Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
*** The following letter was forwarded to InlandPolitics with a request to publish after 6:00 P.M. this evening***
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February 12, 2010
Dear Jeff,
We write this letter to ask you to cease your passive stance towards District Attorney Michael Ramos.
News of the unwarranted attack on your reputation and credibility, and that of your friends and supporters has reached many of us in the last forty-eight hours.
In this article we will take a close look at the destroy-at-all-cost targeting of San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos and his Orange County-based political consultant David Ellis, owner of Delta Partners, LLC.
One thing is for certain. It’s becoming increasingly obvious Ramos’ agenda in his falsely-proclaimed never-ending quest to rid San Bernardino County of political corruption, and it definitely isn’t about fighting crime.
That agenda being, neutralize the county’s west-end political power base.
District Attorney Mike Ramos
11:01 PM PST on Thursday, February 11, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos is raising concerns that the latest charges in a corruption investigation, now implicating two county supervisors, could result in budgetary reprisals.
Ramos said Wednesday after announcing new charges against a former county supervisor and a former assistant assessor that he was concerned that supervisors, to thwart the investigation, might remove key staff from his department through budget cuts.
PROBE: Declaration for arrest warrants detail lavish China trips, extortion threats
11:01 PM PST on Thursday, February 11, 2010
By JOHN ASBURY
The Press-Enterprise
A lavish business trip to China, prostitutes, bribes, blackmail and drug abuse are elements of a corruption case laid out in a declaration filed to justify arrest warrants for former San Bernardino County public officials Bill Postmus and Jim Erwin.
In a declaration based on witness interviews and investigation, Hollis D. Randles, a senior investigator with the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office, describes an elaborate, years-long campaign to persuade or coerce county supervisors into approving a $102 million lawsuit settlement with a developer identified as John Doe No. 1.
James Rufus Koren and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 02/11/2010 09:21:37 PM PST
San Bernardino County prosecutors involved in the conspiracy case against former county Assessor Bill Postmus and Jim Erwin, a former assistant assessor, aim to show how easily political action committees can be used to launder payoffs to public officials.
Prosecutors say a handful of PACs controlled by Postmus, Erwin and others were used to funnel bribes from the development group Colonies Partners. The bribes, prosecutors say, were in exchange for support of a $102 million settlement approved by county supervisors in 2006.
By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1B
If you’re among the thousands of Sacramento-area homeowners who played it conservative during the housing boom, who didn’t refinance or flip to a bigger house, everyone else’s foreclosures reached out and smacked you anyway.
Sales prices are lower. There’s less home equity to tap into. Local services have been shredded by falling property tax revenue.
Pete Wilson
Politics Blog
Team Whitman just rolled out its campaign chair — ex-Guv Pete Wilson — and The Marine had a message for Jerry Brown and his union pals ready to sling $40 million worth of oppo research at Meg: Game on…
Or, as Wilson put it: “Jerry Brown and his allies are beginning the General Election today. We must respond.”
PolitiCal
February 11, 2010 | 4:15 pm
What was supposed to be a relatively quick debate over the confirmation of the appointment of Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) as lieutenant governor turned into a drawn-out, five-hour affair that could wind up being decided in the courts.
Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 02/11/2010 05:35:21 PM PST
CHINO – After approving $27 million in cuts last year, the Chino Valley Unified school board is about to face another $19 million in cuts to its three-year budget.
Superintendent Wayne Joseph’s proposed cuts, which will have to be approved by the school board, may result in about 65 full-time employees receiving layoff notices. The pink slips will mostly be sent to teachers.
Council gives staff little direction on how to stay afloat
February 11, 2010 4:59 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • Reducing the number of sheriff’s deputies and firefighters on city streets may be necessary to close Victorville’s $4.36 million deficit, according to City Manager Jim Cox.
“No one wants to suggest that, no one wants to telegraph that, no one wants to go there,” Cox told the council this week. “I think the reality is you may have to look at public safety.”
10:47 PM PST on Thursday, February 11, 2010
By PAUL LAROCCO and ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach took a medical retirement Thursday, three days after he crashed his city-issued car in what he called a “disoriented state” caused by prescription drugs.
The end of his nearly 10-year tenure comes as a report of his 3 a.m. collision became public and the city announced a “sweeping” internal affairs investigation into the department’s response.
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/11/2010 03:03:33 PM PST
RIALTO – The Rialto Unified School District faces program cuts and possible layoffs as it copes with an estimated $18 million deficit over the next three years.
“We’ve gotten through this year and we have plans to share how we will possibly have to make some cuts,” Superintendent Harold Cebrun said.
Officials said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposals have translated into a $7 million hit to the budget for 2010-11.
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