was dropped off.

A donation from Romero does not appear on any campaign finance forms available on the San Diego County Registrar’s website for Hernandez and the county campaign services supervisor confirmed Friday that no amendments have been made or filed recently. Even if the money was a political donation, San Diego State political science professor Brian Adams said exchanging that much cash breaches state campaign finance laws.

“For cash, it’s $99 for what you can receive. Everything else has to be in a check,” said Adams, who has written a book on local and state campaign finance laws. Paul’s deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit brought by Chula Vista-based Manzana Energy, a solar panel company suing the district for breach of contract. The approximately $18 million services contract would have allowed the school district to purchase solar power from political consultant Art Castañares’ company, Manzana or EcoBusiness Alliance - another business name for Manzana.

Under the deal, San Ysidro agreed to buy power generated by the panels from Manzana Energy over 25 years for a flat fee of $18.9 million. Manzana was to pay $16 million to buy and install the panels, which would have generated about 70 percent of the schools’ power needs. School district officials estimated at the time that the deal would save San Ysidro $10.5 million in energy costs over the 25 year life span of the contract.

The equipment was supposed to be installed in early February 2008, but not one panel had been put into place when the contract was terminated in October 2011. Because no panels were installed, no district funds were ever spent on the endeavor. Castañares’ is building a case that his contract was terminated because he refused to “pay to play.”

In the deposition, Paul said he took the cash from Romero to a business in Tijuana to make posters for Hernandez’s election campaign.

“That’s completely illegal. And it’s very clearly illegal,” said SDSU professor Adams, who said that all campaign cash must be deposited into a campaign account and then expenditures made from that account to promote transparency.

“You can of course amend your form and that does frequently happen with candidates who make mistakes, but the initial mistake is still there and they can still be fined for that. Also, what’s typical in these types of cases is the money has to be returned. Now, I don’t know if they’ve returned the money, but it is very likely they will be required to return the money to the contributor.”

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is prosecuting six current and former officials in the neighboring Sweetwater school district for their role in what she has described as a pervasive and systemic “pay to play” atmosphere. Dumanis said the Sweetwater officials traded their votes on key contracts in exchange for Lakers tickets, Halloween costumes, expensive meals and other entertainment.

In an email statement in response to questions about the 2010 cash exchange, Paul wrote:

“We are in the middle of litigation with EcoBusiness System I am not willing to discuss anything relative to pending litigation. Apparently your interest involves information you have learned from a deposition. I am surprised that you would have a deposition that has not been filed in court in your possession. That being said, I believe that there are ulterior motives by parties to this case which relate to an effort to pressure an improper resolution. That will not occur, and I will not allow my position to be used for such a purpose. I must respectfully decline your request to go camera. I believe that the issue you have discussed with others in my office has been completely obfuscated. I believe the proper reporting regarding campaign contributions have been made."

NBC7 asked Paul why he was collecting campaign money on Hernandez’s behalf, as he is not listed as her campaign manager or treasurer in disclosure forms, but he has not yet responded to that question.

During the Fall 2010 cash exchange in the parking lot, San Ysidro schools was accepting bids for construction on a new school, Vista Del Mar. According to Paul’s testimony in the deposition, companies who competed for the contract included: Echo Pacific, Barnhart Balfour Beatty, Erickson Hall, GI Construction Management, Seville Construction Management and HAR Construction Management, a company headed by Loreto Romero’s brother, Hector.

Erickson Hall eventually won the contract.

The San Ysidro school district consists of seven schools serving about 5,200 students in kindergarten through eighth-grade, along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Source: Superintendent Says Cash Exchange was for Campaign | NBC 7 San Diego