Perhaps someone can explain this comment that appeared on our About page to me. What’s up at ACR these days other than Matt and De Ana?
Please invistage. Larry Walkers connection to Certna. And also Patric Honey’s ties to Certna and how he is not a county employee but is still recieving benefits and also their ties to Jason Anderson the new DISM.
Congressman Jerry Lewis
Today the High Desert moved closer to being a big city. All of the San Bernardino County’s dignitaries were here to dedicate the new County Government Center. First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt initiated the naming of the Jerry Lewis High Desert Government Center after minority maker Congressman Jerry Lewis and it was so named.
The center will house a dozen or more departments including the Assessor’s Office, County Clerk and Recorder, Code Enforcement, Environmental Health, and Veterans Affairs. It is located in the center of Hesperia along with the library, police department and City Hall.
Among those seen at the event were Congressman Jerry Lewis, First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, Second District Supervisor Paul Biane, Third District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, Sheriff Rod Hoops, Auditor-Controller-Recorder-Tax Collector Larry Walker and his new assistant, Matt Brown. We hear Matt was all smiles as he worked the crowd.
Rumor has it that De Ana Thompson didn’t take the promotion. Auditor-Controller-Recorder-Tax Collector Larry Walker didn’t even ask her before he issued the memo and then spoke to the newspaper. She is refusing to take it because she will then become “at will.” Another crazy thing is Assessor Dennis Draeger had no idea that Walker was promoting her. Walker never told him.
Fireworks could be found once again today at the San Bernardino County Courthouse where District Attorney investigator Bud Randle was forced to admit that the District Attorneys office used former Chief of Staff Matt Brown to illegally tape record Bill Postmus. Once Postmus obtained legal counsel such an act violates his Constitutional right against self-incrimination. This revelation as well as the one last Friday where they had to admit they used Adam Aleman in a similar manner has the potential to cause all charges to be dismissed.
Larry Walker
Sunday, October 24, 2010 – 01:00 p.m.
What a tangled web.
Last week we published a story here at InlandPolitics.com on San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller-Recorder-Tax Collector Larry Walker’s hiring and subsequent promotion of Matt Brown to be his second-in-command.
A position for which Brown possesses no apparent qualification to hold.
Brown
Thursday, October 21, 2010 – 09:45 a.m.
I never thought I would be saying Larry Walker and hard ball politics in the same sentence.
But it seems Walker has decided to play.
The long-anticipated move of Matt Brown, former chief of staff to second district supervisor Paul Biane, from the position of Assistant Recorder to Assistant Auditor-Controller, would appear to signal Walker is now started playing the political game.
Even though Walker denied it. The ouster of former Assistant Auditor-Controller Betsy Starbuck was indeed to make way for Brown.
It looks like the anticipated story should hit tonight. Multiple sources tell iePolitics that former Chief of Staff and current Assistant Auditor-Controller Matt Brown was the original source for this story. Brown narc’d off his former boss months ago but due to the incident occurring out of state, it has taken a while to verify the information. Stay tuned as the hypocrisy continues . . .
Sorry folks about the headline only earlier but that is the best I can do from my Blackberry. I knew I would not have an internet connection for many hours and wanted to get the news out timely.
iepolitics has been told by a confidential informant relatively close to the source that a Board of Supervisors agenda item is being prepared to move Assistant Recorder Matt Brown into the position formerly held by Betsy Starbuck. Starbuck was Auditor-Controller Larry Walker’s decades-long chief of staff/assistant before he terminated her a couple months ago and hired Matt Brown.
This came in a couple of days ago from the Auditor/Controller/Tax Collector’s office:
I.T. department at ACR says lets do some training.Enrolls one person in a virtual class for Windows training. Sounds good so far, save money on traveling, etc…Then tells 4 other people to go to the training and act like the one person enrolled.So now we have 4 people going to training and only paying for 1 person. I guess that is great if you are ACR. Saved money. Not so great if you are the training company. Lost money. Lost several thousand dollars of money.I don’t know why management would think this is OK to steal from the training company.This is going on right now…till Friday….
Every time we here at iePolitics have declared that San Bernardino County officials have reached the pinnacle of stupidity and arrogance, we are proven wrong. Although the events of the past 24 hours are not surprising, they are appalling.
For weeks now there has been behind-the-scenes chatter about what exactly was going to be done to pull off the transfer of San Bernardino County Second District Chief of Staff Matt Brown to the Auditor-Controller/Recorder/Tax Collector office. Many of us figured there would be wrangling to send Brown to the Assessor’s Office next year when the Recorder’s function is transferred to that department. The question was how.
Here it is: Org Chart
From San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Recorder/Tax Collector Larry Walker: Matt Brown Appointment
Matt Brown previously worked as Second District Supervisor Paul Biane’s chief of staff but has been out on administrative leave for a couple of months while a hostile work environment investigation was conducted. Brown alleged he started being harassed once it was discovered he cooperated with the corruption investigation by San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos against Biane. Brown is said to have attempted to get Biane on tape through secret recordings. It is not known if those recordings produced evidence against Biane.
From San Benardino County Auditor-Controller/Recorder/Tax Collector Larry Walker: Starbuck Termination
Let’s see Larry. We’ll fire her in one breath and wish her well with the next. Class act all the way!
We are hearing that San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Recorder terminated his assistant Betsy Starbuck today. Betsy has been with Larry since at least 1991 when she served as Chief of Staff while he was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Rumors have been surfacing for months about discord between Walker and Starbuck over deputy recorder and mistress Deanna Thompson.
This is part one in a series of articles examining the spending habits of the Board of Supervisors. We are being told that each of the five Board of Supervisor Districts has been asked to cut $500,000 from their budgets. Sounds like they finally get it that we are in budget meltdown, right? Wrong!
We are trying to get as accurate information as possible through California Public Records Act requests but we are being stonewalled by the County Administrative Office.
Let’s take this district by district.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I voted for Ensen Mason for Auditor/Controller/Tax Collector. My primary reason for doing so is the living hell incumbent Larry Walker has put so many county employees through. He has open taxpayers up to numerous lawsuits, some of which are in the process of being filed. He has created a hostile work environment for those who have to work under him.
Ensen did not provide me with additional campaign information. You can visit his website at: www.ensenmason.com
There is a new temporary blog up and running put together by those who work or have worked for San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Recorder Larry Walker. Here it is: Larry Walker Must Go
Note: I believe the total is up to at least nine employees who have made hostile work environment claims.
Four of the employees — deputy recorders Wendy Everett, John Pinckney and Dennis Tormey and staff analyst Sean Crees — have retained a workers compensation attorney to argue their case Continue reading
This morning I received information on some of my California Public Records Act requests so I can get back to my Legacy of Malfeasance series. I am first going to attempt to contact the Sheriff’s Executive staff for some clarification on a few things that some of you have tipped me off to. I don’t hold much hope for them talking to me, but I am going to try before we publish the rest of the series. Continue reading
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos attended last night’s meeting of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee (SBGOP) to ask for their endorsement of his re-election bid. Arriving late, he indicated that he had been busy and needed to get back to his “family.” Ramos, however, was denied the endorsement.
It was the recommendation of the Endorsement Committee to issue “No Endorsement” in the county race for District Attorney. However, one member of the committee made a motion to overturn that recommendation and instead debate the issue. Jessica Austin, former aide to deposed San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Dennis Hansberger and also former aide and admirer of Congressman Jerry Lewis, made the motion on behalf of Ramos but there was no second, not even from supporter First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt. It should be noted that Mike Ramos along with Congressman Lewis and Dennis Hansberger are considered the power block of San Bernardino County’s East Valley Region. Prior to revelations of Ramos’ penchant for sexual misconduct and politically motivated prosecutions, Ramos was considered the front runner to succeed to Congressman Lewis. Austin has stated that her actions echo those of her mentors Lewis and Hansberger and last night she proved it with her attempt to gain an endorsement for a controversial and nefarious individual such as Mike Ramos. Continue reading
This is a good illustration of the difference between my perspective and that of the incumbent auditor / controller. I believe that government is the problem and not the solution. Private industry is more efficient, serves the people better and in most circumstances is far superior for improving people’s lives and creating wealth. As you can see in the article (from the Daily Press) below, Larry Walker seems to indicate bigger government is the solution.
APPLE VALLEY • The man responsible for investing San Bernardino County’s revenue had some advice for people looking for a heads up on what’s driving the economy these days.
“The question is what’s the government going to do, it’s not what the market is going to do,” said Larry Walker, the county’s Auditor/Controller-Recorder. Continue reading
For those who are interested, here are San Bernardino County Auditor/Controller-Treasurer/Tax Collector Larry Walker’s Form 460s showing his campaign contributors and his expenditures.
Walker Larry (Auditor Controller-Recorder 2010)-460-July312008 The most interest thing on this one is that Larry spend almost a third of his cash on hand to “reimburse for Angel’s baseball.” What the heck does that mean? They are calling it “office expenses.” I know how it looks.
Walker Larry (Auditor Controller-Recorder 2010)-460-Feb182009
Well he filed this one late and blamed it on his treasurer. Seems like a lot of his contributions comes from unions and $3000 from Lewis Co. He also spends a lot of money of flowers. I wonder who got the flowers? Inquiring minds want to know. Continue reading
Here is the website for Auditor-Controller-Tax Collector candidate Ensen Mason. Check it out.
I am concerned about the recent “money saving” consolidation of our county’s elected positions. We were told that this move could save up to one million dollars a year. Did that take into account the $80,000 worth of raises that were given out as part of this consolidation? ($40,000 to Larry Walker, $30,000 to Dennis Draeger, $10,000 to Rod Hoops). The raises are unnecessary and unfair. The county has shed many other jobs, leaving those left behind to work harder and take on more responsibility. Did they get huge raises? Our county charter states “no increase shall exceed 4% of the annual salary of the elected official unless submitted to and approved by the voters of the county at a county-wide election.” Do these raises sound like more that 4% to you? Does it seem right that the Board of Supervisors can circumvent the spirit of our charter by playing a shell game with the duties?
Ensen Mason
Victorville
According to the California Board of Accountancy website, Larry Walker is not a CPA in the State of California. If somebody has other information, please post it. San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert has been incorrectly claiming that he is. The Recorder’s website says “He successfully completed the CPA exam.” What does that mean??? He failed it? He passed it, but failed the background check? I would really like to get to the bottom of this. If he’s going to control all of our money and be responsible for auditing himself, shouldn’t he be a CPA?
I received an email this morning from Ensen Mason, who will be challenging Larry Walker for the position of Auditor-Controller-Treasurer. Here is some information about him.
I’m concerned about the direction our County is taking and the priorities exhibited by some of our elected officials and it appears to be getting worse. I feel that we need a change. I am running for County Treasurer as well as promoting other challengers and doing whatever I can to level the playing field between incumbents and challengers.
About my qualifications – I’ve owned a small accounting firm for 22 years, licensed by the IRS as an Enrolled Agent for 18 years, I hold 4 securities licenses and an insurance license. In order to qualify for this position, I will be sitting for and need to pass the CPA exam next month. Continue reading
It seems we are seeing more grass roots candidates this election cycle and the filing deadline is still weeks away. Political experts say these candidates don’t stand a chance. Without a bankroll they may not. But what is more important is that most of our current entrenched politicos are feeling just a bit of heat. And some of those war chests might have to be spent on campaigning rather than wining and dining their family and friends. That is a good thing.
Sheriff Rod Hoops now has two competitors: Rick Averbeck and Paul Schrader. District Attorney Mike Ramos is being challenged by at least one, Dennis Stout. John Pomierski and Dennis H. Labadie have both thrown their hats into the ring to replace Second District Supervisor Paul Biane. We haven’t heard if a candidate has announced his or her intent to run against Larry Walker, but there is talk that will happen.
County of San Bernardino Board of Supervisors Agenda Item No. 83 is causing some sleepless nights for a few high ranking county employees. At the top of the list likely is Deputy County Recorder/Larry Walker Mistress Deanna Thompson. Ms. Thompson has been untouchable despite the havoc she has caused in the lives of many of her subordinate staff. At least six of her highest ranking professional staff members have had to find other employment or file stress claims against the county due to Ms. Thompson creating a hostile work environment. Continue reading