That’s right. Today is Teflon Day! I kid you not. Look it up for yourself.
I knew it had to be a special day. Why? Because the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors were too busy to bother to meet today to conduct the people’s business and I knew it had to be something really, really important to keep them away from that.
So, I hope everyone had a very good Teflon Day. Here’s to another “no stick” day tomorrow!
Why would anyone think that? First we have California Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Bernardino County Mike Ramos and their conspiracy theory of extortion and bribery that, if correct, involves two Superior Court judges, the Court of Appeal, and a retired Supreme Court justice. Then there is the recent revelation that Judge Duke Rouse, the judge hearing the Gutierrez and Erwin matters, has a close personal relationship with the attorney handling the sexual harassment claim against Mike Ramos. He was also a former partner in the firm and may very well have a financial interest as well.
Throughout this corruption scandal we have seen several judges sign search/arrest warrants based solely on the evidence provided by a known liar who is facing criminal charges himself for falsifying information to the Grand Jury. That doesn’t look a little suspicisous.
Then we have a district attorney who has gone to bat for the judges and supported them in their quest to continue receiving an extra $20,000 a year in benefits from the county. Continue reading
I know my commentary about SEBA and Internal Affairs might not be as exciting as reading about Mark Uffer’s recent $15 million dollar claim against the County right now, but even the general employees might learn a few things from all this.
What SEBA and SBPEA have in common is they don’t take management to task when they get caught doing bad things to people. If SBPEA had taken Mr.Uffer to task long ago, HE MIGHT have been fired long before he did, JUST maybe? Continue reading
The life of a blog administrator is a tough one. One minute you have to be a financial advisor to the county and the next a campaign consultant to an unethical politico. Then there is the mediation between the pot users and the cops or the advice to the horny. I’m telling you a blog administrator’s job is never done.
We have all heard the rumors that our District Attorney didn’t attend an accredited law school, which I don’t know if it is true or not. We have also heard he didn’t pass the bar exam the first time, also unsure of the truth on that one. We do know that he apparently played hookie (or was it hooker) for Constitutional Law 101. But now we seem to be having issues with criminal law also. So, Mikey, here is a refresher course: Continue reading
We are hearing that the newspapers are calling San Bernardino County’s chief spokesperson, David Wert, to ask about reports on inlandpolitics.com and iepolitics.com that the budget shortfall is much worse than the $90 miilion currently being reported. And David, who doesn’t seem to learn that he needs to rid himself of the reputation of being Uffer’s spin doctor extraordinaire if he hopes to have any chance of surviving the Fifth Floor massacre we are all expecting, is telling the newspapers that we are wrong once again.
The information, of course, originated with Jim and I simply piggybacked onto what he had written. And I am comfortable in doing so because I know he knows what he is talking about.
Remember some months ago when the county was claiming something like a $20 million deficit and we were claiming a $90 million deficit? So who was right and who was wrong?
As the Uffer situation unfolds, we are hearing of mismanagement all over the county. The most recent has to do with the General Fund reserves which have been wiped out by the latest revelation. It seems Uffer hid the fact that leave accrual cash outs were being hidden and not funded. Continue reading
One thing is certain. San Bernardino County’s budget problem is far more severe than anyone ever imagined. Especially the employee unions.
Looking at their websites and the information being provided to their members it appears everyone is about to be blind-sided by more bad news.
The county is clearly going to want the unions to cancel all negotiated wage and benefit increases. Yes, I said “cancel” not “defer”. A cancellation would have delayed any significant layoffs. Not anymore. Expect both. Continue reading
There were a few things I did to piss off Mark Uffer. One of them was the day Supervisor Neil Derry invited me to the Fifth Floor for a tour and to see that it is a ghost town. It was worse than a ghost town. There was exactly one person working on the entire CAO side of the Fifth Floor on a Friday afternoon.
So, now that Greg Devereaux is the County Administrative Officer, have things changed? I mean does Dean Arabatzis have to show up to work every day? Before 9:30 or 10? Stay after 4? How about the rest of the CAO staff? Do they have to work 40 hours a week? In the office or at Starbucks?
Someone needs to fill us in.
Here at iePolitics we have offered every candidate a FREE forum that will get your message out to thousands of voters. We have been running close to 40,000 hits a day for a couple of weeks now and today were are on track for 70,000. Mark Uffer’s lawsuit mentioning the site seems to have given us a great boost.
I’m getting really tired of all the bickering between candidates. Can’t you save the negative stuff for your hit pieces we all use to line the bottom of our bird cages with and instead address issues that voters want to hear about? Honestly, I’m about ready to start cutting off accounts.
We all know that each one of you pledges to lower taxes, balance the budget, and put two chickens in every pot and a car in every garage. Now, how about some substance like how you plan to do all of this? Here are a few ideas you could discuss:
These are just a few suggestions. There are lots more areas the voters are interested in. Let’s have some real discussion rather than all this backstabbing and accusations.
Jessica,
Do you remember a few months ago when you issued your executive order that I never write about you on the blog or discuss you with anyone in private? Not that I had any obligation to do so, but I have left your name off of the blog out of respect for our past friendship. When you recently asked for an account on the blog for Don I accommodated you as I would any candidate.
However, as of 2 a.m. this morning, I have had it with your shenanighans. You should know by now that I know your IP address and your modus operandi. I’m really disappointed in you. Continue reading
As reported at inlandpolitics.com, San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos’ office is attempting to delay the Rex Gutierrez prosecution. Currently, it is set for trial next Monday. Rex would like a speedy trial as guaranteed to him by the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. This should be an easy case to prosecute if Ramos is to be believed. So why the need for the delay as the District Attorney’s office has had months to prepare for trial?
Well, Mikey has a pesky little problem. Rex’s attorney, Jim Reiss, is also representing former District Attorney Investigator Chris Cardoza. Cardoza was Mikey’s right-hand man and driver who is now being prosecuted for computer fraud. It is said he was fired for having sex in his county vehicle on county time. Jim is also representing Cheryl Ristow, Mikey’s former paramour, who Mikey now claims he had no relationship with, in her suit against the county and Mikey. Continue reading
As we find out that San Bernardino County’s budget situation is far worst than we were led to believe by former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer, the situation at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) become even more disheartening.
Someone needs to correct me if I’m wrong, but as I understand it, ARMC is operated with an Enterprise Fund. This means that profits, if that is the right term, are turned over to the county’s general fund. Therefore, it is a good thing when ARMC is able to collect reimbursements from Medi-cal, MediCare, insurers, the state of California (i.e. state prisoners), and the federal government (illegal alien health care).
Unfortunately, the situation with billing at ARMC is an absolute mess. I know. I was involved in attempting to clean up one such mess as part of my assignment at ARMC. What I personally witnessed was over two years worth of medical billings that were never processed. So what does this mean? Continue reading
Some day I must go visit that place but I think will need an entire brigade from the U.S. Military to come along to guard me. I’m not sure how this blog is having such an effect out there. It would be funny if it wasn’t a little scary to think they take this so seriously.
I have received a series of emails that apparently my blog entries about the rave and other happenings on the reservation have triggered a tribal inquisition scheduled for April 10. Here is one of the emails I have received:
Dear Sharon
Yes, You!!!!You good for nothing…..NON-FACTOR!!!!!!YOU…….Blogger!!!!
Oh my, it’s absolutely wonderful!!!I can hardly stop laughing long enough to breath!!!!
Sharon, I have told you of the poor TRIBAL DISSENTER being framed for COLLABORATION W/IEPOLITICS,
Now the Tribal Chair has actually had this individual served with an invitation to provide testimony about SHARON GILBERT and IEPOLITICS and other Groups and individuals motives at a a “Special Council meeting about IEPOLITICS.”
The joy here is unbelievable!!!! Its like FREE ALCOHOL at the REZ!!!!!Right now I am happier than Martha Wetmore, on Saturday night, under a full moon, in July!!! Yee Ha! Continue reading
Here we are in April and there still has been no budget workshop. Has no one noticed that July 3 is not far off (or is the beginning of the new fiscal year June 26?) Either way, umm . . . folks on the Fifth Floor, plans to overcome the horrific budget deficit need to be made kinda soon. What are you waiting for? Oh, you’re discovering new problems each and every day left behind by Mark Uffer and his band of magic makers? Well, it’s time to come clean.
We hear that each passing day brings to light new problems within the county that had been covered up by former county administrative officer Mark Uffer, current assistant county administrative officer Dean Arabatzis, and county counsel Ruth Stringer. We know that Stringer will be gone shortly and thought has it that Arabatzis is on his way out as well.
Uffer was fired for no cause and therefore given his severance package. Now that all the malfeasance is surfacing and with Uffer’s ridiculous claim against the county, wouldn’t it be funny if the Board of Supervisors decided to change his termination from “without cause” to “for cause” and end his severance package, maybe even suing for what they have already paid him.
Of course he would try to claim retaliation. But as the feds get more and more involved in San Bernardino County workings, showing one case of malfeasance after another, the Board of Supervisors is going to have egg on its face if it continues paying Uffer for his misdeeds. You can’t be such an ass and not expect it to catch up with you sometime Mark.