We are hearing that Sheriff Hoops has put all captains, even recently promoted captains, at top step to make up for 7 percent loss in retirement contributions. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe, if true, this can be done without approval of the director of Human Resources and/or County Executive Officer.
Since I haven’t been writing much, I thought I would respond to his/her comment as a post since I know others are thinking the same thing. So here goes.
Well Billy, I think my first response is that whether we are discussing Colonies, the BOS, Greg Devereaux, the DA/AG/FBI, or any other person/entity in a long list of county concerns, there is very little black and white. Since you used Jim as an example, I will too. Has Jim done some things wrong? It is my belief the answer is yes. Do I also believe he has been singled out and maliciously prosecuted? That answer is yes too. Almost $3 in bail is outrageous. The trumped-up charges are also outrageous. I will continue to say that probably forever. At the same time, I do believe he has committed criminal wrongdoing. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am not taking one side over the other; I simply believe in justice. Justice would have been served perhaps with a FPPC fine or, in the case of the extortion if that proves to be true, a felony or two with probation and maybe some jail time if warranted–just like someone who is not Ramos’ political enemy.
Supervisor Derry,
I just received your press release regarding fingerprinting of Foodstamp recipients in San Bernardino County. Although I agree that Foodstamp (and honestly all welfare recipients) should be fingerprinted, you are NEVER going to do anything about welfare fraud in this county unless you first rid this county of Linda Haugen and Nancy Swanson.
I know you don’t want to hear it, but welfare fraud cannot be caught if workers are disciplined for making fraud referrals. I know from first-hand experience. I also know from first-hand experience that county welfare statistics are falsified by said Haugen and Swanson. Larry Walker wanted to bring in external auditors to audit the department when we provided hard-core proof but the CAO put a stop to it. With the falsified statistics, the county gets more welfare funding which makes for more money that can be wasted on big screen TVs and the like and a bigger empire which means a promotion for those at the top.
For those who did not notice the county’s proposal for a new contract with SEBA, here are the county’s proposals:
This correspondence shall serve as the County’s written request to commence negotiations and the following shall constitute the County’s written proposals:
1. Benefit Plan: Eliminate Benefit Plan contributions and replace with Medical Premium Subsidy. Clarify/amend language to conform to County policy, practice, plan documents and/or applicable law and regulations as appropriate.
2. Other benefit provisions such as Dependant Care Assistance Plan, Flexible Spending Account, Life Insurance, Merit Advancements, Reemployment, Retirement Medical Trust, etc: Clarify/amend language to conform to County policy, practice, plan documents and/or applicable law and regulations as appropriate.
As a child growing up with a mother who prescribed to old-fashioned thoughts about medical care, I was always told never to allow doctors to operate on cancer because exposing cancer cells to air would cause them to grow exponentially. Of course, today we know how to use surgery to cure an otherwise fatal tumor.
Several years ago all of Southern California watched the crisis at the Los Angeles County-run King-Drew Medical Center. If history can predict the future, we have a similar, fatal cancer growing at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) that needs to be excised fully and quickly.
The residents of San Bernardino County are being led to believe that the current investigations and accusations at San Bernardino County’s only county-run hospital are routine and relatively minor. We keep hearing that they are part of the “learning process.” ARMC has been in business for over 10 years and San Bernardino county has operated a hospital for decades before that. If the county hasn’t learned how to run a hospital by now, I’m not sure it ever will. Continue reading
Linda Haugan
I shall not go into details of the circumstances but today I had a situation that needed Board of Supervisors’ intervention. County Executive Officer Greg Devereaux was asked by a board office to look into the situation.
Now, I have heard a variety of things about employees who choose to cross Devereaux. I have certainly been led to believe that lying to the man would not be a good idea.
And there was a time when an employee, any employee, but especially a director or an AAO, lied to a board member or to the CEO, it would result in an instant boot out the door.
There are two local stories with regional implications I want to write but need your help as I need some explanations. They are long overdue.
The first is the city of Victorville. Love her or hate her, right now it appears Angela Valles is the only sane person on that city council. I cannot believe the decisions Ryan McEachron is making. We expect that from the other three but never thought Ryan would totally sell out the city. I would especially appreciate any information that can be provided on Buck Johns relationship with Ryan and/or what is going on behind the scenes.
There are two opposing rumors of sorts out there. First, in this week’s issue of the Sentinel, Mark claims that Supervisor Josie Gonzales filed a Grand Jury complaint in 2006 over the Colonies issues, thus making the powers-that-be aware of some of the overt acts two years before the District Attorney’s office claims they actually knew. This was supposedly part of her Grand Jury testimony last week. That seems to be very problematic if true.
And, in the opposite direction is word that by the county waiving attorney/client privilege, the District Attorney has been able to obtain enough information to prosecute Supervisor Gary Ovitt for his part in the Colonies scandal. Apparently, they have emails and other documents that now prove a quid pro quo arrangement between Burum and the three supervisors.
I keep hearing about all the threats from County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux to impose whatever he damn well pleases if everyone doesn’t go along with HIS game plan. You need to remember that Devereaux does not have the final say. It must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
Remember the phrase “Count to three.” That phrase becomes especially important next year because three supervisors are up for re-election. This is not the time to piss off firefighters, cops, or animal rights groups, all three of which can have tremendous political clout if they so choose, as has been proven in the past.
Think about it. Kirk is not someone with a lot of backbone. I know he is scared to death right now. Of the Colonies Four, he is the most likely to cut a deal. And that makes for interesting talk around the water cooler on the Fifth Floor.
Mark is good friends with both Jeff Burum and Greg Devereaux. Jeff Burum and Greg Devereaux. Greg Devereaux is very close with John Doe No. 2, the so-far unindicted co-conspirator and partner of Jeff Burum, Dan Richards.
As much as I have no use for the guy, I do believe CAO Greg Devereaux is brilliant, at least in comparison to those BOS members and employees he is manipulating. One thing even his friends will say about him is that he likes to be conceived as an asshole. He does not mind the heat from making employees’ lives miserable.
And as much as I dislike Bob Blough, he is a used car salesman extraordinaire that always comes out on the winning side in terms of what is best for himself. He also doesn’t mind the heat from making employees’ lives miserable.
Now, think of the chain of events. Last year Devereaux and Blough imposed a series of takeaways on General employees. It was done with SBPEA’s help even though it violated collective bargaining laws. They both knew employees would never mount a serious effort to fight it.
That is sort of the rumor (actually that Devereaux forced her to resign) but I have not been able to confirm. Anyone?
We are betting not. This board of supervisors is no longer in charge of San Bernardino County. They don’t have a county administrative officer who answers to them. Instead they answer to a county executive officer. We really don’t have a need for a board of supervisors any more.
Devereaux has done what he is known for doing and that is centralize the power with himself. He has reduced the board members’ staff while increasing his own. He is now trying to gradually take discretionary funds away from the board. And this BOS is too stupid to see what is going on.
According to sources who attended the Friends of the Fair event, Mark Kirk, whose wife is on the fair board, was overheard saying that he expects to return to work in a couple of weeks. That is in contrast to Adam Aleman, Jim Erwin, and Rex Guiterrez, who were terminated upon their arrests. Like those three, Kirk is a contract, at-will employee with no civil service protection.
Inquiring minds want to know why Mark Kirk has not been terminated from the county. Upon their arrests, Adam Aleman, Rex Gutierrez, and Jim Erwin all lost their jobs. Of course, they didn’t help land County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux (Kirk’s boss) a $300,000-a-year job either. It must be nice to have friends in high places to protect you. Do I smell a new conspiracy?
From what we are hearing neither SEBA or SBPEA plans to play ball with County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux and his plan for employees to pay their seven percent of retirement. And that means County Fire and exempt don’t have to play either because their agreements were tied to everyone else doing the same thing. We hear plans for layoffs at the Sheriff’s Department are already being made. And we suspect the same is true for the rest of the county. Geez, it is only six weeks until the end of the fiscal year. Is the Fifth Floor really this inept?
Some of you may not have noticed the comment on my most recent post regarding SBPEA. Someone claimed that Bob Blough’s contract is tied to Greg Devereaux’s contract, meaning Bob earns whatever Greg earns. I believe Devereaux’s total compensation must be around $400,000 a year for handling something like 19,000 employees and a $6 billion budget. Blough has what, maybe 30 employees and a $$ million budget. (Someone please get me more accurate figures.) Could it be?
We have been hearing for a while that County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux and his staff have been doing everything conceivable to undermine Supervisor Neil Derry. With the recent revelations, we hear they may be stepping it up.
I have waited to write this post until I was able to confirm its content with multiple sources close to the situations. When someone first posted that the firefighters cut a deal where they would give up the seven percent towards retirement in exchange for additional overtime, I chalked it up to rumor that could not possibly any validity. Boy was I wrong.
First off, the new fire chief, Mark Hartwig, is the choice of union president Bret Henry. I’m told we can expect to see Henry promoted. I am also told that Hartwig is very weak and will have little to do with actually running the department.
Henry is very, very close to CAO Greg Devereaux and was instrumental in undermining former chiefs Pat Dennen and Dan Wurl, threatening to use his ability to “write a check” to District Attorney Mike Ramos to get the former chiefs prosecuted over the trailer incident if either fell out of line. He also used his relationship with his significant other Rachel Garcia (?), who worked for former Supervisor Paul Biane, to gain favor on the fifth floor.
Here is an email I received tonight:
The word just came out about 1:00 or so today that Dean Arabatis (sp?) CFO’s last day is April 29th. He is moving on to San Diego as the CFO. He’s been with the County a L-O-N-G time (someone said since 1989 as an intern, but I don’t know that for sure). He’s worked with a LOT of CAO’s, until now~!!
Source said that the CEO sent a letter to the Board today.
Some are wondering which person from Ontario the CEO has choosen to replace Dean…
Darn, I so hate to see that misogynistic ass leave . . . not!!! At least the FBI knows where San Diego is. He will be easily found when the time comes.
Here is an email I received. Can anyone provide additional information?
An ECD Specialist I was informed today she is being laid off. Director, Kathy Thomas informed the employee that another employee with RDA (possibly with less seniority) would be assuming their job duties. Also, an OA II was given walking papers for the same termination date.
RDA needs to be investigated immediately for unfair labor practices! They just hired two new employees; also, two employees retired recently (Jan Dustin & Marielena Shorett) and are coming back on contract! Can we say, ‘double-dipping?’ This is an outrage!
Devereaux is ‘empire building’ with all of his favorite cronies from the City of Ontario, such as Mary Jane Olhasso and Kathy Thomas, just to name a few.
Housing Development employees expect more lay offs to come.
I am going to make a prediction, and that is, minimally CAO Greg Devereaux will be led out of the County Government Center in handcuffs before this is all over. No, I don’t expect it any time soon, so sorry if I got some of your hopes up. I suspect it will not be by the District Attorney, but rather by the FBI.
19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Over the years, I have quoted the above passage many times. I think a good many of our core readers find iePolitics because they have been wronged in some way.
Today, I have had one of those teary-eyed days. I learned yesterday that it appeared the district attorney was acting fast and a criminal grand jury was being empanelled to indict most or all of the corruption figures. Although not confirmed, I heard today that all five John Does have been served. I am also hearing that the current charges may be dropped against Jim Erwin so to avoid a preliminary hearing and that he will be indicted as well. We shall see.
My first question to my source was, “So that means Mark Kirk was served?” I cannot help but think back to January 1, 2010, the last time I spoke with Mark.
Everyone is concerned about the five John Does, but one government employee has benefitted far more than any of the politicos and that is CAO Greg Devereaux. He was the hand-picked choice for CAO by the West End boys including Supervisors Ovitt and Biane. He is extremely close to Dan Richards and rumor has it brokered a lucrative deal or two for his Colonies friends. We can only hope that the PIU is looking at the sweetheart deals he has helped get for his friends.
08:39 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Press-Enterprise
Bill Postmus’ guilty plea this week stripped any pretense of legitimacy from San Bernardino County’s $102 million legal settlement with developer Colonies Partners. County supervisors have no justification for sticking taxpayers with the cost of a deal tainted by corruption. And the county should stop wasting public money trying to get other agencies to pay part of the bill.
Postmus, a former supervisor and assessor, pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges, including misuse of public funds and drug possession. But Postmus also admitted to charges that he accepted a bribe and had a financial conflict of interest when he voted to approve the Colonies settlement. Postmus, then-Supervisor Paul Biane and Supervisor Gary Ovitt agreed in 2006 to pay the developer $102 million to settle a legal battle over land for flood control.
I gather from some of the past few comments that some of you have noticed I have not been near a computer much for the past few days. I thought I would comment on a few of the comments before I post new items.
Publius
For the most part I could not care less who he/she is or what he/she has to say. Publius is a troll who only wants to stir things up without adding anything intelligent to the mix. He/She is the one who chose to out Kenny so I feel turnabout is fair play. However, in the end, he/she is inconsequential to this blog.
We are hearing bits and pieces that San Bernardino County CAO Greg Devereaux isn’t going to play nice with the cops this next budget season. Well that’s what we hear from one district; another district says it isn’t true. We have also had a comment or two to that effect on the blog that haven’t received a bit of attention.
Once again the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has shown its collective lack of backbone and governance as well as its willingness to shirk ethics. Last week’s mid-week budget included hidden agendas for those seeking additional power in county government.
One such “hidden” item was the transfer of human resources and previously vehicle services functions from County Fire and Special Districts to the county. This has been in the works for about 18 months and was first attempted as Mark Uffer and Ruth Stringer were attempting to give their partner in crime, Andrew Lamberto, an excuse for an Assistant Administrative Officer position. Lamberto hid the original proposal in a closed session personnel board item totally unrelated to the move.
In a comment one of the bloggers asked me something along those lines. This is a post I have been trying to write for a week or so. If you dare to read it, expect it to be long and rambling as I have a lot to say about the scandal, the defendants and the John Does. I’m not even sure where to start.
Much of what I think about the Colonies scandal is no different that what I thought a year ago after the arrests were made and the John Does were “named.” But some has.
Back when former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer appointed Dena Smith as Planning Director, we were quite critical. And we got slapped around quite a bit for taking a whack at one of the county’s sacred cows.
Yesterday we didn’t take a whack at the new planning director, only at the fact that she comes from Chino Hills, which suggests more Devereaux/Ovitt shenanighans.
Wonder how much of a raise this one got. But at least so far it seems with Devereaux he at least requires his department heads to have college degrees. Even I have to admit that is an improvement over Uffer.
Experienced planning and development manager Christine Kelly is the County of San Bernardino’s new Land Use Services Director. Ms. Kelly most recently served as the Community Development Director for the City of Chino Hills and held similar positions in Pomona, Brea and Cypress during the past 18 years.
She also worked for a consulting firm that provides planning and economic development guidance and assistance to cities. In Chino Hills, Ms. Kelly played a key role in the creation of the Shoppes Lifestyle Center, the Commons Power Center, the Heritage Professional Center, and the Golden Triangle office, hotel and retail development.
It is time for San Bernardino County to do what is being done in Riverside County. One difference is that we are a charter county, which means our measure would change the county charter and cannot be changed by the Board of Supervisors. Here are a few of the possibilities. Let me know which ones you like or provide some other ideas.
Any other ideas? The part-time suggestion seems to be the most justified since the BOS has given their authority to Devereaux and now only meets half time. The salary and benefit savings alone is over $6 million a year.
10:00 PM PST on Thursday, February 3, 2011
By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise
A new report on the San Bernardino County employees’ retirement fund is prompting calls for pension reforms to avoid future cuts to county services.
The report from County Executive Officer Greg Devereaux’s office shows a growing hole — called an “unfunded liability” — of about $1.1 billion in the pension fund. The liability is the difference between the $7.4 billion the fund is obligated to pay employees and pensioners and the $6.3 billion it has in various investments.
Supervisor Gary Ovitt, appointed to the San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association board of trustees in June, said other members painted a “rosy picture” of the fund. They focused on how well the pension fund weathered the financial crisis of 2008 but didn’t report the more recent imbalance.
Traci and Patricia visited the address listed on the contracts approved in 2009 and again on August 24, 2010. Here are those contracts: 09-860[1] and here is the last tax return: 2009taxreturn.
The county did two no-bid contracts with this “non profit” totalling $240,000 in less than two years. The non-profit just happens to be run by campaign donors and a close personal friend of Gary Ovitt, Mark Kirk and Greg Devereaux. But all of it is above board, right?
I’ve been relatively silent about my situation lately because I am doing a number of things behind the scenes with individuals the county can’t threaten. I have been enlisting the help of those in high places.
I will not give all the details as to how this came about, but I just got off the phone with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing after having spoke with their deputy director last week. I will be meeting with a state investigator next week. There is already one other employee scheduled to meet with the investigator.
This is the email I sent to all of the members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and Greg Devereaux on January 14, 2010. Needless to say, not one of them responded. I didn’t expect any of them to do so.
I have several questions regarding your unanimous approval of a non-competitive consulting contract with La Jolla Institute in the amount of $150,000 on September 15, 2009 and an additional $90,000 on August 24, 2010.
Brad Mitzelfelt
Last night was the first in a series of meetings around the county where our illustrious leaders tried to relate with the unwashed masses. Nothing like someone making $9 bucks an hour at a part-time job listening to someone making $300,000 a year drone on about how much they have done to improve our lives.
First up was Steve PonTell, a consultant who conducted most of the meeting. We shall have to find out if this is one of those “no bid” contracts that Chairman Gary Ovitt has awarded to PonTell. We’re told they are neighbors or go to the same church or something like that. All I know for sure is that the Fourth District likes to give PonTell contracts without going through the RFP process.
Greg Devereaux
As we talk with citizens around the county, it seems multiple supervisorial districts are using the excuse “we can’t interfere in county policies” so that they do not have to help constituents with issues with various county departments. It has become “pass the buck” who doesn’t care if citizens get served or not.
Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach was sworn in today, replacing the only district attorney in the state of California who could rival San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos in terms of political persecutions. As a matter of fact, former-Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco seemed to have totally lost it in the final days of his term. His behavior could only be called bizarre.
We are not ready to say Ramos is equally bizarre. But he is still a predator, a predator who could be retired as of today had promises been kept.
Yesterday, I got into a conversation with someone regarding San Francisco and mentioned that it is the home to the Church of satan. Today’s comment about Devilreaux got me to wondering if it still exists so I looked it up.
Here is what I found: Wikipedia
Scroll down and look at the statements, sins, and rules and tell me they don’t remind you of many on the Fifth Floor. Amazing.
I’m told that County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux witnessed something this past week that caught even him off guard. As we reported earlier, Public Defender employees were called into a 5 p.m. meeting on December 14 where Devereaux announced the termination of Public Defender Doreen Boxer and the demise of her lieutenants, Lauri Ferguson and Martin Dante. He also announced the appointment of Phyllis Morris as interim Public Defender. Employees stood and jubilantly clapped and cheered at the news.
Obviously, Boxer, Ferguson and Dante, were despotic managers who ran amok. To effect such emotion out of most of a department’s staff, however, takes more than bad managers. In a system where there are checks and balances, four years of illegal personnel actions and a hostile work environment simply should have never happened. But it did.
Seems getting the CAO his job reaps many benefits. One of them is being put in charge of county redistricting. In other words, Mark Kirk was given the task of determining the new supervisorial districts. Gee, we can only imagine how fair that will be.
Fortunately, Supervisor Neil Derry got wind of it. We hear he took care of the issue. We only hope so. Time will tell.
Mark Kirk
We have learned recently of all of Mark Kirk’s riches. Two Cadallacs, a plane, a large home, land, European vacations, cleaning lady, timeshare and a stay-at-home wife. Certainly he lives the “good life” on a Chief of Staff salary. So how does he afford it?
Well for one, he does political consulting . . . political consulting on county time. Emails have surfaced clearly showing that Kirk has run campaigns while he was supposed to be working for Chairman of the Board Gary Ovitt.
Yesterday’s sentencing of Rex Gutierrez to 32 months in prison was a warning shot. Judge Rouse said it was a warning to public officials. But really it was a warning to the Board of Supervisors and their staffs—not a warning from Rouse but rather a warning from their new power-hungry County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux.
Devereaux has had the evidence for months that Human Resources Director Andrew Lamberto lied under oath in the three hearings involving Rex Gutierrez. This is not only a crime, but a violation of county ethics. But Lamberto is protected by Devereaux, and for good reason.
First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt
Really? It takes exactly ten minutes to place a phone call to Andrew Lamberto and tell him to have my benefits issued. After all, he is the one who lied to Hartford Insurance and told them that the county offered me a job and I declined. No such thing happened.
Last week, 81 days after Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt personally said he would look into my situation, I met with him face to face. He actually had the nerve to ask me, “Why should I help you?” Gee, maybe because I’m a constituent? An employee? Your department head lied under color of authority—something any other county employee would be fired for? Because you made an oath to uphold the laws of the state of California which say that the county must provide disability insurance to its employees?
Well, yes they would. Just ask anyone about the deal cut whereby Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt received $50,000 from the San Bernardino Public Employees Association, the union representing general employees, and in turn SBPEA Board of Director’s president, Scott Ryan, received a promotion. Guess who was a part of that? None other than County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux.
Greg Devereaux
This is one of those posts where I made myself wait 24 hours to write. Just received an email that Mitzelfelt is going to deal with my situation after the first of the year. As of today it is 87 days since he first agreed to “help.” I will let him decide if he wants to share my response with all of you.
The bottom line is I’m tired of being threatened and blackmailed with my job and my livelihood by Devereaux, Mitzelfelt, Derry, Kirk and others. I sick of being told that they will withhold the money they owe me until I shut down the blog, resign, and/or only write positive articles about them. I am also tired of being threatened over some other issues in my life.
Mark Kirk
So how does one afford a 2.5k square foot home, land in Arizona for a future home, a plane and hangar spot, two Cadillacs, cleaning lady, multiple overseas vacations, time share for multiple weeks per year, and his wife just quite work to raise their baby all on a $130,000 a year county salary?
This comment appeared on the blog today in response to the most recent post regarding San Bernardino County Public Defender Doreen Boxer:
In reading all of the different articles and comments, here some of you get it and some of you don’t. Being very close to all of the players nothing is cut and dry. Greg D. is not the finally say in anything. A few members on the 5th floor run the show, but there is a process.
That process is never on the time frame that Sharon, Jim, ACU, or the regulars write about here. You guys do a great job spelling out what should happen. Well, it’s already happening well before you even start writing about it. You do a great job getting everyone on the sidelines ready for the kick. However, many of these issues need a little more time before you start second guessing what is being done. None of you speed things up and often slow the process down. I do not fault any of you for this, it’s just the truth.
Sharon’s followers have stepped up and made the difference and we take nothing away from you on that. It sounds like I praise the most of you and then take it away. I am not. I am just sharing with you about the process and how long these things take. Many of you should be proud of the end results and of your actions. The love hate relationship that most of you have with the 5th floor “offices” is questionable.
You give accolades in one article and then beat up Neil, Brad, Greg D., otheres on the very next blog. It’s like my mother telling me she loves what I did with cleaning her garage, and then smacks me in the back of the head for putting her dust pan in the wrong place. Please everyone, lets all get our meds leveled out and stick with one side or the other. I have! Wish I could tell you more. But for now, try having a love feast with some of the ones you have mentioned here. You have mentioned three or four departures that you are very happy with.(you left a few out) Give Greg, Brad, Neil, Janice and others some time and you will see many more positive changes sooner than later. Oh and “God Bless”, trust in that.
I thought it deserved a response that is not hidden under the article.
First, let’s address the “love hate relationship” with the Fifth Floor. I guess that can best be summed up as saying we are not politicians. In other words, we have zero interest in being politically correct, in brown nosing, or in doing what we do to make friends. If, for example, Supervisor Neil Derry does good, we are going to praise him. If he does something less than ethical, we are going to criticize him.
Now, that’s not to say that we don’t let some slide a little more than others, because we are human and we do appreciate a job well done. Neil is one of those, although at times I’m sure he doesn’t believe it. Brad is another and I know he doesn’t believe it. If Brad only knew some of the articles I have not printed in order to keep some semblance of a working relationship with the First District since I live there. But he does not believe that.