Supervisor Paul Biane
Campaign finance records obtained from the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters reveal a county supervisor retained a criminal defense attorney last year.
Apparently, Second District Supervisor Paul Biane was concerned enough over an investigation by District Attorney Mike Ramos that he retained legal counsel. Records show Biane paid $49,782.53 from his campaign funds to the Los Angeles-based law firm of Corbin, Fitzgerald and Athey LLP for legal services.
The funds were disbursed to the law firm during the reporting period July 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
The law firm website describes the firm as a premier boutique litigation firm in Los Angeles, emphasizing white collar criminal defense and business litigation.
One specialty of the attorney firm is election fraud and political corruption.
Recent public disclosures revealed Ramos was investigating Biane for failing to disclose travel with area businessmen to Morgantown, West Virginia on his Statement of Economic Interest form.
The trip occurred in September 2008, but not disclosed until March 2009. No attempt by Biane to reimburse expenses related to the trip was accomplished until March 2009.
Ramos has since referred the Biane matter to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
He should have given a $25,000 contributionto to Ramos it would have been cheaper.
Was Ramos’s referal on Biane to the FPPC for Biane downplaying the investigation of Ramos?
Boy oh boy, these lawyers are getting wealthy on all the mistakes being made here and there.
$50,000 sounds like a lot of money, but isn’t. That is the starting retainer for any top firm. Seams like Paul had little choice but to retain a lawyer. Better to get advice up front rather that later, especially when you have a DA that is charging officials with crimes based upon his own political benefit.
It seams to me that everyone spends a lot of time and tax payer money trying to benefit their own political careers. Who is running the county?
Why haven’t we read about this in the newspapers? Now wonder they are losing favor woth the public. This information is right out of the public disclosure statements, hardly gossip .
Why haven’t we read about this in the newspapers? No wonder they are losing favor with the public. This information is right out of the public disclosure statements, hardly gossip .
The reason you havent read about this in the Sun is because the incompetent moron masqerading as the editor, Frank “See No Evil” Pine is corrupt. Pine covers up for these crooks. Why do you think THAT is?
Any real journalist would sell a million papers with what goes on in this county. But you wouldn’t think anything is wrong by reading that worthless rag, the Sun. The owners of that paper should fire Pine and get a real journalist, not some would-be political hack pretending to be a newspaperman.
Don’t be too hard on Mr. Pine. Like most of his ilk, he enjoys hanging around the tables of the powerful hoping that they will throw him a scrap or two. Most managers in this business are wanabees. They are afraid to rock the boat because they might not get invited to lunches with the “right” people. Courage is not part of their job requirements. They count beans. They are not real newspaper people.
Former Newsman LMAO on that one. Looking for scrapes, yea that’s it!!!