My blog, iePolitics.com, has been around in one form or another since mid-2006. Two years ago it was voted “Best Blog” by Inland Empire Magazine. The highest hit day was November 17, 2009, when it received over 170,000 hits in a 24-hour period.

My goal is to shine light on corruption within San Bernardino County. The county is well into its second decade of scandal.  So far three Chairmen of the Board of Supervisors have been charged criminally. Two county administrative officers have been convicted, with one serving 17 months in federal prison.  Several other top-level county officials have been convicted of state and/or federal crimes and additional officials are currently under indictment.  At the current time at least three of the current five members of the Board of Supervisors are being investigated by local, state, and/or federal law enforcement officials.

I have been a county employee since February 1980.  The county had been a great place to work.  But beginning in the 1990s, integrity was replaced by greed and arrogance.  County leaders stopped caring about those they were hired or elected to serve.  Corruption among the county’s top executives became the norm, not the exception.  Morale disintegrated among line staff as one corruption scandal after another unfolded on the front pages of the local newspapers and in the national media.

Gradually, some of us began to speak out about the abuses and theft we witnessed daily.  But speaking out against abuse by county officials has not come without a price.  In October 2009, I was given a 16-day suspension for blogging on my own time. The county did not like the corruption I was exposing.  I was told that I was “creating a hostile work environment for county administrators.”  I was also told that as a county employee I have no right to speak out about county corruption.

I also try to be a voice for the animals placed in the care of San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control who are abused and killed by those charged with their care.  Taxpayers pay for this abuse and unnecessary killing and it is time they be made aware of what is really occurring in “California’s Most Corrupt County.

If you are interested in submitting articles for publication, please email me at iepolitics2010@gmail.com.  I welcome your comments and suggestions.

If you have an anonymous tip regarding corruption in any California governmental entity, you can email me at the address above or send them to Post Office Box 2722, Apple Valle, California 92307-0052.

Thank you for your continued readership.

Sharon