Josie Gonzales, center, holds up the grand jury report as she and other elected officials discuss their responses to 16 recommendations made by the panel.(Kurt Miller/Staff Photographer)
10:53 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 10, 2011
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
Staff Writer kpierceall@pe.com
The elected leaders overseeing San Bernardino International Airport voted Wednesday to agree to all but one of a civil grand jury’s 16 recommendations despite staff spending more than a month attempting to discredit the panel’s critical report that picked apart the oversight to develop the airport.
In its June 30 report, the civil grand jury raised several concerns taking issue with the airport’s use of an auditing firm founded by the airport authority’s executive director. It also questioned whether an individual who received two no-bid agreements to develop the airport may have inflated construction costs.
Cost to build a main passenger terminal for commercial aviation flights as well as a high-end general aviation terminal and three-story U.S. Customs building for international arrivals has grown in cost from $45 million to $142.5 million since 2007.
There are no scheduled commercial flights.
The authority has until Aug. 30 to formally respond to the grand jury’s recommendations. Sam Racadio, the board’s representative from Highland, suggested changes to wording so that rather than the authority saying it is considering doing something, that instead it say it “will” do something.
Those were the only changes made to the responses before they were approved at Wednesday’s meeting, the last of three meetings focused almost entirely on responding to the grand jury’s assertions.
“This airport is ready to fly and we must begin treating it as the big corporation that it will become,” said Josie Gonzales, San Bernardino County supervisor and member of the authority, likening the airport to a “little ugly leftover” before the authority invested in its development.
“As this airport grows, we become a competitor … and this airport is ready to compete,” she said.
One disagreement
The only recommendation the authority didn’t agree with was the grand jury’s suggestion that the airport stop all payments related to $4.06 million it agreed to spend on used aviation equipment in 2007.
The recommendation doesn’t apply because the deal is done, “and there are no similar agreements pending at this time,” according to the authority’s response.
The airport had agreed to pay that amount to Norton Development Co., one of several companies managed by the airport’s developer, Scot Spencer, for 11 jet bridges, baggage claim systems, seats and more that had been used by American Airlines in its John F. Kennedy terminal in New York as far back as 1975.
The grand jury had said there was one remaining jet bridge being refurbished and that taxpayers could save $134,689 if the airport refused to buy it.
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If you build it they will come, huh guys? Our local politicians are just the most ridiculous simpletons.
I wonder if Josie faked ill before making recommendation lol you cant make this stuff up…And you wonder why this Country is in the toilet, These are our leaders
no in god we trust in that meeting.
No problem, by the time regular airline traffic service arrives at this airport, those jet bridges will be obsolete…. Newer aircraft will have been fielded, and we can just buy the jet bridges then….
Oh wait, they are obsolete now….
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows for the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because they did not actually do it.under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.
Any act of bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud, dealing in obscene matter, obstruction of justice, slavery, racketeering, gambling, money laundering, commission of murder-for-hire, and several other offenses covered under the Federal criminal code (Title 18);
Embezzlement of union funds;
Bankruptcy fraud or securities fraud;
Drug trafficking; long-term and elaborate drug networks can also be prosecuted using the Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute;
Money laundering and related offenses;
Bringing in, aiding or assisting aliens in illegally entering the country (if the action was for financial gain);
Acts of terrorism.
Although the RICO laws may cover drug trafficking crimes in addition to other more traditional RICO predicate acts such as extortion, blackmail, and racketeering, large-scale and organized drug networks are now commonly prosecuted under the Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute, also known as the “Kingpin Statute”. The CCE laws target only traffickers who are responsible for long-term and elaborate conspiracies; whereas the RICO law can be charged for a variety of organized criminal behavior.
examples of RICO cases
Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania handed down a 48-count indictment against former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella.[29] The judges were charged with RICO after allegedly committing acts of Wire fraud, Mail Fraud, Tax Evasion, Money Laundering, and honest services fraud. The judges were accused of taking kickbacks for housing juveniles, that the judges convicted for mostly petty crimes, at a private detention center. The incident was dubbed by many local and national newspapers as the “Kids for cash scandal”.[30] On February 18, 2011, a federal jury found Michael Ciavarella guilty of racketeering because of his involvement in accepting illegal payments from Robert Mericle, the developer of PA Child Care, and Attorney Robert Powell, a co-owner of the facility. Ciavarella is facing 38 other counts in federal court.
Scott W. Rothstein
Scott W. Rothstein is a disbarred lawyer and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He is accused of funding his philanthropy, political contributions, law firm salaries, and an extravagant lifestyle with a massive 1.2 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. On December 1, 2009. Rothstein turned himself in to federal authorities and was subsequently arrested on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).[38] Although his arraignment plea was not guilty, Rothstein cooperated with the government and reversed his plea to guilty of five federal crimes on January 27, 2010. His sentencing is scheduled for June, 2010.[39] Bond was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum, who ruled that due to his ability to forge documents, he was considered a flight risk.[40] On June 9, 2010, Rothstein received a 50-year prison sentence after a hearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale
response to grand jury report for josie: devilrow did it he is the only one with power.