Ramos

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While Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman and former San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office Inter-Governmental Affairs Officer Rex Gutierrez was allegedly doing city work on county time and county work on city time, what was our favorite San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos doing?

Well he had his own version of “inter-governmental affairs” on his mind. Yep, that’s right. He was busy with affairs for sure. You know the kind—fornication, copulation, making whoopee—not with the wife he tells these women he is divorcing, but with his subordinates.

Last year District Attorney Investigative Technician Cheryl Ristow came forward after her name was one of many linked to hanky-panky with Mikey. Ristow accused Ramos of attempting to dissuade her from telling the truth about their affair and then creating a hostile work environment for her when she refused to lie for him. She was even contacted by a District Attorney Investigator and advised she did not need to testify against Ramos in court and could ignore a subpoena if served.

When Ristow came forward with her story, Ramos did a Bill Clinton “I did not have sex with that woman” and the public mostly bought it hook, line and sinker, narrowly re-electing Ramos to his third term. Ristow, on the other hand, has been subjected to public humiliation and ridicule, being called a “gold digger” and worse.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, under duress, initiated an investigation conducted by the Santa Monica-based law firm of Curiale, Hirschfeld & Kraemer. What was an extensive investigation produced a meager report addressing only the issue of hostile work environment while mountains of evidence and interviews with staff members, including those known to have had sexual relations with Ramos, were kept from public review. A California Public Records Act request to view the documents that taxpayers paid $140,000 for was denied by the County Administrative Office.

After convincing the Sun not to print Ristow’s side of the story, intimidating the Board of Supervisors into not releasing all the findings of the investigation, and winning re-election, Ramos was home free . . . or so he thought.

But Ramos forgot the always-misquoted, “Hell hath seen no fury like a woman scorned.” You see, in his effort to pretend it never happened, Ramos not only pressured Ristow to lie for him, but he pressured others, two of whom are deputy district attorneys. That is exactly right. He wanted two officers of the court to lie under oath and risk losing their Bar cards to save his sorry ass.

Apparently the women didn’t think the sex was that good with this philanderer and approached an attorney. In all, now six women including Ristow, have come forward, each having signed a declaration under penalty of perjury, stating they had affairs with Ramos. At least three of those affidavits have been in the hands of state and federal officials for a couple of months now. I’m sure everyone understands the problem with a district attorney dissuading a witness.

But there is more.

You see much of this fornication, copulation, and making whoopee took place on county time, in county buildings, and in county vehicles. Yes, that is right. While these ladies were supposed to be gathering evidence, preparing cases for trial, and appearing in court, they were . . . well you already know: HAVING SEX! Did they use vacation or sick leave? Nope. They claimed blow jobs as work performed. Considering the recipient, the ladies have a point. But isn’t that still time card fraud? And use of a county-issued sofa or backseat of a county vehicle for non-county work is . . . misuse of public resources? And let’s not forget all that fornicating going on up at the Sacramento Hyatt with Suzanne Hunter and other places with other women, using public and/or campaign funds to pay for the romps. That’s about ten felonies . . . I mean FPPC violations.

But Mikey said it was okay. Sounds like a conspiracy to me.