SB County

Posted: 12/07/2009 08:14:18 PM PST

It’s too early to predict the outcome, but we like Supervisor Neil Derry’s focusing attention on areas where San Bernardino County may be spending more than it ought to.

His latest target is take-home county cars issued to 58 district attorney’s investigators. Derry has called for elimination of the county-supplied cars for the investigators, drawing a defense of the practice from Mike Donovan, assistant chief investigator in the District Attorney’s Office.

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By Senor Blogger
December 7, 2009

Sacramento was thrown into chaos this morning as San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos announced that former San Bernardino County Supervisor and current Governor Schwarzenegger Secretary of the State Consumer Services Agency, Fred Aguiar was under criminal investigation for illegal use of government property.

Specifically, Aguiar is the focus of his decision to use taxpayer resources to pay for fuel on a personal trip in his publicly-financed automobile. Aguiar’s gasoline purchase was discussed in an article that appeared in the Sacramento Bee yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

Reliable sources are telling iePolitics that losses in San Bernardino County’s Land Use Services Department have swelled to an astounding $13 million. More than double the previously disclosed amount.

Internal County of San Bernardino County documents obtained by this blog indicate that in 2007, the Auditor-Controller expressed concerns over internal controls in the Land Use Services Department.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/06/2009 06:01:39 AM PST

A top investigator for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office says a proposal by Supervisor Neil Derry to eliminate take-home vehicles for 58 district attorney investigators is counterproductive and will not save the county money.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a $144,000 audit with Maryland-based Mercury Associates, Inc. to determine if the county needs to reduce or consolidate operations of its fleet of about 5,000 vehicles, including the District Attorney’s Office.

Derry has specifically targeted district attorney investigators, arguing they are neither first responders to emergencies nor on-call.

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A caucus feud erupts over who will replace Karen Bass. Usually such fights are avoided or are handled in secrecy.
John A. Perez

By Shane Goldmacher and Eric Bailey

December 7, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento – As the California Assembly closes in on naming a new leader, the question is not whether the next speaker will be a Latino from Los Angeles, it is which one.

But what might have been cause for cultural celebration has instead become a family feud.

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By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 – 8:14 am

When a bill to increase penalties for selling methamphetamine came before an Assembly committee in April, no one voted against it.

It failed anyway.

The bill vote, like half of all failed votes this legislative session, fell victim to expressed indifference – too many legislators abstained or didn’t show up.

Given two choices – “aye” or “no” – on every vote, California legislators picked neither and failed to vote roughly 22,000 times so far this session, according to a Bee analysis of all 300,000 votes cast.

Sometimes legislators were sick. Sometimes they were on vacation. But a lot of times they just didn’t want to go on record supporting a particular bill.

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Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/06/2009 09:32:36 PM PST

A projected $21 billion deficit over the next 18 months and failure to prepare the budget on time have caused some to contend it is time for the California Legislature to be demoted.

An initiative to reduce the Legislature to part time – meeting no more than 95 days out of the year – has been gaining much attention.

Citizens for California Reform have been collecting signatures for nearly a month to get the initiative, called The Citizen Legislature Act, on the November 2010 ballot.

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