I am going to make a prediction, and that is, minimally CAO Greg Devereaux will be led out of the County Government Center in handcuffs before this is all over. No, I don’t expect it any time soon, so sorry if I got some of your hopes up. I suspect it will not be by the District Attorney, but rather by the FBI.
Both the Sun and Press Enterprise are running stories tonight to tell you what we already did. Four supervisors are being subpoenaed—Brad Mitzelfelt, Neil Derry, Gary Ovitt, and Josie Gonzales—to testify before a special grand jury convened since former Assessor Bill Postmus signed a plea deal to cooperate in the ongoing corruption investigations.
iePolitics has confirmed that four members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors have been served with subpoenas to appear before the Grand Jury as witnesses. It is believed those subpoenas are in connection with the criminal grand jury that is thought to be being convened to indict one or more of the John Does.
08:39 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Press-Enterprise
Bill Postmus’ guilty plea this week stripped any pretense of legitimacy from San Bernardino County’s $102 million legal settlement with developer Colonies Partners. County supervisors have no justification for sticking taxpayers with the cost of a deal tainted by corruption. And the county should stop wasting public money trying to get other agencies to pay part of the bill.
Postmus, a former supervisor and assessor, pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges, including misuse of public funds and drug possession. But Postmus also admitted to charges that he accepted a bribe and had a financial conflict of interest when he voted to approve the Colonies settlement. Postmus, then-Supervisor Paul Biane and Supervisor Gary Ovitt agreed in 2006 to pay the developer $102 million to settle a legal battle over land for flood control.
Think about it:
Brad Mitzelfelt is connected to Bill Postmus.
Janice Rutherford is connected to JP Pomierski.
Neil Derry is connected to Jim Erwin.
Gary Ovitt is connected to the Upland scandal.
Josie Gonzales is connected to the ARMC scandal.
What a mess!!!!!
We have now heard from multiply sources connected to law enforcement that the FBI investigation in Upland is far from over. We have heard the current target is Supervisor Gary Ovitt. Although JP’s daughter works for Ovitt and Ovitt has a close relationship with that city, we can’t find out what Ovitt could have done that would interest the FBI. Can anyone confirm this or shed some light on it for us?
I know I’ve been promising this story for the past 36 hours and I once again apologize for the delay. I’ve had a busy day so I decided to break the story up into parts so all of you at least have something to read tonight. There will be more over the next few days.
I’m not sure where to start as the whole situation is so convoluted. I saw David Wert’s comment in tonight’s Sun story, so that might be just as good a place to start as anywhere.
Wert claims the county was surprised by this development. All I can say to that is, “What the heck did the county expect?”
It was well publicized that Bill could not afford to hire an attorney in the Colonies criminal case. In that case he was acting in his official position as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. The county insists the Colonies settlement was fair and equitable. A smart board of supervisors would want the parties who signed the agreement to be well represented because if something should happen, as has now happened, the county could find itself in a legal quagmire.
The Press Enterprise’s article on county redistricting should be entitled, “The tale of two counties.” It certainly illustrates one board of supervisors in control and one that is not.
In Riverside County, a committee to address redistricting was created last September. It will be meeting Tuesday to discuss the new census data. The county also has a website up and running, www.rivcoredistricting.org to keep residents informed of the process.
Now that we have a new scandal, the POST scandal, are you going to continue with the precedent you set with the Assessor’s Office scandal, and sue everyone before anyone is convicted of anything? I’m sure Hueston needs the money.
We have been telling you and telling you and not one of you has had balls enough to do something about this. Do you realize that by Sheriff’ Hoops lying to you and allowing those indicted today to remain on duty, every single investigation they handled for the past two years or more is in jeopardy?
And if former Assistant Sheriff Mike Stodelle is really involved, he retired in 2006 or earlier. That means that investigations going back to 2006, and perhaps earlier, could be in jeopardy. We really have no idea the number of victims that potentially may no receive justice.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors appointed Rod Hoops to the position of Sheriff despite our warnings and the warnings of others that he had many skeletons in his closet. And now that a very large skeleton is becoming public despite all of their attempts to keep it hidden, it is time for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to reverse its action and remove Hoops if he does not resign on his own.
Editor’s Note: We wonder if Rutherford will show any more integrity with the retirement board than she has with her ethics group.
10:00 PM PST on Friday, February 25, 2011
Cassie MacDuff
A new appointment to the San Bernardino County retirement board signals the county is serious about curbing pension costs.
The fund faces a $115 million deficit over the next five years due to investment losses and increasing payouts to retirees.
Several long-serving board members have been replaced in the past year as county leaders sought a philosophical shift. Now, more new blood is coming.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will receive the resignation of Supervisor Gary Ovitt from the retirement board and consider appointing Supervisor Janice Rutherford.
It seems that Supervisor Janice Rutherford had a recent fundraiser and among the attendees was San Bernardino Public Employees Association General Manager Bob Blough and one of his thugs. Blough and SBPEA, of course, have a history of using county employees’ money to support losers.
SBPEA sunk $50,000 into John Longville’s campaign to defeat Josie Gonzales, but apparently she can forgive them now that they are paying her off. They gave Hansberger over $41,000 in his loss to Neil Derry. Fortunately, Neil has shown more ethics than Josie.
Once again the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has shown its collective lack of backbone and governance as well as its willingness to shirk ethics. Last week’s mid-week budget included hidden agendas for those seeking additional power in county government.
One such “hidden” item was the transfer of human resources and previously vehicle services functions from County Fire and Special Districts to the county. This has been in the works for about 18 months and was first attempted as Mark Uffer and Ruth Stringer were attempting to give their partner in crime, Andrew Lamberto, an excuse for an Assistant Administrative Officer position. Lamberto hid the original proposal in a closed session personnel board item totally unrelated to the move.
In a comment one of the bloggers asked me something along those lines. This is a post I have been trying to write for a week or so. If you dare to read it, expect it to be long and rambling as I have a lot to say about the scandal, the defendants and the John Does. I’m not even sure where to start.
Much of what I think about the Colonies scandal is no different that what I thought a year ago after the arrests were made and the John Does were “named.” But some has.
The story below represents the second time in as many weeks that someone in Riverside County is trying to introduce ethics reform to the county’s electeds. First, it was former Norco councilman who want’s to cut the Riverside County Board of Supervisors members pay in half.
Now one of their own is suggesting contribution limits. Contribution limits are well and good but I have to say this seems like a pre-emptive strike. These “limits” remind us of San Bernardino County’s “term limits.” Both are rather generous “limits” in comparison to other jurisdictions. I suspect the supervisor introduced the concept to dissuade others from with coming up with something more punitive.
But the big question is this. When will someone in San Bernardino County introduce measures to limit supervisors’ pay and campaign contributions. It can’t be too far around the corner.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY: Supervisor proposing limits on campaign giving
10:00 PM PST on Thursday, February 10, 2011
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone is proposing campaign contribution limits for the board and countywide officials.
Stone, a Republican, will ask his colleagues Tuesday to support a measure to limit how much any person can donate to county campaigns.
“Although history has shown that money alone cannot buy elections, it has a strong influence, giving well-funded individuals or interest groups an advantage in promoting one candidate over others,” Stone wrote in his proposal released Thursday afternoon.
Supervisor Neil Derry at the PolaRotaryPlunge - 2011
A little birdie told me Neil that you think I don’t appreciate how hard some of you on the Fifth Floor work. You are really wrong about that. I know how hard I and my bosses worked when we worked up there and I also personally observed others working their tails off to make this county a better place. But I also know there are many who are there just for the paycheck and want to do as little as possible for that paycheck. Human nature being what it is nothing has changed. Unfortunately, we can’t legislate work ethics.
Back when former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer appointed Dena Smith as Planning Director, we were quite critical. And we got slapped around quite a bit for taking a whack at one of the county’s sacred cows.
Yesterday we didn’t take a whack at the new planning director, only at the fact that she comes from Chino Hills, which suggests more Devereaux/Ovitt shenanighans.
It is time for San Bernardino County to do what is being done in Riverside County. One difference is that we are a charter county, which means our measure would change the county charter and cannot be changed by the Board of Supervisors. Here are a few of the possibilities. Let me know which ones you like or provide some other ideas.
Any other ideas? The part-time suggestion seems to be the most justified since the BOS has given their authority to Devereaux and now only meets half time. The salary and benefit savings alone is over $6 million a year.
It seems our Board of Supervisors is as ineffectual as ever. They basically gave themselves a 50-percent raise a few years ago; they definitely improved their benefit plan significantly just after that; some still had to get free care at ARMC even with a $30,000-a-year county-paid health insurance plan; and they reduced the number of BOS meetings to 26 a year. In other words, they just about doubled their compensation and halved the number of meetings they are available to the public. That’s taking fuzzy math to a new level.
10:00 PM PST on Thursday, February 3, 2011
By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise
A new report on the San Bernardino County employees’ retirement fund is prompting calls for pension reforms to avoid future cuts to county services.
The report from County Executive Officer Greg Devereaux’s office shows a growing hole — called an “unfunded liability” — of about $1.1 billion in the pension fund. The liability is the difference between the $7.4 billion the fund is obligated to pay employees and pensioners and the $6.3 billion it has in various investments.
Supervisor Gary Ovitt, appointed to the San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association board of trustees in June, said other members painted a “rosy picture” of the fund. They focused on how well the pension fund weathered the financial crisis of 2008 but didn’t report the more recent imbalance.
First of all, I don’t think I said “thank you” after my last request for donations for the blog. Once again all of you came through and I appreciate it greatly.
I’m sure all of you have noticed the lack of articles this past week. It is due to several large projects I am working on that are taking every moment of my waking hours. A couple of them will likely be announced on the blog within the next 30 days.
I need to talk to you guys regarding the expected San Bernardino County Planning Commission’s ban on dispensaries in the county and how it relates to marijuana use by members of the Board of Supervisors, their staffs, and their family members. Please contact me at iepolitics2010@gmail.com. Please spread the word asap.
Traci and Patricia visited the address listed on the contracts approved in 2009 and again on August 24, 2010. Here are those contracts: 09-860[1] and here is the last tax return: 2009taxreturn.
The county did two no-bid contracts with this “non profit” totalling $240,000 in less than two years. The non-profit just happens to be run by campaign donors and a close personal friend of Gary Ovitt, Mark Kirk and Greg Devereaux. But all of it is above board, right?
I’ve been asked over and over about what employees can do to get rid of San Bernardino Public Employees Association. The reason it is so hard is because several years ago the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors enacted a new labor relations ordinance that makes it virtually impossible for any other union to represent county employees.
We all know that the BOS likes SBPEA representing us and the reasons why. Bob Blough and Scott Ryan make sure that the BOS is well rewarded for their support, such as the $50,000 donation to Supervisor Gary Ovitt.
This is what Measure P said on your ballot:
Measure P – County of
San Bernardino – Ballot Text
PROPOSED COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT NUMBER THIRTY-EIGHT TO ESTABLISH TERM LIMITS FOR MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND TO ESTABLISH A REVISED FORMULA FOR DETERMINING SALARIES OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. “Shall the Charter of the County of San Bernardino be amended to establish term limits for members of the Board of Supervisors and to establish a revised formula for determining salaries of members of the Board of Supervisors?”
YesNo
This is the email I sent to all of the members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and Greg Devereaux on January 14, 2010. Needless to say, not one of them responded. I didn’t expect any of them to do so.
I have several questions regarding your unanimous approval of a non-competitive consulting contract with La Jolla Institute in the amount of $150,000 on September 15, 2009 and an additional $90,000 on August 24, 2010.
iePolitics just received the list for the first round of county officials to be depo’d in the Postmus civil case. The list is being sent to County Counsel this week.
Numerous sources are telling iePolitics that Dennis Hansberger is bored and wants his old job back. Former BOS Chairman Ovitt appointed Hansberger to a board without consulting first with Supervisor Derry.
Hansberger is working with Supervisor Josie Gonzales to deliver payback to Supervisors Neil Derry and Brad Mitzelfelt. The chatter is that both Supervisor Gary Ovitt and Supervisor Janice Rutherford have aligned themselves with Josie against Derry and Mitzelfelt.
The year was 2006. If you voted in 2006, you probably voted to do just that.
A county charter is similar to a state constitution or the Constitution of the United States. It can only be changed by a vote of the residents of that county.
San Bernardino is one of only 14 counties in California which is governed by a County Charter. San Bernardino County Board of Supervisor salary is part of the County Charter.
It’s been over a year since we first started writing about the abuses at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), San Bernardino County’s only county-run hospital. And it’s been over six months since doctors appeared at the Board of Supervisors meeting to express their own concerns. During this same period of time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided ARMC and took boxes of records.
And how has our Board of Supervisors responded? Do I have to ask? We all know the answer.
My sources tell me that no other district other than the Fourth District thought this was a great idea. How long will it be before the all members of the BOS learn they work for US!!! and their job is not to avoid us? I predict they will figure that out on February 8, 2012.
Here is the memo: memo4thand5thfloorsecurityprotocols _2_
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth?
Some defendants in the civil corruption cases have started receiving depo notices. Bill Postmus, Jim Erwin, Greg Eyler, Rex Gutierrez, and Adam Aleman are all named in the lawsuit.
In response, the defense is sending similar notices to specific members of the Board of Supervisors, their current/former chiefs of staff and other current and past staffers who are familiar with time card fraud and campaign work on county time. Let the fireworks begin as the county’s hypocrisy is made public for all to see, that is if those depo’d tell the truth. We shall see.
Mark Kirk
This week’s public battle between Supervisors Neil Derry and Josie Gonzales has a lot of people rolling their eyes. Many don’t realize that even if Gonzales is indicted, she will remain chairman of the board as the County Charter has no provision to remove her. We have to admit all of this is pretty funny. But the humor in the public tit for tat belies the serious consequences the behind-the-scenes conflict could have for county residents.
Although Gonzales is the cover girl for the current round of fighting, she is merely a puppet for two very devious puppeteers attempting to maintain a stronghold on the Fifth Floor in an effort to hide and cover up. Derry’s “sunshine” would expose their evil, and often times, illegal deeds.
Supervisor Janice Rutherford
I have to say we have very mixed feelings about what happened at the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors today. On one hand, Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt needed a wake up call. But I seriously doubt he got the message. He is too far removed from his constituents and from this valley to know what is going on or why there is so much animosity towards him. In the end, however, he does not deserve to be chairman.
As far as Supervisor Josie Gonzales goes, I honestly don’t care. She is useless and will simply be a tool of Devereaux and Ovitt. Gary would not have controlled Brad but Greg would have, so no harm, no foul here.
SAN BERNARDINO – Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford issued the following statement on Tuesday regarding the selection of Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales to serve as Chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors.
“My decision to support Chairwoman Gonzales is based on a 40-year Board policy and best practice that provides for an orderly and equitable rotation of the chairmanship. The policy clearly states that each member should be given the opportunity to serve as the chairperson unless they do not desire to assume that responsibility, and Chairwoman Gonzales has assured me she is ready, willing, and able to fill this leadership role.
Well it could be Brad, or Josie, or Gary, or Neil. How is that for a prognostication?
Seriously, all four of them are rumored to be taking the top spot tomorrow. Josie has promised to be a capital B if she doesn’t get it. Neil has his own plans. And Brad and Gary are so out of touch with everyone and everything they probably won’t know if they are elected chairman or not. Perhaps we should just give it to the new kid on the block and make it easier on everyone.
Governor Jerry Brown
Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, is returning $7 million to the state’s treasury and cutting his office budget by 25 percent. According to an article in the January 8, 2011, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle:
As expected, Brown axed the secretary of education position, an advisory office under the governor that was worth $1.9 million annually. Brown also returned the lion’s share of transition funds allocated to him, spending just $120,000 of the $770,000 available.
He also cut $4.5 million from the governor’s office’s $18 million annual budget, in part by eliminating the office of the first lady. Brown’s wife, Anne Gust Brown, has already taken an unpaid position as special counsel to the governor.
“California is facing a huge deficit and it is necessary to find savings throughout all of government,” Brown said in a written statement. “We all have to make cuts and I’m starting with my own office.”
In order to cut one-quarter from his office’s budget, Brown eliminated the position of cabinet secretary and all deputy cabinet secretaries. He cut press and communications staff; closed field offices in San Diego, Riverside and Fresno; and cut the governor’s Washington, D.C., office staff. Additionally, as Brown announced in December, he eliminated the office of Laura Chick, the special inspector general appointed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to audit federal stimulus spending in California. That position was temporary and set to expire midyear.
So, if a Democrat can do it, how about our four Republican members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors? Do you all really need deputy chiefs of staff, district directors, or media relations staff? Do you really need more than one field office? We think not.
Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt
We have had some fun opining over whether the next chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors will be Neil Derry, Brad Mitzelfelt, or Josie Gonzales. The decision will be made Tuesday and it is time to get serious. Whoever is elected will direct county policy for the next two years. And that is a very big job as we have seen with all the new policies put into effect these past two years.
Chairmans make some very rough decisions. Think about it. Chairman Gary Ovitt had to address the elevator schedule for rides to the Fifth Floor so that Fifth Floor execs wouldn’t be inconvenienced by the little people . . . we mean non-exempt employees . . . trying to get from one floor to another to get work done. And then there are those pesky constituents who might show up on the Fifth Floor expecting to speak with their elected representative. I know from experience lower echelon employees are forbidden from gracing those hallowed halls even with an invitation so there must be policy on how to keep them out.
Rutherford
Thursday, January 6, 2011 – 10:00 a.m.
Last Updated: January 6, 2011 – 08:25 p.m.
It’s Crunch time!
Just five more days and we’ll all know the answer to the big question.
Will newly-elected County Supervisor Janice Rutherford keep her campaign pledge of ethics and reform, or will it be ‘go along, get along” business as usual?
A practice, which has plagued San Bernardino County for years.
It seems our five little minds up on the fifth floor cannot agree on which one of them should be leader. Maybe they should ask their mommies who to vote for.
We are being told to expect either a 3-2 vote in favor of Brad Mitzelfelt as chairman or a 4-1 vote in favor of Josie Gonzales. Either way it may be a spectacle.
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.
Adam,
I hear you have a slew of photos from the China trip—some of them very, very, very interesting. How about letting us post some?
My phone number has changed but Ted can give it to you or you can email me at iepolitics2010@gmail.com.
First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt
Two years ago iePolitics strongly supported Supervisor Josie Gonzales being elected as vice chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. At the time, newly elected Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt was attempting to bypass tradition and take his turn out of line for the vice chairman position. We pointed out how it would look if the four white guys did that to the only minority and the only woman on the board.
Now two years later—after two years of the most weak-kneed, yellow-bellied, leadership in decades—we no longer care about what is politically correct. The citizens of San Bernardino County just want real leadership whether it is white, brown, green or purple.
Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach was sworn in today, replacing the only district attorney in the state of California who could rival San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos in terms of political persecutions. As a matter of fact, former-Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco seemed to have totally lost it in the final days of his term. His behavior could only be called bizarre.
We are not ready to say Ramos is equally bizarre. But he is still a predator, a predator who could be retired as of today had promises been kept.
Editor: You have to read down to the very end of this article to see that Ramos claims there may be more arrests in 2011.
Corruption probes cast wide net
The past year has been fraught with scandal in San Bernardino County as state and local prosecutors charged two former county officials in a sweeping corruption complaint related to a $102million land dispute and convicted a third former county official on charges of fraud, theft and conspiracy.Also in 2010, federal investigators raided the county’s Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and Upland City Hall in what appear to be unrelated investigations.
Editor: I don’t even know where to begin on this one. Ovitt pays Burt Southard, who is already getting a county retirement, $55,000 a year to write this crap.
The County of San Bernardino is an amazingly diverse public service organization that touches and enriches many lives. We provide prenatal care, pediatric care, and preschool services through Head Start. Grade school and high school students study at our libraries and learn at our museum. We intervene when children are abused, and when they are teenagers we help them find summer jobs.
You can get married at the Recorder’s Office, and we can help you buy your first home.
Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt
As I have written just a time or two in the past week, the last two weeks have been quite enlightening. We here at iePolitics have previously supported Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt for chairman of the board. The election will take place on January 11, 2011.
Now that we have had some up close dealings with the good supervisor, we can no longer support him. When a supervisor and his chief of staff are scared to death of the county administrative officer, there is no chance whatsoever of adequate leadership.
Mitzelfelt and David Zook have proven they have no backbone and no integrity. Placing them in the chairmanship would be a great disservice to the public.
We are going to start our New Year’s predictions early because we are hearing a bit of chatter. And the chatter is that Mike Ramos is on the offensive.
The key to the Ristow case is the up-to-now confidential affidavits signed by five women who were involved with Ramos. Making those affidavits public will take Ramos down and he knows it.
So far none of the predictions about his demise have come true. The BOS has only seen a report that basically puts all the blame on Ristow. Mark Kirk , Andrew Lamberto, and Ruth Stringer made sure the truth did not come out.
Someone asked that question on the post below. It’s all about transparency. You see, it used to be that BOS staffs consisted of the classifications of Field Representative, which I believe was a Step 56 (33.26 an hour today), and Secretary to the Board, which I believe was a Step 44 (24.82 an hour today).
When I worked there, “chief of staff” did not exist but each supervisor had a de facto chief of staff who I believe got something like ten percent above Field Rep. (It’s possible the chiefs were classified as Admin. Analysts but I don’t think so.) I believe secretaries got the C benefits. Field Reps may have received B benefits but I don’t remember for sure. There was no D benefits back then.
(I’m sure someone out there still has an Exempt Compensation Plan from the 1990′s that can give us the exact numbers.)
