Not so quick. Most educated and experienced managers would heed the advice of lawyers and human resource staff and keep their comments to themselves.

Not this group. At least two members of the Board sought to go further. At public meetings the former administration was bashed and terms like liar and untrustworthy were thrown out to the public. Unfortunately for the Board, legal beagle Ruth Stringer was unable to convince them that the actions they were taking in Closed Session were a huge risk.

You see, Ruth Stinger tried to warn them that she had direct contact with Uffer regarding his claims of impropriety by certain members of the Board and their staff members. Ruth was aware that Uffer had spoken to her office, the District Attorney, the Grand Jury, outside investigator John Hueston, and perhaps even attempting contact the Feds.

Sources indicate that members of the Grand Jury investigating the Assessor had given Uffer the contacts. Won’t the County be surprised when this gets out at trial? Let’s see if the judge has any interest in allowing the County lawyers the luxury of holding that attorney-client privilege!

Ruth Stringer was aware that Uffer was being threatened and that for at least two years the Board had sought to get rid of her. For that reason she demanded the same one-year severance package in place for the CAO. Uffer shared his distaste with her and other County lawyers about the apparent lack of ethics by certain Board members, elected officials, and members of their staff.

Uffer allegedly shared conversations with the very lawyer that is allowing the outside law firm to run up fees on the County. No wonder. The County wouldn’t want that coming out. As a matter of record, most executives in high-ranking positions have such employment agreements.

What is really obscene is that the Board had no issue in giving Greg Devereaux a ten-year employment package. In addition, the Board gave him a supermajority vote, requiring four (4) votes to terminate his agreement. So clearly the Board had no concerns over employment agreements.

Devereaux’s employment package makes Uffer’s pale in comparison. And in case you haven’t read the fine print on the Board Item and the contract………..you should. You see by County code, contracts with the CAO are usually limited to one year by law. So how did this happen?

Perhaps it is how this contract is structured and with whom! It isn’t just the County CAO. A few months ago IEPOLITCS reported that the County had spent in excess of $850,000 defending the behavior of the Board of Supervisors and their staff. Well, it continues to spend unabated

The County lawyers under the direction of Carol Green have no sense of taxpayer dollars. Sources close to the County have shared that since IEPOLITICS reported on the spending, that the County continues to spend and the number now exceeds $1 million dollars

Now I ask you, based on the comments by the judge hearing this case and his veiled warning to the County that they had significant exposure, what are they continuing to waste money on defending?

I am still trying to figure out both the logic of the law in Hesperia and the reasoning behind someone wanting so many roosters.  Can anyone shed some light?

This announcement has opened the door to musical chairs.  It seems Assemblyman Steve Knight is running for her seat.

And the Hesperia Star is reporting that former mayor and 8th Congressional District Candidate is now running for the Assembly.  I am not clear where he lives so I don’t know if he is running for Knight’s seat or against Tim Donnelly.  Either way, he doesn’t stand a chance as long as there is a legitimate candidate also running.

Here is a question for SEBA:  Have you stopped ALL donations to ALL county elected officials including the BOS and Sheriff Hoops and District Attorney Ramos?  If not, why not?  Seriously.  Why is your hard-earned money going to any of them to wine and dine and get re-elected to screw you over some more?

The troops seem to be happy that SEBA is finally playing softball (versus hopscotch) but they really want SEBA to play hardball.  Remember, those on the Fifth Floor and in the other ivory towers will be long gone at some point during your careers.  Why kowtow to them?  You have what they want.

Here is a question for SEBA members and all county employees:  Do you remember what it was like to work for the county before Andrew Lamberto became the director of Human Resources?

Lamberto was brought in from the human resources department of LASD.  We all know how screwed up that is, especially now with the goings on with the LASD jail system that has been making the news.

Yes, say it ain’t so!  Favorite sons and daughters protected.  Deputies beating the shit out of prisoners literally and nothing happening.  Torture that is worse than anything we do to prisoners at Gitmo and it is “justified.”

I don’t believe our jail system is as bad as it is in LA.  But have you all noticed how it does not matter if you have screwed up or not, if they are after you, they will get you no matter how much a human resources officer is called upon to lie?

Think of it this way.  No matter what you may think of Rex Gutierrez or the county corruption scandal, Andrew Lamberto, the department head of human resources, got on the stand in a public criminal court in a high-profile case and lied.  Do you really think you stand a chance in a dark little room hidden in some corner of an office building where no one is allowed but a HRO, your supervisor and your rep?  Again, seriously?

SEBA needs to show the balls it once had.  The members need to demand it.  Right now is the perfect storm.  Will SEBA and the membership prevail or fold like a whipped child beaten into submission.  My bets are with Devereaux.  We shall see.

Now I am hearing that everyone has brand new iPhones and iPads, well at least the chosen ones.  I also hear that Sheriff’s Headquarters is being remodeled yet again.  Just how much marble and brass can that building stand until it collapses under its own weight?

Then this morning a “retired” captain, Lee Watkins to be exact, was spotted driving his county ride.  He has been out for almost a year now but I guess he is doing the disability or worker’s comp. thing first before he officially retires.  So he gets to keep the county ride while he spends a year off duty. He was, BTW, spotted driving it in Yucaipa going through Starbucks.

So much for a budget crisis.

It seems everyone is making assumptions about Lt. Emmons.  Something didn’t seem right to me so I asked a source to look into it further.  It seems Emmons has not been promoted to Lieutenant but is underfilling the position with the intent of being promoted to it.  This is not being arranged by Deputy Chief Big Momma (sorry but her name totally escapes me right now) but rather by Deputy Chief Paul Cook (not to be confused with Assemblyman Paul Cook).

It seems Cook has his hands in a few more things right now that I cannot write about yet.  Let’s just say a lot of things are not exactly how they are being portrayed at this time.

Speaking of Cook, a couple of stories were relayed to me today about him.  The first had to do with a SWAT sniper who was given two days off when he put a round in and it fired.  He claimed he did nothing to cause the gun to fire.  Cook gave him time off anyway.

Not long later, the gun manufacturer sent a letter out recalling the guns because, you guess it, they would accidentally discharge randomly when a round was put in.  Do ya think the deputy was given his two days back?  Not on your life.

However, as a captain Cook showed up at the scene where a search warrant was being executed.  I guess a cat surprised him and he shot a washing machine to Hades and back.  I guess the cat was okay, but the washing machine he shot did not survive.  No time off for him for shooting a washing machine though.

It’s no secret that Brad is frequently  late for meetings, that Brad falls asleep in meetings, that Brad is usually dependent on his staff to tell him what to do, and for the most part Brad is a fish out of water when engaging in conversation.   Ask any member of the Board of Supervisors, and if they are honest they will share that Brad’s tardiness to Closed Session is legendary.  Listening to Brad try and articulate something at a Board meeting is painful.  Between the uh’s and the um’s, and the pauses for him to try and read the script, a parade could go by and nothing would be missed.

At the same time, Brad is usually the first to jump in a take credit for something positive in the organization when he really had nothing to do with it.  Brad is also not going to do anything that requires confrontation with other elected department heads.  He knows that the outcome is not going to be good.  He leaves that to his voting buddy Neil Derry who has no fear of the elected department heads.

So what happened at Park Moabi that Brad and the County have hidden?  First you need to know that this information was given to the press last year.  To find out the truth requires investigative reporting and effort.  You actually have to dig, pardon the pun.

Where is Park Moabi?  Well, it just happens to be in Needles.  Didn’t the former CAO spend over a year while exiled in Needles?  What could he know about Park Moabi?  What did the elected officials in Needles share?  This could be a grave concern……….oops another pun.

Brad allowed the new concessionaires at Park Moabi to redevelop the entire project area.  Again, what was a simple boat marina and campground has become a major attraction on the river.  All of this in relatively short order.  So what happened last year?

I am sure that there will be more information coming later this month about your style of doing business.  Who got threatened in the different departments to keep this quiet?  Someone knows!!!

Rule number one Brad.  When you direct policy at any cost people get angry.  When they know your motives are personal, they get angry.  When they find out what you have done, they tell.

Erwin the Cat

Meet Erwin the cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat. 

Erwin has a story.  You see Erwin used to be called “Samantha.”  And Samantha was Bill’s roommate’s cat.

Now anyone who knows Bill knows he is not exactly an animal lover, especially pussy cats.  But Samantha would get lonely when Bill’s roommate was gone.

One night very late Bill and I were talking on the phone.  Samantha kept trying to get into bed with Bill.  This did not make Bill happy.  He was not about to have a pussy cat in his bed.

Samantha was very persistent, sorta like Erwin.  Thus Samantha was renamed Erwin.  Erwin still wasn’t allowed in Bill’s bed and became quite hostile.

And that is the story of Erwin the Cat.  Yes, it is a very sad, but true story.

Warning: Photo may disturb some readers; photo of lion trophy sparks debate over legal hunting

Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards with mountain lion he shot after grueling hunt in Idaho

The divide between those who live in rural areas and those from cities ruptured wide this past weekend across America in a debate over a provocative photo of California Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards and a huge mountain lion he shot legally after an 8-hour hunt in Idaho.

Some comments on Facebook suggest that Richards should be the one hunted and shot, that he should be jailed, that is unethical to shoot anything you do not eat, and hunting of any kind is barbaric.

To read the rest of the story, click here.