iePolitics.com

Well I’ve experienced a pretty good example of that in the past couple days. On Tuesday I sent an email to Neil Derry and one to Josie Gonzales. Last night I received an email from Neil acknowledging that email. Not a thing from Josie. I couldn’t care less if it is her secretary who responds. One would just like to know it’s been received. It takes ten seconds but that seems to be too much to ask in most of the districts based on my own experience and that of friends, family members, and co-workers. As long as they’re not up for election, the citizens don’t matter.

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.
(more…)

Here is the official press release announcing the election of Supervisor Gary Ovitt as chairman and Supervisor Josie Gonzales as vice chairman. I find it interesting that they included a rather unusual quote from Supervisor Paul Biane, outgoing chairman, but nothing from Supervisor Gonzales. Here it is: Chairman

I received this email a few minutes ago. I didn’t change a thing except to delete the sender’s name. I wanted it to be seen for a couple of reasons, but especially regarding the comment about Mark and Josie. Mark and Josie, do you NOT understand that Linda Haugen and Nancy Swanson are doing exactly what they did for Service First and that is intimidate employees? Do you believe that employees aren’t scared to death of having you visit because they know if they tell you the truth they will be subjected to harassment, intimidation, and likely terminated? If you were really interested in finding out what was going on, you would not have told Linda Haugen so that she could threaten employees before you got there.

WHERE DO I FIND IT ON THE BLOG?..ALL I SEE IS ABOUT THE SUICIDE AND.. OH MY GOD HOW SAD!!!…I HOPE THE FAMILY GOES AFTER THE MANAGER REALLY…I KNOW MANY WHO ARE STRESSED AND DEPRESSED OVER WHAT MANAGEMENT DOES TO THEM AND HOW UPPER MANAGEMENT SEEMS TO GET HEIR JOLLIES OUT OF IT ALL.. UFFER INCLUDED… WE’VE BEEN TOLD TO EXPECT SURPRISE DESK VISITS FROM JOSIE GONZALES AND MARK UFFER IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AND TO ACT ACCORDINGLY.. YEA LIKE RIGHT!!!!THE CASES ARE OVERWELMING THE TIME FRAMES ARE RIDICULOUS AND UPPER MANAGEMENT IS SORRIER THAN EVER…SHARON I JUST DO NOT KNOW THE END RESULT FOR ALL..IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYEE IN MDLR POCKET OR NANCY’S AND LINDA H I GUESS YOU’LL BE OKAY I AM NOT AND WOULDN’T WANT TO BE,.. YOU BE CAREFUL LADY PLEASE…

The battle over the vice chairmanship is only the latest incident in what I consider to be unethical practices by the Boys of the Board. It goes back to something I’ve written about several times in relation to Paul Biane and that is a lack of respect for the position each of them was entrusted with by the citizens of San Bernardino County and a lack of respect for one another.
(more…)

Hopefully, I will manage to cover all the new information I need to cover in this one post.

First, sprinklers. I was happy to see them being repaired on Tuesday. They were not on tonight. So maybe, just maybe, that problem has been resolved. I’ll know for sure tomorrow night.
(more…)

Or so it appears. I received yet another email last night from someone on the Fifth Floor advising that the deal is done. The boys are not going to allow Josie Gonzales to take her rightful place as vice chairman. Rather than following tradition and protocol, the position is expected to be given to Bill Postmus protege and newcomer Brad Mitzelfelt.

Many outsiders have noticed what those who have worked up there have known for a while and that is how women are treated. The Boys of the Board have reduced all women and most of the minorities up there to nothing but tokens if they have the audacity to oppose the unethical practices of the boys.

There have been lots of suggestions that a certain board member is a misogynist and this power grab by him lends credence to that claim by women that must work around him.

The Boys should be ashamed of themselves and the reputation they give to the Republican party by once again showing their elitist and exclusionary practices towards women and minorities. But power and control and the money that goes them are the controlling factors. To heck with ethics and propriety.

Lauren McSherry and Andrew Edwards, Staff Writers
Posted: 12/01/2008 10:06:01 PM PST

Neil Derry was not often in the county’s political spotlight during his seven years on the San Bernardino City Council, but he stepped into a larger role by ousting longtime Supervisor Dennis Hansberger in the June 3 election.
(more…)

I’m not going to even go back and read my posts to see what I said, other than I know that I wrote about having a really big issue with the Boys of the Board not allowing Josie Gonzales her rightful place as Vice Chairman. As far as I know that decision was not made today and I’m not sure why I had it in my head it would be. I’ll have to look at the County Charter to see when it is supposed to happen. I’m not sure if it is December or January. It’s been a really long time since I’ve cared about such things.
(more…)

I will be the first to admit that I have been pretty upset with Josie and the way she hung me out to dry. But I do know from my conversations with her, she is someone with heart. In the current economic situation, homelessness is going to become worse, probably a lot worse, and many of our elected officials will do no more than try to sweep it under the rug.

By Joe Smilor on November 30, 2008 6:42 PM
Supervisor Josie Gonzales has challenged San Bernardino County cities to get involved in an effort to end homelessness.

Gonzales said it will require a team effort as there are more than 7,000 homeless people in the county.

The county’s Homeless Partnership was formed more than a year ago to look at the issue.
(more…)

Things will be changing on Monday in San Bernardino County. Supervisor-elect Neil Derry will be sworn in as Third District Supervisor. Gary Ovitt will become Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. I’ve heard various rumors about who will be Vice Chairman and I don’t know what has been decided, although I’m sure by now the backroom deal has been made.
(more…)

By Lauren McSherry on November 28, 2008 4:10 PM

A delegation of officials from San Bernardino and the county have returned from a Mexico trade mission hopeful that the trip will result in much needed economic development.

“It went well,” said Mayor Pat Morris. “They were remarkably interested. It was a door opener. It was the first meet and greet with these folks.”
(more…)

The first time I met with Mark Uffer we talked about county news coverage for just a moment. He complained that the only thing that gets press is the negative news. There are no two ways about it: scandal sells. And the county of San Bernardino has provided the press with a prolific amount of scandal consistently over a period of many years.

I’ll be the first to admit that we see very little in the media about all the good the county does. It’s usually complaints about what we don’t do, how much money we make, how big our retirements will be and how many holidays we have off. But then again we have county administrators that refer to us “turds” and worse, so I’m not sure how we can expect much respect from the public.
(more…)

Thursday, 13 November 2008
Starting November 22nd county residents will have a unique opportunity to see rare Egyptian artifacts, some dating as far back to 2900 B.C.

Supporting efforts to bring cultural and educational enrichment to San Bernardino County, 5th District Supervisor Josie Gonzales has allotted $5,000 to help bring “Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries” from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London to California State University San Bernardino’s Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum.
(more…)