If true, what does this say about Greg Devereaux and the BOS in relationship to them imposing a contract on rank-and-file specialized peace officers?  We hear the CAO/BOS intends to do the very same thing to Safety next year.  Would I be the only one appalled by such an action, if this is accurate?

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.

There is no doubt most or all of those who have been implicated in the Colonies scandal and other scandals are without halos, as are we all.  But, more importantly, our county’s top two law enforcement officers, Sheriff Rod Hoops and District Attorney Mike Ramos, are the most corrupt individuals in the county.  When our chief law enforcement officers are corrupt, then our system of justice is inherently corrupt.  We will never see the system fixed with bandaids by taking down a corrupt developer here and a corrupt politician there.  We must first cut out the cancer and not allow it to grow back.  Our top cops need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and made an example of for everyone to see.  Only when we have cops and prosecutors that are doing the job they are sworn to do—seeking justice, not revenge and not convictions for the political purposes—can we expect to make inroads into the corruption that has plagued this county for decades.

One of the things I have learned the hard way in the 4.5 years I have been doing this is that not all of those who say they want justice or want to clean up the system are genuine.  Some have some rather nefarious motives for “standing for justice.”  Barb Stanton comes to mind on that one.  Others are simple as unethical as those they try to expose.  Traci Dean comes to mind in this instance.  I have said it many times.  If fire is the corrupt act, then fighting fire with fire makes both parties equally corrupt.  It is not okay to lie, cheat, and steal to take out someone for lying, cheating, and stealing.

As for me speaking out on this issue, I think if you go way back you will see that I have many, many times.  I have also put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, by filing FPPC complaints, complaints with the AG/DA, Grand Jury, and Secretary of State.  I was told point-blank by Joy Chadwick, Supervisor Ovitt’s current director, that as a county employee I should not expect to be treated any way than I have been treated over the past few years if I am going to speak out about corruption.  In other words I should shut up or quit my job.  She didn’t feel county employees have the right to whistleblow and expect to keep their jobs.

That being said, as I said to someone tonight, I’m trying hard to keep off the witness stand in the corruption cases.  As he said to me, “You’re a little too late.”  Well, since, as I have told a few people lately, “I’m a mixed bag,” meaning I am not going to lie for anyone, and of that personal knowledge I do possess, I can harm both sides, I still hope to stay off the witness stand.

There is so much going on behind the scenes in the Colonies case it would make your head spin.  The media isn’t even doing a half-assed job of covering everything and certainly has no interest in the truth.  I think there are many surprises coming.  Remember, you have only read part of one side. That one side still has a lot to offer, but then again, so doesn’t the other side, which has hardly been heard at all.  Reality is far removed from what the public has been allowed to view up to this point.

I was asked a couple of weeks ago what I thought of Mark Kirk. I have a really hard time answering that.  When I got to know him, I thought very highly of him.  Yet, instead of using the single most powerful position in this county’s government or good, he was greedy, selfish, and arrogant, none of which are crimes.  But, when one has the power to do something about corruption and, instead, chooses to look the other way, are they not equally corrupt?  There is a part of me that feels sorry for Mark because I do feel some of the charges are trumped up, yet does he deserve it for not doing something when he could?  I’m not sure of the answer to that.  Like I said.  Little is black and white.

There is one case I do want to testify in and that is Mark Uffer’s.  I already have the subpoena, which I voluntarily picked up from his attorney’s office.  There is no doubt Mark and I had major issues, but right now I hate county administrators more.

I doubt Mark’s case will go to trial, which is too bad.  He has one major thing going for him and I believe that will cause the BOS to settle because none of them want to have to answer certain questions under oath.  However, if the truth were exposed, it would go a long way in cleaning up this county.

You see, one of the things Ramos knows, and I believe he is holding over BOS members’ heads, is the way in which the BOS uses technicalities to get around the Brown Act.  Rarely does a controversial matter go before the BOS without them knowing the outcome before they ever let it on the agenda.  Such was the case in Uffer’s termination.  They worked for months to get three votes to fire him and did not put it on the agenda until they had secured all three votes.  The holdout was Brad Mitzelfelt. Once he agreed, the termination was agendized and not a moment before.

When the members of the public show up on controversial projects or plans, such as redistricting, it does not matter what they say.  Redistricting is a perfect example where the outcome was known before the matter was agendized.  All of those that came to voice their opinions were wasting their time.  Josie, Janice, Gary and Greg had made sure the votes were there to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish.  I knew about it weeks ahead of time and I am not the only one.

Devereaux also flat out refuses to abide by the California Public Records Act or even the county’s Sunshine Ordinance.  By allowing the CEO to refuse to provide the public with access to county records, Ramos is facilitating corruption, not cleaning it up.

So, I would say that if Ramos were really interested in cleaning up county corruption, the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act would be places to start.  But cleaning up corruption is not his objective.

]]> http://iepolitics.net/2011/12/06/iepolitics-in-response-to-billyjackattack/feed/ 4 http://iepolitics.net/2011/10/11/iepolitics-earth-to-neil/ http://iepolitics.net/2011/10/11/iepolitics-earth-to-neil/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:35:55 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=10797 Continue reading →]]> 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.

Neil, I have offered to have welfare fraud investigators meet with you to tell you the truth.  I have never been taken up on that offer.  TAD employees have also always been willing to meet with you to tell you the truth but no one wants to hear it, especially Devereaux.

Don’t get me wrong Neil.  I support what you are trying to do in this county, especially when you have four colleagues who are just as happy to let the CEO tell them what to do and continue to cover up corruption.  But if you are serious about welfare fraud in this county, continuing with fingerprinting will do absolutely nothing to solve the problem.  Do something that is meaningful.

I have made this offer before and I will repeat it.  I will take a polygraph as long as Linda Haugen and Nancy Swanson also take them.  Whoever is caught lying about this issue loses their job, including all rights to their retirement.  Since you guys want to get rid of me and think I’m lying, why don’t you take me up on it?

]]> http://iepolitics.net/2011/10/11/iepolitics-earth-to-neil/feed/ 3 http://iepolitics.net/2011/10/11/iepolitics-cao-and-bos-declare-war-on-cops/ http://iepolitics.net/2011/10/11/iepolitics-cao-and-bos-declare-war-on-cops/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:28:04 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=10792 Continue reading →]]> 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.

3. County Management Rights: Incorporate language clarifying County management rights, including assignment of County vehicles.

4. Full Understanding, Modification and Waiver: Amend language to be consistent with County practice and/or clean up language as necessary.

5. Leave Provisions: Clean up language as appropriate, to include Amendment #1.

6. Overtime: Eliminate compensatory time banks. Clean up language as necessary.

7. Retirement System Contributions: Eliminate County pick-up of employee contributions for existing employees and new hires; establish a new/reduced pension formula for new hires.

8. Salary Administration: Establish step advancements at 2.5% for new and existing employees.

9. Salary Adjustments: Reduce salaries by 7%.

10. Seniority Watch Preference and Rotation: Eliminate article. Propose new article for Deputy’s with 20 years of uninterrupted service as a Safety employee to be given preference for days off and shift schedules.

11. Wage Differentials: Clarify language in regards to payment of differentials during periods of leave and non-work time. Establish fixed dollar amounts.

12. Deputy I/Il Classification: Change Deputy Sheriff Classifications to Deputy I for all Deputies assigned to Detentions and Corrections Bureau and Court Services and Deputy II for Deputies assigned outside of Detentions and Corrections and Court Services, e.g., Patrol.  Adjust pay scale, decreasing pay for Deputy I classification to provide for a 10% salary spread as appropriate. “X” step existing employees who currently earn more than the new top step for Deputy I classification.

13. Other non-economic articles: Update and clarify language as appropriate. For example, incorporate language for 9/80 and 12/80 schedules.

Here is the link to the actual letter:  County Proposal  It is my understanding that since SEBA negotiated away the Evergreen Clause, Devereaux has said he intends to impose his wishes on the cops if they don’t agree to concessions on their own.  Of course, he cannot impose anything without BOS approval.  It is also my understanding that both Supervisors Derry and Mitzelfelt have said they will not vote to impose.  However, I believe it only takes three votes and Supervisors Rutherford, Ovitt and Gonzales will do whatever Devereaux tells them to do.

If anyone has any updated information on negotiations, we would appreciate it if you would share it with us.

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.

ARMC Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Petre, and ARMC Medical Director, Dr. Dev GnanaDev, have been downplaying the recent state and federal investigations into medical care at the facility.  They attempt to describe them as routine.  These investigations are anything but routine.

When a hospital reaches a point where it is about to lose its Medicare and Medicaid (Medi-Cal) funding, it is serious.  It is so serious that such an event would likely cause the hospital to shut its doors.  And such a condition does not happen overnight.  By the time the Feds make this threat, they have found substantial and repeated violations that the hospital has not corrected after at least two previous warnings.  We are now at a critical stage and it requires critical measures.

It is time for Dr. Dev GnanaDev to be removed from ARMC.  He should not only be removed as the Medical Director, but his contract with the hospital should be canceled in total.  Too many stories of retaliation and heavy-handed tactics are surfacing, suggesting a man out of control.  Combined with some of the horrendous stories of patient abuse, our Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Officer owe it to the residents of San Bernardino County to take fiscally and morally sound action and replace GnanaDev when his contract expires on June 30, 2010.  Anything short of this action is dereliction of duty.

Insiders say that three other individuals need to also be replaced forthwith if there is any hope of ARMC surviving and regaining its stature in the community as a first-class trauma center.  They are:  Patrick Petre, Maureen Malone, and Frank Arambula.  All three of these individuals are accused of a systematic scheme of retaliation against any employee who speaks out about the wrongdoing at ARMC.

I can speak from personal experience as an employee of ARMC for a year.  I thought I was doing the right thing by telling former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer of the concerns employees brought to me regarding patient abuse, sexual harassment by managers, and multi-million-dollar billing issues.  At his request, I spoke with Petre and had other employees do the same.  The only result was for those employees to be disciplined or threatened with discipline, some for the first time in their entire careers, and for Uffer to remove me from a job he promised I could keep until I retired—for no disciplinary reason whatsoever other than I operate a blog that they were afraid I would use to expose what was going on at the facility.

I witnessed and experienced retaliation first-hand, at the hand of the powers that be at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.  If those powers that be were truly concerned about the hospital and the patients it serves, they would remove the cancer rather than killing the messengers.  Instead the cancer has metastasized into the most critical areas of administration.  All four individuals must be removed if ARMC is to survive.

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.

Today, exactly that happened.  Devereaux’s response to the BOS was read to me and I was pretty shocked to hear the lies, lies that could easily be proven to be lies.  And by 5 p.m., the lies were proven to be lies.  I don’t believe it was Devereaux lying as he does not have the expertise in the area to write the email in question.  It was done by a department head or AAO who knows that with Devereaux coming from a city where such services are not provided, he would not know the difference between the truth and a lie.  And I’m sure the department head or AAO knows I’m so hated on the fifth floor that Devereaux would not question a negative answer.

Do we expect to see a director or AAO fired tomorrow?  Of course not.  And this is a perfect example of why what is about to happen will be happening.  There is no reason to pay members of the board of supervisors $300,000 a year to kiss babies and shake hands.  We actually expect work out of them.  But they refuse to do what is right so it is time to replace them.

One other thing came to mind today as well.  I live in the First District.  I should be able to call my supervisor, i.e., Brad Mitzelfelt, and ask for help when county department heads are purposely screwing up.  But I can’t.  Our board of supervisors believe they are above answering to the people.  And the people are about to speak about how they feel about that.

I will say that Devereaux’s inquiry caused line staff to do their jobs today and for that I am grateful.  Certainly more than I would have ever gotten out of Brad.

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.

Second is in reference to the bizarre comments/articles about Janice Rutherford, Lewis Homes, Greg Devereaux, and the 1200 acres.  I do not understand what is going on at all but I know when something smells, and this doesn’t just smell, it reeks.  I know that neither the Sun or Press Enterprise want to write anything that will piss off the Lewises as I’m sure the Lewises will threaten to pull much-needed advertising revenue.  But unlike those papers that are on the brink of going under forever, the Examiner is thriving and I doubt Philip Anschutz cares what Randall Lewis thinks as long as the article is accurate and brings in revenue to his company.  So any help in understanding the issue would be greatly appreciated.

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.

It shall be interesting to watch this unfold.

And finally, numerous sources are now saying that something major is expected to happen in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center investigation next month.  iePolitics has heard from very excellent sources that Paul Biane is the most likely to be in a lot of trouble and that Dr. Dev GnanaDev will likely be terminated.  We are not clear if we should expect criminal charges against either Dev or Supervisor Josie Gonzales.  There is also a possibility of charges against Mark Uffer and Jessica Brown.  We know other files were taken as well but we do not know whose files those were or if they are suspects.

This, too, shall be fun to watch as it unfolds.

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.

It is my belief that two of the three supervisors up for election will NOT vote to impose.  One supervisor will do whatever Devereaux tells her to do just like she does at the Devore Shelter and every other aspect of county governance.

If all of you were smart, you would a) Make sure Supervisors Mitzelfelt and Derry know exactly how you feel; and b) Work hard at finding a replacement for Josie.  With redistricting, there are a LOT of options available in terms of candidates who may very well have a brain of their own.

I have no idea if the current contract proposal is in the best interests of cops or not.  I do know the cops should not be running away like a bunch of girlie men because Greggie has threatened them.  Stop looking at the propaganda.  Think about how much money you guys have in your PAC and how many other politicians you have put into office.  It’s time you took smart action and not scared reaction.  Greggie is only one person, and he doesn’t even get to vote.  Seriously?  You are all afraid of this little Napoleon?

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.

It’s not likely Kirk could cut a deal without burning Burum.  That could put Devereaux in a very sticky position.  And don’t forget it was Devereaux who was on that private jet with Biane and Richards.  It’s entirely possible that Kirk knows enough to take out Devereaux also, something that could make Ramos happy during this budget crisis.  As much of an ass as Devereaux is, how could he possibly cut Ramos’ budget with the possibility of criminal charges hanging over his head.

Every source I have tells me the word on the street is that Devereaux is being investigated.  The question is whether or not it is a real investigation or one to handcuff Devereaux a bit, figuratively speaking in this case.

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.

As a result, Blough got into the good graces of the members of the Board of Supervisors, which includes front-row seating at special events and an open-door policy on the Fifth Floor so he can feel like a big shot.  Safety got to keep their raises.  The public kept their level of fire and police protection.  And Devereaux showed general employees who’s boss, upholding his reputation and allowing him to gain both the board’s and citizen’s favor while putting the screws to the peasants.

Next, Devereaux imposed cuts to the Exempt Group but included a “me-too” clause, knowing full well that exempt employees would never have to take the cut.  Then he gets his other partner in crime, Bret Henry, to do the same, again knowing that the firefighters would never have to take the cuts.

The only fly in the ointment, and that may not really be the case, is the sudden resignation of William Abernathie, as president of SEBA.  All of a sudden the cops wouldn’t play. But it really didn’t matter.

You see, now that neither the cops or general employees will give in, Deveraux can show who is really boss.  Although from a public relations standpoint, I’m sure he would have like a bit of pension reform, it would have only gone so far in solving the budget crisis and the protected groups would have had to participate.

With unions rejecting the pension measure, it allows several things to happen.  It gives Devereaux an excuse to impose the Tour of Duty section of the Memorandum of Understanding.  With that he can cut employee paychecks as much as he wants.  And those cuts may also affect their retirements and benefits, providing an extra savings.  No one gets laid off, so Blough gets the same amount of employees’ dues to run his empire.

Not only that, but Devereaux is not required to apply the same cuts to every bargaining unit.  Nothing says he has to cut safety or fire.  The general employees can be subjected to the full brunt of the cuts.  Seriously, who cares if welfare workers or kennel attendants can’t make ends meet or are not working in full-time positions.  The public gets their cops and firefighters and Devereaux looks like a hero.

It is very conceivable that the only cuts made to Exempt, Safety, and Fire will be vacant positions while General takes the full hit.  We are already hearing that cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Department may reduce their contracts, which will only put more burden on General employees.  Yep, Devereaux is an ass and Blough is a selfish opportunist.  But we all knew that and go along with the plan anyway, don’t we? Anyone who doesn’t is a greedy bastard and a lazy county employee.

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.

The only real dissenter Devereaux has is Derry with Mitzelfelt a distant second.  If anyone thinks that Devereaux isn’t undermining the both of them every chance he gets, they need some swamp land.  Devereaux is a master manipulator.  He is devious and he is deadly.  I wonder if any of them will learn before the knife goes too deeply.

However, what Kirk has in his favor is that he brokered the termination of Mark Uffer with the intent of replacing him with long-time close friend Greg Devereaux.  Looks like it is Devereux’s turn to return the favor and keep Kirk on board.

Employees are perplexed as to why the CAO decided to include every conceivable story about the charges against Derry at the top of the newsclippings on the County’s Intranet site today.  It seems the overkill was even noticed by low-level employees in non-elite departments.

As we have suggested here before, Devereaux is a snake, always waiting for his prey.  We suspect Derry will feel the effects of the venom soon.

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.

Additionally, it was Henry who also used his “write a check” threat to keep an ongoing affair between fire marshal Peter Brierty and fire department supervisor Tina Sutera a secret.  It was Sutera who leaked the trailer incident to get the heat off herself and Brierty and then later claimed whistleblower retaliation as news of the affair spread and fire officials and employees from around the state came out in support of Dennen and Wurl.  Some say that what Henry, Brierty and Sutera did was actual blackmail of Dennen and Wurl.  Both chiefs had no support of then-CAO Uffer or HR Director Andrew Lamberto.  Devereaux quickly turned on them as well when Henry used his influence to get Devereaux what he wanted.

Now we learn that a deal has been cut that if the firefighters give up the seven percent they will be given overtime to make up for that.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that deal is clearly in their best interests because it will increase there retirement benefits as it will increase their earnable compensation.  So much for taking one for the Gipper.  Seems the firefighters are not only greedy, but underhanded as well.

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.

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 say this based on the chatter that is intensifying by the moment.  They may not get him for what he has already done in San Bernardino County, but we are hearing some serious stories about Ontario and even connections with Upland.

I don’t believe the District Attorney will get Gary Ovitt either, but I think there is also a very good possibility before this is all over, the FBI will.  People are coming out of the woodwork with stories of corruption that Ovitt allowed to occur right under his nose, often times involving his personal staff.  I don’t think Ramos has the cojones to charge and arrest him, but I really do see a set of matching stainless steel bracelets in his future.

We are hearing that Governor Brown has a job waiting for Ramos up north.  The story came from good sources but I still find it hard to believe.  However, we’ve been told that is one reason why he is in such a hurry to get these cases going.  A Ovitt and/or Devereaux arrest would only slow things up.  Besides, I don’t really believe he is interested in either of them.  But the word is a lot of documentation is being turned over to the FBI on Ovitt and Devereaux.  As always, we shall see.

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.

It was not a pleasant conversation.  The night before I sent him an ugly text message.  I was very upset over some things that had happened.  At the time I was living in a house with no utilities whatsoever; I had not had anything to eat or drink for four days; my truck was broken down and I could not get anywhere; and I was in severe pain.  By that evening I couldn’t take it anymore, thus the text message.

Mark had promised to help by making the county let me go back to work but had not kept his promise.  (For those that don’t know the story, weeks earlier I received a call from HR telling me to go home as they had decided to exercise their right not to accommodate my disability any longer.  It was a case of Mark Uffer vindictiveness combined with pissing off Paul Biane, etc.  The county left me penniless, with no medical insurance, no food, no way to support myself and a long list of disabilities caused directly by the county.  Prior to pissing off the wrong person I had a 25-year perfect work record.)

Anyway, I have thought of that conversation all day.  And I have thought of the passage above all day as well.  I don’t want Mark to go to prison.  But I have to admit I sure as heck want him to know what it feels like to be handcuffed, humiliated, and locked up.  Knowing what a scaredy cat he is, if he really did receive the letter, I bet he is in meltdown.  I should not feel like this is justice, but I went through a year of absolute hell that he, as the most powerful politico in the county, could have and should have fixed in five minutes.  Instead he heaped on more crap on me.  I’m sure he would be really happy if I did kill myself.  And now he may very well get a chance to know what it feels like.

Then there is John Doe No. 5, Paul Biane.  Actually, there is a part of me that feels sorry for Paul.  He really needs help via a good rehabilitation center.  But again I also remember the memos that are posted somewhere on this blog where he tried (and succeeded) in getting me into trouble for touring the Fifth Floor on a Friday with Supervisor Derry and writing about the results on the blog.

I have zero feelings one way or the other about John Doe No. 3.  If Patrick O’Reilly really did cheat on his wife with a prostitute provided by John Doe No. 1, well she’s getting her revenge whether she wants it or not.  If not, I’m not sure he belongs with the others.  So I can’t say that I want to see Dan indicted.

Finally there is John Doe No. 1, Jeff Burum.  I have always had a soft spot for Jeff.  I have never met him or even spoken with him.  Jim, Mark and Bill have all told me that he is a really good person.  The long-time readers know the story about Jeff and the blog and I’m not going to repeat it.  However, since the incident with Jim I suspect I was lied to about that too.  If I ever get back on my feet financially, that $1000 is going to be repaid, but I have no clue if I owe it to Jeff or someone else.  I do know it saved my life at the time, and after believing one story for so long, I can’t help myself but still have that soft spot.

I know Jeff’s supporters do not believe we treat Jeff fairly.  But we did support him 100 percent on this blog until Rex’s convictiion.  Then it wasn’t the conviction, because that was not Jeff’s fault.  But Jeff totally turned his back on Rex and his family.  There were things Jeff could have done to help Rex that would not have cost a dime.  They were things that Jeff could have done because he is Jeff Burum.  Instead, he washed his hands of Rex.

So for the reasons above I have very mixed feelings about how I feel about Jeff being indicted, if, indeed, that does happen.  There is a part of me that feels like he, too, needs to know what it feels like to be handcuffed, humiliated, and locked up.  But at the same time I do realize that this whole thing is more politics than anything.

I wish someone would use their influence to get the FBI involved but apparently that is too much to ask.  There is a lot of wrongdoing and not all of it is by the accused.  It is really too bad it had to come to this.  Jeff, Dan, Mark and Paul all had their chance to prevent what is happening. None of them had balls enough to do so. Now they are finding out what it is like to be on the receiving end.

So, I shall close this with a poem that has appeared on the blog many times.  It is dedicated to the John Does:

First They came… – Pastor Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

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.

The county has defended the decision ever since, but Postmus’ plea reduced that argument to an empty husk. Prosecutors last year said the settlement was the result of bribery and extortion, and called the deal a theft from taxpayers. Investigators said the Colonies paid $400,000 to political action committees with ties to supervisors as bribes to obtain the lucrative agreement. The developer has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing. But Postmus’ admission lends undeniable weight to the accusations — and the criminal investigation into the settlement is far from finished.

The county says it is consulting with lawyers about what steps to take after Postmus’ conviction. And yes, county supervisors need to consider the numerous legal ramifications of this complex case.

But the county’s clear goal should be to undo this deal and recover taxpayers’ money. There is no excuse for sticking to the terms of an agreement permeated by corruption. The public cost of this settlement exceeds $200 million, including interest charges. Supervisors cannot realistically expect residents to ignore a bribery conviction and simply swallow that expense.

Postmus’ guilty plea should also stop the county’s lawsuit against other public agencies in the Colonies case. The county is suing San Bernardino Associated Governments, Caltrans and Upland, asking that those agencies foot some of the Colonies payout.

To read the rest of this story, click here.

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.

POST Scandal

We continue to receive tips, etc.  They are being forwarded to those who can do something about getting to the truth.  Since we all feel there was shenanigans by Hoops, Penrod and Ramos in this situation, we are also forwarding everything to those defense counsel who wants them.  All identifying information is being removed first.

I have spoken with numerous current members of the SBSD and everyone agrees this investigation was screwed up on purpose.  It’s also unanimous that the list of offenders is far longer than anyone imagined.

Two new names have been added into the mix and I am wondering if anyone can give me additional information.  They are Bryan Dorsey and Tom Denim.

County Budget

Let’s see.  Last year we tried to warn you that Bob Blough and Greg Devereaux were lying to you.  But y’all bought their stories hook, line and sinker.  Two years ago we tried to warn you that Bob Blough and Mark Uffer were lying to you.  But y’all  bought their stories hook, line and sinker.  Three years ago we told you if you gave up you flex benefit dollars you would never see your raises but you said we didn’t know what we were talking about.  So now you have no raises and no flexible benefit dollars.  And now you will likely lose your retirement pickup and maybe even a percentage of your hourly wage . . . all in the name of keeping flex schedules that they would not have taken away anyway.

I have come to the conclusion that the average county employee is so damn stupid he/she deserves to have his/her job outsourced to the private sector.

Japan Disaster

I am really amazed by some of the comments.  No one said that county employees were going to use county time to help out residents of Japan.  But for crying out loud, our current CAO doesn’t even have the decency to acknowledge this catastrophe.  You know, when our county is burning to the ground, we appreciate prayers and offers of help from outside the county.  At least an acknowledgement of the pain and suffering the Japanese people are going through would have been nice.  It says a lot about Devereaux and Gonzales.

And finally,  both public and private enterprise employees are involved in charity work every day.  Many charities depend on grants from both sectors and both sectors contribute time and money to humanitarian needs on a regular basis.  A posting to the county website directing readers where they could have helped would have cost almost nothing.  It just goes to show what this county has become.

La Jolla Institute

I had every intention of including this subject in this post and then totally forgot.  First of all, I want to thank Steve Brow for all the time he took to enlighten us of Steve Pontell and the La Jolla Institute.  This is hardly a subject I have forgotten about out.  It is just the POST scandal has taken what little time I have had to blog the past few weeks.  There will be a lot more on the blog on La Jolla, the Adelanto Boys and Girls Club, the Ontario YMCA, NoMoreBrad, and several other subjects I have ignored for weeks now.  None have been forgotten, only temporarily put on the back burner until I get time.

As Devereaux continues to expand he power base, thanks to a poorly thought out and illegal ordinance, it will interesting to see who really has control on the Fifth Floor, the CAO or the BOS.  I suspect the BOS doesn’t want to tangle with  SEBA.  That would be a real battle of cops and robbers.

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.

For decades County Counsel advised the county to keep the County Fire and Special Districts budgets completely separate from the county budget, thus the way those items are acted upon in Board of Supervisors sessions.  However, Lamberto needed additional responsibilities to justify his elevation in recessionary times.

Fortunately, a number of other things got in the way the first time around, particularly the firing of Mark Uffer.  However, Lamberto has been working on his plan with County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux for close to a year now.  It is unlikely the BOS has any clue as to the significance and possible legal problems they have brought upon themselves with their action this past Tuesday.

Tuesday’s budget debacle is another perfect example of why we do not need a full-time board of supervisors.  They simple do not care what they vote on.  We should not be paying them $150,000 a year plus a lucrative benefit plan to not even know what they are doing or what legal jeopardy they are placing the county in.

A charter amendment can be passed by the voters in February of next year to reduce the BOS to part time and reduce their salaries accordingly.  Unlike Riverside, which is not a charter county, San Bernardino County residents have much more say in determining how they are governed.  I think we all realize we don’t need our board of supervisors any more than is required by the California Constitution.  Getting rid of a full-time board of supervisors and their staff will save tens of millions of dollars each year.

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.

As to the settlement itself, I can only go by what numerous people have told me.   Otherwise waring parties all agree the $102 million was the best the county was going to get.  I have said many times on this blog that I believe District Attorney Mike Ramos’ conspiracy theory is a lot of bs.

Although not everyone involved in the settlement are what I would consider to be ethical people, I don’t believe for a moment that either  Judge Warner or the justices at the Fourth District Court of Appeal would conspire to do anything.  It would take them being willing to face criminal prosecution themselves and that is just hogwash.

In a year’s time, I have changed my mind about some things.  For example, we have every reason to believe one of the John Does has cut a deal with the District Attorney and is offering testimony against the others.  We also believe he is wearing a wire to entrap similarly to Adam Aleman and Matt Brown.  There is a LOT of circumstantial evidence pointing in that direction.

If this is the case, the person most affected will be Jim Erwin.  I honestly believe that Jim will go to prison.  I am not saying that because of our recent difficulties.  Despite those difficulties, I wish Jim no harm.  He has three beautiful children and has worked hard to make amends to them and his wife for the past couple of years.  I do believe this is a political prosecution and if the DA is going to get Jim, he should be getting a heck of a lot of other people too.

However, I have learned in recent months that Jim is his own worst enemy.  In his attempts to not back down, he crosses the line sometimes as I personally witnessed and as we have been told he did in the Colonies Settlement by Aleman.  It appears that the John Doe will corroborate that.

The question is whether Jim acted on his own or if he was acting on behalf of Jeff Burum and/or the Colonies Partners.  That is a very big question in my mind.

I don’t know Jeff Burum and I’m not sure what to think.  The story I told the other day about the RFQ and the 1200 acres is the story told to me by Mark Kirk.  I have every reason to believe I wrote nothing the PIU did not know long ago as Mark led me to believe he told them.  I may be pretty angry with Kirk but I don’t believe him to be a liar in matters such as these.

So, that story does demonstrate Burum’s willingness to do something not too ethical.  Yet, Kirk, Postmus and Erwin have all told me stories of Burum’s contributions to his community and to the less fortunate.  All three have painted a picture of a very caring human being who is a shrewd but ethical businessman.  As I said, I’m not sure what to think.

I’ve been really upset with Jeff and the partners in the months since Rex’s conviction and perhaps I should explain once and for all why.  Rex’s conviction is not their fault to my knowledge.  I base that on what Erwin tells me was offered as help to Jim Reiss, Rex’s attorney, but to be honest, Erwin lied to me about so much, I’m not sure if that help was really offered or not.

But whatever the case, the conviction is not what bothers me.  The bottom line is Reiss did a piss-poor job of defending Rex in the second trial.  There was a lot more that could have been done that wasn’t.  That is no one’s fault but Jim Reiss’.

What does bother me is that Jeff, Dan Richards, and others have tossed Rex aside.  They know Rex is not guilty and there are things they could do about it.  For example, one of the main reasons Rex was convicted was the lies that Andrew Lamberto told on the witness stand.  Andrew should have been fired before the trial was over and he should have been criminally charged.  Jeff, Dan, Kirk, Biane, Ovitt and others all have enough influence with Devereaux to make an investigation happen.  If the county did the right thing, the AG would have to take notice.   Every last one of them has instead run away with his tail between his legs in fear, letting Rex rot in jail.  I don’t think there is a set of balls between them.

I understand that not one of them, nor their attorneys, has expertise in the county’s payroll system or in exempt employees to understand the magnitude of Andrew’s lies, but they know there is an issue there.  Not one of them will do anything about it.  So, honestly, it will not bother me one bit to see any of them taken away in handcuffs.  They need to know what it feels like to be charged and go through the criminal process whether they are guilty or not.

The next few months will likely prove to be eventful.  It is my belief that Ramos is most interested in Erwin, Postmus and Burum.  Erwin and Postmus are already charged and I suspect before it is over the DA will be able to prove at least one major charge thanks to corroborating witnesses.  If the DA can figure out how to get a judge to sign an arrest warrant, I think Burum will be arrested too.  As to a conviction, from what I know it’s going to be hard to prove Erwin was doing Burum’s bidding, but we shall see.

Depending on how motivated the PIU is, I believe there are far more than just the five John Does who could be charged.  Ovitt, Matt Brown, additional county supervisors, and quite a few of the partners could also go down, or at least be charged.  There is some very serious evidence out there that has not been turned over to the defense or leaked to the media that a John Doe is said to be keeping as his ace up his sleeve.  Nothing would surprise me.

In the end, I still believe this whole thing is politically motivated.  Much of the behavior Ramos is charging others with, he has participated in himself.  But as we all have learned the past two years neither life nor the justice system is fair.

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.

This morning we were told by one of those rich and powerful types that never reads iePolitics that Dena Smith was the worse director in the history of the Planning Department.  However, they went on to say that the new planning director is “awesome” and that San Bernardino County finally did something right.

Well, we were right on Dena Smith and knew we were at the time.  Smith’s appointment is typical of the county mentality that anyone with a management degree can manage anything.  We saw similar failures with Jim Lindley, Steve Hall, Kari Verjil, Linda Haugen, and others who were/are totally out of their league.

But even we admitted that Devereaux/Ovitt have finally hired someone with education (even in the area in which she will be working).  That is a novel idea in San Bernardino County so let’s hope she really is awesome.

Chino Hills planning chief now heads County Land Use

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.

Ms. Kelly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, a Certificate in Urban Studies, and a Masters in Public Administration, all from California State University, Long Beach. She also taught economic development at her alma mater as an Adjunct Professor in the Masters in Public Administration Program for three years.

Ms. Kelly succeeds Dena Smith, who now serves as a Deputy Executive Officer for the County overseeing board projects in the County Administrative Office.  The County of San Bernardino Land Use Services Department includes the divisions of Current Planning, Advanced Planning, Building and Safety, Code Enforcement, and Environmental Health Services.

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.

1. Repeal Measure P so that BOS salaries return to approximately $100,000 a year.
2. Reduce the BOS to part-time status and adjust their salaries accordingly, probably around $45,000 a year.  This could also be used to justify eliminating all BOS staff except a secretary to serve all five.
3. Reduce BOS benefits to those of general employees.
4. Eliminate BOS benefits.

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.

And, I suspect we could do something in terms of eliminating discretionary spending to all their favorite charities such as the Boys and Girls Club of Adelanto and the Ontario/Montclair YMCA.  Maybe someone knows how much they are given each year to do all that stuff.  I know the total would represent millions more in savings.

BOS members say they want a strong, centralized government.  They have taken a number of actions to prove it.  I think the voters should make it legal by enacting a charter amendment to do just that.

This is a real, albeit very informal and unscientific survey.  We would  really like to know what you think.

A charter amendment can be placed on the ballot in less than a year and would take effect with the June primary.

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.

“I want to be fed the facts,” Ovitt said Thursday. “We were being told something much different, and that makes it much more difficult for us to right the system.”

Marcia Fritz is president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a group that advocates pension reform. She reviewed the report at the request of The Press-Enterprise.

A red flag is how fast the fund’s unfunded liability is growing, Fritz said. In a year’s time, between June 30, 2009, and June 30, 2010, the difference between obligations and assets grew by more than $447 million.

“The trend is danger, danger, danger,” Fritz said. “In one year, it went from a healthy fund ratio to an unhealthy ratio.”

Supervisor Janice Rutherford described the trend as unsustainable and said she and other supervisors need to hold a pension reform workshop.

“We need to deal with reality no matter how scary it is,” said Rutherford.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

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 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.

They will be gathering evidence to determine if there are individual claims or a class action suit that can be filed by the state of California against the county of San Bernardino for their illegal discrimination against employees with disabilities.  I think it is considered a violation of civil rights, but I’m not certain about that.

If you have filed, or been told you cannot file, a FEHA/DFEH claim with the state because the county refused to accommodate your disability for any period of time, we need to talk to you.    They want to talk to you even if it is past the period of time in which you can get your right to sue letter.

I knowTAD, Assessor, Auditor-Controller/Recorder and the Sheriff’s Departments have all refused to accommodate employees with disabilities when they were capable of doing so.  I am certain it has happened in other departments as well.

Also,  I am working on getting similar investigations going with the Industrial Relations Board and the Department of Insurance.  If you have been abused  by Risk Management with you worker’s compensation case or with Hartford Insurance, I need to talk with you.

We have some high-ranking state officials working with us who Devereaux and Lamberto can’t touch.  The more complaints we can document, the better our chances are to get some action against county officials.

Well, things regarding Steve PonTell are getting more interesting by the moment.  We got a copy of his non-profit tax returns and I should have some telling photos and other information soon.  I have submitted a California Public Records Act request for additional information.

My personal opinion at this point is that La Jolla Institute is simply a pass-thru fake non-profit used to funnel funds from government agencies to its president and possibly others.  It appears Supervisor Gary Ovitt is using his position to give his friend Steve PonTell lucrative no-bid contracts.  From what I know, Mark Kirk, and possibly other Fourth District staff are also involved in the scam.  Greg Devereaux is likely involved as well.

I have written many times that there are real conspiracies in this county that should be investigated by District Attorney Mike Ramos.  Anyone want to be they will never take a look.

Watch for more information over the weeks.

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.

PonTell introduced First District Supervisor and SANBAG Chairman Brad Mitzelfelt.  We hear that Brad totally read his speech and flubbed it up over and over.  Some suggested he might have hit the bottle before he had to face his constituents.  We know he is scared of them.

Also in attendance was David Zook, who took to eavesdropping, Mary O’Toole, Greg Devereaux, David Wert, Jessie Flores.  There was also someone in a “snakeskin jacket.”  Why does that seem appropriate?  Maybe someone knows who that was.

The entire Hesperia City Council attended.  Councilman Rick Roelle attended from Apple Valley.  At his side was girlfriend and Mitzelfelt new fave Victorville Councilwoman Angela Valles.  We are not sure if anyone else attended from the city of Victorville.   Councilmembers Ginger Coleman and  Scott Nassif also attended from Apple Valley.  It was held in the city of Victorville’s council chambers.

Oh, and they had an undercover cop there in case they needed protection.  Someone hasn’t told them it is the citizens who need the protection from them and most of the brass who graced our hallowed desert belong in jail.

We understand lots of county vehicles were there, driven by those who should be receiving a county car allowance.  Pics and plates were taken and we will publish that information at a later date.

I’m told about thirty citizens attended this well-advertised function.  Everyone wants to drop what they are doing on three-days’ notice to see our government officials.  It ranks right up there with seeing Brangelina or Elvis.  Not a single member of the media attended which likely explains why there are no stories in the local papers.

After about a half hour, someone asked if perhaps, since it was an official government meeting, maybe the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited.  Brad was called back up to lead.  I guess he actually knows it as it got through it without it being written down for him.

Questions were taken from the audience.  However, each time county corruption came up, the subject was changed.  Guess it made them uncomfortable.

I’m told someone on the Hesperia City Council told Brad publicly that they were looking at possibly ending the contracts with county fire and the sheriff’s department, or at least cutting them significantly.  See Brad, you should read the blog so you are not caught off guard so easily.

Some citizens dared to sit next to Brad so he immediately got up and stood against the wall with his staff as bodyguards.

From what we gather, our county execs didn’t really like what the citizens had to say.  And I doubt any citizen left thinking they were going to get any better or more honest service than they already get.

So you missed the meeting?  Well there are a number of other opportunities to see the dog and pony show.  The next one will be held January 11, 2011, in Phelan at 6 p.m. at the Pinon Mesa Middle School.

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.

Along that line, we are trying to come up with a good name for a website to defeat Brad Mitzelfelt.  We are hoping to have our first meeting on Tuesday night.  If anyone has any great ideas, let me know.

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.

But promises were not kept.  And now we are likely to have Ramos as our District Attorney for four more years.  Of course, that will give him four more years to figure out how to send Jim Erwin, Jeff Burum, Dan Richards, Mark Kirk, and Patrick O’Reilly to prison for very long terms.  We only hope he adds Greg Devereaux, Andrew Lamberto, and Gary Ovitt to the list.  San Quentin would be a good place.

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.

As despicable as Boxer, Ferguson and Dante are as human beings, the Public Defenders situation highlights the much greater problem that was created under former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer and allowed to continued without scrutiny by current County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux.  In private enterprise it could be argued that a company has the right to determine what is best for its bottom line and adjust its policy accordingly, taking into account potential lawsuits and insurance claims.  But in the public sector, the costs of litigation, higher insurance premiums, excessive claims, turnover, and absenteeism affects every member of the community, state and country.

For decades now, many of San Bernardino County’s administrative officers and members of the Board of Supervisors have had little concern for the county’s bottom line.  If lawsuits must be paid, then it is a matter of finding funding sources through taxes, fees, insurances policies, and bonds.  What does it matter as it is not coming out of their pockets?

In the past five years, however, the problems in human resources have increased exponentially.  Human Resources was once charged with mitigating exposure to the county.  Now, instead, its goal is to use whatever means, legal or not, to harass, terrorize, and destroy the enemies of the county’s most powerful officials.

Human Resources, through its director Andrew Lamberto, had an obligation to stop Boxer; instead it facilitated her actions, costing the county untold millions of dollars, much of yet has likely not been realized as former employees file wrongful termination and hostile work environment suits.  Many current employees also have potential suits against the county if they choose to exercise that option.

But the Public Defender’s office is hardly an anomaly.  What we have witnessed there has become the norm in San Bernardino County Government.  Human resource officers are now allowed to routinely lie and create false evidence, an offense that once would have ended their county careers.  In tandem with County Counsel, covering up the truth has become the name of the game in expectation that most employees are so intimidated they will either quit or accept the punishment without complaint.

Although I have been told that the Fifth Floor is now going after the next department head in line, I have little faith that anything more will be accomplished.  Deputy public defenders are not only attorneys, but also among the most highly paid of county staffers.  They were willing to take a chance.  The average office full of clerks both don’t know their rights nor do they have the economic security to stand up to the likes of Lamberto and his band of lying, theiving thugs.

I would really like to believe that Boxer is just the first in a long list of managers to be terminated.  In reality I know how hard of a battle it was to get rid of her because Devereaux and most of the Board of Supervisors prefer to have employees who live in fear.  Lamberto will never do the right thing and Devereaux is happy to have him as his hatchet man—hatchet man for the little people.

I would not expect more change.

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.

But more than that.  Kirk is known as being “lazy.”  He is said to have rarely worked an 8-hour day, instead arriving late and leaving early.  He would fly his plane to work when in Chino and alter his schedule to accommodate his flights.  Apparently, driving from Hesperia to the Apple Valley Airport and back is “work time.”  No time card fraud there.

Kirk is known as one of the biggest culprits of “time care fraud” on the Fifth Floor but has always received the protection of Ovitt, and now Devereaux.  It was Kirk who orchestrated Devereaux’s hiring and is now enjoying the benefits.

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.

Exempt employees must work the number of hours necessary to get the job done.  There is no time clock to punch.  They are paid for 40 hours a week no matter how many or how few hours they actually work unless specified otherwise by contract.

However Devereaux is known as a power-hungry task master.  Devereaux convinced BOS members earlier this year to give up one or more of their employees and transfer them under his control.  Rumor has it that he is going to require each BOS district to give up two more positions in the new budget with the ultimate goal of each district having a supervisor and one employee.

With the “time card” ruling Devereaux has arsenal to hold over the BOS heads.  It would be easy to have any one or more of their subordinates prosecuted for time card fraud.  With three of them up for re-election, that could be a death blow to their hopes of serving another four years.

Devereaux has positioned himself so that he hold all the cards with a BOS that is subservient.  That was his modus operandi at the last two cities he worked.  No one thought he could pull it off with the county.  He has done so in less than a year.  And the BOS have happily gone along with it.  Wonder if Supervisors Mitzelfelt, Derry and Gonzales will regret their decisions on November 6, 2012.  I bet not one of them wins re-election and deservedly so.

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?

So yesterday when I get a text message stating he would look into my issue after the first of the year, he wonders why I went ballistic.

Something neither he or Supervisor Neil Derry understand in this situation is that I have a heck of a lot more experience working in these situations, more than both of them put together.  I know first-hand it only takes a phone call.  But both are terrified of Andrew Lamberto and Greg Devereaux.

Devereaux is a vindictive asshole who is trying to prevent either one of them from getting the chairman/vice chairman position.  Devereaux wants Josie Gonzales in that position because it gives him even more power.  And Derry and Mitzelfelt run away like the pantywaists they are afraid of the big, bad CAO.

I will never refer to him as the “CEO” as that was an illegal transfer of power that required the vote of the people.  But again, this BOS is too afraid of him to do anything but kowtow to his whims.

]]> http://iepolitics.net/2010/12/16/iepolitics-but-we-were-working-on-it/feed/ 3 http://iepolitics.net/2010/12/16/iepolitics-no-one-would-believe-gary-ovitt-is-corrupt/ http://iepolitics.net/2010/12/16/iepolitics-no-one-would-believe-gary-ovitt-is-corrupt/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:20:31 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=6759 Continue reading →]]> 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.

You see, Devereaux and Blough made sure an illegal vote took place and Ryan was happy to accommodate so that he would get his promotion.  Ovitt was paid off to go along.

Rumor has it that Ryan’s promotion was to manage the Colonies Flood Control project.  Imagine that!

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.

In recent days I was told that they will not give me the money they owe me because Derry doesn’t like the posts about Paul Cook.  I have also been told that Jeff Burum is not happy with some of my posts that involve him.

I have been lied to and strung along by these guys long enough.  So today I am declaring war as you will see in today’s posts and those from here on out.  I will no longer censor posts for ANYONE!

And, while I’m at it.  Bob Schrieber, you know how much I despise you and that has not changed.  But I’m sick of the blackmail in connection with the corruption scandal and everything I do on the blog.  I know there is no point in going to the Sheriff, as Devereaux will just threaten him.  I know that from experience.  So I’m happy to wait until Kamala Harris takes office, or I can talk to someone from your staff.  But there are three rules:  1.  I will NOT do an Adam Aleman.  I will only discuss those things that I can pass a polygraph on.  2.  I will not play if you play games.  I’m not Mark Kirk and I will not start crying when you guys play “good cop, bad cop,” so plan on dealing straightforward.  3.  I will not talk to you without an attorney present.  If interested, contact my attorney.  As I said, I’m more than willing to wait to next month and deal with the AG.

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?

Well, if you are Mark Kirk, assistant to County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux, you take $100,000 of Colonies money on a $102 million settlement you encouraged your boss to settle, and then you pay yourself $20,000 for your own consulting services out of the very same PAC that received the $100,000.  Must be nice, huh?

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.

On the other hand, three days after Greg became CAO my disability was cut off in the middle of an off-work order.  He gets absolutely no slack from us.  He wanted to be an asshole, he’s going to be treated like one.

In response to the whole concept that things take time, well all I can say is BULLSHIT!  I realize some of you think my only county experience is working for the Transitional Assistance Department.  In reality I have worked for the county since before some of you on the Fifth Floor were born and certainly since most of you were in grade school. I believe I have have worked for a total of 12 departments. I worked for the BOS when Mykels was chairman and Eaves was in the Fifth District.   I saw both in action and I know exactly what can be done.

But I don’t have to rely on my own experience working for the BOS and for a variety of high-level executives.  You may have forgotten my friendship with Bill Postmus, whom I talk with every day and meet with almost every day.

Say what you want about his last few years, you cannot begin to say Bill did not know how to get things done in county government.  He was a very effective supervisor until Meth took over his life, and even in a Meth-addicted state, accomplished more than most of the clowns that have held a Fifth Floor office in the past couple of decades.

If you haven’t met with Bill lately, I suggest you do and you will see just how much of his memory has returned.  If I have any doubts about process, Bill has been an excellent resource.  He has forgotten more than some of you have ever even known in the first place and still knows more about how to get things done than most on the Fifth Floor.

To even suggest that it takes ten months to fire an at-will employee is ludicrous.  Just ask Josie.  She does it on a regular basis for the hell of it.

This whole concept of giving a department head anything but “you’re fired” and an escort out the door is crazy and another example of the piss-poor advice coming from Human Resources and County Council.  You cut the  head off of the rattlesnake, bury it, and don’t look back.

We here at iePolitics are all for some of the changes being made.  But to suggest they must take months or years is simply naive and a perfect example of poor management.

You don’t let a cancer grow until it metathesizes, which is exactly what has been done in this county.  And now this county is on life support.  Four of the five supervisors and the CAO are to blame for that.  Unfortunately, the taxpayers are paying the tab for their ineffectual leadership and inability to make a decision.

And, by the way, I will agree that some of the change starts before we start writing about it, but more often than not, it is because we have been asked to hold off on writing about it.  But even more often than not, the five supervisors and CAO simply ignore the problems until many of us start making them a political hot potato.  Instead of being proactive, they are forced to be reactive.  And they end up looking like the bumbling fools they are.

I don’t think you have a clue who talks to me on the condition of anonymity.  I know there is at least one supervisor who wishes he could find out where the leak is.  He’d be pretty shocked if he knew who is narc’ing him off.

Finally, I thought no one reads this blog, certainly not anyone of importance.  So exactly how could we possibly slow down anything?  Our 50,000 hits a day are just peons who have no influence in county government.

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