Burum spent $45,273.66 at the store — $12,675 for Erwin’s watch and $18,100 for a Breguet Heritage Grande watch for O’Reilly, according to receipts prosecutors provided as evidence. In his testimony, Burum confirmed the amounts, paid for with his black American Express card.

The only time he paid cash was for three female Asian masseuses that he called up to their condo, Burum said.

“Generally speaking, when I get out of town, I know you know, frankly, how to get a hold of, you know –” he testified.

“Entertainment,” Cope suggested.

“Entertainment,” Burum agreed.

Burum said he couldn’t recall exactly what the women were paid but estimated it was $100 to $200 each. They stayed about an hour or 90 minutes, he said. O’Reilly and Erwin both went into their bedrooms with a masseuse while Burum stayed on the couch with his masseuse, he said.

Later in the testimony, Burum denied receiving any sexual favors from his masseuse. Prosecutors have alleged that the women were prostitutes. Both Erwin and O’Reilly have denied using the services of prostitutes.

Although at the end they deny these “masseuses” were prostitutes, the middle part of this quote in Jeff Burum’s own words would suggest otherwise.  I have said it a hundred times on this blog—any person who will break the most important covenant of their life, i.e., the marriage covenant, and cheat on their family cannot be trusted to show integrity in any other part of their life.  This passage, in his own words, makes it sound like Jeff cheated on his wife regularly with prostitutes and helped associates do the same.

Integrity is not situational.  Either one has it or one doesn’t.  Although I don’t believe Mark Kirk ever cheated on Erin, I do believe the remaining Colonies defendants and uncharged co-conspirators have shown a complete lack of integrity which put all of their other claims in question.

We have confirmed that there are up to seven law enforcement vehicles at the home of Mark Kirk.  It appears that his vehicle and garage have already been searched.  Agents have been at the location for a couple of hours.

Bill Postmus was NOT involved in today’s search.  We have not been able to confirm at this point if Jim Erwin has been served with a warrant today or not.

UPDATE:  The Sun is reporting that warrants were served at the home of Jim Erwin as well.  There is a nice slideshow of his home (or should I say of the agents raiding his home) on the Sun’s website.

Next Update:  We are hearing that nine warrants were served today.  So far confirmed are:  Jeff Burum’s home, Jim Erwin’s home, Mark Kirk’s home, Patrick O’Reilly’s business, National Core, and Diversified Pacific.  That leaves three additional locations.

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.

Today I had lunch with a top-notch criminal defense attorney who is well known to this blog.  I got a lesson in statute of limitations.

The approval by the Board of Supervisors of the $102 million Colonies contract did not necessarily start the three years to begin tolling.  Especially in fraud cases, the time does not start to toll until the fraud is actually discovered.  In this case that was not necessarily more than three years ago.  As a matter of fact, if new evidence of fraud is found, arrests could be made three years from now.

Everyone knows that if Jeff Burum, Dan Richards, Patrick O’Reilly, Mark Kirk, and Paul Biane are guilty of a conspiracy to defraud taxpayers, there are a whole lot more people on the Fifth Floor equally guilty.  Gary Ovitt and Matt Brown come to mind for sure.

But when one adds in the political action monies handed out by Burum and others, many more names pop up.  All one has to do is start looking at 460s and tracing the money back to its original sources.  It is not pretty at all.

I have to admit there is a John Doe or two I would REALLY like to see arrested.  The sense of entitlement that goes along with working on the Fifth Floor these days is stomach turning.  I can only hope.

Lamberto’s testimony could not only send an innocent man to prison, but may very well impact numerous others working for the Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Office.  Mark Kirk in particular has been targeted by District Attorney investigators, and based on information from a confidential informant, we believe they have stepped up their investigation in the past week.  We have been told he is one of the individuals whose payroll records have been subjected to a search warrant/subpoena.

Some courtroom observers believe Gutierrez will be convicted of the time card fraud and conspiracy charges.  If that happens, then we can expect to see a lot more action against the five John Does—Jeff Burum, Dan Richards, Patrick O’Reilly, Mark Kirk, and Paul Biane.  Judge Duke Rouse seems to care little about statute of limitations or any of the finer points of law.  Observers also said it appeared Rouse has been doing everything he could to help the District attorney keep their case on life support.

We may know this week how much damage Lamberto’s testimony caused Gutierrez as there could be a verdict as early as today.  Even a “not guilty” verdict will not completely take other exempt employees off the hook.  We shall see.

Biane Hit Piece

Well we have a mystery.   Hit pieces against Fontana Councilwoman and Second Supervisorial candidate Janice Rutherford started showing up in mailboxes last week.  One mail piece asked Rancho Cucamonga residents if they wanted “Fontana’s problems”—a piece clearly meant to  spark an elitist attitude by Rancho Cucamonga voters. A second mailer linked Rutherford with Upland Mayor John Pomierski. The mailer pictured above was received today.

The Political Action Committee (PAC) identified on the mailers is ”Citizens Against Corruption Opposing Rutherford for Supervisor 2010.” In their paperwork filed with the Registrar of Voters office all that is listed is an address which belongs to Sutton Law Firm in San Francisco.

The only contacts listed for this PAC are the committee’s assistant treasurer, Jesse Mainardi, and treasurer, Frank Williams.  Mainardi is an attorney with Sutton Law Firm.  Frank Williams is the recently retired CEO of the Baldy Mesa Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIA).  The BIA has been a strong force in local politics for decades.

The Sutton Law Firm is also well known in this area.  It is the firm that was used by the Colonies Partners in the campaign against Proposition P, the proposition which gave the  members of the Board of Supervisors 50 percent raises.  That proposition’s main proponent was Paul Biane but it was put on the ballot at a time when the county was not diligently working towards a settlement in the Colonies matter so the Partners hired the firm to campaign against the proposition.

John Doe No. 3, Patrick O’Reilly, was handling the public relations for  the Colonies Partners at that time and his firm is listed on Sutton’s website as a client.  Another local client is Arrowhead Credit Union, which also involved itself heavily in local politics before its recent takeover by the feds.

We will not likely know where the money is coming from for this PAC until next week.  We do know that PAC money has dried up statewide, but based on the number and quality of the mailers thus far, this PAC appears to be very well funded.  There are not many people in this county who both have this strong of an interest in the Second Supervisorial race and the money to fund such an endeavor.  It shall be interesting to see who the contributors are when campaign documents become available next week.

Monday, September 27, 2010 – 9:20 p.m.
Last Updated: September 28, 2010 – 1:20 p.m.

www.inlandpolitics.com

On Monday night Yucaipa city government was at its best.

The matter involving a controversial Spanish-language radio tower took on an increasingly ugly tone, with allegations and daggers being hurled by various interests, including Mayor Dick Riddell.

The players present. Redlands Attorney John Mirau, representatives from Riverside-based O’Reilly Public Relations, Chas Kelly,  a field representative for county supervisor Neil Derry, plus a handful of sign carriers of Anglo-descent.

Two weeks ago, it was more of a Latino-origin crowd voicing support for the radio station.

However while bashing Bob Roberts, another representative, from the dais, a smirking Riddell said the matter isn’t racial.

But by the way the city and other certain interests are acting, you would think speakers were being erected on a tower overlooking the city and mariachi music was going to be blasted across the canyon twenty-four hours a day.

Mirau, who has no problem looking like an jerk, took a shot at John DeFazio, a paid representative for Lazer Broadcasting. Mirau made light of Defazio being charged with perjury in District Attorney Mike Ramos’ failing ongoing corruption investigation.

The fact that Mirau, who accompanied employees of corruption target John Doe #3 to the meeting, was attacking another corruption target is damn hilarious to say the least.

But not beneath a man like Mirau.

I doubt they realized how it would appear.

Mayor Riddell insists thousands of residents oppose the tower project. However, it seemed like only ten or so people appeared at tonight’s meeting in opposition.

Some residents, some not.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

• Written by The Insider
• Posted August 29, 2010 at 2:46 pm

www.inlandpolitics.com

Sunday, August 29, 2010 – 2:40 pm

It’s finally crunch time in the multi-year corruption probe launched by San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos.

And one has to wonder what Ramos told Attorney General Jerry Brown in regards to his evidence?

There’s a bigger question starting to be asked by some close to the investigation.

Was Brown lied to?

The recent acquisition of attorney-client and mediation privileged materials related to the $102 million settlement between the County of San Bernardino and Colonies Partners is said by sources to be the final investigative puzzle piece. District Attorney insiders say now that Ramos’ investigators have the material, a so-called “filing decision” related to five alleged un-named co-conspirators is approaching.

A decision that sources say is now totally in Brown’s hands.

Currently, two out of seven alleged co-conspirators stand charged by Brown and Ramos. The two charged, former Assessor and County Supervisor Bill Postmus and former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin are currently fighting charges in court. Charges leveled against Postmus and Erwin related to the settlement include bribery and extortion.

Five others, previously reported by The Sun newspaper to be Colonies co-managing partners, Jeff Burum and Dan Richards, public relations consultant Patrick O’Reilly, county supervisor Paul Biane, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to supervisor Gary Ovitt, remain uncharged.

It should be noted that Burum, was an early backer of republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, and was slated to be her state finance chair before Brown leveled allegations against him. Whitman faces Brown in a showdown for Governor in November.

At a February 10, 2010 televised press conference, Brown labeled the settlement as possibly the worst case of fraud in state history. He further said the settlement was a result of a scheme to defraud taxpayers and was without any legal basis. Brown further said the settlement was approved against the recommendation of any attorney and no appraisal had been obtained related to the land at the heart of the matter.

Insiders tell InlandPolitics.com that Brown’s publicly inflammatory statements don’t quite correlate with what investigators received the past several weeks.

First, a licensed attorney did recommend the settlement to county supervisors. The attorney, Edward Panelli, a retired associate justice of the California Supreme Court, who presided over formal discussions leading up to the settlement, reviewed supporting documentation including court rulings before issuing his recommendation.

Second, not one appraisal, but two, were actually completed to determine the value of the property taken from Colonies Partners for flood conrol purposes and involved at the center of the dispute.

Third, without the spin of Adam Aleman, a prosecution witness with dubious credibility, alleged bribes that consisted of $400,000 in contributions to five political action committees appear to be nothing more than just that, contributions to actual committees that in reality functioned as political committees and nothing more. Investigators apparently continued pursuing their targets, even after serious false statements and truthfulness issues with Aleman became known.

Insiders also say investigators have been methodically careful to avoid soliciting any information damaging to Aleman’s character and conduct that could be deemed exculpatory to defense attorneys.

Aleman has pled guilty to four felony charges related to destruction of government property and providing false information to a grand jury. Other charges against Aleman are awaiting dismissal.

He is awaiting sentencing.

One attorney source involved in the settlement talks, who was recently interviewed by Ramos’ investigators described their experience as a joke. The attorney said “You would think you are suppose to let a person you are interviewing talk”, when describing the approach taken by the investigators.

Apparently investigators were seeking certain answers to their questions, without explanation from the witness. A sign investigators are trying to steer the investigations outcome ,with little regard for the truth.

Sources say Ramos’ investigators have placed themselves in the unfortunate position of seeking the means to an end. Something that has raised anxiety within Ramos’ Bureau of Investigation and administration.

Brown is reportedly pressuring Ramos to come up with the goods on the remaining five targets. However, all materials recently turned over do nothing to help the prosecution, but instead bolster the defense.

Some well-placed sources believe a failure to charge the additional targets effectively unwinds the case against Postmus and Erwin, while at the same time creating political damage and questions for Ramos, who was recently reelected to a new four-year term.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Up until yesterday, Superior Court Judge Micheal Dest seemed to be doing the “right thing” during the hearings for the corruption defendants, at least in comparison to Judge Duke Rouse, who has been doing anything but the “right thing.”  But I spent two years working for the little man and tried to tell Bill and Jim that Dest would do what is best for Dest politically.

Dest did the right thing in terms of appointing a public defender for Postmus.  Postmus did not receive any special treatment.  The appointment was based on his ability to pay now, not what he earned in the past.  That is no different standard than any one of us would face.

However, this is Bill Postmus we are talking about.  And like Jim Erwin, Mark Kirk, Paul Biane, Jeff Burum, Dan Richards, Patrick O’Reilly, Rex Gutierrez, Dino DiFazio, and Greg Eyler, Bill has been the subject of a lot of lies and misinformation put forth by the District Attorney’s Office.  I am not going to defend the drug situation, but I will defend every other charge.  Nothing has been proven but the public thinks each one of these men is a crook of the worst kind.  And that is based on a campaign of defamation against each of them led by District Attorney Mike Ramos.

Once Postmus’ legal situation was revealed in the newspapers, it was no surprise that members of the public were outraged by the appointment of a public defender.   A majority of the public has no clue what goes on in the legal process.  They base their opinions on what they read in what has become a less-than-factual mainstream media.

So, knowing Judge Dest as well as I do, it is also no surprise that he jumped on Postmus yesterday.  Dest cares about one thing, and one thing only, and that is being re-elected.  As with some other members of the San Bernardino County bench, justice be damned.  Public perception rules.   Fortunately, the cases won’t be in Dest’s courtroom much longer.

This last week’s developments involving the filing of charges against two former county officials, the naming of five “un-named” co-conspirators, and the reputation destruction of others referred to in a complaint and accompanying arrest affidavit has commenced a chain of events that will reverberate in San Bernardino County for years.

The charges and accusations come with less than one week before the filing period for the June primary election officially opens. District Attorney Mike Ramos is seeking re-election and California Attorney General Jerry Brown is running for Governor.

After the conclusion of a live press conference District Attorney Mike Ramos made it clear to reporters they could deduce who the “un-charged” or “un-named” parties were by carefully reading the criminal complaint. Figuring out the names wasn’t the least bit difficult. Ramos’ venom was evident. He spoke of personal attacks on himself and his family and concerns over his budget being cut.

Former Assessor and County Supervisor Bill Postmus, who already posted $110,000 bail was re-arrested and forced to post an additional $250,000. Former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, who had already posted $220,000 bail was also re-arrested and required to post an additional $380,000.

Neither Postmus nor Erwin had ever been late to any court appearance.

The “un-named” individuals are Jeff Burum, co-managing partner, Colonies Partners, Dan Richards, co-managing partner, Colonies Partners, Patrick O’Reilly, CEO, O’Reilly Public Relations, Paul Biane, second district supervisor, and Mark Kirk, chief of staff to fourth district supervisor Gary Ovitt.

Clearly Ramos, whose anger and venom was evident at the press conference earlier that day didn’t want either of the men out of jail.

For over a year now District Attorney Mike Ramos has embarked on a campaign to terrorize and assassinate anyone who gets in his way, or those whom he perceives as a threat.

In other words, we now have an all out war between good versus evil in this county. District Attorney Mike Ramos is that evil.

Ramos has no problem retaliating against others and he has demonstrated that ability in the past. Just ask the President of the union representing Ramos’ own prosecutors, Grover Merritt.

A few years ago Merritt, the president of the San Bernardino County Public Attorney’s Association made it known he may run for DA. What happened? Ramos had a false allegation leveled against Merritt and fired him. Ramos accused Merritt of leaking information to the press.

Ramos refused to be deposed in a federal lawsuit filed by Merritt.  A hearing officer ordered Merritt reinstated. The county settled with Merritt and he was paid approximately $300,000 plus full back pay and retirement credit to settle the federal lawsuit.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

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In this article we will take a close look at the destroy-at-all-cost targeting of San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos and his Orange County-based political consultant David Ellis, owner of Delta Partners, LLC.

One thing is for certain. It’s becoming increasingly obvious Ramos’ agenda in his falsely-proclaimed never-ending quest to rid San Bernardino County of political corruption, and it definitely isn’t about fighting crime.

That agenda being, neutralize the county’s west-end political power base.

In our last article we discussed the Ramos/Ellis back-stabbing of two politicos. The two being Deputy District Attorney and former Ontario City Councilman Jason Anderson, a now former friend and client of Ellis and perceived threat to Ramos, and Patrick O’Reilly, CEO of Riverside-based O’Reilly Public Relations, and now former friend of Ellis.

The Mike Fermin/Mike Ramos/Jason Anderson Connection

Another element that played into the political demise of Jason Anderson is Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael Fermin.

In addition to being Ramos’ hand-picked heir-apparent. Fermin is also widely-known as Ramos’ proverbial “Bag Man”. Fermin puts out the fires and acts as the fixer when necessary. If there’s a dirty secret about Ramos, Fermin knows it all!

If you will remember, Fermin was the go between when Ramos had to reach out to former mistress Cheryl Ristow prior to their former relationship being public outed.

Not widely-known however is the tension and friction between Fermin and Anderson. Once again Anderson was perceived to have wanted Fermin’s future job, and nothing was going to stand in Fermin’s way.

The Rancho Alliance Investigation (A.K.A the 1200 Acres Investigation)

Here we have the District Attorney investigation into the Rancho Alliance proposal related to the right to entitle and become master developer of a 1200 acre parcel of land owned by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District. The property sits just north of Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga.

Rancho Alliance was one of several proposals submitted.

The proposed sale was cancelled last year.

The partnership at the time included Lewis Group of Companies, Diversified Pacific, Young Homes, and others.

Diversified is controlled by Jeff Burum. Lewis is controlled by the Lewis Family, specifically Randall and Richard Lewis.

The investigation has been centering around whether or not there was any undue influence by Rancho Alliance in gaining any advantage in the competitive process. Sources close to the investigation inside the District Attorney’s office, and people interviewed say that investigators have focused totally on Burum and Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman Rex Gutierrez. Interestingly, some of the people interviewed by District Attorney Investigators say that when answers to questions involved the Lewis Group, the investigators immediately changed the line of questioning to a different subject.

In other words, investigators didn’t want to hear anything about the Lewis Group’s dialogue with any Rancho council members. It should be noted the Lewis Group is a staunch financial supporter of Ramos.

Investigators have quizzed County Supervisors and Rancho City Council members relentlessly. Asking the same questions over and over again.

The Crippling of the Leggio Family

Another former long-time friend and ally of Ramos and Ellis gets taken out at the knees.

Former Ramos ally and friend Mark Leggio gets tangled-up in campaign contribution limit issues involving the 65th Assembly District race in 2006.

The 65th A.D. overlaps both San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The Leggio contribution matter is brought to the attention of both Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco and Ramos.

Ramos side-steps the issue and recuses himself because of his relationship with Leggio, leaving him for Pacheco to slaughter. Pacheco holds an animus towards Leggio because of Leggio’s friendship with former State Senator and Assemblyman Jim Brulte. Pacheco would like to see Brulte burn at the political stake because of issues going back to assembly politics, and the fact that Brulte is alleged to have had Pacheco cut out of a potential state senate run through the redistricting process in 2001.

Ramos knows this but doesn’t care. Rather than referring the matter to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Pacheco files more than 100 charges against Leggio and three employees of his families auto dealerships.

Ramos belatedly asks Attorney General Brown to intervene and all felonies against the men were dropped. Leggio pleads guilty to two dozen misdemeanors, serves work-release, and pays $150,000 in fines to the FPPC. His entire family and all employees are barred from making political contributions for three years.

Leggio and his family were repeatedly profiled in the newspapers and dragged through the mud. The end result misdemeanors.

Investigation into funding awarded to National Communities Renaissance

More recently, we now have District Attorney investigators probing the awarding of funds to affordable housing leader National Communities Renaissance (CORE). A national non-profit organization headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga.

The firm group was started by Jeff Burum as Southern California Housing. Burum takes no benefit from the non-profit.

The District Attorney is probing whether or not there was any undue influence in the Rancho Cucamonga City Council’s award of funding to CORE.

The District Attorney has subpoenaed notes from closed session meetings of the City Council. The city council is considering providing notes from 2005 to date.

The Neil Derry Factor

In  June 2008, comes the election of Neil Derry as Third District Supervisor. An unforeseen event.

District Attorney Mike Ramos, Retired Sheriff Gary Penrod, and Congressman Jerry Lewis, all cut radio spots designed to make ousted former five-term Supervisor Dennis Hansberger a lock for re-election.

Hansberger lost, dealing a devastating blow to the East Valley “Old Guard”. Derry was from San Bernardino, but the Redlands crowd has always decided who filled the Third District seat.

One main component behind Derry’ success was Jim Erwin, Derry’s former chief of staff and friend of Burum.

One non-factor was Jeff Burum. Burum had stayed out of the race. However, one of Burum’s business partners supported Hansberger.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

One has to admit the political buzz in San Bernardino County is non-stop.

Many reverberations have crossed the transom regarding District Attorney Michael A. Ramos’ motivation for his politically charged actions over the past 18 months.

Some motivations that have surfaced of late have gained credibility.

While Ramos is employing the “I’m fighting political corruption” mantra in limited public appearances throughout the county, other issues have arisen that involve not only Ramos, but his Orange County-based consultant David Ellis, owner of Delta Partners, LLC.

It becomes really slimy and underhanded from here.

While Ramos is mostly known for his interest in having serial extramarital affairs, drunkenness, and an affinity for golf, he also worries about his political future. With his past, who wouldn’t.

Ellis on the other hand cares about three things and three things only. Those being Franklin, Grant, and Jackson!

He’ll sell anyone down the river for a buck.

Let’s talk about a couple targets of the Ramos/Ellis tag team.

Jason Anderson, Former Ontario City Councilman

Anderson is a veteran Deputy District Attorney in Ramos’ own department. Anderson used to be a member of the Ontario City Council. That is until he was sold down the river in 2008.

It seems Ramos was of the misplaced belief that Anderson may be put up to run against him for DA in 2010, and one of Anderson’s political supporters was Jeff Burum.

Bad news for Anderson.

Ellis was Anderson’s political consultant who was entrusted to get him re-elected. More bad news for Anderson.

Anderson was a certain “shoe-in” for re-election. He kept himself out of trouble and made sound decisions on the council. Ellis just had to run a sound campaign and Anderson would win.

Not so fast.

After months of reassurance from Ellis that he was a slam dunk on election day, Anderson lost.

Why you ask?

The post-mortem after the election led to only one conclusion. Ellis sold Anderson down the river. Ellis barely lifted a finger to ensure Anderson’s victory. Ellis is a paid consultant, and money was no object.

There was no absentee voter chase program, no significant mail campaign, no nothing!

The perceived goal here. Deal a political defeat to Anderson and make him a non-viable candidate for District Attorney.

One throat cut.

Patrick O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Public Relations

Here we have a good hard-working man, who spent years of his life building a very successful public relations and governmental consulting business based in Riverside.

The problem here? O’Reilly became viewed as a competitor to Ellis.

Even though O’Reilly and Ellis worked together on issues in the past, nothing stands between Ellis and the dough.

Here Ramos did a favor for Ellis.

One of O’Reilly’s clients was Colonies Partners, LP.

Colonies is well known for a controversial $102 million settlement with the County of San Bernardino. A settlement Ramos’ office investigates when politically expedience dictates. I think two or maybe three investigations so far. Believe me. Everyone is getting tired of being asked the same questions over and over again.

Ramos gets caught with another mistress. Presto! There’s a new Colonies investigation. I think Ramos should call this deflection tactic “Investigation in a Box”. Look at it like Jiffy Pop Popcorn.

Nothing improper has or ever will be found to have occurred with the settlement. Ramos knows it. His staff knows it.

O’Reilly was under consideration to be newly-appointed San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops political consultant. A job sought by Ellis, and one that Ramos wanted him to have. Ramos wanted to get his claws into Hoops. After all, the County Sheriff has a lot of power.

Unknown to O’Reilly, in January 2009, Ramos had pulled O’Reilly’s name into an investigation involving a trip he had taken in 2007 with Colonies Partner Jeff Burum and Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin.

All O’Reilly did was go on a trip. In return Ramos trashes him into the ground at every turn.

Wanna wound your perceived enemies? Make them look like crooks.

Something else O’Reilly didn’t know was by February 2009, Ramos was privately bashing his reputation with Hoops. Ramos had a close relationship with retired Sheriff Gary Penrod, but not Hoops. So Ramos had to put in extra effort to sway Hoops to his side.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Here we are just a few short weeks later and I feel the same way.  I confessed to my therapist in my group today and I didn’t get taken 5150 so I know can now safely admit this here, but a week ago today I was so distaught at what Mark had done that for the first time since my problem with the suicidal thoughts started on October 8, 2008, I made the only totally serious attempt.  I started with ten Trazadon, followed by five Tramadol fifteen minutes later and then rotated with five pills every fifteen minutes for several hours.

I was so sick of Mark discounting my feelings I just wanted to show him how much he hurt me, not that he would give a crap, but ones mind is not thinking coherently when this is going on.  I remember with each group of five pills I was convinced they would be the ones that would finally knock me out.  I kept wondering when I was going to die and was getting really mad that it didn’t happen.

Somewhere in the middle of this when I was sure I had enough drugs in me to kill myself I sent Mark and Jim an email, which from what Jim tells me, pissed Mark off to no end.  For some reason I never passed out and other than feeling super weak for a day I had no other consequences. I did enough research before I started taking the pills to know how to overdose.  I have no clue why I’m not dead.  I’m only glad I was not successful.

I am no longer the least bit suicidal, but the hurt I feel to my very core is indescribable.   Last night I found myself texting my friend and asking if he had a plan and we agreed that Mark needs a taste of his own medicine.  He needs to know how his actions can cause harm to others.  We agreed as to what we are going to do.

But I think one very big thing sets me and my normal friends apart from the Kirks, Ramos, Erwins, Postmus, etc., and that is we don’t have the “killer” instinct that seems to be a mandatory requirement for the power brokers of this world.  For example, let’s look at the situation with Mike Ramos and Jim Erwin.  For whatever the reason, whether it was the take-home vehicles, the raises, the threat of exposure or any of the other possibilities, Mike Ramos became threatened by Jim Erwin.  In response, Mike did not simply try to discredit Jim with say a report to the FPPC.  He tried to destroy every aspect of Jim’s life and that of his family.  Mike tried to take Jim’s freedom away, cost him his job, cost him his reputation, tried to destroy any means he had to support himself and his family, hurt Jim’s children, and destroyed his relationship with his significant other.

Not only that he harmed Jeff Burum, his family, his business and his reputation.  Other than San Bernardino County’s elite no one knew who Jeff Burum was. Now he will forever be associated with bribery and corruption whether guilty or  not.  The same goes for Patrick O’Reilly.  And those killer instincts were so strong that Mike has even almost destroyed his own life and that of his family.

I look at my non-political friends and I don’t see those tendencies.  Yes, we all have visions of vengeance at one time or another, but most of the time we don’t and can’t carry out those feelings.  Sanity takes over.  So why such a difference when one is in a position of power?

So that brings me back to Mark Kirk, and quite a few others on the Fifth Floor.  I still have the contacts and means to destroy if I want to but I don’t think I have it in me.  In Mark’s case, for example, as hurt as I am by Mark, I can’t help but think of Erin and both sets of parents.  Mark’s parents are good people.  And I met Erin’s parents long before I ever met Mark.  Charlie ran sound for the traditional service at the same church I was learning to run sound at for the contemporary service.  And her mom was a deacon or usher or something along those lines.  How can I do something to hurt them?  Yet I want vengeance.

And the other part of the dilemma is that a big part of what I’m so upset with Mark about is his unwilingness to stand up for what is right.  The “plan” includes exposing the misdeeds of Mark and others on the Fifth Floor.  So on the other hand, am I being a hypocrite for not doing what I think Mark should do or am I being a hypocrite for wanting to hurt someone because they hurt me?  I really am wrestling with this issue.

Readers of the blog want corruption exposed, but do you want it exposed at any cost?  At a cost to the innocent bystanders?  I’m curious as to your thoughts.