Wednesday, June 23, 2020 – 3:45 P.M.

Testimony in the trial of Rex Gutierrez ended this afternoon following the conclusion of Gutierrez’s testimony and that of four character witnesses for the defense and two rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution.

Deputy Attorney General Melissa Mandel finally entered the picture. Mandel cross-examined at least two of the four character witnesses. Mandel’s demeanor came across less than hospitable considering the witnesses had nothing to do with the situation.

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010 – 1:25 P.M.

This morning it was more of the same at the trial of Rancho Cucamonga city councilman and former Assessor employee Rex Gutierrez. Things picked up right where they left off.

Gutierrez took the witness stand again and was subjected to further berating by Deputy District Attorney John Goritz. Goritz can’t help but raise his voice.

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InlandPolitics.com is still piecing together information still being received related to the contract vote by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association (SBPEA).

It’s seems to be boiling down to the money. The unions money!

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New-home sales drop to lowest level on record in May after federal homebuyer tax credits end

Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer, On Wednesday June 23, 2010, 10:37 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes collapsed in May, sinking 33 percent to the lowest level on record as potential buyers stopped shopping for homes once they could no longer receive government tax credits.

The bleak report from the Commerce Department is the first sign of how the end of federal tax credits could weigh on the nation’s housing market.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

At Tuesday’s meeting, San Bernardino County supervisors took item #52 off calendar.

The item was a no-bid six-month contract with John Husing of Economics and Politics, Inc. in the amount of $6,000 for economic consulting services.

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Rex Gutierrez

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 22, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez denied allegations Tuesday that his former job at the San Bernardino County assessor’s office was a sham.

On the fifth day of testimony in his corruption trial, the defendant countered other witnesses who said he got the job as an intergovernmental relations officer as a favor through influential Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, and that he did little actual work.

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Rex Gutierrez

Gutierrez rejects Burum link to job
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/22/2010 08:08:23 PM PDT

Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez took the witness stand Tuesday in his own defense, denying allegations that his nearly two-year employment in the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office was political in nature and influenced by developer Jeff Burum.

Defense attorney James Reiss began presenting his case Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court in the trial of Gutierrez, 50, who is charged with felony grand theft, misappropriation of public funds and filing a false claim.

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Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Created: 06/22/2010 04:49:13 PM PDT

County employees represented by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association have agreed to benefits concessions that will reduce a projected $89.4 million deficit in fiscal year 2010-11 by $13 million.

The union also agreed to $42 million in salary concessions that will provide savings to state and federally funded portions of the county’s budget, said county spokesman David Wert.

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11:14 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 22, 2010

By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County will delay certifying results of the June 8 primary to see if possible legal action will resolve the fate of 12,500 mail-in votes declared invalid because they were delivered after the deadline to be counted.

Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit said close races that could be affected by counting the votes include the Mary Salas-Juan Vargas Democratic primary for the state Senate 40th District, and the statewide Republican insurance commissioner race.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/22/2010 05:57:53 PM PDT

In the most unexpected outcome of this month’s primary election, political neophyte and former Minuteman Tim Donnelly is the winner in the 59th State Assembly District Republican Primary.

Final vote tallies show Donnelly with 12,211 votes, ahead of candidate Chris Lancaster by just 484 votes – about 1 percent of the total votes cast in the Republican primary.

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Jobs slashed to cut back on city expenditures
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/22/2010 08:07:19 PM PDT

REDLANDS – A City Council vote means impending layoffs and some city employees have already received their pink slips.

The council voted Monday to pass a budget that eliminated jobs to cut back on costs.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 06/22/2010 05:02:48 PM PDT

Pit bull owners in San Bernardino County’s unincorporated areas will soon have to have their dogs spayed or neutered or face county fines.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave initial approval to an ordinance requiring all pit bulls and “pit bull-type dogs” be spayed or neutered. Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt authored the ordinance, which he said aims to cut down on the number of pit bulls in county animal shelters and on the number of pit-bull attacks.

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June 22, 2010 4:11 PM
Natasha Lindstrom

SAN BERNARDINO • In a move bringing some relief to officials scrambling to balance the San Bernardino County budget, the county’s largest employees union has agreed to concessions that will save at least $13 million.

The San Bernardino Public Employees Association, representing more than 16,000 employees, narrowly approved the proposed deal, with just under 51 percent of members voting in favor of eliminating scheduled 6-percent salary hikes.

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By PE Politics
on June 22, 2010 10:49 AM

In the latest political reverberations from the ongoing Gulf oil spill, Inland Reps. Mary Bono Mack and Ken Calvert are among two dozen Republican lawmakers who Democrats are trying to link to embattled Rep. Joe Barton.

Barton, R-Texas, has come under fire for apologizing to British Petroleum executives during a congressional hearing last week. Democrats quickly seized on the chance to paint Barton and other Republicans as oil company apologists at a time when the industry is as unpopular as ever.

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By Anthony York | 06/23/10 12:00 AM PST

Meg Whitman will begin airing a new 60-second television ad Wednesday that takes aim squarely at Democratic nominee Jerry Brown. If the ad is any indication, it looks like Californians can brace themselves for a long season of campaign ads.

Through a stylized montage that moves through Brown’s four decades in California politics, Whitman makes reference to the death penalty and Bill Clinton to make the case against Brown. The ad uses a clip from a debate between Brown and Clinton when the two men ran against each other for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992. In the clip, Clinton says Brown “reinvents himself every year or two.”

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11:26 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 22, 2010

By BRIAN ROKOS
The Press-Enterprise

The Hemet City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution supporting Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law, a symbolic action that had the very real effect of drawing an overflow crowd of more than 100 people to council chambers.

About two dozen spoke, often passionately, with the vast majority imploring the council not to approve the resolution.

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Meg Whitman

In a radio interview, the Republican said the altercation was a verbal dispute and characterizes the media interest in the story as the ‘fascination of the chattering class.’

By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times

June 23, 2010

After a week of silence, Meg Whitman has spoken out about a report that she shoved a subordinate when she was chief executive of EBay, characterizing the altercation as a verbal dispute and dismissing the uproar about it as “a fascination of the chattering class.”

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By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 23, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 4A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Jun. 23, 2010 – 8:08 am

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman escalated her battle with the California Nurses Association on Tuesday by debuting a website criticizing the union and unveiling an internal poll that found Democrat Jerry Brown leading Whitman by only three percentage points among nurses statewide.

The website, titled “Truth for Nurses,” features articles and a video accusing the union of paying exorbitant salaries to its president and other executives and wasting members’ dues on political activity.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 22, 2010

Assembly Democrats have quietly halved the size of a controversial borrowing plan in their budget, recognizing legal pitfalls that could undermine their idea, according to an Assembly source.

They initially proposed a maneuver in which the state would sell nearly $9 billion in bonds against its Beverage Container Recycling Fund, using proceeds from deposits that consumers pay on cans and bottles to pay off bond debt in future years. To make up for the recycling fund money, the state would then enact a new tax on oil production. Essentially, the state would borrow against oil tax revenues.

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By Marc Lifsher Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 22, 2010 | 5:11 p.m.

After dropping a quarter of the value of its $200-billion portfolio during the recession of 2008 and 2009, the country’s largest public pension fund is posting more big paper losses because of the massive 2-month-old BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since April 20, the 58 million BP shares owned by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System have plunged in value by $285 million, dropping from $586 million to $301 million, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News.

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