San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane ended a not so good week taking an ironic slap at a former friend and colleague.
The week started with a new controversy surrounding a complaint from Biane’s chief of staff Matt Brown. Brown claims he’s being harassed and retaliated against for cooperating with county investigators in a probe which has targeted his boss. Brown’s complaint letter made waves for Biane most of the week.
Then yesterday comes along this beauty of a campaign piece delivered to Second District mailboxes.
Can you say awkward.
While stomping a former friend into the ground may be a viable tactical strategy, it doesn’t seem to be a great concept at this point in time. Considering one, Postmus, is currently a charged defendant and two, Biane is running from the same dark clouds.
Considering all the legal and political cross-currents.
When Biane fired the self-proclaimed shot at Postmus back in 2007 he ended up hitting himself in the back of the head. One things for sure. It doesn’t seem to have taught the two-term supervisor much of anything.
Biane is a candidate for reelection in a field of six, with Fontana Councilwoman Janice Rutherford the strongest challenger followed by Chaffey Union High School Board Member Art Bustamonte.
Rutherford being a female, and Bustamonte a Latino, brings gender and ethnicity into the mix. Both of which work against Biane.
If Biane continues to take body blows, it will be interesting to see if he can still place a strong first in the field and head to a likely November run-off.
Clearly, Brown didn’t help his boss’ reelection footing, which leads one to wonder if Brown really wants to be there; is just looking for a secure position elsewhere in county government; or wants an ultimate payday.
The saga continues……..
This incident with Brown is just one more log on the fire for ALL those incumbents running for office. This incident just doesn’t hurt Biane, it hurts EVERYONE.
What does it show the average voter, sheep excluded, that there is just to much dirt in the County and those in office must go. From Biane down.
If Biane should win a 3rd term that will tell me that half of the voters are crooks themselves at heart, the remaining voters simply don’t care or are in fact sheep in their daily life.
In fact if all the other BOS members were running for re-election I’d say they too might get hammered just because most voters are sick of hearing about corruption.
Of course if you have a campaign manager like Chris Jones or David Ellis it might also hurt you.
Guess we will see if money talks and facts walk come June 8.
Lets be clear. Bustamonte is the darkhorse in this race. As a 14 year member of Chaffey Joint Union High School District, he has better name id in the district than Rutherford who comes from small part of the 2nd district.
As for Rutherford being the “anti-corruption” candidate, nothing could be farther from the truth. Rutherford and Biane are “Birds of a Feather”. Rutherford was the hand-picked replacement for Biane, once he was termed out. While on the Fontana City Council she has enjoyed the endorsements and support of both Biane and Ovitt, and has received over $17,000 in gifts from developers and other special interest. Now Rutherford says she will ban gifts. Really. This is all in the public record.
Now that Biane is mortally wounded the ‘same old crowd” is shutting the door on Biane and moving over to Rutherford. Oh by the way, Matt Brown worked for Rutherford as a staffer for then Assemblyman Bill Leonard. How convenient, Brown turns on Biane and gets to help-out Rutherford at the same time. Like I said, “Birds of a Feather”.
So of all those gifts, how many were wedding presents? Jan got married while she was an elected official and had to report those wedding gifts.
Also, if anyone is hand-picked it’s Bustamonte. Biane wants no part of a head to head contest in November against Jan. That’s why he and his campaign are focusing their attacks against her.
Gary Moore- Get Real! Your afraid of Janice winning. You state she comes from a small part of the 2nd District. What does that mean? Some people don’t matter? Do you even know what experience Janice Rutherford has? She’s the best qualified candidate running. She has my vote!
Fed-Up I think I might wait for a bit before I jumped on the Janice wagon. Nothing against her personally.
This thing with Matt Brown should be throwing up some red flags for those paying attention.
Remember what we have talked about EVERYONE being connected in some form or fashion.
Set a side the qualification issues and look outside the box for right now.
In Moore’s last paragraph, it is a major red flag to me.
Just my thoughts.
Art Bustamonte is a pompous a*hole
Mayor Mark, So I guess then that these folks were invited to her wedding? What a pile of pooh. Like I said, “Birds of a Feather”. Here is a partial list of Developer and Special Interest gift givers to Rutherford:
David Weiner,Developer
Lewis Operating Co.
Burrtec Waste
Gary Ovitt
Montclair Yamaha, Neil Diamond Concert Tickets
Ted Dutton, Reign Tickets
Gillian Zucker, Nascar Speedway
Young Homes
Sempra Utilities
Majestic Realty
Chicago Title
Metropolitan Water District
Morongo Band of Indians
Brutco Engineering
Arrowhead Credit Union, dinner in WDC
Pachenga Development, Journey Concert tickets
Greg Devereaux, County CAO
KB Homes, Hotel and plane tickets, Las Vegas
Walt Disney Co.
What is not clear to me is who sent out this mailer. At first I though it was a hit piece on Biane, but that did not make sense. I’d like to see the other side of the mailer. I guess this is Jones’ attempt to portray Biane as the “anti-corruption” candidate. Kind of reminds me of Nixon’s “I am not a crook” line. Please show us the other side of this mailer.
ACU- Thanks for the warning! I have a connection to Janice, so does that mean I’m a bird of the same feather? I would have done the same thing Matt did, by going along to present the facts, if I was in his position to do so. In fact I have, in regards to the Colonies pay off. I went to the same officials as Matt did. The biblical concept of authority spells not tyranny but responsibity. This is our government and the people need to stand up for what is right. Evil deeds deserve to be exposed, for it is a shame to speak of things, that they do in secret. These officials represent the people and should never be misused. Matt did the right thing, even if he’s been going along with the problem. The light needs to shine from within, so the truth becomes visible.
Fed-Up it appears Matt went along with the problem WAY to long and only fessed up when it was coming down the pipe he was a witness.
Besides that, it clearly appears Matt did a few not so cool things to help himself out along the way.
I call it “unclean hands”, just like Uffer who is now yelling foul, but we find out Uffer did his share of misdeeds running his own little agenda. LIKE free medical care at ARMC.
My only point to you is if you hold these folks in high regards, I would be demanding some serious answers from them.
A connection is one thing, a friend and or fellow politician you support is another. The deeper the relationship, I guess you could be classified as a feather on the bird.
Just my thoughts.
Hmmph is Scott Ryan from SBPEA, and chairperson of the PAC, who gave Ovitt over $50,000 and refused to interivew the other candidates running against Ovitt. He tried to do the same thing for Biane but his board “outted” the misdeeds. I believe also works for the flood control district of the county who sold the land involved in the Colonies drama. I believe he just got promoted to Superintendent even though there is a hiring and promotional freeze. Of course after Ovitt got paid. Scott’s afraid of Bustamonte because he knows he’ll do the right thing. If I’m wrong. Then prove it and state your name.
Thanks Anonymous for your thoughts and concern!
Anonymous, I appreciate your thoughts and concern.
you guessed wrong. just a co employe who thinks Art is an a*hole. btw- there is no promotional freeze. my dept promotes people like crazy. even all the people who retired to save us money. and you cannot spell “outed”
hmmph,
I might have misspelled Outted but your response indicates a dire need for an english class or psychotherapy. You shouldn’t let your emotions show in your writing. And again, if I’m wrong state your name.
So I need english classes or psychotherapy because I think Art is an a*hole, or because I said you cannot spell? I see no reason to state my name. Don’t see yours there on blast. Another thought came to mind. Art is an a*hole. You are just a sorry a*hole supporter.
Hmmmph,
My name is Michelle VanderLinden. Now what? You’re strange and spineless. Contact me, please, we’ll do lunch.