Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/19/2010 08:50:44 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – County supervisors spent $22,500 last month to sweep their offices and other parts of the government center for secret recording devices and other hidden surveillance equipment.
The first sweep of the fourth and fifth floors of the county building occurred Jan. 23, and the purchase order provides for four more sweeps at undisclosed future dates.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt, who requested the counter-surveillance, declined a request for an interview Friday. But a county spokesman insisted the sweeps had nothing to do with an ongoing government corruption scandal that has implicated the offices of Ovitt, Paul Biane and former supervisor Bill Postmus.
“This is something the county periodically does and the county was doing this long before there was a (District Attorney’s) investigation,” David Wert said.
In all, Wert said, the county has spent $42,865 on sweeps in recent years but refused to disclose when previous sweeps occured.
Last week, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos and state Attorney General Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., announced criminal charges against Postmus and former assistant assesor Jim Erwin in a wide-ranging corruption case.
Court documents also allege Biane and Ovitt’s chief of staff Mark Kirk – identified as John Does – accepted $100,000 bribes to secure a $102 million settlement payment for developer Colonies Partners LP of Rancho Cucamonga.
Colonies co-managing partners, Jeff Burum and Dan Richards – also identified as John Does in court papers – are suspected of blackmail and paying the bribes to end a four-year lawsuit over flood control easements on property Colonies was developing in Upland.
Only Postmus and Erwin have been charged but Ramos and Brown said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges could be filed.
In a brief statement, Ovitt said that:
“All surveillance measures taken by the County are to ensure integrity in the decision-making process as well as the safety of those who work at the county. We work hand-in-hand with public safety officials while developing these measures to ensure those objectives are met.”
Wert said taxpayers are put at risk when sensitive information relating to official county business is leaked because it opens the doors for potential costly litigation.
“It puts the taxpayers at a disadvantage in the courtroom and at the negotiating table,” he said.
On Friday, Biane confirmed that he allocated $5,500 from his district’s operating for sweeps of his offices in Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernardino in September.
The contracts were signed about two weeks after he and other supervisors were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury investigating the Colonies settlement and a separate land deal.
Biane would not say Friday if there was a connection between the surveillance sweeps and his subpoena to testify before the Grand Jury. He released the following statement:
“Confidential communications about county personnel issues, legal cases, and property negotiations take place in my office regularly, and it’s necessary to ensure that these communications remain confidential – as allowed by law – to protect County taxpayers. Periodic surveillance sweeps help the board ensure that confidential communications are protected and that county taxpayers are not harmed by the release of confidential information.”
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Nothing to see here!…strickly routine….move along,move along…Wert your misdirection is showing!
I hear Uffer had one implanted in his asshole. Now that Devereaux is there, he has to make sure the only bugs are his bugs. This is how our public officials use taxpayer funds in an endless game of political cat and mouse.
The DA’s Office has the equipment to bug the fifth floor. All Mike has to do is call in a favor or two and he has a warrant to do anything he wants. The Board knows this and they are trying to keep him from getting more info to blackmail them with. He probably has their phone records already. He has a made a fool of the Board and their feeble attempt to expose his sexual adventures. He uses his “security” detail to act as lookout while he has his fun. They get his hand me downs when he moves on to the next one. I am ashamed of what went on while I was there but even more so for what is going on now.
It has not been so much fun since Nixon resigned
$22k to protect your office and keep your ability to render poor decisions for County taxpayers! Of course, the security of the offices themselves was not enough. Why? because the Sups can’t even trust their own employees! What a wonderful life to live as a professional liar.
I often wondered what really happened to MU? Do you think that the security devices located in the government center recorded an event that occurred after business hours?
Just a gut feeling on my end.
Save $$, reduce liability, improve healthcare at ARMC = Get Dr Dev out.