In our last story we highlighted some obvious misdeeds which somehow seem to go unpunished, mind you I didn’t say unnoticed.  Some obvious misdeeds in the department of Workforce Development have been filed as far away as possible to cover up the fact that the department is in total disarray. The dysfunction that abounds may be more attributed to upper management surrounding themselves with family and friends, all employed on the taxpayer dime.

No longer do you have to be competent to qualify for a position in county government because nepotism has become the standard policy for hiring. As thousands of people throughout our County are unemployed, one should ask oneself who do I know, and point me to a cushy government job!

One such fine example is with Mark Kirk, former Chief of Staff to Supervisor Ovitt, who recently resigned from his position under Ovitt to take on some bogus new position in some legislative capacity under the CAO [while maintaining his $225,000 a year compensation package]. Kirk when hired to work for Ovitt in 2004, wasted no time in bringing on a personal friend and former employer Anthony Riley.  Riley, a one-time charter school director and day player actor turned politician, was the second highest paid staffer in Ovitt’s office just under his buddy and personal friend Mark Kirk. Riley bought a home from Kirk in 2006, and traveled around the world with Kirk on expensive trips to the Orient.

No time was wasted as Riley quickly moved up in the ranks and found himself a one time economic development director for County airports.  One has to wonder how Riley secured such a quick rise on the political food-chain, from field representative to economic development director in four short years. Riley’s personal talents must have exceeded his professional talents to please Kirk in such a way as to advance him so quickly. The casting couch must have been hot the day of his hire.

Well it seems that Riley was a good apprentice, and learned from his master (Kirk) quite well. Riley no doubt yielded his influence in Workforce Development upon his departure from the County in 09, to encourage the department to hire a young man who is known to be a close personal friend and roommate of Riley’s, says one source. A young man named Daniel, who currently serves as a contract employee with the title of “Workforce Development Specialist” for WDD.

Inside sources confirm that Daniel has been moved three times to various offices in his short stint as a workforce specialist, and I speculate the move was no doubt at Riley’s behest or at least influenced by him, but for what reason?

Were these moves possibly  to cover up potential misdeeds from this young lad who has been seen driving around town with upper management in his department, in a very expensive Aston Martin, with plates that read 00Riley. One must wonder what he had to do to earn this privilege.  Fancy suits and expensive cars make this young man a good catch, but he may be already taken by the same person who owns the car he travels around in.

In Riley’s recent unsuccessful bid for State Assembly, he was quoted as introducing Daniel as his “special assistant.” One must wonder what special talents Daniel has, a young man in his early 20′s, with what appears to be very little formal training, educational background or pedigree.  But no matter, qualifications are not the merit for hire, it’s a “who you know” or “who are you doing” world out there, and the County of San Bernardino is no different.

As mentioned last week, some San Bernardino County female executives exhibit a cougar-like affinity for their young male protégés.  WDD Director Sandy Harmsen is known for surrounding herself with young men she considers a good catch.

Incestuous perhaps, dysfunctional definitely. With all of the qualified people out of work in these tough economic times, maybe its time to clean house; our new CAO should take notice of the caliber or quality of people working in such a high profile department such as WDD.

Not long ago the positions were all reclassified, with some employees being given large raises.  That has done little to promote productivity or integrity.  Very high-placed sources tell us that, if anything, things have gotten worse.

After the county attempted to force me to go to work in the Business Resource Center in Rancho Cucamonga at the first of the year, I wrote a column or two about a certain individual who had a propensity for goofing off, having sexual relations on the job, and other issues.  That, of course, was Gustavo Cisneros, the former Employment Services Manager at the Victorville Transitional Assistance Department (TAD).  Cisneros was demoted and transferred out of that office after it was discovered he was creating a hostile work environment for female and African American employees among other charges. Numerous victims came forward.

Cisneros was later demoted and transferred again for similar behavior.  Accusations included that he could never be found, which was an issue since he was a supervisor.  The second time he was demoted back to Employment Services Specialist and transferred to the Rancho Cucamonga TAD office.

Cisneros had been fast-tracked to his position as Employment Services Manager because he was a favorite of both Linda Haugan and Sandy Harmsen.  Haugan, as well as TAD Director Nancy Swanson, are known for their Cougar-like affinity for young, Hispanic males, and both have a propensity for promoting unqualified young men to keep by their side. Cisneros was one such example who backfired as he had issues keeping it zipped up with any female in the office that took his fancy.

‎

When Cisneros finally realized his career at TAD was finished, he called upon his former ally Sandy Harmsen to come to his rescue, and rescue him she did.  Despite his issues with female and African American employees and his piss-poor case management skills, as well his extracurricular activities on the job, Harmsen gave him a position as a Workforce Specialist at the Business Resource Center in Rancho Cucamonga.  As we reported back in January, it took no time whatsoever for Cisneros to resort to his philandering ways with female employees.

Now we learn that Cisneros is not the only employee who is not exactly performing up to speed under Harmsen’s tutelage.  It seems there is no oversight on contract or permanent employees.   Management does not verify any employee’s actual workday, or what they are actually doing during their workday.  There is an overall lack of accountability.  These days employees are moved from one office to another to cover up indiscretions or bad work performance,.

One such case involves a contract employee who has been been moved three times to offices in Chino Hills, Rancho Cucamonga and now Fontana.  What little secrets are in his person’s close that would warrant one’s supervisor to tke such a special interest?  Who does he know or what does he know that would allow one’s superiors to overlook multiple indiscretions?

Employees have left to go to the gym during the workday, have met up with co-workers and outside members of the public at motels for sexual encounters, and have frequented movie theatres for early matinees on county time.  Lengthy lunches and group outings where more than one employee is going out to the same employer under the guise of training just to hang out are common.   Employees coming in late and leaving early but collecting a full day’s pay is also acceptable.  Porn, YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook are routinely accessed using county computers during the work day.  Employees are misusing county cell phones for personal use.

We have reported extensively at iePolitics about the falsification of statistics  for the purpose of obtaining federal funding being not only condoned, but required, under Harmsen, Gene Eisenbiesz, Nick D (?) and others.  It was common for TAD Employment Services Specialists to contact job leads developed by WDD Job Developers only to find out the employer had never been contacted by the county and had no idea their information had been entered into the system.  Sometimes job leads were for jobs that had been filled months earlier or never existed to begin with.

One common scam was for the job developers to drive around the community and look for “help wanted” signs and then enter the information into the database without actually ever contacting the employer.  Yet, on their falsified stats they would indicate that they had actually made contact and developed the job.  Another scam was to go through the newspapers and enter jobs, again without ever contacting the employer and again falsifying their stats.  They would also falsify mileage reports to make a little extra money on the side.

One of my favorite examples of the above was Murphy’s Garage in Victorville.  Murphy’s was the old Sheriff’s tow yard and had the contract for years.  However, they fell on tough times.  The business was sold and the new owners were arrested in high profile fashion for selling drugs out of the establishment.  Six months after it had been closed down, with no new business started at the site, the job developers were still claiming they contacted the employer each and every month and listed new jobs for the site.  Of course, it was all falsified.  Everyone knew it but no one would do anything about it.

The money for the contract employees is from stimulus funds and the contracts have been extended until June 2011.  It might behoove the county to determine how many actual businesses have been assisted or helped by the creation of these positions but we know that will never happen.  As with TAD, our CAO and Board of Supervisors prefer to look the other way because it is free money.

Of greater concern, by allowing the padded job creation statistics, BOS members such as Mitzelfelt, Biane and Ovitt, can brag to their constituency about all they are doing for the local economy, knowing full well these new jobs are nothing but a scam.  That fits into the overall practice of using smoke and mirrors to cover up the real budget scenario, a scam practiced by former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer and continued by Devereaux.

But then again, what’s a little fraud by county employees and elected officials?  After all this is San Bernardino County.

Of course, this payoff begs the question of Why?  Well, the answer is easy. A mistake by the District Attorney’s office has alerted corruption defendants to the fact that Brown was involved in attempting to get his boss, Second District Supervisor Paul Biane, on tape in an undercover operation.  It would be highly detrimental to Supervisor Paul Biane’s re-election chances to have his former Chief of Staff tell what he knows before November 2.

Some would say the effort by Brown to implicate his boss is a noble one.  Normally, that is true, but not in the world of politics.  Had Brown first resigned, he would have our sympathy.  Instead he is nothing more than a jailhouse narc in a fancy suit.  He is slime.

And then to add insult to injury, Brown makes hostile work environment accusations that he created for himself.  There are certain things you simply don’t do as an employee of an elected and this is one of them. He should have taken the high road, resigned from his cushy job, and then cooperated with the District Attorney.  Instead, he used the situation to blackmail the county into giving him an equivalent position that he is not even qualified to have.  And the CAO/BOS went along with it.

I have little doubt that today’s result is due to more stellar legal advice from our resident cracked legal Beagle Ruthie Stringer.  We keep being told her departure is near.  Why don’t we just pay her to leave?  It would be cheaper than dealing with the results of her crap legal advice.

Devereaux and Board, you all should once again be ashamed of yourselves for wasting taxpayer money.  But we know you are not.

I am sure that you are funnelling these issues to Supv Derry since he has frequented this blog in the past. However, the way you have treated him during these past few months is not condusive to him wanting to return. I would be surprised if he bothers to take the time.

As to the specifics of this issue, why do you believe Supv. Derry is the responsible party when the BOS has placed that duty squarely on the CAO? It would seem prudent to direct these departmental issues to the CAO, and if one or more Supv. still follows this blog and is interested in the case, then they or the new unit in the CAO’s office can follow-up.

Let me respond.  I do not expect Neil to return to the blog ever nor do I care.  As far as I am concerned, Neil has become one of the problems, just like the other four; not the solution.  However, I know anything addressed to anyone on the Fifth Floor will be read by staff up there, so I will continue to address him this way.  He doesn’t respond to emails so there is no point in trying that means.

I do not care how much the five board members decide to shirk responsibility, ultimately, they are the ones responsible for what goes on in this county.  Devereaux can grab all the power he wants with their permission, it is those five who answer to constituents.

As to contacting the CAO directly, actually I did exactly that and my email was ignored.  Addtionally, I have at one time or another spoken directly to almost every one of the individuals that have been transferred to the CAO about the issues at TAD and all each one of them did was blow it off.

And finally, those new units are a joke.  When I worked up there, that was my job.  I worked for the TWO analysts that handled all special projects for the Board of Supervisors, handled ALL of the county’s legislation, handled ALL of the 258 boards, commissions and committees that included members from more than one district, handled the agendas for SCAQMD, CARB, Omnitrans, MDAQMD, etc.  Note:  I said TWO ANALYSTS as in two Administrative Analyst IIIs, not the ridiculous classifications and salaries these jokers have.

Also note that back then there were far less cities and much more unincorporated area in the county so the board members had a lot more to do.  A lot of what the THREE of us did back then is now handled by cities.  I think the Fourth District, for example, has a grand total of eight square miles of unincorporated area.

In case you didn’t notice, you hit a nerve when it comes to this so-called reorganization to “save money.”  That is the biggest bunch of bs.  And Neil has bought it hook, line and sinker.  He’s happy to spend his time getting pothole filled and singing Sinatra while Devereaux runs the county.  So why do we need a board of supervisors.  I say we do away with them and let Devereaux run the whole show.

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/08/26/iepolitics-a-comment-about-supervisor-derry/feed/ 14 http://iepolitics.com/2010/08/11/iepolitics-so-supervisor-derry-youre-a-chicken-i-thought-you-were-a-marine/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/08/11/iepolitics-so-supervisor-derry-youre-a-chicken-i-thought-you-were-a-marine/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:24:21 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=4945

You chickened out huh?  You know what I mean!  That’s okay.  Public airing of county issues is probably best anyway.

So, you did not provide me with an answer regarding the four bargaining units in SEBA. Of course, we all know the answer already.  And that answer shows my original premise was correct.  The county did in fact tell the unions how the vote would be conducted and what the outcome would be.   This wasn’t simply Bob Blough mouthing off, but an agreement between the county and the unions.

You can’t blame that on the unions.  Greg Devereaux and the Board of Supervisors are clearly at fault here.  You have an obligation when you know that the unions are not conducting elections lawfully to step in.  I’ve told you that; Jim has told you that. But because you liked the outcome and you know a legal election would not have the same outcome, you chose to look the other way.   And that makes you as crooked as the rest.

But what is more concerning is the fact that you, BOS/CAO, set it up so you knew you could give the Sheriff’s Department raises and screw over general employees.  You knew this would be the outcome before the voting ever took place because it was set up that way from the very beginning.

My spies have told me all about the clandestine meetings between Devereaux and Blough and what was pre-arranged before a vote ever took place.  Add to that the $50,000 to Ovitt and Scott Ryan’s promotion and this has conspiracy, bribery and extortion written all over it.  As I said in my previous post, unlike the Erwin/Postmus matter, this situation actually meets the legal definition of conspiracy and bribery.  And you were part of it by giving Devereaux tacit approval to participate in the action and then voting for the final outcome even though you knew the outcome was obtained illegally.

If you really think the issue is dead, you have NO IDEA what is going on behind the scenes on a number of fronts.  This issue isn’t going to die a peaceful death and be forgotten.  We may have to wait for the criminal part until Cooley gets in, but the civil parts are alive and well right now.  But then what do you care?  It’s only taxpayer money you spend on legal fees.

Getting back to the fact that you were one of five board members who made sure the Sheriff’s Department employees got raises even in this economic downturn shows exactly what $400,000 or so in SEBA donations to your campaign bought.  You were bought and paid for by SEBA.  And now we have proof.  For someone who ran on ethics, we see that your ethics are relative to who pays you off and those who doesn’t.  And that is shameful Neil.

As an elected official, elected to any office in California whatsoever, you have an obligation to uphold the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the United States.  Hopefully, we both agree on that.

As an elected official, especially as a member of the governing body of the county of San Bernardino, we the public expect you to initiate an investigation when you have reason to suspect or personally witness unethical or illegal behavior by any person or entity under the purview of your jurisdiction.  That investigation may be as simple as referring the matter to Human Resources or as serious as referring it to the Grand Jury.  No one expects you to call in the Calvary for every act or suspected/alleged of malfeasance, but you are expected to at very least have someone in authority look at the situation to determine if there is any justification for further action.

Like I stated in my last comment on the other post, the public and employees alike need somewhere they can turn for help.  The Sheriff and District Attorney are both corrupt.  The Grand Jury cannot begin to handle all the complaints they receive, and saying this is going to get me into trouble with them, but a majority of Grand Jury members are not capable of comprehending the techicalities and intricacies of the complaints referred to them.  I say that having worked with a number of Grand Juries both on the inside and outside.

You never answered our questions about the Ethics Commission/Sunshine Ordinance I posed a couple months ago, so I cannot say how much I support that concept or not.  But, you don’t have the support of your fellow board members.  Have you thought about how many ethics commissions could have been funded for what has been spent on Devereaux’s two new units?  I consider those two new units unethical in and of themselves, but that’s another story.  Let’s get to the examples.

I am not going to share everything regarding the contract vote on this blog because there are a number of individuals and groups who are in the process of filing lawsuits against the county and SBPEA and I have no intention of harming their cases.  I will share what I feel I can.

The county can claim that the contract vote was simply between SBPEA and the employees, but the county has an obligation in the matter as well.  When the county knows that the union is misleading the members or conducting an illegal vote, the county has the authority to step in.  In this instance, the county knew that Bob Blough was intentionally lying to members and did nothing.  Why?  Because it was in Devereaux’s and the Board of Supervisors’ best interests to have the contract vote go the way it went whether it was moral, ethical or legal.  You, yes you Neil Derry, looked the other way while an illegal vote took place and did nothing to stop it.  And don’t even try to tell me that you did what you did on Stringer’s advice because we all know she doesn’t give a shit about what is legal and what is not.

We can, and will, provide signed affidavits from employees who will swear to the fact that Bob Blough stated in various public forums that the county, i.e., Greg Devereaux, forced SBPEA to conduct the vote illegally.  There are a number of other things that occurred during the negotiations that support the concept that SBPEA is a “company union.”  If you don’t know what that means and what the ramifications of that are, ask your legal Beagle Ruthie.  I’m sure she is an astute labor law lawyer.

But more, a lot more, is starting to surface.  We are discovering that there is a direct correlation between the $50,000 given to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, the promotion given to SBPEA Board of Director’s President Scott Ryan, and the outcome of the contract vote.  It seems Devereaux played a very significant role in all of this.

Unlike the bribery, extortion, and conspiracy charges against Erwin and Postmus, the elements of the crime have actually been met in the Ovitt/Blough/Devereaux/Ryan matter.  With a legitimate investigation you WILL find the necessary nexus for criminal charges to be filed.  But, that would not happen because the BOS wants the outcome they received whether there were illegalities or not.  SBPEA donates too heavily to the Board of Supervisors and the District Attorney for a real investigation to ever occur.

I have been accused of just being a greedy county employee regarding the contract issues.   What many don’t realize is that I have not received a county paycheck in over nine months.  Neither my doctors nor the county’s psychiatrist will allow me to return to TAD or work with Gustavo and the county refuses to place me anywhere else, so the contract outcome does not affect me in any way and probably never will.  It is not likely I will ever be allowed to return to work.  My pocketbook has NOTHING to do with this argument.  It is totally about corruption at SBPEA and the Fifth Floor.

Neil, there is one issue that as soon as the desired outcome occurs, we will praise you heavily for because you are the reason it happened.  We both know what that is.  I have also thanked you for what your office has already done at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

And I realize thing do not happen overnight.  But let me give you a few other examples where we have been harping and harping on what is going on, but we are being ignored because the Board of Supervisors, and you are one of them, prefer the advantages of the illegal activity rather than biting the bullet and cleaning things up.

ARMC is a perfect first example.  As I said, I appreciate that your office finally looked into the billing situation for outpatient DBH clients.  I believe George told me they found about $100,000 of potential revenue that was no longer collectible because of employee incompetence.  I hope you understand the real figure was in the millions.  Before I left, I was directed to have shredded three years worth of documentation of medical statements that were never billed.   That evidence filled SIX LARGE  (probably 30-40 gallon sized) shredder containers.  Millions and millions of dollar were lost at ARMC because of one employee and a supervisor who is so dirty himself that he could not discipline her for fear she would expose him.

And as much as I appreciate your help on that issue, you do realize that by the time someone finally investigated, I had been talking to people at the top since before George became your chief of staff.  As a matter of fact, when I started to realize what was going on at ARMC, George was still a reporter and he was one of the first people I spoke to about the billing issue and the patient abuse issues.  I also spoke extensively to Mark Kirk, Mark Uffer and Patrick Petre.  I sent emails to Devereaux once he became CAO.  All of it fell on deaf ears.  Why?  Because it was easier to look the other way.  And it is still easier to look the other way.

Yes, I know there are multiple investigations going on at ARMC, but is anyone investigating the millions of dollars still be lost by PMQ because of incompetence.  How about time card fraud while Fred Mendoza is coaching his daughters’ soccer teams or going for ridealongs because he wants to become a reserve deputy while he is on the clock at ARMC?  How about all the time spent with drugs and sex rather than work?  How about hiring PSEs because he can pay them cheap and get them to do what he wants them to do, if you know what I mean.  What is going on out there is ridiculous and I bet it is not being investigated or addressed.

Here is a bigger example.  You remember the email I sent to you, Brad, George and David weeks ago about what is going on at TAD.  Yes, that’s right.  Just one more example of information you have been given and chose to put your head in the sand and ignore because you like the outcome of the illegal activity.

Well, do you realize that every single employee who Virginia Lugo runs through C-IV can sue the county in either state or federal court for civil rights violations?  Do you realize that each and every time Virginia Lugo runs an employee through C-IV just for the hell of it, she has committed a misdemeanor?   If charged today, she could easily be charged with several hundred misdemeanors.  Do you realize that each and every time Andrew Lamberto and Linda Haugen use that illegally obtained information they, too, have committed civil rights violations and broken the law?  Again, both could be charged with misdemeanors at least.  (Remember the Chris Cardoza case?  Exact same scenario except that illegal access to criminal records is only a crime; illegal access to C-IV records is also a civil rights violation.)

So why have you all put your heads in the sand?  That is an easy answer.  None of you want layoffs.  Thinning the workforce through this method is a great alternative.  Except that it is ILLEGAL.  But why let that stand in your way.  You are willing to allow others to break the law because you like the final outcome.

But, guess what?  The EEOC (yes that’s right the FEDERAL government) has been all over this blog looking at this stuff.  That didn’t happen by accident.  Employees have filed EEOC claims so that they can sue in federal court.  And guess what else?  You guys don’t control the federal judges the way you control the San Bernardino County bench.  The federal judges don’t get any benefits from you and they don’t give a fig about your re-election or theirs since they don’t have to be re-elected.

Neil, you know as well as I do, how bad Ruth Stringer and Andrew Lamberto are.  Linda Haugen is also just as corrupt.  So why are they kept on?  That’s easy.  They are willing to commit crimes and the county like the outcome.  Eventually, they will all be sold down the river when it gets too politically hot to keep them.  But for now, their willingness to violate the law serves a purpose for the CAO and BOS.

Finally, I want to address the comment regarding accusations on the blog versus investigated charges.  All convicted criminal charges started with uninvestigated accusations.  None of us expect you or anyone else to fire someone because of an accusation made on this blog.  But when you won’t even consider someone’s accusation has merit enough to look at, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

How many citizens appear before the BOS and all you guys do is pooh-pooh there comments.  Some of you can’t even stay awake or get up and leave during public comment.  People are frustrated as the lack of responsiveness by local government.

Yes, almost all incumbents were voted back into office a few months ago.  But none of them had legitimate, well-funded opponents.  Two years from now may be very different.  Some of the names popping up to run against Josie are Kelly Chastaine, John Longville, and one of the Bacas.  I would rather see Josie re-elected than see Kelly in there; I don’t think Longville stands a chance; but a Baca could make a real run of it in that district.  We have already discussed some of those who might run against you.  And rumors are starting to surface about those who may run against Brad.  All three of you could have a good fight on your hands.  Why can’t all of you just do the right thing?

Mikey, please tell me why you only prosecute some and not others.  You add yet another ridiculous charge to Rex Gutierrez, yet you let the real bad guys go.

We have told you before, and we say it again, you need to go back to law school and study Conspiracy 101 and Bribery 101 again so you can understand the elements of the crime.  Then you need to look at the way in which Scott Ryan got his promotion.

Gary Ovitt was paid off to the tune of $50,000 by SBPEA.  Interview the members of the Board of Directors.  I know some of them will tell you the truth as to how that all went down.

Scott Ryan got his promotion for a $50,000 contribution to Chairman of the Board Gary Ovitt and an agreement that Scott and Bob Blough would make sure the vote on the contract modification went the way Greg Devereaux and Gary Ovitt wanted it to go.  But you won’ investigate this will you?  Why?  Because Scott and Bob make sure you get you share of PAC money as well.

This is just one more case of selective prosecution, or non-prosecution, by San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos.  What else is new?

BTW Mikey, ask Kirk and Ryan about their behind-the-scene meetings and agreements that take place after hours on Ranchero Road in Hesperia.  And I’ve heard, but HAVE NOT confirmed, that Ryan had something to do with that Trans/Flood project Uffer narc’d off Biane over.

For weeks now there has been behind-the-scenes chatter about what exactly was going to be done to pull off the transfer of San Bernardino County Second District Chief of Staff Matt Brown to the Auditor-Controller/Recorder/Tax Collector office.  Many of us figured there would be wrangling to send Brown to the Assessor’s Office next year when the Recorder’s function is transferred to that department.  The question was how.

Although rumors of discord between Assistant Auditor-Controller Betsy Starbuck and Auditor-Controller Larry Walker over Chief Deputy Recorder De Ana Thompson have been floating around for months, Starbuck’s firing on Friday came as a surprise to everyone.  Starbuck is educated and professional while Thompson is uneducated and despised by subordinates for lack of leadership skills.  Starbuck had been Walker’s assistant for decades.  Thompson has been Walker’s paramour for an unknown period of time.

Now only two working days later Walker announced that Brown will be appointed to the newly created “Assistant Recorder” position.  The organizational chart for the department no longer shows Thompson’s position.

It could be that Walker is going to do the right thing and terminate Thompson as well.  And we can all start to believe in Santa Claus again if that, in fact, happens.

What we are all expecting is to see Thompson promoted to the position Starbuck vacated.  In other words, we expect to see Walker protect Thompson from the ramifications of being transferred to the Assessor’s Office next year.

What are we talking about?  Well, if you are a long-time reader of the blog, or an unfortunate Thompson subordinate, you know what I mean.  But if you depend on the Sun for your news, you are likely scratching your head.

You see, Sun reporter Joe Nelson has had this story for over a year.  He did a very short version, leaving out most of the information, in a story early 2009—and not a word since.  We would think, since Nelson interviewed some or all of the employees involved, Nelson would have jumped on this latest chapter.  Of course, we would be wrong.

Thompson has been accused of creating a hostile work environment for most of her staff.  I believe at one point there were six staff members out on Administrative Leave at once.  Since then, several others have been transferred out to get away from her while others have been trying to hang on, hoping the county would do the right thing since the County Administrative Officer  and all five members of the Board of Supervisors are aware of the problem and have been for over a year.

We should point out that, unlike Thompson, these employees have Bachelor’s degrees or higher and work in a professional capacity such as accounting.  It should also be noted that at least four legal actions have already been filed against the county with more expected.

So, we had all hoped that since Walker will not do the right thing and fire Thompson, Assessor Dennis Draeger would take care of the situation after the first of the year when Thompson and her staff are transferred to his office.  It doesn’t look like he will get the chance.

The two most shocking aspects of this story are that 1) Walker is being so blatant in his actions with no regard whatsoever for how this appears; and 2) the Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Officer hid this for Walker in the 2010/2011 budget.  As we said, every time we think they can’t get more stupid, they do.

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/07/21/iepolitics-even-they-cant-be-that-stupid/feed/ 17 http://iepolitics.com/2010/07/20/supervisor-neil-derry-supervisor-derry-calls-for-banning-of-all-rave-parties-at-county-owned-facilities/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/07/20/supervisor-neil-derry-supervisor-derry-calls-for-banning-of-all-rave-parties-at-county-owned-facilities/#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:56:29 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=4626

Urges state legislature to ban dangerous events at state owned venues

SAN BERNARDINO, CA – At the behest of San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry, County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux has issued a directive that would prohibit all county owned facilities from hosting rave parties.

“Parents have a reasonable expectation to believe that their children will be safe while attending events held at county owned venues,” Supervisor Derry said.  “And it has become crystal clear that there is a reasonable expectation that our youth are at significant risk for exposure to drugs and sexual assault at these events.”

A recent rave at the Los Angeles Coliseum that spanned two days claimed the life of a 15-year old girl and resulted in approximately 100 youth being taken to area hospitals for various reasons.  Raves in San Bernardino County have resulted in rioting, sexual assaults and the loss of life.

Supervisor Derry has brought this matter to the attention of each state senator and assembly member via letter.

“It is my hope that they will take immediate action to protect our children by prohibiting these dangerous parties from occurring at state-owned venues,” Supervisor Derry said.

Supervisor Derry took action on this matter in response to concerns and suggestions raised by a coalition of concerned parents.

“The consequences of these poor decisions may impact these children for the rest of their lives,” said Judy Sbardellati, member of the combined Rim Youth Prevention Leadership and Breakthrough Task Force coalitions.  “It is really empowering to know that we have an elected official that truly listens and works with the community to resolve problems.”

May 5, 2010

Honorable San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
Gary Ovitt, Chairman – Fourth District
Josie Gonzales – Vice-Chair – Fifth District
Brad Mitzelfelt – First District
Paul Biane – Second District
Neil Derry – Third District
Greg Devereaux, County Administrative Officer
Gerry Newcombe, Deputy Administrative Officer
385 N. Arrowhead Avenue, 5^th Floor
San Bernardino, CA  92415                                                          Via Hand Delivery

Dear Chairman Ovitt, Vice-Chair Gonzales, Supervisors Mitzelfelt, Biane, and Derry, Messrs. Devereaux and Newcombe:

I have given notice to leave my position with the County of San Bernardino effective June 4, 2010, after over 20 years of employment.  I feel it is import to share with you why an employee with that much time in the organization would choose to resign.

About Me

I am hoping that some background information about me will lend credence to what I have to say in this letter.

I started with the County of San Bernardino in October of 1989, at the age of 20, as a Transcriber Typist Trainee, with what was then known as the Department of Public Social Services.  During my employment, I earned by Bachelor’s Degree from California State University, San Bernardino.  I continued promoting within the County until I reached my current position as a Senior Associate Planner with the Solid Waste Management Division (SWMD) of the Public Works Department.

I have participated in ongoing, continuing education and I am a member of several noteworthy organizations, including, but not limited to:  County Womens Network (I have also served as a mentor for the last two years); Leadership Development Network (I am a graduate of the Management and Leadership Academy and have served in a Leadership Lab); and Southern California Waste Management Forum (I am on the Board of Directors and currently serve as Treasurer).

I have also obtained and maintained certifications related to my profession, including, but not limited to:  Solid Waste Association of North America (Manager of Landfill Operations certification); American Planning Association; and Association of Environmental Professionals.

Additionally, I have been recognized for my efforts as an employee on several occasions (i.e., Employee of the Quarter, nominee for Employee of the Year, etc.).  Outside of work I have participated in the Redlands Climate Action Task Force, as a fundraising organizer for the Parent-Teacher Fellowship where my children attend school, and as a team parent for AYSO (soccer) and RBY (softball).  I have attached my resume for your reference.

Issues in SWMD

As you may or may not remember, I copied all of you (except Mr. Newcombe) on an e-mail dated March 30, 2010 explaining why I would not be attending my 20-year County employee pin ceremony because my Division Manager, Peter Wulfman, had “resigned” (been fired) that day (copy attached).  Two days after sending that e-mail, I was called into a conference room at work by Mark DeBoer from Human Resources, and Art Rivera, SWMD’s acting point of contact at that time.

Essentially, I was bullied and harassed about that e-mail and questioned about a petition rumored to be circulating to have Peter Wulfman reinstated, as well as being put on notice that I was to respect whoever would be leading our division from that point forward.  I was so upset by this encounter that I left work early that day and ended up documenting what happened with the San Bernardino County Public Employees Association (SBPEA) for my own protection (copy of e-mail dated April 6, 2010 attached).  (I forgot to mention in the e-mail that I was walked publicly through our office by these gentlemen, which led to a fair amount of gossip and some embarrassing questions being asked of me by my co-workers about why Human Resources and Art Rivera had taken me into a conference room (without my supervisor or a union representative).  (Couldn’t this have been handled more confidentially?)

When I was initially hired at SWMD, one of the duties assigned to me was to stay up-to-date on municipal solid waste conversion technologies.  Since that time,  I have maintained an electronic database of technologies, followed the progress of neighboring jurisdictions and pilot projects, attended continuing education activities, maintained an information database of articles, presentations, websites, etc., and shared information with appropriate staff as necessary.  I am also proud to say that I suggested the use of SWMD-owned properties for potential renewable energy projects, along with the formation of a renewable energy team (RET).

Peter Wulfman was very supportive of the idea and allowed me to utilize money to commission a feasibility study, which was completed in 2008 (with promising results) and to form the RET (I served as chairperson), which consisted of staff from planning/permitting, operations, and engineering.  He also supported my participation in ongoing training for renewable energy.

As you are all aware, there was great interest expressed by the Board last year to consider these types of projects.  Since that time, under Peter Wulfman’s direction, I prepared a Request for Proposals (RFP) for renewable energy projects on SWMD-owned properties, and an RFP for a municipal solid waste conversion technology consultant, along with a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for municipal solid waste conversion technologies.

I also led the selection committee for the consultant to be hired under the RFP and expanded the RET (selection committee) to include staff from finance, contracts and Los Angeles County.

In the meantime, I was considering leaving my position with the County to spend more time with my children, daughters – ages 12 and 6.  However, because of my belief in the above-referenced projects and my commitment to SWMD, I sent an e-mail to Peter Wulfman and my immediate supervisor, Nancy Sansonetti, stating that I would consider part-time or contract employment.  (Copy of e-mail dated February 1, 2010 attached).

Unfortunately, my proposal was unable to be addressed before Peter Wulfman left SWMD.  It did not feel right to immediately approach Bow Bowman (Public Works Director) about the issue because everything in SWMD was in transition.  I decided to wait until things settled down.

As you’ll note, thing went downhill for me here after Peter’s Wulfman’s departure.  In addition to the actions referenced above that were taken against me, I was removed as project manager for both the renewable energy and waste conversion technology projects and replaced by Art Rivera.  Mr. Bowman sent us an e-mail stating he had developed a task force (this task force has the same professional background personnel as the RET did and when I attended the first task force meeting the project manager and chairperson were unsure of what had occurred to date and referred to me for information/status) and only through the generosity of my immediate supervisor (she was asked if she wanted to be on the task force instead of me and said no, stating I was the most knowledgeable) was I able to remain on as at least a member of the task force.

In addition to this action against me, my name was removed as contract administrator for the municipal solid waste conversion technology consultant and replaced with Art Rivera’s.  This occurred after I had done all the negotiating and finalized the Board item to be heard on May 11, 2010.

I sent the attached e-mail to Art Rivera, with a copy to Bow Bowman because of ongoing communication issues with Mr. Rivera, and in light of Mr. Bowman stressing improved communication, asking why my name was removed.  Not only did I never receive the courtesy of a response from Mr. Rivera, but Mr. Bowman phoned my immediate supervisor to express his dissatisfaction with the contents of my e-mail.  He seemed to interpret it as me being uncooperative.  When I saw Mr. Bowman at an event the next day, I apologized that my e-mail came across the wrong way and reiterated why he had been copied on the e-mail.  I then asked if it was possible to meet with him and explain my point of view.  He agreed to a meeting, which occurred on Friday, April 30, 2010.

In advance of the meeting, I prepared the attached talking points/highlights to explain my frustration with being removed as project manager (which I consider a leadership opportunity) and share the extensive background work I had performed for the projects.  The meeting was not very productive.  Mr. Bowman told me I am too emotional (that I should leave my emotions at home or vent to my husband) and that I lack the expertise to oversee these projects.  He stated we would just have to agree to disagree and that he felt Mr. Rivera was more qualified than me.

I did not have a chance to go over the talking points/highlights specifically, but left a copy of everything with him.  I also ended up giving my official notice of resignation because, at that point, I saw no need to offer part-time or contract employment.  (I should note that since these actions against me began, I have had to seek medical attention for stress and have been placed on medication.  No job, full-time or part-time, is worth my health).

After giving notice, I told Mr. Bowman that I would be more than happy to help in any way I can before I leave.  I went back to the office and provided written notice to my immediate supervisor, Nancy Sansonetti.  (Copy of e-mail dated April 30, 2010 attached).  I have heard nothing further from Mr. Bowman.

The Bad

The last several months at SWMD are truly the worst I have encountered in a County organization.  Once Mr. Bowman was hired, the negative effects of the management changeover ended up spilling over into our office and affecting day-to-day operations, and, more importantly, employee morale (lack of leadership, being told that to participate in County-sanctioned events one must now utilize personal leave time, despite joining organizations with the understanding that participation would occur on County time, little to no communication about the division’s direction, etc).

Since Mr. Wulfman’s departure thing have become even worse.  Mr. Bowman has been in SWMD only a handful of times, does not have a lot of background information needed for projects/decisions, forgets information already provided to him, and the person who has been acting as SWMD’s point of contact, Mr. Rivera, has either been out of the office or unresponsive to staff.

Additionally, I (and several others) have a history of frustration with Mr. Rivera because he regularly does not provide requested information needed to perform my job.  He also has a tendency to treat women as incapable of performing their jobs (multiple complaints of discrimination are on file with County Human Resources) or less than capable if they are not engineers.

The planning/permitting section was created in 2005 to save money being spent on outside consultants and provide independent review of SWMD documents.  While great cost-savings have occurred, there is still a culture of the engineering section immediately contacting a consultant for work rather than utilizing very qualified in-house staff.  This is a very frustrating waste of taxpayer money and causes one to question the nature of the relationship between County employees and said regularly used consultants.

I can only hope things will improved with Mr. Newcombe acting as SWMD Division Manager.  As a general comment, however, I think it would be prudent in the future to have a specific management plan in place before firing high level executives in the County because it is the rank-and-file employees who end up suffering with the ensuing chaos.  These employees work hard and deserve better.

The Good

The County has, overall, been a wonderful organization to work for.  This is mostly in part to my immediate supervisors and my co-workers.  I have been fortunate enough to be mentored and encouraged along the way by too many people to mention.  What I have gained as a professional and as a person far outweighs the negatives I have encountered.  I leave with no regrets and hope that I will be remembered as an employee who always tried my best, provided a good work product, was a team player, and tried to leave things better than I found them.

Suggestions

I believe when someone complains, he/she should be willing to provide suggestions and/or solutions to the problem(s).  As such, I offer the following:

• As our highest officials/employees, you should consider the far-reaching consequences of your actions.  While I was listening to Mr. Devereaux speak at the Leadership Development Network luncheon last week, I was thinking about how many times I have heard his general message over the last 20 years; i.e., now the County is going to change, things are going to get better, etc.  The continuous change in your ranks would not be necessary if our leadership got along with each other and acted in an ethical manner, considering possible repercussions over personal goals/objectives.
• Spend some time with us; i.e., the rank-and-file employees.  We look to you for leadership, but we never see you.  Consider sending a day or two per month going to different County departments and seeing, first hand, how operations work.  Ask management to suggest a couple of employees that are worth talking with.  In addition to the hard work we perform and the excellent customer service we provide, we are also constituents.
• Don’t vote to give yourselves raises, or provide raises to positions you are filling in the exempt class, then ask general employees to give up their raises.  Again, these are the employees doing the hard work and the budget deficit occurred through no fault of theirs; this type of action is demoralizing.
• Consider allowing part-time employment, as allowed in the Memorandum of Understanding, as a cost-saving measure.  I am guessing there are many employees who would consider this option.
• Consider the costs of litigation.  Had the County not had to spend money because of corruption and misdeeds (former supervisors, the Colonies, etc.) there would be no deficit to contend with.  As an example, the Board voted to allow former Supervisor Postmus to add furniture, positions, etc. to the Assessor’s budget, so I really cannot imagine that it was truly, or should not have been,  surprised at what happened.
• Stress OPEN communication.  It is very unfortunate that many employees have to seek information from outside web blogs to learn what is going on in the County.
• Political placements of employees are unfair to existing County employees who end up denied employment and possible promotional opportunities.  On several occasions during my employment I have had to work with, and sometimes train, employees placed in this manner.  It is especially frustrating to know that they kept exempt pay and benefits (more than I and others were making) and were unqualified for the positions they were placed in.  (This statement does not speak to their eventual job performance, but simply to the way they obtained their positions).

I am sending this letter before my employment ends so that I can make myself available if you have any questions or would like additional information.  The intent of this letter was to make you aware of why a long-term employee would leave, but, more importantly, I hope it is an opportunity for improvement/changes in the County organization.  Thank you for listening!

Sincerely,

N. Traecey Anthony

Sharon:

Greg’s reorg is not about money. It’s a power shift. Think about the personnel the Supervisors are giving up.

1st: Devereaux is after O’Toole
2nd: Brown took himself out
4th: Ovitt gave up Kirk
5th: Devereaux is taking Page

Devereaux isn’t going after anyone in the 3rd, because Derry doesn’t have anyone who can help Derry match wits with Devereaux.

And the email is absolutely correct and one of the biggest points we plan to make with this series.   There is a shifting of  power taking place on the Fifth Floor.

As I have mentioned a few times recently, I have a very well informed crystal ball.  I’m not at liberty to announce publicly what it knows, but both Neil and Brad know, and I doubt either has kept it secret so I’m sure the whole Fifth Floor knows by now.  That makes what Devereaux is doing so particularly sad and funny at the same time.

We are learning that Josie is not the only IQ-challenged board member.  Apparently they all are.  If they are nothing more than figureheads used to rubber-stamp whatever Devereaux wants, exactly why do we need them there full time or earning $152,000 a year plus tens of thousands in benefits?  They might just as well be relegated to the same status as city council members where the real work is done by a strong city manager.  No staffs, no paycheck, no benefits.  They get a per diem and have to find real jobs to support themselves.  What a concept!  And what a way to save taxpayers real dollars.

Footnote:  By the way I totally forgot about  Mary.  John is who was originally mentioned as the sacrificial lamb and now I can remember if both Mary and John are being sent to the County Administrative Office or just Mary.  Someone let us know.

Apparently, Blough has been asked publicly more than once why the vote to modify the contract was not being done on a unit-by-unit basis as should be.  He has replied that “the county will not allow me  to conduct the vote that way.”  He has indicated that the county is behind the effort to force members to give up their raises with a legal vote.  This has been witnessed by employees who have already agreed to offer testimony if needed.

What is odd about this claim is that the Safety Employees Benefit Association vote was conducted by unit.  I wonder if Beef received the same kind of pressure from Devereaux and Ovitt?  Maybe someone could ask him.

Now that the Attorney General’s office and the FBI are in town investigating our elected officials, anyone have a suggestion as to how to get them to look at this?

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/06/16/iepolitics-an-open-letter-to-supervisor-neil-derry/feed/ 50 http://iepolitics.com/2010/06/13/iepolitics-armc-our-bos-wants-more-stupid/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/06/13/iepolitics-armc-our-bos-wants-more-stupid/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:49:44 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=3720

So is our illustrious San Bernardino Board of Supervisors up to stupid again?  We hope not.  But we won’t know for sure until Tuesday’s meeting.  BOS agenda item No. 16 has left us scratching our heads.  This board item approves new,2-year contracts with all of the various medical providers for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), with the exception of the Anesthesia contract, which is extended six months.

ARMC has been under investigation almost continuously since the final quarter of 2009 for a variety of reasons including malpractice, patient abuse, billing issues, and violations of state regulations.  All three levels of government, federal, state and county, have been involved in these investigations and they have not been completed.  The situation at ARMC remains so dire that it could lose its Medi-Cal and Medicare funding which in turn could lead to the hospital being shut down.

Special Agents from the California Department of  Justice are currently investigating possible criminal misconduct at ARMC.  It is rumored that it has to do with, among other things, the medical care received by Supervisors Biane and Gonzales and former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer and his family and friends.  That makes sense because otherwise it would be the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office investigating.  However that agency has very close personal ties with all involved and that is why it appears the investigation has been turned over from the District Attorney to the Attorney General.

There has been a battle going on at ARMC for months now.  Those doctors who are tired of the mismanagement and despotic rule by ARMC Medical Director Dr. Dev GnanaDev have started speaking out.  And at least one has paid a price for doing so, that being the doctor in charge of Anesthesia, which is why his group’s contract is being extended rather than receiving a new 2-year contract like all others at the facility.  Dr. GnanaDev wants to replace him with one of his own but there is too much heat to do so right now.

The new series of contracts has one change and that is there is a separate contract for Dr. GnanaDev as medical director and one for Dr. GnanaDev for patient care.  However, the conflicts of interest still exist:

1. As corporate president and owner, Dr. GnanaDev has the right to select and provide the services of the Medical Director (GnanaDev again), who then has the right to appoint himself as Chair of the Department Of Surgery (GnanaDev yet again) and negotiate an Independent Corporate Contract to provide Administrative, Teaching and Supervisory services to ARMC by personally hiring all personnel by the Corporation that he owns and has appointed him Medical Director and Chairman of Surgery.  The county pays him a set amount for the performance of duties allocated to each position.
2. Not only does Dr. GnanaDev hire the personnel, he does their billing for them and retains 10 percent of the billings.  To maximize the earnings for these services he interferes with the proper operation of the O.R. schedule by demanding changes and activities that are in the best interests of the Department of Surgery, rather than the patients, O.R. personnel and Operating Surgeons in Specialty’s in which he has no financial interests.
3. Dr. GnanaDev negotiates on the Behalf of ARMC an Affiliation Agreement, part of which includes $300,000 per year paid by the Western University of Health Sciences to the county and then passed through to him. In addition his corporation may be receiving funds from the County for the same person to perform the same services.
4. Dr. GnanaDev has frequently been absent from his contracted duties as Medical Director and Chair of Surgery for over one year while he traveled around the country and state representing the needs and ideas of Physicians whose interests are totally opposed to those at ARMC.  In doing so he received a salary of $50,000 and all travel and related expenses.
5. As past President he continues excessive absences representing these same physicians and at the least is reimbursed for all expenses.
6. Dr. GnanaDev purchased land around the proposed location for ARMC including the large lot on the corner of Pepper and Valley View and has not reported said purchase on his FPPC form 700.
7. Dr. GnanaDev owns a billing group that does all billings for general surgeons and other specialty surgeons employed by his corporation at a rate of 10 percent of collections. Surgeons have stated that they have no choice but to use his services.

We have heard that Dr. GnanaDev and ARMC CEO Patrick Petre have attempted to influence County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux, knowing health care is not his expertise.   We also know that trying to get Supervisor Paul Biane and Supervisor Josie Gonzales to do the right thing in this matter is impossible because of all of the free care they received at ARMC.  We can only hope that the three remaining supervisors will do the right thing.

In makes no sense whatsoever to approve new 2-year contracts with this cloud hanging over the hospital.  Additionally, we are told yet another investigation into ARMC’s administration is starting tomorrow.  The prudent decision by the BOS would be to extend all current contracts 90 days so that the various investigations can be concluded and findings made before the county contracts for another $21.9 million are approved.

Dr. GnanaDev claims to have three votes in his pocket at all times,  I guess we will know for sure on Tuesday whether it is corruption as usual in this county or at least three members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors have grown some backbone.

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/06/13/iepolitics-armc-our-bos-wants-more-stupid/feed/ 2 http://iepolitics.com/2010/05/24/iepolitics-time-to-cut-out-the-cancer-at-armc/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/05/24/iepolitics-time-to-cut-out-the-cancer-at-armc/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 20:27:29 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=3059

As a child growing up with a mother who prescribed to old-fashioned thoughts about medical care, I was always told never to allow doctors to operate on cancer because exposing cancer cells to air would cause them to grow exponentially.  Of course, today we know how to use surgery to cure an otherwise fatal tumor.

Several years ago all of Southern California watched the crisis at the Los Angeles County-run King-Drew Medical Center.  If history can predict the future, we have a similar, fatal cancer growing at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) that needs to be excised fully and quickly.

The residents of San Bernardino County are being led to believe that the current investigations and accusations at San Bernardino County’s only county-run hospital are routine and relatively minor.  We keep hearing that they are part of the “learning process.”  ARMC has been in business for over 10 years and San Bernardino county has operated a hospital for decades before that.  If the county hasn’t learned how to run a hospital by now, I’m not sure it ever will.

ARMC Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Petre, and ARMC Medical Director, Dr. Dev GnanaDev, have been downplaying the recent state and federal investigations into medical care at the facility.  They attempt to describe them as routine.  These investigations are anything but routine.

When a hospital reaches a point where it is about to lose its Medicare and Medicaid (Medi-Cal) funding, it is serious.  It is so serious that such an event would likely cause the hospital to shut its doors.  And such a condition does not happen overnight.  By the time the Feds make this threat, they have found substantial and repeated violations that the hospital has not corrected after at least two previous warnings.  We are now at a critical stage and it requires critical measures.

It is time for Dr. Dev GnanaDev to be removed from ARMC.  He should not only be removed as the Medical Director, but his contract with the hospital should be canceled in total.  Too many stories of retaliation and heavy-handed tactics are surfacing, suggesting a man out of control.  Combined with some of the horrendous stories of patient abuse, our Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Officer owe it to the residents of San Bernardino County to take fiscally and morally sound action and replace GnanaDev when his contract expires on June 30, 2010.  Anything short of this action is dereliction of duty.

Insiders say that three other individuals need to also be replaced forthwith if there is any hope of ARMC surviving and regaining its stature in the community as a first-class trauma center.  They are:  Patrick Petre, Maureen Malone, and Frank Arambula.  All three of these individuals are accused of a systematic scheme of retaliation against any employee who speaks out about the wrongdoing at ARMC.

I can speak from personal experience as an employee of ARMC for a year.  I thought I was doing the right thing by telling former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer of the concerns employees brought to me regarding patient abuse, sexual harassment by managers, and multi-million-dollar billing issues.  At his request, I spoke with Petre and had other employees do the same.  The only result was for those employees to be disciplined or threatened with discipline, some for the first time in their entire careers, and for Uffer to remove me from a job he promised I could keep until I retired—for no disciplinary reason whatsoever other than I operate a blog that they were afraid I would use to expose what was going on at the facility.

I witnessed and experienced retaliation first-hand, at the hand of the powers that be at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.  If those powers that be were truly concerned about the hospital and the patients it serves, they would remove the cancer rather than killing the messengers.  Instead the cancer has metastasized into the most critical areas of administration.  All four individuals must be removed if ARMC is to survive.

So far in this series we have discussed the District Attorney’s office and the Conflict Panel.  There are three other components to justice, or the lack thereof, in San Bernardino County:  the Public Defender, the Sheriff’s Department, and the Superior Court bench.  Today, we will discuss the office of the Public Defender.

The Mission Statement on the wall of the Public Defender reads:

The Public Defender protects the constitutional rights of indigent defendants by providing skilled legal counsel and passionate advocacy at all critical phases of state level criminal and civil commitment litigation.

It is hard to believe that Public Defender Doreen Boxer would have the audacity to post such a blatant lie once one knows what really goes on at the Public Defender’s office.  iePolitics has been contacted by numerous Public Defender employees with stories of retaliation for helping clients and tales of conspiracy with the district attorney’s office to the detriment of justice.   And both actions seem to be allowed and rewarded.

But is it really that bad?  I mean, crooks going to jail, and deservedly so, is a good thing, right?.  The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

So, yes.  It really is that bad.  Anything that violates the Constitutional rights of any citizen of the United States is bad, very bad.  Perhaps today it is a serial murderer but tomorrow it could just as easily be you or I.  Once we lose our freedoms granted to us by the Constitution of the United States, America no longer exists.  And that why what is happening in San Bernardino County’s justice system is so troubling.  Literally, we are watching those who have committed no crime be prosecuted with malice.  And those who are trying to defend any who have been charged, punished for doing their jobs.

How did the condition of our justice system in San Bernardino County become so dire?  There is no one complete answer, but most of the answer revolves around one man:  a man of no moral character; a man with great political ambition; a man without conscious; a man with no respect for the profession in which he practices or the system of which he is a part.  That man, of course, is District Attorney Mike Ramos.

Through intimidation, illegal use of the powers granted to him under the law, and through placing his opponents in compromising situations, he has gained the upper hand in all matters of justice or injustice in San Bernardino County.  And that includes his relationship with the Public Defender’s office.

As pointed out in Part One, only in San Bernardino County would one find the District Attorney banging the Public Defender with no repercussions.  Our Board of Supervisors and our County Administrative Officer have chosen to look the other way.  As with every other wrongdoing in our county, “cover up” has been the name of the game.

So why would our own Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Office not take action?  The answer is simple.  All five members of the Board of Supervisors and the current County Administrative Officer have been threatened, publicly or privately, with prosecution of one type or another.  Once Ramos’ patsy, former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer, was removed from office and his successor was named, Ramos wasted no time making it known he was investigating County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux for a Fair Political Practices Commission violation.

Although the investigation may have started months before Devereaux’s appointment was officially announced, his appointment to the office was also known months before it occurred.  Anyone who thinks Ramos did this without an agenda clearly has their head stuck deeply in the sand.

But the issue with the Public Defender’s office goes deeper than simply the Board and CAO not providing adequate oversight to a department head who can’t keep herself out of compromising situations.  Staff members talk about a department head out of control; a manager who has little or no adult felony trial experience who attempts to micro-manager an experienced and highly successful criminal defense and that can only be construed as an attempt to assure defendants are found guilty, or preferably, plead out.

And as with the Conflict Panel, “plead out” is likely the most important term.  Defendants who plead rather than take their cases to trial cost the county a lot less money, at least up front.  Incarceration versus a “not guilty” verdict costs far more in the long run but our county has never been about long-range planning.  So getting a defendant to take a plea is the ultimate goal of both the District Attorney and the Public Defender.  It keeps costs under control and keeps members of the Board of Supervisors happy.  But in the end justice is not served.  But that does not matter to those who benefit from it, does it?

It does matter to those who care deeply about their jobs.  Attorneys in the Public Defender’s office could just as easily have become deputy district attorneys.  But they chose a profession where they felt called.  It is too bad our leaders don’t see the importance of justice in our county.  I wonder if they will feel any differently if they are indicted.  We can only hope the FBI is making a serious attempt to clean this mess up.  They seem to be our only hope now.  Time shall tell.

But . . . this county is in dire straits, ethically speaking that is.  I really want to believe what my friends who know current County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux say about him.  I really do.  I really, really do.  Because if it isn’t true, this county is going bankrupt.

We need some action.  There are so many unethical administrators, managers, and supervisors in this county that even with few getting the ax, nothing has changed.  And right now, it is feeling hopeless.  There are several department heads who should receive the ax that seem like a no-brainer:  Ruth Stringer, Doreen Boxer, Andrew Lamberto to name just a few.

Greg, how embarrassing is it going to be for the county in a few short weeks when Andrew Lamberto is placed under oath and has to explain to a judge and jury ad the media why he lied at Rex Gutierrez’ preliminary hearing?  How can you or the members of the Board of Supervisors support him?  I don’t get this.  You don’t have to wait until the hearing to figure this out.

And Doreen Boxer’s romps with Mike Ramos are going to become newsworthy once again soon.  Ruth Stringer is the village idiot.  How much longer are you and the board members going to put up with her less-than-stellar legal advice?  Exactly how much does it have to cost taxpayer before you cut the losses?

Seriously, we are all starting to wonder . . .

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/05/24/iepolitics-where-is-the-leadership-in-this-county/feed/ 2 http://iepolitics.com/2010/04/29/iepolitics-armc-billing-taxpayer-and-patient-nightmare/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/04/29/iepolitics-armc-billing-taxpayer-and-patient-nightmare/#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:55:08 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=2363

For anyone who has utilized the services of San Bernardino County’s hospital and is not an Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) VIP, it comes as no surprise that ARMC’s billing system is a mess.  Those who handle the billing are spread throughout the medical center and no one talks to one another.  As a matter of fact, turf wars exist that sometimes result in billing being months, and yes, even years behind.  It is yet one more area of ARMC that its medical director, Dr. Dev Gnanadev, has micromanaged into disarray.

ARMC has traditionally served the indigent and low-income members of our county. As such, many receive Medi-Cal, SSI and other government entitlement programs.  Such programs are strict about billing, but if done correctly and timely, result in millions of dollars being returned to San Bernardino County.  “Correctly” and “timely” are the key words here.  

Having spent a year working on special projects involving billing at ARMC, I saw first hand the lack of concern for doing anything correctly or timely.  I personally processed bills that had been sitting in piles for more than two years unprocessed and therefore  were uncollectable.  No one will do anything about correcting the problem.

A few weeks ago iePolitics received an anonymous email regarding the use of alcohol and cocaine by members of the Pre-Medical Qualification (or Insurance Verification) unit.  That email was forwarded to County Administrative Office Greg Devereaux minus anything that could possibly identify the sender.  Do I expect to see anything done about it?  Of course not.

PMQ was the unit I worked in and I know what went on.  I personally spoke with Mark Uffer about it and all that happened was sources were disciplined, or at least those they thought were sources.  Uffer and Gnanadev wanted nothing negative to be made public about ARMC even if it meant losing millions of dollars.

The potential to bring in a tremendous additional amount of revenue at ARMC is there but it will never be accomplished with Dr. Dev running the show and protecting the perverts, drug addicts, and incompetents who make up much of the billing staff management.  It is a shame because county employees are being asked to give up their raises and likely some will be laid off while needed services are being cut to citizens.  Some of this could be avoided if only county administration would take lead and clean up the mess at ARMC.  With Dr. Dev running the show, it will never happen.  Taxpayers be damned.

I feel sometimes like we are beating a dead horse.  Unfortunately, that dead horse keeps coming back to life and rearing its ugly head.  There are several San Bernardino County department heads that have to go.  The county simply cannot afford to keep them on in these economic times.  Federal court and federal juries do not care how broke San Bernardino County may be when it awards judgments.  And Mr. Devereaux, you have some complete idiots (note HROs:  be sure to print this out to add it to “the list”) running the show who are going to ultimately cost taxpayers dearly.

At the top of the list is County Counsel Ruth Stringer.  How much longer are you going to tolerate her half-ass legal advice?  When you take an attitude of “we have 138 attorneys, so bring it on,” as did our former County Administrative Officer and our current County Counsel has, you’re assuming you can outlast us all.  Not all of us go away easily or cheaply.

Then there is Andrew Lamberto.  Greg, at some point this county needs to abide by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  I know we have some slow learners and it has only been 46 years since it was enacted, but we really need to get on board.  Human Resources should be a mechanism to attract the best and brightest to San Bernardino County.  However, the ability to give a good blow job should not be among the criteria to determine who is the best and brightest.  And when we have work places where the words “nigger” and “cunt” are used with regularity by supervisors, there is a problem no matter how many EEO complaints Andrew helps cover up.  And don’t tell me he doesn’t cover them up.  I know what happened at ARMC, TAD, WDD, PH, and a few others departments.  One day the county WILL face a class action suit.  Any reasonable person is going to be offended by what San Bernardino County officials allow to occur in the workplace.

The next on my wish list is the De la Rosa/Swanson/Haugen combination.  First of all, males are not the only ones who sexually harass subordinate employees.  And second, theft is theft is theft.  Need I say more?  These three aid and abet theft as a daily routine.  They also willingly circumvent the law.   I know you don’t know much about social services coming from a municipal background and Linda Haugen (or her protegé Arabatzis) is not the person to teach you if you want to learn the right way of doing things.  Ask any employee not too intimidated to tell you the truth and you will find this county has violated the law for years.  And our attitude about welfare fraud is atrocious. If the public only knew!

Doreen Boxer . . . well that one should go without saying.  Greg, I bet you were at the City/County Conference and witnessed her behavior yourself, but if not, there were dozens of other witnesses.  But more important is the lack of service being given to the clients they are supposed to defend.  Morale is dismal in the Public Defender’s office with attorneys being disciplined for doing their jobs too well.  They are ridiculed for caring about their clients and they are punished for defending them.  Justice in this county is shameful.

Kari Verjil must be one of the most obnoxious department heads we have.  She seems to always be on the defensive.  She can’t take criticism.  She seems to have a good staff, which is fortunate, but she, herself, needs to go.  Mark my words.  One day what she does BEHIND the scenes will be made public for all the world to know and San Bernardino County will have yet another corruption scandal, a corruption scandal that neither the state’s attorney general or the FBI will be able to ignore.  Replace her before she embarrasses us more.

Dr. Dev is an amazing figure.  Anyone ever read the story about Prem Reddy in the Los Angeles Times?  Click here to read it.  Here is a quote from that story:

Reddy said his company’s approach allowed it to be more efficient than its rivals, and he remained unapologetic to those who said the company was too focused on the bottom line. Patients, he said, may simply deserve only the amount of care they can afford.

Well, from the stories we are hearing about Dr. Dev, it seems he is mirroring Dr. Reddy’s philosophy on patient health care and hospital practices.

Let us not forget about Deanna Thompson.  At last count at least nine employees have been terrorized by her.  Several have already initiated lawsuits against the county.  Exactly how many must sue the county before something gets done?

And finally, there is Dean “Oh Mr. Greg can I lick your feet to save my job” Arabatzis.  This clown was one of Uffer’s hatchet men.  He knew exactly what was going on, and like Mark Uffer, committed as many sins against the people of San Bernardino as did Mark.  He may have had Mark convinced he was a budget whiz, but I assure you there are real budget whizzes out there who would be happy to work for his salary.  The cocky little man needs to go.

The most recent have to do with Flexible Benefit Dollars, Medical Premium Subsidy, Flex Time, and Retirement.  Most can be found addressed somewhere here on the blog.

Our new County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux has his fans and his enemies.  When it comes to these issues it seems everyone is expecting him to be a Mark Uffer clone with threats and dirty deals.  I can honestly say I don’t have a good feel for what he will do.  I have asked around and here is what I’ve been told by those who are making educated guesses.  So don’t take any of this to the bank.

Flex time—It seems there is going to be a good chance that it will be gone, especially if there are layoffs.  It doesn’t sound like it will be a matter of punishment as much as a matter of necessity to keep staffing levels adequate during core hours.

Retirement—This refers to the seven percent county contribution.  This one is negotiated for sure; Devereaux cannot unilaterally take it away.  If employees are stupid enough to give it up, then y’all deserve to be laid off.

FBD/MPS—I can only hope on this one.  It would be nice to get some fairness back into our contract.  Singles got screwed over badly the first time.  And those with less than 15 years got screwed over the second time.  Every employee should be treated the same despite family status or senority.  Stupid employees listened to Bob Blough and Mark Uffer.  I can only hope they are the ones who are laid off.

And finally, there is the subject of layoffs.  Honestly, I do not see how the county can avoid layoffs.  And I do believe the time has come to refuse to give up our raises yet again.  Yes, that means layoffs but our employment levels and service levels need a reality check.  County government will never recover if it doesn’t bring spending in line and deal with reality.  I agree we need to postpone some of the big projects if feasible (there are legitimate reasons to go through with them in this economy however) and the entire negative impact of the budget should not be balanced on the backs of employees.  But cuts in employees and services need to be made.  That is reality.

]]> http://iepolitics.com/2010/04/11/iepolitics-rumor-control/feed/ 20 http://iepolitics.com/2010/04/08/inlandpolitics-s-b-county-managers-unknowingly-subjected-to-job-interviews/ http://iepolitics.com/2010/04/08/inlandpolitics-s-b-county-managers-unknowingly-subjected-to-job-interviews/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:04:49 +0000 Administrator http://iepolitics.com/?p=1721

Things are definitely looking up on the San Bernardino County government front.

New County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux is rapidly getting a clear picture of county finances and routing out discrepancies. Something everyone is glad to see happen.

Another positive sign coming out of the Government Center is Devereaux apparently scheduled and held meetings with various county administrators, department heads, and managers.

What appeared to be meet and greet scenarios to the individuals involved were actually job interviews. Yes, everyone was interviewing to retain their respective positions.

How refreshing indeed!

Like we’ve been saying here for some time. Expect many departures from county management ranks. A little downsizing may also be in order.

The big question out there is will Devereaux be able to attract quality talent to the county given the present circumstances?

To read the rest of the story, click here.

We hear that a survey will be forthcoming and that Chicken Man is proposing that employees give up their raises again this year but we will get three percent next year for sure!   Yeah, right.  He also wants to extend the contract, which has given employees absolutely NOTHING another two years.

I have a better plan.  No more deferment of raises.  Do what those boards and councils with balls do:  lay off employees.  Yes, I realize it is an election year.  That is all the more reason to let voters see what a completely mismanaged county this is.  It’s time San Bernardino County’s elected officials start dealing with reality.

Everyone from Bill Postmus to Jim Erwin to Mark Kirk have told me that Greg Devereaux is a “professional, intelligent, no-nonsense administrator.”  Let’s see him prove it by dealing with this issue without all the smoke and mirrors we have had to deal with for the past six years.  How about the truth Greg?  How about dealing with employees by telling them the truth?  Our budget woes will never be fixed until someone is willing to make the hard decisions and stick to them.

If there is actually a budget workshop this year, it should prove to be interesting.  I seriously doubt that our new county administrative officer Greg Devereaux is allowing the shenanigans of years past where the cover-up artists on the CAO side of the Fifth Floor are allowed to help department heads hide certain things, like million dollar red holes in Land Use.

The presentations to the board by department heads should be interesting.  I bet they have to go through an extra spray of Arid Extra Dry.  Devereaux doesn’t strike me as the type of CAO who will appreciate a department head trying to BS his or her way through a budget presentation.  And the truth is not always pleasant.  Mismanagement or the inability to manage will be obvious.

Lamberto lied under oath at the Preliminary Hearing for Rex Gutierrez.  Unfortunately, at the time Rex’s attorney did not know about the memo that Lamberto authored regarding the issue of time card fraud and exempt employees.  But he know now!  And from what I’ve heard, he has subpoenaed it.

How it is going to look when one of your top generals, THE top general for firing county employees, is shown to have committed perjury while acting in his official capacity in a court of law?  Any of us would have been fired?  Are you going to fire Andrew or are you going to sweep it under the rug as you do anytime one of you good old boys does something wrong?

It’s time all of you do the right thing for a change.  Either Rex, Greg, Bill and ALL OF YOU are charged with time card fraud and/or misuse of public resources (depending on if you are a board member or staff) or none of you are.  You can’t have it both ways.

Lamberto needs to go.  He is getting this county sued over and over because of his illegal activity.  I know you don’t care how much it costs taxpayers, but I can guarantee you the voters do care.  DUMP ALL INCUMBENTS!

Peter Drucker

Interesting changes are being made in San Bernardino County’s Transitional Assistance Department’s (TAD) management structure.  Unless Assistant Administrative Officer Linda Haugen and TAD Director Nancy Swanson are even more stupid than we already know, they have to be very nervous about the new head honcho in town, County Administrative Officer (CAO) Greg Devereaux.  Linda Haugen was able to . . . um “charm” . . . her way out of trouble with former CAO Mark Uffer but those who have worked with Devereaux say he cannot be “persuaded” by the same means.  We know that neither Linda nor Nancy are capable of producing anything resembling a well-thought-out and intelligent work product, so they have a lot to worry about.

Before being devoured by TAD, the Jobs and Employment Services Department (JESD) was considered one of the best departments to work for in the county.  Employment Services Specialist positions were highly sought after.  The department was known for treating its employees and the public very well.  It had a positive work environment for employees and did an awesome job of helping the less fortunate in our community.

When JESD became a division of TAD, known as the Employment Services Program (ESP), it became the department to leave.  Line staff, supervisors and managers alike couldn’t get away from TAD’s despot management style fast enough.  Morale plummeted.  Hostile work environment became the name of the game.  Racial and sexual harassment became commonplace.

Jackie James, a regional manager for JESD, became the Deputy Director for ESP.  But she didn’t last long.  Another Deputy Director, Michael De la Rosa, known more for his embezzlement from the San Bernardino Public Employees Association than for any valuable contribution to TAD, quickly targeted Jackie.  He helped to have her demoted so that he could take that position for himself.

Jackie was the first in a long-line of JESD African-American employees who were targeted by De la Rosa.  Since his hostile takeover of ESP, he has systematically eliminated almost all former JESD African-Americans in leadership rolls within ESP.  Under his dictatorship numerous Equal Employment Opportunity complaints have been filed, with Human Resources staff usually covering for De la Rosa’s racist and sexist actions.

So we find it very interesting that now that we have a “professional” CAO, who is said to be a bit of a stickler for the law, De la Rosa has been reassigned to “special projects” and Jackie James has been re-instated to her rightful position.  We have never been a Jackie fan, but at least she understands the clientele we serve and the purpose of the program.  Unfortunately, as with any prisoner of war, after three years of torture, brainwashing, and beating down, it is likely she has become one of them.  Time will tell if this change will offer any relief for the beleaguered masses.

Unlike Michael (or Nancy or Linda), Jackie is well educated and intelligent and can project a professional image for the department.  Michael, on the other hand, who is poorly educated, terribly simple-minded, and mean-spirited as hell, is said to be going to spend much of his time in Sacramento trying to save Welfare to Work.  That is rather humorous since he single-handedly ran the program into the ground here in San Bernardino County.  Before Michael we had Work Performance Rates exceeding 50 percent.  They are now down in single digits even with all the falsified record-keeping TAD management is so good at.

Knowing what an embarrassing fool Michael presents himself as, we have to think that the Sacramento gig is simply a way to keep him under Devereaux’s radar.  No one who sees him in action would think he deserves his $100,000 a year salary and it will provide a way to keep him from embarrassing Haugen and Swanson.  I feel sorry for the poor legislators who have to deal with this incompetent simpleton.  On second thought, maybe they deserve one another.

It seems San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane would like all of us to drink his flavor of “Kool-Aid”.

However, in Biane’s case it’s either a bottle of Kettle One vodka or a few bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Biane, who himself has apparently been a subject of focus by District Attorney Michael Ramos is attempting to woefully spin a ridiculous story that no one believes.

The District Attorney has made a referral to the California Fair Political Practices Commission related to a trip the two-term county supervisor and incoming county administrative officer Greg Devereaux took with two West Valley businessmen in September 2008.

While Devereaux appears to have made an honest attempt to comply with state law regarding such travel by public officials, Biane did the opposite.

Biane failed to make any disclosures regarding the travel, nor did he make any honest attempt at reimbursement. Only after Biane became aware that investigators for the District Attorney had acquired evidence of his travel did he disclose and reimburse. About five whole months later.

Biane dug himself a into a deeper hole by trying to classify the travel as having a political/governmental purpose, thus allowing him to reimburse from his campaign funds. It seems the trip to Morgantown, West Virginia was to attend a West Virginia University Mountaineers football game and play a round of golf.

Campaign finance records filed this week revealed that in the second half of 2009 Biane paid almost $50,000 in campaign funds to the Los Angeles-based law firm of Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP.  A firm that specializes in white-collar criminal defense, political corruption and election fraud.

When asked by local newspapers inquired about the expenditures Biane declined to be interviewed, but instead issued the following statement.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

• Will Assistant County Administrative Officer Dean Arabatzis now be required to work 40 hours a week at the County Government Center?  Five days a week, every week?
• Will the Fifth Floor continue to be a ghost town on both sides of the isle on Fridays?
• Will CAO Devereaux also work five days a week?
• Will County Counsel Ruth Stringer and her deputy county counsels be allowed to continue to accrue millions in leave balances?
• What will replace our beloved “Service First”?
• Will Chicken Man show up to board meetings in a chicken suit?
• Will Board of Supervisors staff follow Devereaux’s lead and start working five days a week, 40 hours a week?
• Will department heads caught lying and cheating have consequences similar to line staff?
• Will David Wert be required to work 40 hours a week, five days a week, every week?
• Will department heads who go on vacation be required to green-slip their time?
• Will non-elected department heads be allowed to continue bonking their line staff?
• Will anything be done about sexual harassment and racial discrimination in the work place?
• Will anything of significance ever get accomplished by the Fifth Floor in a timely manner?

“Cautiously optimistic” and “nervous” are two of the phrases I have heard repeatedly about San Bernardino County’s new head honcho, County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux.  Even before assuming office, Devereaux has ended a decades-long policy of 9-80s for county management, a move that makes line staff very nervous as many depend on “flex time” to survive in these hard economic times.  But it is also a sign that Devereaux is not going to be afraid to lead.

After six years of despot leadership by former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer and his band of thugs, it is easy to understand why line staff are wary of our new leader.  I’ve been asked my opinion repeatedly by everyone from the lowest level employee to managers to newspaper reporters.  Here is my standard response:

Seeing Devereaux’s close, personal relationship with the Fourth District makes me nervous on a personal level, especially when considering what the Fourth District recently did to me.  That being said, I have two friends who are long-term city of Ontario employees who have nothing but respect for Devereaux.  They are rank-and-file and are allowed to work 9-80s.  Ontario employees, most of whom are represented by San Bernardino County Public Employees Association, have the best contracts of any governmental agency in San Bernardino County.

From what I hear from those that know Devereaux, he is tough but also fair.  I also hear he will not take the crap from county managers that Uffer not only tolerated, but encouraged.   He will not play the games Uffer played and will not tolerate bad managers.  Unlike Uffer, he is consistently described as a ‘professional.’

Line staff will figure out Devereaux in his first 60 days.  We have been tormented by some of the worse possible managers for the past six years.  This is the time of the year when they can all be forced into retirement.  His actions will tell us if he is another Uffer or if he is a real County Administrative Officer.  Those that he leaves in management positions will say everything we need to know about him.  We can all only hope that the change that has been made is a change for the best that will finally turn this county around.

Here’s our list of those that need to go:

1. Ruth Stringer
2. Dean Arabatzis
3. Steve Hall
4. Kari Verjil
5. Doreen Boxer
6. Virginia Lugo
7. Nancy Swanson
8. Michael de la Rosa
9. Jim Lindley
10. Dr. Dev
11. Andrew Lamberto
12. Deanna Thompson
13. Keith Lee
14. Sandy Harmsen
15. LINDA HAUGEN

Who do you pick as “Managers that need to be booted”?

Jim has never asked for “special” treatment in his case.  He wants to be treated just like everyone else . . . San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane, Ontario City Manager Greg Devereaux, District Attorney Mike Ramos, San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales, San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman, among others.  Every single name mentioned has committed far more serious Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) violations than Erwin and what happened to them?  Their cases were submitted to the FPPC for consideration and fines.  But Jim was charged with ten felonies, arrested, and had bail set at $220,000.  It seems he has received “special” treatment whether he asked for it or not.

As more statements from those involved appear in local newspapers, and other information is gathered related to the travel activity of County Supervisor Paul Biane and incoming County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux, it is becoming very apparent that both men are on opposite sides of the coin.

In 2008, both men accompanied local businessmen to West Viriginia for a football and golf outing.

However, their stories in local newspapers diverge from here out.

Devereaux appears to have made an honest mistake in his reimbursement for the travel.

Devereaux was apparently unaware that the rule for reimbursement of private charter travel had been changed some 45 days before the trip.

The old rule, commonly referred to as the “Southwest Airlines” rule mandated the reimbursement for any private charter travel must be done so at the lowest available common carrier flight to the same destination available to the public. Devereaux complied.

However, in July 2008 the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) voted to change the rule to require reimbursement of actual cost of the charter apportioned evenly among each passenger, excluding the flight crew. The rule change became effective on August 15, 2008.

Any reimbursement must be accomplished within 30 days. If complied with, the trip is not reportable on the FPPC Form 700 Statement of Economic Interest.

So under the new rule Devereaux’s reimbursement was insufficient, but likely to be construed as a mistake. Devereaux also provided a gift of equal or greater consideration to offset other trip related expenses.

Biane on the other hand would like everyone to believe that he too made an honest mistake. Not so fast!

In order for an officeholder to pay for travel from their campaign funds, the travel in question must have a governmental or political nexus, and be of such a nature that travel outside California was required. Everyone on the trip was from SoCal. So the out of state requirement isn’t there.

Another problem. Biane says the trip had a political and governmental purpose thus paying out of the campaign funds is acceptable. Once again, not so fast.

Biane says he went on the trip to socialize with donors and to discuss with Devereaux his interest, if any, in the County Administrative Officer (CAO) position, even though Biane had no intention of releasing current CAO Mark Uffer.

Devereaux says the outing was a personal trip. Biane says it was political/governmental.

The more glaring problem in the situation. There is no mention of any reimbursement for any expense related to the trip on Biane’s FPPC Form 460 Campaign Finance Disclosure for the period covering the trip, filed on 10/06/2008. An amended campaign finance disclosure filed on 10/23/2008 makes no mention of the trip either.

In other words no reimbursement was ever made.

On March 11, 2009, Biane filed an amended campaign finance disclosure listing reimbursements from campaign funds related to the trip. Just 8 days before the Chief of Staff to Supervisor Neil Derry was arrested on gift reporting issues.

In late February/early March 2009, Board of Supervisors staff had become aware the DA had seized flight records of charters out of Ontario.

In other words Biane never reimbursed until March 2009, after he became aware that the District Attorney may have known that he failed to disclose.

Biane’s FPPC Form 700 Statement of Economic Interest for 2008 makes no mention of the trip.

Biane’s campaign treasurer Betty Presley acts as treasurer for many politicos. Presley has an impeccable reputation and follows the law to the letter.

Make no mistake. The reports prepared by Presley were accurate based upon information provided her by Biane.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

County Supervisor Paul Biane has broken his silence. Now his statements bear some analysis.

A leisure trip to West Virginia that occurred in September 2008 was reimbursed out of Biane’s campaign funds. Did the reimbursement occur in September 2008 or when the amended disclosure form was filed in March 2009, just 8 days before the arrest of Jim Erwin, former Chief of Staff to Supervisor Neil Derry?

Erwin was charged with ten counts of perjury and filing false documents related to a trip and gift he received in January 2007.

Erwin resigned from his job and was made to post $220,000 bail.

The bet is on March 2009.

The costs were also under reimbursed.

No attempt to disclose occurred until Biane became aware that District Attorney investigators had found out about his travel and non-disclosure.

It would appear Biane had no intent to ever disclose anything until the gig was up.

Biane saying one of his reasons for going on the trip was to speak to Ontario City Manager Greg Devereaux about the County Administrative Officer (CAO) position is laughable to say the least. Biane was fully supportive of recently fired CAO Mark Uffer. As a matter of fact one could describe Biane as being blindly loyal to Uffer. Uffer gave Biane funding for every trinket and toy he ever wanted. Biane voted against Uffer’s termination late last year and now wants everyone to believe he was out recruiting newly hired CAO Devereaux on a golf trip back east.

The proverbial crap is really getting deep here.

Biane is desperately attempting to try and create a nexus between a purely leisure trip and official governmental or political activities, which would justify payment from campaign funds.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

And I know I do.  Sometimes at three in the morning it’s really hard to remember that, but especially since my “incident” on Thanksgiving, I have been almost overwhelmed by the number of complete strangers who have contacted me, concerned about my well being.  I lost every single email address and phone number I had a few weeks ago.  I hope some of you that had contacted me will contact me again.  I haven’t returned many of the phone calls and emails because I haven’t been able to.

One thing the blog has taught me is that there are so many people who are suffering through all the same things I am, especially county employees.  Six years of Mark Uffer’s despot leadership decimated and demoralized an entire work force.  When I think of the damage Uffer and his mini-Me’s did to the county I get so angry.  I know the day will come when he will get what is coming to him.  One can simply not hurt that many people not eventually feel God’s wrath, Karma, or whatever one wants to call it.

There are those that say Greg Devereaux is much worse and others who think he will turn this county around.  We can only hope he is the savior we’ve been told.  But I’m not holding my breath.  County employees have been subjected to six years of broken promises by this Board of Supervisors.  We have little reason to believe anything has changed.

Cheryl has the proof, which leads those of us close to the situation to believe that the more-serious hanky-panky is between San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt, along with his Chief of Staff, Mark Kirk, and the law firm investigating the accusations.  Helping along with the deceit is likely Human Resources Director Andrew Lamberto and County Counsel Ruth Stringer.We know there is more than enough proof to determine there is a hostile work environment at the District Attorney’s office.  We also know that every time the Board of Supervisors attempted to stand up to Ramos he would threaten them with another investigation.  Chairman Gary Ovitt and his chief of staff Mark Kirk have both been rendered impotent for almost a year now because of Ramos’ investigation into a plane trip taken on Jeff Burum’s jet to the Republican National Convention in 2008 that was not reported timely.  Ramos subpoenaed the flight logs and has subjected both to intensive interrogation as a means of harassment and to keep both in line.  And it has worked.

Chairman Ovitt had to be shamed into barely supporting this investigation.  As a matter of fact, they have fought it all along the way as well as lying about some of Ramos’ other exploits that both Ovitt and Kirk personally witnessed.  However, towards the end of the investigation it seemed they had finally come around, tiring of having the threat of arrest hanging over their heads, and readying themselves for battle with Ramos’ once the report was released.

But a new wrinkle popped up.  Ovitt and Kirk’s hand-chosen successor to the fired County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer had his own revelation about a possibly improperly reported plane trip—an embarrassment to say the least.  Based on Jim Erwin’s situation, the newly-appointed County Administrative Officer should have been charged and arrested.  But he wasn’t.  Why?

Perhaps for the same reason Supervisor Paul Biane wasn’t charged and arrested, who was on the same plane trip and didn’t report it at all.  It’s hard to fathom any reason except that Ovitt/Kirk cut a deal with Ramos and had the report gutted in exchange for quiet, lenient treatment of their new CAO and fellow board member.

This situation reeks of corruption and self-interests being put ahead of the taxpayers and the victims.  As I have written time and again on this blog, this county knows no other way than to support corruption and a hostile work environment.  Shame on anyone and everyone on the Fifth Floor who supported or aided in the gutting of this report, but especially shameful is the behavior of Chairman Ovitt and his chief of staff Mark Kirk.  Karma will be a bitch.  I just know it.