Monday, August 30, 2010 – 4:50 pm
I just read a story published this afternoon on The Sun newspaper website that I’m sure will appear in Tuesday’s edition.
The story is regarding a settlement with recently appointed Assistant Auditor-Controller-Recorder Matt Brown, former chief of staff to San Bernardino County supervisor Paul Biane. Brown filed a complaint with county officials that he was subject to a hostile work environment due to his cooperation with a county corruption probe.
In addition to Brown landing a new position with the county for the exact same compensation, he was also given $25,000 to pay his legal bill to attorney Sanford Kassel.
Easy money for Kassel.
Now back to the topic at hand.
The part of the Sun story that seems kind of disingenuous, but holds true to the myopic reporting style of the newspaper read as follows;
No county attorney or outside counsel signed off on the settlement, which the county and
Colonies maintain was the result of “arms-length hard bargaining on both sides.”
The “no outside counsel” phrase is kind of troubling.
The paper would like readers to believe no licensed attorney was involved and that a bunch of crooks went into a room and screwed taxpayers.
Recently, The Sun actually ran a story that seemed to reluctantly concede the fact that Edward A. Panelli, a retired Associate Justice of California Supreme Court and licensed attorney presided over the final settlement talks and in fact signed off on the deal.
I and many others read the story and almost fell over.
No on could believe The Sun of all papers would print such information. After all, it might go against the papers goal of tar and feathering everyone involved with the settlement.
Well it seems The Sun can’t help it and as always those “old habits”.
Once again, getting in a “dig” is the order of the day.
I also visited the California State Bar Association website and searched for Panelli’s membership status and found the following;
 Edward A. Panelli – #26593Current Status: ActiveThis member is active and may practice law in California. See below for more details. Profile Information
Status History
Actions Affecting Eligibility to Practice Law
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Why don’t they mention Jim Brulte being there either?
and why don’t they mention how much he made as a consultant…hey administrator, why don’t you run Brulte’s bar status?
Brulte’s involvment occured approximately a year earlier.
“The “no outside counsel” phrase is kind of troubling. The paper would like readers to believe no licensed attorney was involved and that a bunch of crooks went into a room and screwed taxpayers.”
Well, that is what they did, Jim. They definitely did it the first time when Biane and Postmus asked the attorneys to leave the room so they, Burum and Brulte could negotiate a nice sweetheart deal. The attorneys quit after that. And the attorneys certainly didn’t sign off on the settlement in 2006 – the signature spaces remain blank to this day. You have a copy. You know the deal. And you know why no attorney signed? BECAUSE THEY’RE ATTORNEYS, SMART ENOUGH NOT TO PUT THEIR NAMES ON A LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT TO STEAL $102 MILLION FROM TAXPAYERS! NOTICE HOW THEY’RE NOT NAMED AS DEFENDANTS OR CO-CONSPIRATORS?
and then there’s this you say:
“Brulte’s involvment occured approximately a year earlier.”
Yeah, he was smart enough to get out after the attorney memo leaked to the press and the public, i.e. the media, started to suspect something was definitely stinkY about that settlement. The rest of you were too arrogant and moved forward into battle, throwing all caution to the wind, and we’re all the better for it.
And wasn’t Burum seen getting into good ole Justice Edward Panelli’s white SUV right after the settlement was signed, and the two drove away laughing – all the way to the bank? And why wouldn’t Panelli sign that attorney client privilege waiver?
The Sun fails to provide reporting anywhere near the quality of the Sentinel or others
“The Sun fails to provide reporting anywhere near the quality of the Sentinel or others.”
LOL! Only if The Sun used the word “comportment” more and didn’t use any names sources and printed information solely based on gossip and rumor, then maybe it too would reach that high hallmark of journalism that is The Sentinel.
Joke!
Everybody puts their slant on facts, the Sentinel’s just seems to be too close to the actual truth for the SBCo. Moon/ Redlands Daily Fiction/ IE Daily B.S. folks, so much so that they are now suing to try and keep their monopoly on legal advertisements in this County. THAT’S NO JOKE, same as Nancy Bohl’s “unofficial” politically motivated and frivolous SLAP suit, the only way to stay successful in the conflicted and corrupted business climate that is San Bernardino County government is to LITIGATE IT! P.S. You know this is the truth because it is the opposite view from the Op-ed piece by John Doe #5 in yesterday’s Sun!