Friday, September 10, 2010 – 08:15 a.m.

Remember John Hueston?

Hueston is the high-profile Democratic Party heavyweight Orange County lawyer who convinced the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to hire him for a mission to pursue civil litigation against former County Assessor Bill Postmus and several of Postmus’ former office aides.

In convincing the board of supes to contract for his services, John Hueston presented himself as the federal prosecutor who five years ago secured convictions in jury trials against executives related to the collapse of merchant energy generator Enron.

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11:20 PM PDT on Thursday, September 9, 2010

By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
The Press-Enterprise

PDF: Read County Executive Officer Bill Luna’s report on DA-elect Paul Zellerbach’s allegations

Riverside County district attorney-elect Paul Zellerbach’s concerns about large numbers of new hires and promotions being made by outgoing District Attorney Rod Pacheco are unsupported, County Executive Officer Bill Luna reported.

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Derry

Posted: 09/09/2010 08:05:09 PM PDT

Supervisor Neil Derry’s sunshine ordinance aims to make a fundamental change in San Bernardino County culture when it comes to government documents.

The proposal the Board of Supervisors will review on Tuesday would, if effective, reverse the mind-set of county leaders on who owns access to public documents. The ordinance would mandate that all government documents are presumed public, and put the burden on county government to show why the documents are exempt from that law, according to George Watson, Derry’s chief of staff.

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McCallon

Point of View
Councilman Larry McCallon
Posted: 09/09/2010 07:55:50 PM PDT

In his Aug. 31 point of view urging the parties to mediate and not litigate in San Bernardino County’s lawsuit against San Bernardino Associated Governments (Sanbag), Caltrans and the city of Upland, Supervisor Paul Biane left out a few critical facts.

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Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/09/2010 04:41:40 PM PDT

While San Bernardino City Unified brought back all the teachers it laid off in May, the same is not true for classified employees.

The 29 instructional aides, tutors and others who were given pink slips at the end of the school year did not return.

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Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/09/2010 09:19:39 PM PDT

COLTON – Continued declines in state funding combined with deficit spending will force the Colton Joint Unified School District to cut as much as $18.8 million from its budget in the 2012 fiscal year, beginning July 1.

District officials hope concessions from all employees will result in the needed savings.

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Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/09/2010 06:35:45 PM PDT

RIALTO – An internal investigation into an alleged sex scandal involving on-duty officers and workers at the Spearmint Rhino strip club has been completed and a report is under review, Police Chief Mark Kling has confirmed.

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Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/09/2010 03:42:59 PM PDT

A medical marijuana collective recently opened in Mentone and could soon be looking at county fines for violating a moratorium.

Redlands, Yucaipa, Calimesa, Banning, and Beaumont all have moratoriums in place against pot dispensaries and collectives. San Bernardino County also has a moratorium on marijuana dispensaries and collectives in its unincorporated regions – like Mentone.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 09/09/2010 06:34:15 PM PDT

The California State Assembly this week posted the salaries of Assembly members online, even though a bill requiring that action failed to get the Legislature’s approval last month.

But perhaps more interesting than the members’ salaries – Assembly members representing San Bernardino County all make $95,291 – are the salaries paid to Assembly staff members. Democratic lawmakers spend much more on staffers than do Republicans.

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The Democrat touts talking points that could come from a GOP playbook. The Republican uses Bill Clinton’s comments against Brown from the 1992 presidential race.

By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times

September 10, 2010

Thursday brought the latest advertising skirmish in the race for governor, as both Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman released new ads targeting independent voters, whose support in November is critical to either candidate’s victory.

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September 10, 2010

The new Meg Whitman TV ad featuring Bill Clinton attacking Jerry Brown in one of their 1992 presidential campaign debates is compelling stuff that – whether it’s accurate or not — could have a powerful impact on whether independents and younger voters see Brown as honest.

You have to consider the source, of course. The charge is made by President Bubba who looked America in the eye and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” But even if he’s a proven liar, Clinton remains popular with a lot of Californians.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
September 9, 2010 | 5:41 pm

Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s recent trip to Israel was a brief four days, but it wasn’t short on face time with top Israeli leaders.

During an appearance in La Jolla on Thursday, Fiorina said she met with President Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, as well as military and intelligence leaders during the trip, which was organized and paid for by the Republican Jewish Coalition.

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As California concludes its 10th week of the fiscal year without a budget, Controller John Chiang credits an unexpected drop in state spending for a slight cash cushion.

By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times

September 10, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento —
California has sufficient cash in its dwindling treasury to avoid issuing IOUs until at least October, a reprieve from previous projections that the scrip was imminent, the state controller said Thursday.

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