10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
A former top aide to San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane who has been out on paid leave for two months is taking a new position as assistant recorder.
Larry Walker, the county’s auditor/controller/recorder/treasurer/tax collector, announced in a memo to his staff Tuesday that Matt Brown, until recently Biane’s long-time chief of staff, had joined his office.
Walker cited Brown’s eight years of administrative experience as one of the reasons he was hired.
The announcement came on the heels of the departure of Betsy Starbuck, a 24-year county employee who had served as assistant auditor-controller/recorder. Walker said there was no correlation between her leaving and Brown’s hiring.
Walker said Starbuck was no longer with the office as of Friday but declined to say whether she was fired or resigned voluntarily.
“I just came to a conclusion with regard to that position I’m going to go in a different direction,” he said.
Starbuck joined the county as Walker’s chief of staff when he was a supervisor, starting in 1996, and followed him over to the auditor/controller’s office when he was elected to that position in 1999.
Walker said he had no immediate plans to fill her job.
Starbuck could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Brown’s assistant recorder position, which pays between $107,744 and $137,987 a year, was approved in May by the Board of Supervisors, one of the few new positions at a time when many departments, including the auditor-controller, have cut staff as part of the recently adopted budget.
Brown has been out on paid administrative leave since early May, when he reported that he had been facing retaliation as a result of cooperating with authorities in an ongoing county corruption investigation.
The county has been conducting an internal review of Brown’s allegations. County spokesman David Wert said the inquiry is ongoing and that he doesn’t know when it will be completed.
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Why would the Auditor Controller etc. hire someone the DA has inmplicated in the largest coruption scandle in the County’s history? Maybe because Walker has been covering up the corruption for years. Isn’t he supposed to be exposing corruption? Walker should resign not Strabuck.
Starbuck deserved a thank you and goodbye. The rift has existed for years. One of Walker’s “confidants” quickly tells the following story of how it came to be: two elections ago Walker had not decided whether or not to run. Betsy “floated” the idea of running to two of the top dogs — De Ana and Pat Honny (IT guy). Honny quickly told Walker who saw it as being “disloyal.” For the past four years Walker has stripped Betsy of more and more responsibility until she, too, sadly was rarely at the office. The two of them probably logged only a 1/4 time between them for 2008-2009. She had nothing to do – and he has never been one to spend time in the office attending to matters at hand. While the Chiefs on the 4th floor conscientiously did what needed to be done (and put in 40+ hours of honest work), the “chiefs” on the 1st floor, Honny and De Ana, were rarely seen–and when they were there, fought for Walker’s attention, acceptance, blessings, and protection. Walker trusted the most untrustworthy, unscrupulous, and poorest performers in the department. If he continues to put his faith and trust in the ones he currently confides in, it will eventually collapse. Unfortunately, until then the employees will continue to smile, nod in agreement, and cover up his short-comings by performing admirably. The only good thing he has done in years is elevate Howard Ochi to a position that he rightly deserves and is capable of performing (and, yes, he IS a CPA). The Matt Brown decision he is pawning off as being “out of his control” — represents the county at its worst — placing an individual (notice he is “one of the boys”) that does not have the qualifications for the position — and why was this wrong when Postmus did it and “ok” when Walker does it? De Ana should have been fired for incompetence, she cannot write a grammatically correct sentence, let alone manage people. However, she is one heck of a sales person and she has been selling Walker for years. Oh…and by the way…Walker – you think you are smart, De Ana often refers to you as “clueless.” Do you remember when you asked her if you could be her son’s sports attorney??? She spread that one up and down the State.