iePolitics: Is it really double dipping?
This past week San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney John Goritz and state of California Deputy Attorney General Melissa Mandel unveiled their “conspiracy theory” in the trial of former Assessor’s Office employee Rex Gutierrez. In addition to having worked for the county, Gutierrez also is an elected member of the city of Rancho Cucamonga City Council. Gutierrez is accused of conducting city of Rancho Cucamonga business on county time.
For argument’s sake, let’s say that Gutierrez was not a salaried employee, but an hourly employee. So this question was raised: Is it illegal to do work for one government agency on the time clock of another if there is no personal gain? There are a considerable number of current and past elected officials in this county who hold/held other government jobs while serving in their elected positions:
- Rick Roelle – SB County Sheriff’s Department/Apple Valley Town Council
- Acquanetta Warren – City of Upland/Fontana City Council
- Chas Kelly – SB County Board of Supervisors/San Bernardino City Council
- Jim Miller – SB County Real Estate Services/Grand Terrace City Council
- Mark Nuami – City of Colton/Mayor of Fontana
- Anthony Riley – SB County Board of Supervisors/Hesperia Unified School Board
- Mark Shoup – SB County Public Defender’s Office/Apple Valley Town Council
- Marge Mendoza-Ware – SB County WDD/Colton Joint Unified School Board
- Karen Morgan – SB County Sheriff’s Department/Victor Elementary School District Board
- Bob Hunter – SB County Assessor’s Office/Victorville City Council
- Jason Anderson – SB County District Attorney/Ontario City Council
- Debbie Dorst-Porada – LA County Public Health/Ontario City Council
- Robert Armeta – State of California/Colton Joint Unified School Board
- Jim Lindley – SB County Board of Supervisors/Hesperia City Council
- Chad Mayes – SB County Board of Supervisors/Yucca Valley City Council
- Paul Bosaki – United States Postal Service/Hesperia City Council
- Joel Klink – United States Postal Service/Twenty-Nine Palms City Council
- Steve Spear – SB County Sheriff’s Department/Twenty-Nine Palms City Council
- Frank Luckino – HiDesert Water District/Yucca Valley City Council
- Erin Kirk – Victor Valley College/CalState/San Bernardino County Fair Board
- Peter Allen – Victor Valley College/Apple Valley City Council
- Michael O’Rourke – SB County Sheriff’s Department/San Bernardino County Fair Board
- Sue Ovitt – State of California/Chaffey Joint Union School Board
- Art Bustamonte – SB County Public Defender’s Office/Chaffey Joint Union School Board
- J. John Dutrey – City of Rialto/Montclair City Council
- Leonard Paulitz – CalPoly/Montclair City Council
- Kimberly Cox – Helendale CSD/Mojave Water Agency
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
MIKE RAMOS – SB COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY/REDLANDS SCHOOL BOARD
I’m sure I’m missing quite a few.
I can’t speak to any of the others, but I know for fact that Rick Roelle has been on the clock for the Sheriff’s Department while conducting city business because he called me regarding an issue I had with the Town of Apple Valley. I had tried and tried to get the city manager to contact me regarding an animal control officer and the city manager would not return my call. So I contacted Rick and he called me from his Internal Affairs phone at my county phone (which is why I know where he was calling from because for phones outside of the county system, his number would have been blocked.)
At the time I did not think much of it. It’s taxpayer business no matter what. If, instead, he had called me about a fundraiser, or campaign business, that would have been different. This was official city business. Granted, employees should not make a habit of such things, but is it really a crime? I mean something someone should go to prison for? I don’t think so.
Assemblyman Granlund wrote a law that prohibited people serving local and county government if they are employed by those organizations 10 years ago. Maybe we should have a ban of people employed by any government agency while serving in elected office.
Councilman Wapner of Ontario ended up going on ‘disability’ in order to keep on getting paid while serving as city councilman due to Granlund’s law being passed.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/clippers/ci_14383908
If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. That’s what I teach my kids. Just because others are doing it doesn’t make it right. Rex got caught and he may pay the price that others continue to get away with. It’s the chance he took.
Rex blew it… someone (Burum, Richards, Lewis, Stout, Alexander, whoever) has tried to help Rex time and time again. The result is always the same…
Rex is a slimy sort no doubt. The only work he did for the county or city was related to making him look good, get re elected or just plain political BS. The real work on projects was always accomplished by others and still is. Rex probably hasn’t had an honest days work in his life. Does all of that make him any different than the other politicians? I do not believe it does. What has made the difference is the arrogance and relationships with other arrogant bastards such as Burum, Biane, Ovitt, Deveraeux, Erwin, Postmus and the like. People are willing to overlook many things until you act like you are better than them. Politicians are just that and we can paint them all with a wide brush of corruption, but the narrow brush of arrogance defines the evil we so hate.
2 elected offices at the same time is that illegal?
I’m surprised Chas Kelly arrangement isn’t deemed a conflict of interest. It should be.
When you are held to a standard by an MOU, one that states your time is 8-5, two breaks and a lucnh, and then you run over to your wife’s mail order business and help her ship packages for three hours a day, without submitting for any time off, your guilty of double dipping. Just because your boss turns a blind eye to your activities, or even suborns them, doesn’t make it any less illegal.
Doesn’t Janice Rutherford also work for the another governmental agency beside holding her position in city council to Fontana? They are all career politicians.