The long-awaited investigation into sexual-related misconduct and work place activity of District Attorney Mike Ramos and his department management staff was released yesterday afternoon. The investigation was triggered by allegations made against Ramos and his managers by Cheryl Ristow, an employee in the District Attorney’s office.
True-to-form, San Bernardino County fails to disappoint by creating a bigger mess.
Local newspapers jumped on the “Ramos is cleared” band-wagon immediately. One even attacked the claimant Cheryl Ristow in the headline.
Ramos immediately claimed vindication on all fronts and denied everything once again.
Honestly, two points must be taken into account. First and foremost, the investigation is intended to protect the county; and second, the Sun and Press-Enterprise newspapers have hooked their ball and chain to Ramos. One thing newspapers don’t like to do is admit they made a mistake. Plus, local newspapers don’t have the budget or resources to conduct any type of investigative reporting or analysis of the report.
Last week, the Victorville Daily Press was the only newspaper to come out say Ramos had an affair.
At first glance, many glaring points stand out in the report.
In his interview, Ramos tells investigators the following.
His cell phone was listed and not confidential.
He did not believe it would be remarkable for Ristow to have his cell phone number.
He did say he provided his cell phone number to Ristow on two occasions.
He suggested calls between he an Ristow may have been related to Ristow's former husband.
He firmly stated: "I never spoke with her about anything sexual."
He recalled conversations with Ristow about getting her daughter admitted to the Redlands Unified School District.
He estimated the number of calls between he and Ristow at 15 to 20.
He only admits having direct contact with Ristow one time,
after the publication of the Sentinel article.He heard of claimant's work performance issues
at the time of the Sentinel article.He alluded to political motivations behind Ristow's claims.
The District Attorney’s cell phone number is listed and not confidential? Everyone knows Ramos changes his cell phone number more than some people buy a new pair of shoes. I’ve had the same cell phone number for almost ten years. How about you? In the past, to get Ramos’ cell number you would either have to get it from Ramos himself or his executive secretary with her having his permission. Now Ramos wants everyone to believe it’s published and not confidential.
Ramos tries to say that Ristow could possess his number because it’s readily available, but then is forced to admit he gave Ristow his number, not once, but twice.
Ramos says his reasons for communicating with Ristow (an Investigative Technician!) were; 1) Redlands Unified School District where he was formally a trustee; and 2) Ristow’s ex-husband.
Ramos estimated 15 to 20 calls between he and Ristow. How about 54 actual calls. Interestingly, the copies of the bills were provided to Ramos’ attorney, who had an explanation.
The Redlands School issue is interesting because at the time Ristow and her children resided in the San Bernardino Unified School District.
Yet, Ramos stated he only had direct contact with Ristow one time. (Ramos used Supervising Deputy District Attorney Mike Fermin as an intermediary to call Ristow regarding the Sentinel article.)
Ramos says he heard of Ristow’s performance issues at the time of the Sentinel article being published.
Exactly.
Ramos then alludes to political motivations behind Ristow’s claims. (Is this the vast right-wing conspiracy against the corruption fighting District Attorney? Right.)
InlandPolitics.com has learned from county sources:
That at least one interview of a highly credible witness favorable to Ristow was omitted from the report.
Significant portions of interviews were not included in the report.
County Counsel intervened to narrow the scope of the written report. Not the interviews.
County Counsel Ruth Stringer is opposing the release of the investigation interview notes.
One major question to be asked here.
If Ramos is just this innocent person, a boy scout, faithful to his wife as the sun rising in the east, a man who was just trying to help Ristow out.
Why hire an attorney?
More to follow…………..
Just exactly how does an investigation that was suppossed to be about his sexual misconduct with his female employees become an investigation of whether the whistle blower broke a few minor rules. It states in the report that they were specifically told not to look into any of the allegations against him. No wonder he was “cleared”. Now go back and do what the public wants, a fair and complete investigation of the allegations agains “him”. This time leave his girl friend over at the County Counsel who altered the investigation out of it.
We paid $140,000 for that piece of crap. Where did the money go. It wasn’t for what you see here. What are they hiding?
You expect crookedness from people like Stringer. They just cant help themselves. They are so incompetent that the only way they can get by in life is to hook onto some sleazy operation where they will be useful.
But how does Frank Pine, editor of the Sun, explain printing “Ramos is cleared” when his own reporter Joe Nelson did about a 3 month investigATION proving the truth of all the rumors. Huh, Frank? Dont ya think it’s a little misleading when you know the actual truth? Oh yeah, I forgot, Pine is as corrupt as his buddy Ramos.
God, we know Mikey is a dirtbag! Yes, the voters should throw him out due to his inability to clear his name of the scandalous charges. But there is no clear nexus to the allegations harassment in the workplace. In fact, after reading the information provided in this report, I would ask that Mikey and his office be audited for more employee abuses. I wish I could be allowed to go to bingo parlors in a county car on the county time. We all know that most of the investigators are semi retired cops that never really wanted to do real police work. Getting them to do their job is like pulling teeth. And the BofI’s admin staff should be publicly admonished for the Ristow transgressions even being allowed to occur once, let alone the numerous instances it was cited in the report. I think Neil should ask for a sweeping of the BofI house and some severe reforms (no more personal vehicles was a start). Maybe they all need to clock in and clock out. Maybe they all need their vehicle GPS turned on and routinely audited.
Mike has sat and ignored this malfeasance for far to long. The BofI is not a re-election arm of his campaign. They are servants for the county taxpayers. Time to rebuke the untold abuses that Mike has long allowed.
I’m sure Mikey is incapable and Unwilling to rebuke anything about his behavior, he might get it caught in the zipper.
Mikey’s cleared alright! Cleared to continue having his sex-capades and everyone continuing to look the other way!!!!
This comment from the PE comments section is right on:
It’s not the good old boys fault, it’s the lack of exposure into Ramos’ piggish behavior that’s not becoming of an elected official. If the voters county wide were fortunate enough to see this he would not be in office casting a dark shadow over SBC. Now not only are the LA lawyers laughing at us, but statewide in Sacramento and Washington they are laughing at our foolish and corrupt way of handling any investigation. Ramos has been toasting all night, what cowards all who fear Ramos. Are you men or mice? We are watching you BOS, mayors, senators, congressman, and all who are up for re-election. Ramos will not get the last laugh, and you who coward now when the going is tough will also be easily disposed of come election time. Once Ramos is gone, we will not need the weak left behind taking the credit.
This comment from the PE comments section is right on!
It’s not the good old boys fault, it’s the lack of exposure into Ramos’ piggish behavior that’s not becoming of an elected official. If the voters county wide were fortunate enough to see this he would not be in office casting a dark shadow over SBC. Now not only are the LA lawyers laughing at us, but statewide in Sacramento and Washington they are laughing at our foolish and corrupt way of handling any investigation. Ramos has been toasting all night, what cowards all who fear Ramos. Are you men or mice? We are watching you BOS, mayors, senators, congressman, and all who are up for re-election. Ramos will not get the last laugh, and you who coward now when the going is tough will also be easily disposed of come election time. Once Ramos is gone, we will not need the weak left behind taking the credit.
So event B did not occur as reported, or at least was not a direct result of event A, but we are not going to tell you if even A did or did not occur.
This is like the CHP releasing a report on whether or not a traffic fatality was related to rain without bothering to discern whether or not it was raining that day.
You expect your doctor to give you a clear diagnosis of the cause of your pain and then a protocol for its treatment and a prognosis for the possibility of success or failure of the treatment. If he fails at any of these steps, you suspect that either he is an idiot doctor or that some loved one has convinced him to hold back information from you.
So, are the lawyers who produced this report idiots, or what loved on of ours have convinced them to hold back pieces of information that would complete the logic. And why>
I am now on page 63 of this report.
One big question not asked by these awesome high paid attorney’s is, if Ristow’s work performance issue being out of the office so much is such a big deal now, why wasn’t it a big deal when it started happening? Tattoo issue included.
Seems this long practice of Ristow being gone was never acted upon for a VERY long time. WOULD that be because she was dating Ramos at the time and being gone because she might have been with him?
Gee don’t ask that question.
Or did those witnesses/supervisors not have the fortitude to deal with the problem when it first popped up simply because Ristow was protected at the time?
Like we are to believe these supervisors are going to mess with the bosses girlfriend. I’ve seen that myself with both men and woman who are the bosses fair haired child.
Why wasn’t Ristow’s alledged behavorial problems dealt with then and there? Only now does it seems to be of concern to the brass. Did anyone say to Ramos, “hey boss your squeeze is starting to have an attitude and is upsetting the staff”?
ARE we to believe that there wasn’t any talk among employees about Ristow and the other ladies in Ramos’s life prior to the Sentinal article?
I think this report thus far is insulting to one’s basic intelligence that has worked within the County. The general public might think this is an awesome report, no doubt a couple of the papers do. BUT the papers have no clue of the culture within.
Thus far it reads like Stringer and Lamberto have their arms up these investigators fanny like two sock puppets doing the talking.
If this is another Stringer strategy, it sucks.
It is obvious Ramos lied to investigators, based on that issue alone, these investigators should have dug deeper and been more aggressive with the other managers and asked some very matter of fact questions.
Generally once you catch the primary suspect/witness/informant lying, all bets are off and the case is tainted.
Ramos lied about the affair, but everyone else is telling the truth about the retaliation, or should we say the conspiracy to discredit Ristow before the Ramos affairs got to far out of hand.
Might I remind our readers of Erwin’s allegations about the Ramos affairs as at least one motive for his prosecution. There is clear evidence to suggest that by the People’s own witnesses.
You decide if Ramos’s conduct towards certain BOS members and staff suggest subtle intimidation about this investigation from the start.
At least one former employee of Ramos’ office reports having told told him to keep his [whatever-you-want-to-call-it in print] in his pants. My guess is that, if all his skeletons stood up at the same time, it would look like a Halloween party with Ramos in a Tiger Woods outfit.
Character is a rare commodity these days. My experience is that not a lot of attorneys possess it, particularly government attorneys. How about it, ladies; this is a chance to vindicate yourselves by doing the right thing and clearing the air, if there is anything to be admitted with apologies to the people who paid your salaries and benefits and to stand by another woman who may be experiencing worse than you did?
ACU has a good, albeit misguided point. Ristow was only the tip of the iceberg for the abuses of office occurring in the B of I. We now why Neil went after their cars, and the lame reason given by B of I for the necessity of said cars, but what other transgression did staff get away with while B of I admin turned a blind eye?
Maybe some golf on County time? Long lunch trips to the gym and hospitality eateries? Or how about, going home early because there is nothing to do and you are bored? And the tracking mechanism for all these honest Abe’s; a dry erase board with sign out notes. Hell, if you have a cell phone and a pager, why would you need to be at work?
Moral ambiguity by all parties involved is hard to use as ammo for dismissal, but blatant theft of public funds by lying on your time sheet is cause for immediate dismissal. Let’s go after this guy with something other than salacious gossip.