Writing for the Examiner has been a bit of an eye opener. Writing about something I am very familiar with comes easy most of the time. Writing about something I am not so familiar with is way less fun.
When I read stories in the various newspapers, I rarely put the paper down and think to myself, “Wow, that reporter was thorough.” And that is because, generally, we get half of the story, if that much. I admit it is pretty hard to do a thorough story when one really doesn’t understand it and is not involved in it himself or just trying to sell newspapers.
So yesterday I took a great deal of interest in the stories and responses on the De Fazio prelim. A friend, who is an insider in the scandal as a whole but knows little about the De Fazio aspect of it, was texting me copies of the Tweets from the reporters inside the courtroom with his own interpretation.
After hearing my friend’s interpretation as well as reading the stories in the three newspapers, I would not think things went so well. Now, prelims have a very low threshold so it is likely the case will progress; however, key pieces of evidence that will affect the ultimate outcome were completely ignored by the reporters, thus my friend’s inaccurate assessment of the situation.
So, would you like to hear about some of the evidence that was offered but not reported? Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know.
- Bud Randles admitted on the stand that an email that was used to justify the search warrant of Dino DeFazio’s properties was forged. Oops. You see, they took Adam Aleman’s word that it was a real email. They did not find this email on his computer or during the search of his property. Adam brought a hard copy to them. Adam, you know the same guy that altered documents submitted to the grand jury. Yes, that’s him. And guess what? He produced a hard copy only of an email to Betty Presley regarding the PAC to show that Postmus had control. The only problem is that when Adam created this forged email, he misspelled Betty’s email address. Did the DA’s office care that it was a forged email? Of course not. They used it to get the judge to sign off on a search warrant anyway.
- One of the accusations is that De Fazio did not control the PAC and the officers did not have an active interest in where the money was going. I am told there is even a taped interview with Mike Gallagher where he states he had nothing to do with it, doesn’t really get involved in politics, doesn’t know Republicans from Democrats, etc. Well, if the District Attorney had done a background check on Mr. Gallagher before they took his word for it, they might have found a criminal conviction on a campaign violation and an FPPC fine on a second case, both in the early 2000s. One was $60,000 and the other was $40,000. I’m sure everyone who knows nothing about politics gets fined $100,000 for illegal campaign contributions.
- Betty Presley, the PACs treasurer, is quoted in the newspapers as saying she had never met De Fazio in person until yesterday. The reporters forgot one other little quote. And that is that she would NEVER take direction about sending out money from ANYONE but De Fazio. She indicated that Postmus, Aleman, Gallegher, Richman, and Bentow could make all the recommendations they wanted to make, but in the end the only person who could direct her to make a payout was DeFazio. Oops again. That is a little bit of a problem for the District Attorney’s office who claims that Burum bribed Postmus with PAC money for a PAC Postmus secretly controlled.
- Jeff Bentow and Mike Gallagher claim they had nothing to do with the PAC. They were involved in name only. It was not really explained in the newspapers why, then, that they met with candidates for potential donations, such as Russ Blewett, Rick Roelle, Randy Coleman, and others. Oh yeah, I forgot. They are not political and don’t know one politician from another. They just hang out with them at meetings to determine when PAC money is being contributed for the heck of it.
The next day of hearing, which will likely be the end, will be Tuesday. I shall be happy to give you the rest of the story then, if needed. Preferably, the reporters will instead report the important stuff that was said during the hearing.
No Sharon, the important stuff is why you reported to us that Postmus (your friend) was clean and sober, yet he claims to have indulged in his favorite past time, according to his own testimony, two dozen times within the past year. 24 times? This wasn’t a slight relapse, this was a full fledged party. And you wonder why people outside of the county circle of corruption don’t want to give you statements and interviews? Where is the trust? At least with Erwin, you know what you’ve got. He’s a slithering snake and you treat him with caution, but in your case, what do we have? I hope we don’t find out later that you had a hand in keeping Postmus high in an effort to weaken his testimony. The truth comes out sooner or later.
Billy Jack, you are making comments on excerpts on a report you have never seen for a period of time you are not even aware of for an event you have no idea about.
Billy your a PUNK to use my screen name. Sharon ban this FOOL and please change the screen name accordingly. Step up Billy, I’ll make you a VICTIM.
You could at least defend your ignorance in telling us all he was clean.
ACU, sorry about that. I have been changing them but forgot on this one. It is now done.
Billy Jack, No more games or I will do what Jim did and that is mark you as spam, which means no one, including me, will ever see your posts. When I started the new blog this year, I “Un-trolled” everyone (there were actually only two or three) and so far they are all behaving. Even James Mills is trying to say something of value rather than just stir up the pot. I don’t want you to be the first “troll” of the new year. You can post under as many different names as you want, but don’t pretend to be one of our regular contributors.
Banned, again, until we all see the report that says exactly when and for how long he was using will we know the truth.
More of the rest of the story…
Redlands Mayoral offering for Congress Petey “Visionary 2″ Aguilar had the same title working for Arrowhead Credit Union, pre-Federal take-over, of GOVERNMENT LIAISON as Bad Rex had for the SBCo. Assessor’s Office. The Fed investigation that must be on-going involving the Colonies Settlement scandal/ Assessor’s Office on Meth running GOP campaign headquarters out of 5th Floor Government Center (same scandal) needs to check-out the timing with City Manager Nabar Martinez’s arrival to Redlands in early 2007, along with his assault on the Redlands Treasurer’s position in the following year’s election. And wasn’t that the year that the City-County “collaborated” to give all the seated council people (Gilbreath, Gallagher, Harrison, Aguilar and Bean), along with the Clerk Poyzer and Treasurer Reynolds (both retired thereafter), an extra year to the standard four year terms?
Now there’s a SBCO. “power bribe” for you, extend the elected officials terms, and in exchange, CM Nabar gets to be his own Treasurer (duties reassigned to staff at his WILL & PLEASURE) and can make his own deals with Postmus’ office on the valuation of property (like all that RDA owned land).
And no Dan, we’re not having the same problems in Redlands as we’re having with Ontario/ BB&K (Hi, JB), especially now that the Devil of a CAO turned CEO is dictating at a County level… Devilreaux methods are just slightly different!
The Redlands “Three Amigos”are Mayor of ESRIville Harrison, the propped-up one (by Harrison) Mayor Petey “Visionary 2″ Aguilar, and (guess what Nabar, you’re not one of the amigo’s after all, and never have been)… u guessed it, our good friend DA Mikey Ream-us. DA Mikey, of course, is the real link here, in looking the other way on each and every Brown Act (Hi BB&K JB again) and Government Code violation that these politicians and bureaucrats partake in… it’s called SELECTIVE PROSTITUTION of his authority and the taxpayer funded resources at his disposal (see below).
October, 2011
Mr. McHugh (Dan)- I believe that I posed these same or similar questions during this Tuesday’s open session of the City Council meeting, as follows:
-Firstly, with regard to the Mayor’s situation relative to the County/ SanBAG vision project, by his own admission, he is working for one of the consultants, The Community Foundation, as was also announced by Daniel Foster at a County Board of Supervisor’s meeting within the last couple of months. My question was, why didn’t the Mayor remove himself from participating in the City’s approval process for this item?
1. The Mayor did not recuse himself from participating in the City Council’s action of adopting the County visioning statement because there was no legal mandate for him to do so. For a legal conflict of interest to exist, which might cause the need for a public official’s recusal on a governmental decision, there must be an identifiable economic interest of the public official that would be affected by the decision. The Political Reform Act regulates six types of economic interests. They are investments in business entities, interests in real property, sources of income, sources of gifts, positions with business organizations, and personal finances of the official. In reviewing a potential conflict of interest, it must also be determined whether it is reasonably foreseeable that the decision’s effect on an economic interest of the public official is material. In the case of the City Council’s adoption of a visioning statement, which is a legislative decision making a statement of policy; no material economic interest of the Mayor was affected.
-Secondly, in reviewing the Municipal Code and looking for any provisions regarding retaliation and discriminatory conduct by a city employee against a member of the general public, I noticed how the sections that were previously devoted to the City Treasurer’s position have been completely gutted, apparently in anticipation that the City would gain a favorable vote in last years election (originally planned for February 2008), to transform the currently elected position into an appointed one. My question was, how can the City Attorney/ Council modify the Municipal Code to remove most all of the ministerial duties of the City Treasurer, and transfer them to the Finance Director, in advance of an enabling vote by the people to do so? Has the City not usurped the power of the people to have an independent elected City official who’s previous authority was defined by the Municipal Code, by replacing most all references and language, and by transferring the City Treasurer duties and responsibilities to a regular city employee?
2. In addition to the statutory duties a City Treasurer is required to perform, Government Code section 41005 provides that the City Treasurer shall perform such duties relative to the collection of city taxes and license fees as are prescribed by ordinance. Therefore, state law gives the City Council the authority, by ordinance, to establish additional local duties for the City Treasurer. Those same local duties may also be eliminated by the adoption of an ordinance by the City Council.
-Thirdly, in reviewing the Municipal Code and looking for any provisions regarding retaliation and discriminatory conduct by a city employee against a member of the general public, I came upon the provision regarding the term of office for City officials. My question was or is, how can the City approve a resolution to extend the term of two of the seated Council members (Aguilar and Bean), the City Clerk and the City Treasurer by one year, to a one-time five year term, with that provision not being consistent with the language of the Municipal Code defining the term length as four years?
3. Elections Code section 1301 authorizes the City Council, subject to approval of the County Board of Supervisors, to change general municipal election dates. Election Code section 10403.5 acknowledges that Councilmember terms will be affected by a change in election dates and provides that no term of office may be increased or decreased by more than 12 months as a result of the change of election dates. The City Council’s past action of changing the City’s general election date and the accompanying increase in the length of Council members’ terms was done in accordance with state law.
Fourthly, how has the City’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) users fee or tax been established in a way that is consistent with Proposition 218, requiring a vote by the public to implement or increase any new fees and/or taxes?
4. Proposition 218 governs, among other things, fees and charges that are imposed as an incident of property ownership. The City’s NPDES fee is not imposed as an incident of property ownership. Rather, the fee is a regulatory fee. A regulatory fee is charged pursuant to the City’s police powers on some property owners, or some users of property, for the purpose of eliminating or reducing adverse effects caused by the use or activity that is occurring on the property. Regulatory fees are not subject to Proposition 218 because they are imposed on particular uses or users of property rather than as an incident of property ownership.
Sharon, You associate with Postmus more than I do. You even host his blog site here. I can look at his pictures and tell when he’s using or not. Are you suffering from the Brad Mitzelfelt effect? As to trolling, I offer my apologies. It seems that my desire to punk a bully got the better of me. However, I am curious to how often you cozy up to Erwin? If you are indeed friends with Postmus and at the same time getting cozy with Erwin, this could be an ethical and legal problem.
Anti Corruption Unit……You are the equivalent of a prostitute and everything that is wrong with this once great country. Now that I think of it, that is probably why Erwin loves you as he tends to be drawn to people who can be bought and manipulated. Do you also sing karaoke for him, Perform bareback geisha and give him oriental massages? I hear Burum introduced Erwin to that. It is a sad thing to think that you are associated with law enforcement as you lack even an ounce of integrity. For all your tough talk the reality is that you spent your career harassing harmless old illegal women and shaking down doughnut shops for free cinnamon rolls. The corrupt ways of you and your friends are coming to an end. Derry’s desperate tactics are evidence of this, so keep your head buried in the inland politics sand box and keep your rear high in the air. you look better that way, especially to former Assesor’s office workers.
BJA, Jim and I have not spoken since December 2010. There have probably been ten text messages between us since then, usually because I need some type of information he has.
People are making a lot of assumptions based on a new story that discussed a tiny amount of one interview. There are so many other things going on behind the scenes that have yet to come out. I interviewed with the PIU a couple of weeks ago. I am sure that interview and related documents will be made public in the not-too-distant future and then you can judge my actions based on my actions and not some assumption from a Sun story that reveals 1/100th of the overall picture.
Billy: You are a pig and a liar. As this whole legal mess falls down around your hero Mike Ramos, it will also drag down James Casino Boss Ramos who is tied to the Hamburgular and the corrupt old guard of the County. It will be fun to watch Ramos y Ramos try to separate themselves. HA HA HA….
OKAY Billy, I’ve heard your song before. But YOUR the one who is hiding behind the keyboard.
Your the one traveling back and forth between here and inland using my screen name and other names to send your message. YOUR just weird Billy boy.
If you want to be a man for once in your life, I CAN help you with that.
Hahahahah. All real Republicans will refute Derry and his corrupt methods. He knows this and is so desperate that he has resorted to using inland politics blog banter as his campaign strategy. HOW PATHETIC! In all truthfulness, Ramos and Bagely should be thoroughly questioned about how they would address district issues. Sadly, All both men have to do is sit back and watch Chris Jones and Erwin blow off Derry’s legs with a political shotgun. What a bunch of fumble bums. A true Republican embarrassment on par with Postmus. Again, I recommend for you to just keep your head buried in the inland politics sand box.
ACU…….You can help me be a man? ha ha ha ha. Sounds like something you and Postmus should talk about. You can qualify for one of his ASSesor’s office positions by having a casting couch session with him and Eyler?
Isn’t Defazio’s engineer linked to the SBVCC Board?
What other big-shot politician Chief running for the Third District Supervisor’s position is linked (a member of) the SBVCC Board?
The Ramos Bros. are in this BIG PICTURE SCAM, way in, OVER THEIR HEADS… (and they are going to take more than a few of the Redlands Good Olde Boyz with them in the process).