iePolitics.com

I finally had my appointment with Dr. Belen today. It’s been a year since the county cut off my insurance three months retroactively so it’s been a year since I had seen her. The first thing I noticed was that her proclamation from the BOS was gone. I asked her about it and she said, “It’s been seven years. I’m over it.” At six years she was definitely NOT over it. So I guess seven is the magic number for getting over one’s experience working for the county. I really missed not hearing Mark Uffer stories today. I felt like something was missing!
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Well I can vouch for Josie being there because I decided the other day to sign up for the Expo they were having there today too. I arrived at my allotted time, not wearing my glasses, only to find myself almost stumbling across Andrew Lamberto. Then I see Josie and David Wert. There were lots of others in suits. I only hope Mark was not one of them as he is probably the only one who would recognize me. I decided attending was a very bad idea and made a quick exit.

Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/08/2009 07:05:22 PM PST

COLTON - In the past year, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s wellness committee has taken several steps to ensure its employees stay healthy.

On Thursday, the committee encouraged them to use the stairs.

The Take the Stairs campaign, designed to get employees walking more, kicked off in two tall and newly decorated stairwells in the patient tower.

“It’s a great idea,” said Amber Houck, multimedia coordinator at the county hospital, who donned running shoes for the event. “I am always looking for something extra to do to burn calories.”

The campaign is one of many initiatives planned by the hospital’s Worksite Wellness Committee, started in 2007 to promote health and wellness for all staff.

About 200 members of the staff at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center participate in the Take the Stairs campaign on Thursday at the county hospital in Colton. The Take the Stairs campaign is a new program for employees to take better care of themselves by walking more during working hours. (Frank Perez / Correspondent)

Early on, the committee offered lunch-and-learn meetings that focused on exercise, healthy eating and disease-prevention before establishing a walking club that encourages employees from different departments to walk every day.
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Only because I know I’ll make a liar out of myself if I don’t qualify it as I will end up arguing with someone over my views. I guess my bottom line is this. I am now at the point of not caring if Bill Postmus resigns or not.

I have stated repeatedly that I am against the BOS initiating their own investigation and removing Bill from office for many reasons such as:
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11:58 AM Wed, Jan 07, 2009
Posted by: PE News

An early picture of the local 2010 election in San Bernardino County is starting to emerge.

One day after embattled Assessor Bill Postmus told supervisors he won’t seek re-election, Sheriff Gary Penrod is set to announce today at 3:30 p.m. that he is retiring early, before his term expires in 2010.
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6:31 AM Wed, Jan 07, 2009
Posted by: PE News

An Inland business owner faces a $1,600 state fine for failing to file reports detailing his campaign donations to a host of local and state candidates.

Mark Bertone of Upland is owner and president of Madole & Associates, Inc., a civil engineering firm. He became a major donor and failed to timely file campaign statements disclosing $58,375 in contributions from 2006-2008, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.
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Posted: 01/07/2009 08:31:07 PM PST

Well, good for Assessor Bill Postmus.

He finally showed up at a San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, about five months after the supervisors asked him to come and respond to a critical grand jury report.
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This is very cool. I want to go and take Naomi, Noah and Cooper with me. Most county employees are afraid to be seen in my presence in public. Anyone brave enough? Here’s the flyer: 20090107_parks_prado_unleashed

Can tell you right now that Hoops is not a “slam dunk.” The good-ol’-boy-network way of doing things ended yesterday around 10:30 a.m. Y’all are going to see a difference in the way high-level appointments are made in the future starting with this one. This is a position of an elected official and the BOS has an obligation to treat it as such.

January 7, 2009 - 3:42 PM
FROM STAFF REPORTS

With San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod retiring at the end of January, one of his closest aides, Assistant Sheriff Rod Hoops, will likely be the county’s next sheriff, according to several knowledgeable sources.

Originally from the Midwest, Hoops spent most of his career in the San Bernardino Valley and served as captain of the Rancho Cucamonga station for several years in the 1990s.
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Lauren McSherry, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/06/2009 04:58:58 PM PST

After months of attempting to evade public scrutiny, county Assessor Bill Postmus addressed the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday and admitted to allegations of substance abuse. He said he would not seek re-election.

The San Bernardino County supervisors had called upon Postmus numerous times to come before them and answer questions stemming from allegations of a methamphetamine addiction and using his elected office to conduct partisan politics.
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And you read this how many months ago on my old blog? My info came from the same source who claims there is a federal investigation going on into the Ray Pryke arrest, arrests of county officials could be made as a result of that arrest, and that a private investigator has been hired who has found possible criminal activity by high ranking Sheriff’s officials–make that very high ranking Sheriff’s officials. It should be interesting to see if that proves to be true too.

Staff Reports
Posted: 01/06/2009 05:44:20 PM PST

San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod said Tuesday he plans to retire at the end of January.

Penrod, 60, a 38-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was elected to the top job in 1994. He told The Sun and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin he plans to pursue other interests.

An official announcement is expected today.
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Well, what an event-filled day! It’s taken forever tonight for me to update the blog. And on that subject, if there is anyone out there who would like to volunteer to help with the blog, i.e., adding newspaper stories and/or writing original pieces, let me know and I’ll set up an account for you. Right now I especially need help perusing the newspapers for interesting stories and my schedule is such that I’m having a hard time keeping up. “From a blogger” or original posts are always welcome.

I received a very nice email today from Senator John Benoit’s Communications Director Darin Schemmer asking if I would like to be added to their press release list. Of course my answer was “yes.” I’m only just starting to add Riverside County politics to the blog and it would be nice to have a better relationship with their elected leaders than I have with San Bernardino County’s where I have to beg and use fake email addresses and names just to get a hold of their information for the blog. So thank you Darin and Senator Benoit.
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Mark Uffer’s salary increase “bump” of nearly $30,000 is an astounding 11 1/2 per cent. Comparing that to a rank-and-file county employee working full-time, 40 hours per week for 52 weeks a year that is a salary increase of an astounding $14.42 per hour. The salary increase is astounding when you compare it to the rank-and-file county employee’s average annual salary. I’m sure there are county employees at and below this astounding $30,000 per year amount who are barely scraping by. And the severance compensation, nearly $300,000 cash plus generous benefits, is also obscene. When the tax-paying public reads about stuff like this I’m sure they believe they are being ripped-off.
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Brad issued a statement regarding Bill, which I read a little while ago. But now using my Mac I cannot even open it or link to it. So here is the link to Brad’s site for now for those who want to read it. I’ve sent a text to my Mac expert hoping he can give me some help so I can download it or link to it directly.

My Mac expert has responded. Someone let me know if this link works on your non-Mac computer: attachment-3ashx

Brad’s is the only official statement I’ve seen so far. From what I understand Bill let Supervisor Ovitt know yesterday that he intended to make this statement during the public comment section. Too bad someone didn’t forewarn ET as I’m sure he is kicking himself all over for not being in attendance. But for Bill’s sake I’m glad he wasn’t. I know this had to be one of the most difficult public statements he has ever made and I just hope he was being truthful.

Sorry but I don’t have the software on this computer to post the actual press release so you’re getting it plain text format.

I received the news and then minutes later the press release. We had just stopped training for lunch and were sitting around talking. I excused myself saying that I had to go blog this and not a single employee had a clue who Bill was or what I was talking about. It’s a great example of why these things occur and are allowed to go on in the first place. I wish more citizens took interest in their government.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Communications Office
January 6, 2009 (909) 684-9531

County Assessor Bill Postmus Addresses Board of Supervisors

SAN BERNARDINO – San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus today addressed the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Postmus spoke to the members of the county’s governing body in response to their invitation related to recent developments in the Office of County Assessor.

During the Board of Supervisors’ public comment period, Assessor Postmus delivered the following statement:

PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

STATEMENT OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY ASSESSOR BILL POSTMUS TO THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, January 6, 2009:

Good morning Mr. Chair and honourable members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

After much consideration and reflection, I have chosen to avail myself of the Board of Supervisors’ invitation to address some of the persistent questions that the Board has raised regarding my tenure as County Assessor.  I would also like to take this opportunity to address the voters of San Bernardino County who entrusted the Assessor’s Office to me and to frankly discuss my future as a duly elected public servant.
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Well I have to be up at 5 a.m., which explains why there are no news clippings on the site tonight nor any new entries til now. Unfortunately I cannot sleep and typing a blog entry on a Blackberry usually proves to be a good way to make me drowsy.

So why can’t I sleep? It’s no secret that few days go by where someone previously unknown to me contacts me about workplace harassment, or unethical behavior by a superior, or misuse of county property, or whatever. Most of the time I just say, “join the club” or “here’s the number to the fraud hotline,” but sometimes I want to say “go get a life” or laugh with them or cry with them. Then there is that occassional one that upsets me and I can’t get it off my mind. Such is the case tonight.
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January 2, 2009 - 3:08 PM
NATASHA LINDSTROM Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO • The county aims to improve services for High Desert residents with a new government center in Hesperia and dozens of public works projects slated for completion in 2009, according to 1st District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt.
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When I took the part-time Christmas job working for the USPS many years ago it became quite apparent rather quickly why the act of killing one’s supervisors and co-workers in sudden act of frenzied violence was synonymous with working for the USPS. I used to marvel at their hiring and firing practices and the way in which they treated subordinates. And the sheer stupidity of management.
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10:00 PM PST on Thursday, January 1, 2009

CASSIE MACDUFF

Sometimes common sense and the letter of the law don’t jibe.

Take for instance the recent California Supreme Court decision upholding a San Bernardino County judge who required a man on probation for drunken driving to notify his probation officer if he got a pet.
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I don’t remember the story at the bottom although it must have appeared on my old blog. I can tell you that the claims made in that story by the county differ greatly from what my inside sources have told me including that Bill and Adam got into an argument over Eyler’s time cards because Adam denied the time Eyler was in school and Bill overruled him and paid him for that time.

By Lauren McSherry on January 2, 2009 4:26 PM

It’s looks like come Tuesday two top administrative staffers in the Assessor’s Office could be out of jobs.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on terminating the positions held by Greg Eyler and Ted Lehrer. Some of you may be familiar with Eyler. The Sun published a story about him after the grand jury report was released over the summer. (The story is pasted below.)
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The story below reminded me about this subject. I’ve been meaning to write this every since the VTO memo came out.

The single biggest complaint I hear from employees is that they feel they are kept in the dark. I have received numerous emails from employees wanting to know what the VTO post was about. That is because although Mark Uffer sent it to all departments, not all department heads sent it to employees. I wonder how many employees who took time off at Christmas would have been willing to take VTO rather than vacation. Many employees do not realize that VTO can be an option. Many employees still don’t know that VTO can be an option because they DIDN’T GET THE MEMO!!!
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Is Your Boss a Psychopath?

By: Alan Deutschman
Odds are you’ve run across one of these characters in your career. They’re glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless — and very, very destructive. And there may be lots of them in America’s corner offices.

More About Psychopath Bosses:

One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so far surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn’t the Harvard Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists search for the next big thing. It was a convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of Newfoundland. The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the University of British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the business realm. But he’s renowned in his own field: criminal psychology. Robert Hare is the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist. The 20-item personality evaluation has exerted enormous influence in its quarter-century history. It’s the standard tool for making clinical diagnoses of psychopaths — the 1% of the general population that isn’t burdened by conscience. Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life “games” they can win — and take pleasure from their power over other people.
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I was sent the list of the second group of selectees for the EAC. Once again, more five percenters and Chicken Man proteges. A few good people, but few and far between. It just seems like county admin is hellbent on screwing us over.

It’s about time!

By Lauren McSherry on December 30, 2008 4:33 PM

With the outlook of a bleak budget looming, Supervisor Neil Derry is calling for San Bernardino County to reconsider and possibly put a stop to the benefits it gives to Superior Court judges.

“This has been a concern, just nothing has been done about it,” Derry said. “Now, we’ve got legal reasons for looking at it as well.”
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I completely defend the Board of Supervisors regarding their initial reluctance to initiate proceedings to remove Bill Postmus. It is not their job; it is the job of the voters of San Bernardino County. I am completely against this mock trial they are going to have where they play the role of judge, jury and executioner. I will say it again. I do not believe it will stand the test of judicial review especially since there was a legitimate recall against Bill that failed miserably. It shows that the BOS is going up against the will of the people. Or at least that would be one of my defenses if I were Bill.
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By Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/25/2008 07:11:26 AM PST

For a moment, imagine how difficult it would be to browse the Internet without the help of a search engine such as Google.

Information that’s usually a mouse click away suddenly becomes difficult and cumbersome to obtain.
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Well this one isn’t about someone named Mary Christmas, so we’ll see if the county is still able to find a way to write me up for posting it. I’m sure there is someone with their same names on welfare somewhere in the country too.

Christmas Story

By Wendy Leung on December 23, 2008 5:28 PM

Rex Gutierrez will start his new job with the county as an economic development specialist on Jan. 5.

The councilman was let go as the intergovernmental relations officer in Bill Postmus’ office following a grand jury report released in June accusing the assesor of misconduct. Postmus is now part of a criminal investigation by the district attorney and faces pressure by county supervisors to resign.

Gutierrez was supposed to leave his post in the assessor’s office in September but managed to stay on until his new job starts at the Economic Development Agency. He will work on business retention and help steer county resources to struggling businesses.
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Well I started receiving copies of the email that was sent to those employees who were selected by Mark Uffer to serve on the Employee Advisory Committee. A little over 40 employees were selected.
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Really, there isn’t much to update. I will try to get the Jim Erwin piece posted tomorrow.

I was contacted by yet another employee today that is being harassed in way that would suggest the manager (same manager involved with the suicide) is trying to drive the employee over the edge mentally. I will never understand why that behavior is tolerated.

That’s about it for tonight!

Local partnership a good approach
Posted: 12/22/2008 07:28:31 PM PST

We like what county Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane is trying to accomplish with the newly formed Inland Empire Economic Recovery Corp.

We just hope the effort can attract enough capital to make a difference in the moribund Inland Empire housing market.
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