Saturday, July 24, 2010 – 05:00 pm

From District Attorney investigators recently pulling time card records of at least one current high-profile County Government Center employee, to pre-election day cover-ups, to intrigue surrounding the Public Defender’s office disqualifying itself in the conspiracy case involving former Assessor Bill Postmus, things are about to start stirring in San Bernardino County political and legal circles.

Much is happening these days.

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Friday, July 23, 2010 – 03:47 pm
Updated: Saturday, July 24, 2010 – 09:25 am

Sources tell InlandPolitics that San Bernardino County has taken attorney-client privilege to a new level.

In San Bernardino County only, the amount of taxpayer money spent on outside counsel is privileged.

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10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 23, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County has cut its fleet of vehicles by nearly 200 over the past year, and new policies up for consideration Tuesday are intended to further reduce the number.

But county officials do not have a target they hope to reach as they work to trim costs and miles driven by employees, county spokesman Ray Smith said.

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10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 23, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

Several bombshells from Redlands of late:

Council members are irked that the city manager and city attorney got salary increases unwittingly approved by the council.

City Manager Enrique Martinez acknowledged he has a consultant studying the city’s refuse operation, raising suspicions he’ll try to privatize it as he did in Colton in the 1990s.

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Paul Zellerbach

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 23, 2010

By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
The Press-Enterprise

More than six weeks after voters made him Riverside County district attorney-elect, Paul Zellerbach has started his transition by meeting with employees, talking to county officials and reviewing the department’s policies

But Zellerbach, a Riverside County superior court judge, says he hasn’t spoken to Rod Pacheco, the man he is replacing in January.

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Bell officials step down
July 23, 2010 3:16 PM
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

BELL (AP) • The city manager, assistant city manager and police chief of this small, poverty-plagued suburb of Los Angeles stepped down following a public outcry over their salaries, which total more than $1.6 million a year.

Robert Rizzo, who served as Hesperia’s city manager from 1988 to 1992, was the highest paid Bell employee at $787,637 a year — nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama. Census figures for 2008 showed about 17 percent of the city’s less than 40,000 residents live in poverty.

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Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2010 06:50:33 PM PDT

COLTON – The city could save as much as $8.2 million by eliminating its police and fire departments and contracting with outside agencies, according to audits of the departments which were released Friday.

The firm estimates between $2.3 million and $8.2 million would be saved if the City Council elected to contract for public safety services or form a joint agreement with other cities in the area.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2010 05:57:50 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDIN0 – In a motion seeking dismissal of state charges of extortion and bribery against former San Bernardino County assistant assessor Jim Erwin, Erwin’s attorney claims state and county prosecutors have failed to clearly state the charges, thereby thwarting Erwin’s ability to properly defend himself.

Criminal defense attorney Rajan R. Maline on Friday filed the motion in San Bernardino Superior Court, in which he also alleges that the three-year statute of limitations has expired for the offenses in which both Erwin and former county Assessor Bill Postmus stand accused.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2010 06:17:54 PM PDT

Democrats in San Bernardino County elected new party leaders Thursday night, but rather than uniting in the months before November’s elections, the leadership fight highlighted fissures in the local organization.

Ron Wall of Ontario was elected chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee, beating former party vice chairman Mark Alvarez. Alvarez also lost in a bid for first vice chairman, as did candidate Leticia Garcia.

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Sarah Palin                 Carly Fiorina

By PE Politics
on July 23, 2010 12:20 PM

As the race for California’s contested U.S. Senate seat tightens, incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina have each attempted in recent days to portray the other as an extremist from the fringe of their respective party.

This week, the two traded jabs on abortion and offshore oil drilling, two of the many issues on which the candidates have vastly different views.

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Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/23/2010 06:08:43 PM PDT

The Claremont Unified School District has approved the placement of a $95 million bond measure on the Nov. 2 election ballot.

School district officials said the bond was necessary to update aging classroom facilities and improve classroom technology.

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Brown

By Jon Ortiz and David Siders
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jul. 24, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, long a supporter of public employee retirement rights, is staking out territory in what is traditionally Republican ground: government pension reform.

On his campaign website and in recent comments to the media, California’s attorney general and former governor has advocated rolling back state retirement benefits. Many of his points mirror changes pushed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and tentatively accepted by some unions, but don’t cut into pensions as deeply as policies proposed by Brown’s Republican opponent, Meg Whitman.

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Trend in the Region
Property Values Dip for Second Year
Friday, July 23, 2010

By Rich Saskal

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Assessed property values in California are likely to decline for the second year running, according to a Bond Buyer review of data from the state’s larger counties.

Even though the state’s tax assessment system has the effect of muting the volatility of property assessments, 11 of the state’s 12 largest counties experienced a decline in their property tax roll this year.

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