I’ve stayed away from the blog all day because I needed to take a few thousand deep breaths before I wrote this post. Neil, of all of the supervisors you are the one that has had my and my readers’ most continuous support. Sure, there have been a few bumps in the road along the way, but overall, you have not seen our venom like the other four supervisors and your predecessor have. That is coming really close to changing.
For the record, I have spoken with George, who I consider to be a good friend, about all of this and mostly feel like I’ve been beating my head against the wall. I know there are those who have spoken directly to you and are feeling a bit the same way. What the heck has happened to you and Third District and all the promise you once showed?
Neil, I thought you were a Marine. Geez, you have got to grow some balls. This milk toast version is not very appealing. We need some leadership not yet another castrated supervisor incapable of doing the right thing.
I’m not sure where to start, so I will begin with the one thing all politicians understand—R E – E L E C T I O N. Do you understand you are making it really difficult on yourself? First, how many staff members do you have to help you run a campaign, or for that matter, even want to volunteer to help you get re-elected. Not many. Maybe NONE! Second, do I remember correctly that your campaign consultant is Chris Jones? If so, he has not been doing so well of late. Third, you don’t have Jim to get you hundreds of thousands of dollars of SEBA money and you seem to be doing very little fundraising on your own. Finally, do you really believe you are not going to have a legitimate competitor? Some of the names already popping up include a rematch with Dennis Hansberger or his wife, Pat Gilbreath, and Assemblyman Paul Cook who will be timed out. Additionally, there are many possibilities from the city councils of the cities of Yucca Valley, Yucaipa, Redlands, Highland, San Bernardino, Big Bear, Grand Terrace and Loma Linda.
So, why do I think you are going to have a very difficult time getting re-elected? You are not doing anything!!! Trust me. Passing out coloring books to kids isn’t going to get you re-elected. What campaign promises have you kept after a year and a half in office?
So far there is no Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors, including you, is as ethically challenged as ever. Let me give you a few examples of where you have let the taxpayers down:
- You supported Cheryl Ristow and her claim against Mike Ramos but then let Andrew Lamberto and your colleagues throw her under the bus. You have the evidence in your possession to show what Mike did yet you sit on it instead of act on it. Cheryl will be fine—after she gets a huge payout by the County, i.e., the taxpayers. Explain to me how when you know the truth, sitting on that truth is ethical when you know the result will cost the taxpayers millions in court costs and judgments. You could prevent that but chose not to.
- You above all other supervisors know what is going on at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) but again, instead of taking appropriate action, you let those back down and allow the contracts to be approved costing taxpayers who knows how much once this is all settled.
- You allowed Andrew Lamberto to set you and the taxpayers up for a costly lawsuit by Wanda Nowicki. Do you understand just how badly you F’d that one up?
- You were the very first supervisor to learn the truth about Pat Dennen and Dan Wurl yet you are allowing them to be thrown under the bus once again. I know Devereaux has told you that Dennen tried to undermine the budget process, which is a claim made by Bret Henry. Did he happen to tell you what Bret did? Or how he was hoping to get a promotion out of all of this? Or how he is using his relationship with Mike Ramos to threaten Dennen and Wurl? Once again, the county has been opened up to a huge lawsuit.
- You were the supervisor who the Public Defender employees went to for help. You know how bad the situation is there and you know better than anyone Doreen Boxer and Lori Ferguson should be fired. But instead you are allowing those two to fire good employees, again opening up the county to wrongful termination lawsuits.
- You were the supervisor that AC/R employees went to for help. Instead of demanding that Devereaux do something about the problem, you are using the bandaid approach. Every single employee in the Recorder’s office has a potential lawsuit against the county.
- You know the damage that Ruth Stringer has done to this county and to the taxpayers yet you are willing to let her retire when she gets good and ready to with a going away present of more than a half million dollars for all the effort she made to destroy this county.
I could go on and on. Closing your eyes to the damage being done to this county by unethical elected and appointed department heads is no different than doing the deeds yourself. Devereaux was not elected to lead this county. You and the other four supervisors were. Your job is to LEAD, not sit back and allow him to continue in the long-standing practice of covering up wrongdoing, promoting the inept and punishing those who speak out about it. DEVEREAUX answers to YOU, not the other way around. You are shirking your responsibility to those who elected you and to all the residents of San Bernardino County by not forcing Devereaux and the department heads to do their jobs with ethics and integrity.
If you really think you are going to be re-elected doing what you are doing, I suspect you are in for a big surprise. Voters want integrity, not the status quo.
One Supervisor cannot achieve most of what you talk about here, Sharon. It’s all about the vote and if the others don’t agree or support what you’re doing, it’s not going to happen. And we all know the Sups think they don’t need any more ethics training or controls for themselves, so that’s, not going to happen either. There was an Ethics person, but one day she just disappeared! Go figure.
Nothing on the Fifth Floor gets done unless you can count to three. At this point I’m not going to go into detail except to say that to count to three you must start with one and consensus build with two and three. It just doesn’t work when you look at all potential twos and threes as enemies rather than friends and won’t even bother to attempt to communicate with them.
Also, Neil for one, has totally shirked his responsibility and instead allows Devereaux complete control over everything. The new mantra seems to be “hide everything from the public.” It’s become less transparent under Devereaux not more. It’s really disgusting.
Derry talks a good game but does little to fix anything. His rep listens and then disappears. Do you expect much else. Look at all the crooks he has hired.
Don’t let the Devil turn the 5th floor into a mafia of his disciples, u know I have the info that the FBI wants on Chairman “O” and Devilreaux SANdBAGging the public and the feds over tran$portation/ ARRA programs. With the Upland raid, the FBI/ IRS are in County, please alert them before the Devil does any further damage to the employees, small business and the general welfare of County residents.
Derry got his money from Colonies what do you expect
so what’s up Neil…i would like you to answer here…speak to us about the problems at ARMC..can you encapsulate the difficulties and defend your position?
Let me be as clear as I can be.
1. There have been numerous accusations regarding ARMC.
2. I have heard from numerous people about their concerns, which are serious.
3. I have an obligation to ALL, not some, but ALL to do my best to ensure that these complaints are investigated.
4. An investigation has begun, looking into all the allegations, and more have been added. I am neither a Doctor nor a healthcare specialist…I have to depend on those with that knowledge.
5. This investigation will I hope, answer the questions that have arisen. Some of these allegations are serious. Doctor vs. Doctor. And others.
6. I have a moral obligation to the patients and employees of ARMC. And, both federal and state law treat issues of patient privacy very seriously, which inhibits my ability to share certain information.
7. I have a fiduciary obligation to the taxpayers of this County to ensure that their money is used properly and wisely, and that they are not put at significant risk to legal action. That is why I must insist on keeping information private. I don’t think anyone wants another major lawsuit.
8. I know that many would love for the BOS to get out the rope, tar, and feathers, but, I have an obligation to the voters, the law, and everyone involved to deal with these issues fairly, lawfully, and with courtesy.
9. If you think that I am enjoying this situation, or benefiting from it, you are a very sick individual.
Do things need to be fixed? I think so. I am following the law, exercising restraint that will prevent another messy lawsuit (hopefully), and doing my best.
Does anybody really believe these things would have occurred if I was not here???
Sincerely,
Neil Derry
FYI: The other issues raised are personnel issues. I cannot and will not comment on them. It would be unethical and again open the County to litigation due to privacy issues involved.
PS: You could use my newer pictures. I lost 25 pounds….diet and workouts….
Neil,
No one said you are enjoying or benefiting from the situation. As a matter of fact, you now have information that the other supervisors don’t have so you know how much this situation could harm you personally.
As you said, you do have a fiduciary responsibility and as you said there is an investigation going on. It is not fiscally or ethically responsible to hand out $28.1 million in contracts to those under investigation, especially when they could have more easily been extended 90 or 180 days until the investigation is complete and the truth is hopefully found. Approving those contracts sent the wrong message both the perpetrators and to the taxpayers. It demoralized the good employees at ARMC and empowered the despots.
I realize the contracts can be canceled with a 90-day notice, but that really isn’t sufficient.
If you want me to use another picture, someone in your office needs to send it to me. Can’t use something I don’t have.
PS: It’s nice to know you still check the blog from time to time. Long time, no see. Thanks for visiting. I only wish it had been when we say nice things about you, not when we’re chastising you.
As I said, I have certain responsibilities. I can’t shut the hospital down which is what you are effectively asking us to do. The contracts are appropriate based on the time we had and the issues involved. There are good people involved on both sides….literally.
I can’t believe I’m going to sit here and argue with you but . . . I am!
The board extended the anethesia contract for six months for reasons we both know but I haven’t gone into much on the blog because of pending litigation by those involved. The exact same thing could have been done for all the contracts. It is done all the time by the county. Extending contracts will not shut down the hospital.
Something tells me you were threatened by Dr. GnanaDev. What, he’s going to take his marbles and run and every doctor in that hospital is going to follow? The hospital would be better off if he did and those few who might follow him did too. In this economy, few of the doctors are going anywhere, especially not when there is another 90 or 180 days of guaranteed work/payments.
BTW Neil,
As upset as I am with you, you’re still our favorite supervisor here at iePolitics. That fact and five bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks and a heck of a lot of ridicule from the other supervisors.
The Contract would not have been extended at all without the need for the investigation. That is all I can say due to the issues involved. I have nothing to fear from anyone…I am, sometimes unfortunately, The Supervisor.
To Everybody:
This job is really challenging. I have really enjoyed the opportunities to make a difference. Cedar Glen is 95 % cleaned up. We are about to close on 10.5 acres to relocate the Moonridge Zoo, the BOS voted to reduce benefits for elected officials by over $20,000, and many other things. Please look at the Big Picture. I am trying……..
Since it appears that Mr. Derry follows this blog and I truly believe something needs to be done, can I ask you sir, what is the Board doing and or heard about the POST corruption case involving multiple high level officials in the Sheriff’s Dept that is taking over 10 months now to investigate and about to run out of statute in about a month and a half?
The Sheriff is elected. He answers to the People. The BOS only approves the budget. I Endorsed Hoops. I know he is a good man! I have worked with him for over a decade.
The Sheriff is elected but the board appointed him. His elected term has not yet begun. This comment is not about Hoops anyway but about high level corruption in the Sheriff’s Dept. If the board went to the Grand Jury and asked them to investigate or another agency such as the DOJ, what would be the harm? This investigation has been full of rumors and has put a black eye on every one of us who works for the Dept. If another agency took over the case, at the very least people would feel confident that the right thing is being done. I do appreciate your response though. At least you are willing to answer, many have not.
Well Neil,
I know ACU doesn’t living in your district and I know Taylor doesn’t live in your district. So you didn’t lose or gain any votes there. I’m not sure about Sgt, Senor, Grunt or Charbi. If they all live in your district, that will be a 2-2 split so you are still ok!
Supervisor Derry:
It is good to see you back. I am one who voted for you because of iepolitics.com or whatever it was called then and regretted it as soon as you hired Jim. I like Jim now also. This blog makes you both seem more human. Everyone is frustrated with the Board so please don’t take this personally. We have waited a long time for reforms and they do not seem any closer to ocuring.
Supervisor Derry, WHAT is your definition of a “good man”?
A man who performs his duties without question and who treats others with dignity and respect. I have never seen Sheriff Hoops act otherwise. In this past year, he has impressed me with his work ethic and his willingness to work together for the good of the County, even when he didn’t have too. I am very proud to have made the motion for his appointment.
Mr Derry, Sheriff Hoops may be a nice guy but we still have the POST issue and again nothing is being done about it. How does the county feel knowing that there are others still employed that biked the county out of thousands of dollars. And the sad fact about it is that they are still doing it because they have certificates that they have not earned.
Back in April Ms. Beavers from the Sheriff’s Office came forward and stated that the report has been turned over to the District Attorneys Office for review. Do you really think that it takes this long to review a report. This investigation should have been completed a long time ago if they came up with a total of what Gray owed the county.
May be someone should talk to the Detective who’s wife was demoted to a civilian employee and sent back to the jail as he may have seen a list of names and may be able to shed a little light on the current employed sworn personnel that were involved in this manner. Then again may be for his sake he has forgotten those names. It may be very career enhancing if those names were never disclosed.
What is it about this POST scandal that the board does not want to act on.
Spvsr Derry – Would you like another glass of Kool-Aid?
Mr Derry, so regarding the the Ristow case, how could you in good faith let Lamberto,Stringer,BOS and Ramos lie and do a bogus investigation and not pursue the issue with the right thing to do? Why not release ALL of the information that you reportedly received from Curiel and Hirschfeld? At least stand in her corner with her as she fights this battle. I hear she has hired a pitbull for an attorney to represent her in her suit against BOS, Lamberto, Stringer and Ramos and his Consultant Ellis. You know what they did to her, all of it and have you even contacted her to see how she is doing? Are you still in her corner? It’s not a personnel issue when the personnel people were part of the reason she was thrown to the wolves. I hear other women have come forward with their revelations about their escapades with Mike, but they are afraid to go public because of what you all did to her. So, Neil, what gives?
Thank you Supervisor Derry for your response.
So let me get this straight,Sheriff Hoops does his duties without question for the good of the County, and since you have seen him treat people with respect and dignity, ALL IS GOOD???
So I guess ANY EVIDENCE to the contrary you would not be interested in, based on your above statement of what a good man is. OKAY!!!!
THAT explains a bunch!!!
Guess I know now, why little is moving forward in other problem areas.
Administrator you guessed right, I do live in the 3rd District and I voted for Mr. Derry. Kudos to him for replying to everyones comments with dignity and respect.
My understanding is that the Riverside DA is looking into the POST issue. The Sheriff is ultimately responsible for his department. The BOS only controls the budget. The Sheriff informed me that there has been an investigation. That is the only information I have been provided, and even if I had more, they would be personnel matters.
As for some of the other issues, they are, and remain personnel matters that I cannot discuss and will not discuss.
I am only one Supervisor. It takes 3 and sometimes 4 to determine the direction of this County. I have been frustrated, but I think changes are occurring…in a methodical manner that is as fair as I can make it and that is least likely to get us in legal trouble.
I live in the 3rd District and Derry has not returned any of my calls. I was passed off to Chas Kelley, who said, “I am going to get to the bottom of this.” That was a year ago.
Derry, why are you protecting and covering up the the illegal activity of Stringer, Walker, Assessor, PIU, San Bernardino Superior and Probate Court?
One other thing. Like him or not, the new CAO is doing a good job of getting a handle, not only on our finances, but also on our structural deficiencies which are easily as problematic. The structural problems relate to organizational chain of command issues. In most departments, these are not clear, and therefore accountability is almost impossible except for the most severe cases.
To say it bluntly, the County structure is a mess, and it is purposefully so. No accountability, no discipline = bad service and wasted taxdollars.
Well Jim and Bill have both spent some time trying to convince me Devereaux is good for this county. The jury is still out as far as I’m concerned. From what I gather he doesn’t cut others slack so he is not going to be cut slack either. I understand he has a mess on his hands, but that’s what he is paid $330,000 a year for. Time will tell.
The problem I have with him so far is that he seems to care so little about line staff. It seems they are an expendable commodity in his eyes. He seems to have no respect for employees and very much an elitist attitude towards them.
One of the things with ARMC you have to remember is that I’ve been beating this drum over a year. I talked to George about patient abuse and billing fraud when he was still a newspaper reporter. I talked with Mark Kirk about it at the same time as I did Mark Uffer and Patrick Petre. I have witnessed patient abuse personally and sure as heck have seen millions of dollars in billing fraud or whatever you want to call it.
You guys chalk it up as that “crazy bitch from the blog” but now you even have doctors coming forward and it seems you don’t want to believe it. That’s offensive to me.
I think some of your allegations have merit and that is what some of the Federal Investigative findings stated. And I have listened to the Doctors and nurses as well. On the record, I don’t think I know anymore than the other Sups.
With all this said, I have to trust the processes set in place. We have an investigation that has begun. The CAO is not going to let it get hijacked.
Some of the structural issues I stated previously also apply to ARMC. Question: How does a county agency hire contractors without performing a formal RFP process? I have no clue. Makes no sense. Creates liability for the County.
The former administration was incapable of dealing with issues, which is why so many problems continued and projects languished, thus a leadership change.
The problems you have mentioned are not limited to only a few departments. The problems are far more pervasive than that. It will take years to clean up the mess.
All the while, we have to maintain patient and employee privacy, attempt to improve, or at least maintain customer service levels, and deal with employee morale matters in a time of dwindling revenues. Those alone are serious challenges.
I don’t know where you are getting your information regarding the CAO, but I have attended some of these employees meetings without Greg knowing I was there, and your accusation of elitism just doesn’t ring true. Greg is matter-of-fact when it comes to issues. He doesn’t beat around the bush and he makes it very clear as to what his expectations are. He is sometimes blunt, particularly with budget numbers, but how else do you deal with facts?
Most importantly, he saw the dysfunctional state of our County right away, and he has a plan to fix it. He will not tolerate incompetence, but he is careful reaching conclusions.
There is a reason Ontario is the most successful city in the IE. I saw it first hand as a field rep for Aguiar, as a PR executive who dealt exclusively with SB County, and in working directly with Greg and his staff (on the other side of the table) as a Region Manager for SCE.
He has only had a few months, most of that consumed by cleaning up our budget. Give the guy a break. Please…
Does he still refer to himself as an SOB? This is but one of the reasons that I refer to him as Devilreaux, he claims to be borne from the loins of a dog. If one doesn’t have any respect for his own mother, he can’t have respect for anyone else, especially a bunch of insignificant line worker type employees. He will deserve a break only when he rightfully earns one (period)
Hey. I am a DEVIL DOG! Proudly. Does that count too?
If you were told that The Riverside DA is looking into the matter than I am sure you believe Sheriff Hoops but that is not what the papers reported on and that is not entirely the case. The case supposedly went to SB DA then to Riverside so they could retract some coerced statements and then back to SB DA. However, that was back in either February or April depending on who you believe. The DA’s office has not released any comment on it. All I am asking and saying is what is the harm in asking the Grand Jury look into the case besides a little conversation with a Deputy Chief. Rumor has it a former Deputy Chief was involved.
On a side note, Sheriff Mike Carrona’s friends stuck up for him as well.
Only on the wartime battlefield.
Neil,
The nice part first: I assume the spay/neuter ordinance went ok today. Thank you for that. It is the right thing to do at a number of different levels.
I’ve been going to email you on another issue, but have been waiting until we get a final determination from the FPPC. But, what it looks like is that because Dr. GnanaDev’s position is NOT in the official conflict of interest list, it does NOT matter how much he lies on his Form 700. Considering how many conflicts of interest he has and all the underhanded things he is doing, that needs to be corrected asap.
Now for the not-so-nice part: You think we (I) should cut Devereaux some slack. Well, you know what. He hasn’t cut me or many of my friends who have also been wrongly accused any slack. If anything, the pressure on us has been stepped up since Devereaux has come on board with no regard for the truth or fairness. Lamberto and DeBoer have been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes to destroy us. You think I’m being melodramatic? You haven’t seen the reports or documentation nor do you or anyone else care to or are interested in the truth. That has been proven over and over. So from my standpoint, we might as well still have Uffer. At least Mark screwed us over with a smile.
I would be happy to hear from you in private.
I have issue with all the Supervisors. But then again, I have issues with politicians in general. Despite some very contentious issues that Supervisor Derry has been, well, related to?, he is my Supervisor. Of the 5 in office, I find him (sorry if this is tongue in cheek Neil) the most reputable of the bunch. I still believe once a marine always a marine, and if Neil got caught by some of his buddies in an Oceanside bar, they might have to pointedly reiterate his oath. I always have a slim margin of hope that my representatives will, in the overall scope of things, do what is right. You can still recover from your early set backs.
Semper Fi Mr. Derry.
Your service does count here and now.
Lead from the front like I know you were trained to, do your duty and make a clear separation from the non – hackers. Be direct and be swift. Your replies to the questions posed, show the class of a Company Grade Officer, not a political hype.
Good luck and stay the course.
Neil,
In reading all of your ocmments I fully understand your difficulties. However, I certainly wish you would commnet on the problems with the budget in the Land Use Services Department last year. Everything I have read and heard leaves me to believe that the managers/directors were used and abused by Mr. Uffer. The budget shortfall was fully disclosed by department managers long before the final budget that you and the other BOS approved. If it was hidden from the BOS then that sounds a little like fraud and employee abuse to me.
Well?
thank you Neil for responding…what about TAD?…can you help them?:-)..thanks again…..
Let’s jump WAAAAY back to the initial article. In Item #4 of the “Open Letter”, Administator asks….”I know Devereaux has told you that Dennen tried to undermine the budget process, which is a claim made by Bret Henry. Did he happen to tell you what Bret did? Or how he was hoping to get a promotion out of all of this? Or how he is using his relationship with Mike Ramos to threaten Dennen and Wurl?”…
What exactly did Bret do?
Just as soon as I can I will answer the question.
What are you going to do about the horrible morale at the Public Defender’s Office? Are you going to say that sadistic management is okay? Let’s hear your response Neil.
As I stated very clearly these are personnel matters that I cannot and will not discuss. I appreciate everyone’s comments. Thank you for the discourse.
Well, Supervisor Derry, I voted for you so that you could bring positive change to the County. For you to avoid an obvious managment problem does not cut it.
Check the number of grievances filed by the Attorneys and then compare the raw number to the figures from the last two administrators. The numbers do not lie. Step up to the plate.
Supervisor Derry has problems with the Morongo Basin too!
Mr. Derry:
Is anyone there on the 5th floor looking under the rock that is EDA/CDH?
Also, thank you for your service, Semper Fi, sir.