Defense attorneys Stephen Larson and Mary Andrues, who represent Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, walk out of court after a hearing in the Colonies corruption scandal held Friday at San Bernardino Superior Court. (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer)
Lori Fowler, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/08/2012 11:58:25 AM PDT
A sweeping San Bernardino County corruption case moved a step forward Friday after lawyers for four men accused of crimes in connection with a $102 million legal settlement said they had received much of the pre-trial evidence they wanted from prosecutors.
But while attorneys have basically worked out evidence issues in the case, there are still items to be resolved.
Lawyers for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, co-managing partner of Colonies Partners LP; former county Supervisor Paul Biane; former assistant assessor of operations Jim Erwin; and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for county Supervisor Gary Ovitt; were at a hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court, where the news was announced before Judge Michael Smith.
Burum is accused of bribing public officials to approve the county’s settlement with Colonies in November 2006.
Those officials include former county Assessor Bill Postmus – who at the time of the settlement was chairman of the county Board of Supervisors – Biane, Kirk and Erwin, who mediated settlement negotiations on Burum’s behalf.
Burum, Biane, Kirk and Erwin deny any wrongdoing. And in March 2011, Postmus struck a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to charges of accepting a bribe from Burum in exchange for his vote approving the landmark settlement.
Stephen Larson, Burum’s attorney, had filed a motion to compel state and local prosecutors to produce discovery related to Postmus and former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman – including unredacted transcripts of their communications with law enforcement officials.
Several issues were resolved Friday, but Larson still wants four items to be produced by prosecutors: a DVD featuring a grand jury exhibit; communications between Deputy state Attorney General Melissa Mandel and attorneys for SanBAG – the county’s transportation agency – Caltrans and the city of Upland; surveillance logs of Postmus; a photocopy of Burum’s passport, which will be used to establish that he was not in China in 2006 as prosecutors allege – to become evidence in the case.
It was a county trade mission to China in 2006 that prosecutors say played a role in a plot to influence county officials to sign off on the sweeping settlement with Burum.
To read entire story, click here.
OKAY… forgot what I said about this issue, so I dug through Inlandpolitics’ “ancient” posts and I found what I had said back then… It still applies, sooo …PLAY IT AGAIN SAM!…(uh, sorry, play it again Jim)
Anonymous on April 21st, 2012 6:51 pm
At the end of last year my neighbor attended a political meeting at the Redlands County Club where DA Ramos was the “guest speaker.” She caught him on her cell phone,a waste if you ask me, but his grand announcement off the bat, was…
…”I’m moving on now that the Colonies corruption cases are in the courts- and it feels good to focus on SOMETHING ELSE now.”
Watching that, it struck me ODD that our DA would publicly “wash his hands” and abandon the Colonies cases at the most crucial stages; why wouldn’t he see them through? Because they had served HIS political purpose?
Or, are these cases, in reality, HOLLOW?
Ramos, himself, with obvious false urgency, alerted the AG, FBI, our newspapers, local, national and cable news networks that the sky was falling in SBC! Ramos sobbed about how these “defendants were responsible for biggest corruption scandal in SBC, and even maybe the state’s, history.” OH PLEASE, now this just goes to show you how Ramos NEVER steps into a courtroom, where true violent and nonviolent ATROCITIES and scandals occur everyday.
What was not known to the unsuspecting public was that it was an election year- Ramos was up for re-election, as were his political buddies.
What followed, at taxpayers expense, was a horrifying abuse of authority and position as Ramos maliciously planned, choreographed, staged, and got really “creative” with the charges- setting up the defendants in order to punish, retaliate, and take VENGEANCE on them for their UNWILLINGNESS AND REFUSAL to cooperate and back Ramos’ POLITICAL ALLIES.
Over the years we have seen Ramos’ scenario of trumped up charges, selective political prosecution, and total distortion of sacred laws repeated, as with Councilman Jim Miller and Neil Derry.
Since Ramos has publicly washed his hand to the Colonies cases, the burden is solely on the judges and prosecutors in the trenches…all of whom have a reputation of being fair, ethical and politically removed, uh, give or take a prosecutor or two.
Maybe now we can look forward to putting closure to this painful political and personal witch hunt, dismissing the charges, and focusing on rapes, murders, drug trafficking and child abusers.
WHAT? Judges fair? Excuse me! There’s several who aren’t, including one who sat on the bench for the Colonies case!
Which Judge? Norell, Warner or someone else?
Anon#1……Ramos did do his job, He looked out for the interest of the public. BTW, that appellate court sure is taking a very long time with a case that many said were nothing but baseless charges.
Even with a new writer, we have more of the same slanted reporting by the The Sun and Daily Bulletin.
This article discusses the “sweeping San Bernardino County corruption case” where Jeff Burum has been accused of “bribing public officials,” but doesn’t bother to mention that all the bribery charges against Mr. Burum have been dismissed.
As I read the article, the prosecution is apparently refusing to provide Mr. Burum’s attorneys with a copy of Mr. Burum’s passport. Prosecutors allege that Jeff Burum tried to take Josie Gonzales out for a “night on the town” in China, ostensibly to try to “bribe” her. The defense seems to be claiming that he was not even in China at the time, and that his passport will prove it.
This brings up two questions:
1) Other than to stonewall and drag out the case, or to keep the defendants from establishing the truth, what possible reason could the prosecution have for refusing to provide the defense with a copy of Mr. Burum’s passport?
2) Is the “most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself” really based on evidence that can be so easily disproven? For the sake of the taxpayers who have been footing the bill, I hope not.
What a waste of time and money the, so called “case” is; it’s juvenile and has made our courts in San Bernardino a political childish playground, and a mockery of our sacred laws and justice system.
What a waste of a human being District Attorney Mike Ramos is, just taking up space and oxygen…the only use his rotting carcuss has here is that it serves as a good example of what a human being SHOULD NOT to be like.
The prosecutors playing right along with Ramos are NOT big and bad, they are followers, bullies and sissys playing along with Ramos’ juvenile dark behavior, they’re making a spectacle of themselves in front of their peers- how many years and STILL they can’t dismiss or take it to trial? In the meantime cases like murders, child abuse, rape, drug trafficking, dope pushing to our school kids, etc…are being neglected and the offenses continue to increase and festering in our county; Ramos and the prosecutors want to play jump rope, and hop scotch with the colonies case! Other than this case how many serious crimes has Cope taken to trial while on the colonies case??
OOF and anon#6…. It’s time for you to come down to reality. No one believes this selective prosecution theory that you have been trying to push the past few years except a few people that frequent this site. First off, the charges against Burum are being reviewed by an appellate court. Interestingly, they have reviewed this case for a much longer period than the original judge that seemed to immediately dismiss most charges against Burum. Apparently, there is something factual to this case or the appellate court would have upheld the superior court decision by now.
As for Ramos, I’m glad we have a DA and staff that are brave enough to stand up and protect the powerless and voiceless citizens of such a corrupt county. Burum has been a bully that tries to act like a victim. He has demonstrated a pattern of political warfare against all that do not give him his way. He did this with the Upland mayor that opposed him and supervisor Mikels. He further did this to Postmus when he hired PIs to go through his trash and the threat of fliers revealing his drug addiction. Not to mention Josie being hounded by Brulte in China with Burum standing off in the lobby. Has Burum’s involvement in county politics helped the average citizen? Consider the facts, Upland mayor Pomierski? Plead guilty! Supervisor Paul Biane? under criminal charges and FBI investigation related to colonies! Supervisor Ovitt’s chief of staff Kirk? Under criminal charges and FBI investigation related to colonies! Supervisor Derry’s Former chief of staff Erwin? under criminal charges and FBI investigation! Not to mention that this association between Derry and Erwin just cost this incumbent supervisor a major set back in this past weeks primary election…..The trail of corruption does not end here, there are congerssmen such as Miller that have ties to Burum and questionable ehical issues, not to mention scores of city council people from most inland cities that are at the ready to do Burum’s bidding. The people are tired of this corruption and want the root cause extracted and dealt with accordingly. That’s what this past election was all about locally. If the few of you on this site cannot recognize that the bill for the colonies shinannigans is coming due and that it’s time to jump ship then you might get sucked down to the bottom with it.
Anonymous#6:
Sounds like the silence and the waiting are starting to take a toll on you. Careful of chest pains.
Anonymous # 6 makes an excellent point. Imagine how much real crime could have been prosecuted with the money the DA’s office has spent (“Repairman,” note that I did not say “wasted,” yet) on The Colonies prosecution.
I have heard people say that Lewis Cope is very frustrated with the case that Mike Ramos gave him to prosecute. Getting killed every time you set foot in the courtroom will do that.
I wonder what Mr. Cope now thinks about Mr. Ramos grandstanding at the press conference and announcing “the most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself.”
As I have said before, I do not understand what is taking the Appellate Court so long to rule on the prosecutions appeal. This isn’t that complex a case; Judge McCarville’s order on the Demurrer was only ten (10) pages. Hopefully they are taking all this time to be sure they get it right, and not to assist the prosecution in their stonewalling and foot dragging.
Will Cope continue being a coward, wasting time and people’s lives for fear on Ramos? Or step up to the plate, do his job without worrying about WHO SAYS WHAT… and APPLY THE LAW, NO POLITICS, AND BE DONE WITH IT… so he can MOVE ON TO PROSECUTE THAT BASTARD THAT MURDERED, RAPED OR ABUSED THAT CHILD…DAMN…WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH COPE?? IS RAMOS SUCH A GOD TO HIM THAT HE BOWS AND JUMPS AT HIS EVERY COMMAND–RIGHT OR WRONG? SEEMS IT’S THE CASE.
No, Repairman, never believe that silence indicates things are at a stand still, or are going wrong; on the contrary, silence is beautiful, GOOD THINGS COULD BE HAPPENING WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. But you are correct, “waiting” aka, “patience” is a virtue …perhaps one I lack, as you noticed in my #6 post; and I have no chest pains, since you have not broken my heart with your harsh words-yet(lol)
Anonymous # 7:
You are entitled to your opinion, but my feeling is that you are the one who needs a “reality” check.
Yes, the Appellate Court is taking far longer to review the prosecutions appeal than I thought they would. However, the best the prosecution can hope for is that the dismissal of the charges is overruled, and they are back to the point where they were earlier: still having to prove their case.
Yes, the former Mayor of Upland plead guilty to accepting a $5,000 bribe. What does that have to do with The Colonies prosecution? Nothing, and if it did, Mike Ramos would have pounced on it.
Also, the defendants seem to be claiming that Mr. Burum was not in China when Josie Gonzales was “hounded by Brulte,” and are trying to get third party documentation (a copy of his passport) to prove it. The prosecution is refusing to give it to him. Why?
Contrary to your position, there are many people who see this prosecution as retaliation against somebody who had the audacity to fight back against the county, and win. Of course, those are people who have reviewed the facts, and not those whose knowledge of the case is based on what they have read in The Sun and the Daily Bulletin.
PS: Has there ever been a case in California history where bail of $10 Million was reduced to $0?
Anonymous:
Are you saying DA Ramos is porposly letting a child abusing, raping, murderer go just to go after the colinies?
And as far as the waiting and silance goes, I’m sure your right, it’s all good news. Espesally after several groups of F.B.I. agents raided your homes and offices not hearing from them is probaly vary comforting to you and your family.
Letting them go? Good question, but the colonies has been a HUGE distraction because Ramos has so much riding on it…and we all know how it’s ALL ABOUT RAMOS at the District Attorney’s Office…RAMOS RAMOS RAMOS, well, at least in Ramos’ head it’s all about him, so okay lets all keep our eye’s on Ramos to make him feel he is THE MAN, and “the one” to be feared!! hahaha!
True, the silence on behalf of the FBI after raiding Brulte’s home and offices is testing my patience. But I’m not surprised, Brulte knew what dirty dealings he was into, and his accomplice, best friends, and political partner Mike Ramos gave him a heads up. He made sure he destroyed the names and files of those he recruited, and those he gave very particular ORDERS to, Brulte WAS the man behind the curtain, power and political hungry individuals were not strong enough to resist and tell him NO! Now Brulte’s connection with Ramos has him free, but I will patiently wait for the arrest! I’m crossing my fingers at least.
Repairman:
Perhaps the FBI has closed their file on The Colonies case, and are hoping everybody will forget that they got caught lying about what offices they searched in Jeff Burum’s building.
Anonymous#13:
You forgot to mention they also raided Burum’s home and offices and the homes and offices of several others at the same time as Brultes all one big raid.
Yes I will be crossing my fingers for the arrest’s as well.
Observer of Facts:
Yeah, your probably right.
Repairman:
Do you recall all the excitement and hype surrounding the prosecution of the former Mayor of Upland, who faced up to 145 years in prison if convicted on all the charges the Grand Jury handed down?
The FBI raided his home, several businesses in Upland that he was affiliated with, and even the Upland City Hall. The IRS also got into the act.
After all the excitement died down, and the case had to be proven, prosecutors dismissed all the other charges when he agreed to plead guilty to accepting a single $5,000 bribe.
OoF has wrapped it up nicely in a nutshell, thank you.
Anonymous #18:
Thank YOU! I am not used to being complemented for my comments.
One final thought: When the FBI raided Jeff Burum’s office, twenty-five (25) agents participated.
This is so over the top that one suspects that Mike Ramos was involved.
I wonder if there was any real crime taking place in San Bernardino County at that time where these resources could have been put to better use?
OoF, your welcome, and you’re right with this comment again…25 agents!! Are things that slow at the FBI headquarters, that there is only one thing to do that day? Could half of them not have gone over to San manuel’s reservation? BTW the marijuana harvest should by read July/August, how about the FBI keep an eye on the rez to log who comes and goes?
Yeah your probably right, the F.B.I. just didn’t have anything else to do that day. Yeah that’s it . What else could it be?
Repairman:
That’s the point! The FBI probably had lots of other things they could have been working on that day more important than raiding Jeff Burum’s office.
And even if this was a critical raid, was the show of force (25 agents) really necessary?
As the case evolves, perhaps it will be determined that this raid was the turning point, and it could not have been accomplished with less manpower. If so, I will gladly admit I was wrong.
So far though, it seems like one more in a long series of events calculated to humiliate and punish Jeff Burum for having the courage to stand up against a defiant bureaucracy, fight back, and win.
OOF and Anon#20….You guys can stick your heads in the sand all you want, but it’s not going to save those charged. The significance of Pomierski is that he was put into office as Burum’s Vichy Mayor. It establishes a pattern of behavior for Burum that demonstrates his willingness to undermine public welfare…..Now I must readily admit that I’m not an FBI agent, however I’m betting that neither are the two of you. I have taken note of other FBI actions from years gone by and noticed that when an investigation into organized crime is going on they usually don’t inform newspapers and bloggers of their progress. Also it may take some time to unravel the full scope of corruption that involved judges, assemblymen,supervisors,and congressmen. This whole scandal is truly a deep rooted rott equivalent to finding out that the whole side of your home has decayed beneath the vanir of your stucco siding. Also, When raiding an office and not knowing the exact amount of items to be confiscated, 25 agents seems like a pretty fair number. After all, not only is there the issue of the agents safety, but also the actual labor of moving office items…..As to what you consider Copes losses locally, I say that it to be expected if these judges can’t be trusted. In fact the proof that something is a mist with these local judges can be seen in how hard all those charged in this case fought to get the original judge in this case removed. The original judge was the same one that oversaw the Rex Gutierrez trial and it seemed that Rex’s trial whant contrary to Burum’s liking, but actually served the Tax paying citizen pretty well.
OOF, I invite you to review old pictures of the raid found on DB. I beleive the FBI took more than a computer and a box of files.
Well put OoF:
Repairman, Ramos made it sound to the FBI as if we were in immediate danger, and if they didn’t act in full force San Bernardino County was in danger of massive loss of lives, and perhaps even massive air raids and bombings”
But once the FBI’s army got back to headquarters with the “master plan” detailing the “mapped corruption” they soon got that SINKING feeling that they had been PUNKED!!…
…by Ramos, and he abused his position of authority to misinform the FBI in order to use them in his “juvenile” plan to take “personal” vengeance; THE FBI SHOULD BILL RAMOS FOR THE COST OF THIS RIDICULOUS RAID!!!!!!!!!!!
Anon#25…that’s an extravagant story. The FBI are not key stone cops at Ramos’ beck n call. I do believe a certain criteria has to be met and certain evidence produced by local law enforcement before they act. An example would be that a county is so corrupt, from its politicians to its judges to those in the SD and PD, that the well being of the public is in jeopardy. This colonies case fits the bill in that the one common thread between colonies and the many stories of local corruption is Burum.
Anonymous # 25:
Are you trying to convince me or yourself and the rest of the partners?
Anonymous:
In Comments #23 and #26, you make it clear that you buy into the prosecutions hyperbole regarding “the most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself.”
That is certainly your right.
Personally, I find it unlikely that one businessman (Jeff Burum) could have successfully bribed and corrupted three (3) Superior Court Judges, one (1) retired Supreme Court Judge, and three (3) County Supervisors.
Now, you are suggesting that “assemblymen” and “congressmen” were also corrupted, and that the former Mayor of Upland was “put into place” by Mr. Burum.
Is it logical to think that one businessman could have so much power?
A far simpler scenario seems more likely to me: Mr. Burum successfully sued the county, and the District Attorney is retaliating.
And no, I am not an FBI agent, but I am willing to bet that the FBI has conducted raids with fewer than 25 agents present. And to say that they were concerned about their “agent’s safety” is a cheap shot; this was probably one of the least dangerous raids in FBI history.
I think Red Anon. is right in #23& 26
And I think that this could turn out to actually be “the most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself.”
OOF#28…..This isn’t hard to imagine or far fetched if a culture of corruption already existed and San Bernardino county has demonstrated such. All Burum did was to step in and raise the steaks to a new level. This is even bolstered further when one considers that many of these people run in the same political and social circles. Favoritism may be shown based on party affiliation or golf club membership if not for straight up money or favors.
Repairman:
You might be right, but the prosecution needs to start moving ahead instead of moving backwards.
It might also turn out to be the slowest prosecution “in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself;” it’s been nearly 2 1/2 years since the infamous Jerry Brown and Mike Ramos press conference.
OOF….that just goes to show how deep seated the corruption is. This is equivalent to a MAFIA case and they usually move slowly.
Oof, Lol; “the slowest prosecution in history”
The prosecutors have been pacing up and down for YEARS NOW, lying in wait for the defendants to SLIP in order to AMBUSH them with more charges, hoping to gather CREDIBLE evidence to JUSTIFY their current “creative hollow” charges.
tic toc tic toc…the years continue to slip away, but there will be no slipping on the defendants part. In spite of Ramos’ SINISTER desire to destroy their life, wreck their homes, shame their family, and take away their professional influence -these defendants have continued to serve their family, church and community without a thought to Ramos’ sinister desires, as it should be, for life goes on, …and Ramos will get the fight he was looking for!
Anonymous #31:
The FBI hasn’t been here that long.
They took 11 months for pomierski, it’s only been 9 months for the colonies. So maybe the FBI will be knocking on their doors soon.
Who knows maybe something completely different from the 102,000,000 settlement. Pomierski cut some kind of deal to go from 145 years to 3.
Repairman:
I don’t expect Jeff Burum to “cut some kind of deal.”
Rather, I look for him to fight long and hard, like you say Neil Derry should have done.
Observer of Facts:
I know your right on that.
OOF#33….Burum has no choice but to fight long and hard as there will be no deal offered him, just like with HITLER. Un-conditional surrender!
I’ve lost hope for any conviction. That being said, I wouldn’t be shocked if all this came unraveled soon now that the “Postmus-era reign of terror” is now officially over, more or less.
Postmus era rain of terror? funny considering he was the one being blackmailed and shadowed by PIs. The real rain of terror was and is Burum. It sure is taking the appellate court along time considering the people on this blog said this was a trumped up case. Apparently there are some real issues for them to consider.
Anonymous:
In Comment # 30, you forgot to place the word “allegedly” in front of the phrase “being blackmailed.” This is common problem; some people seem to think that unproven allegations are facts.
I am amused with the comments that suggest that a successful appeal by the county is going to be a major victory in the prosecution.
All the Appellate Court is considering is the ruling that dismissed a number of the charges against the defendants. They are not considering any evidence whatsoever regarding “blackmail,” or any of the other claims of malfeasance made against Jeff Burum.
The best result the prosecution can hope for is that all the dismissed charges are reinstated. If they are, they still have to be proven.
The Colonies are essentially playing with house money, with nothing to lose.
OOF….you are partially correct. The colonies have always been playing with house money. This is the result of developer subsidies/welfare that they have been used to receiving all these years. In fact,they believed themselves entitled to such in exchange for all the campaign money they pass around. Your efforts to try and belittle the appellate court are laughable. Should they reinstate the charges, it would shine a light on the judge and he will have to act very carefully. It would also reinvigorate the prosecution and public support for the fine work of protecting the tax payer coffers.
Anonymous:
Regarding Comment #41, under no circumstances am I trying to “belittle the appellate court,” and am perplexed how any objective analysis of my comment could lead somebody to reach that conclusion.
Based on your argument that a favorable Appellate Court ruling will “reinvigorate the prosecution and public support,” I assume that you also agree that a ruling that sustains the dismissal of the charges will further erode the prosecutions confidence and public support? Or will you claim that The Colonies somehow corrupted the Appellate Court? My guess is the later.
Finally, as to the prosecutions “fine work of protecting the tax payer’s coffers,” let’s remember that quote, and see if you still feel that way when the case plays out and Mike Ramos finally has to disclose how much taxpayer money this prosecution has cost the taxpayers.
I agree with Oof 100%, but 3:37AM?? Get some sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!
Observer of Facts:
You say that the DA is spending too much money. What do you think a appropriate amount investigating a $102,000,000.00 theft of taxpayer money would be?
Repairman….That is an excellent point.
OOF…. You are trying to set the tone and plant the seed of defeatism in the minds of those that are seeking judicial relief for blatant out and out county corruption. As to the appellate court, they seemed to be free of his influence last time they reviewed a case involving him. However, considering that Larson is an ex superior court judge and Burum hired him precisely for his connections and ability to drag out a case with bathroom brake motions, who knows what kind of behind the scene influence he has over the appellate court judges? Does he golf with any of them? Do they vacation together or pal around? Are they all part of the same political party? all of these can come into question. They are taking this long for a reason. Why put it past Burum to corrupt judges when he has a pattern of using money to influence his gain?
Repairman:
In Comment #44, you pose a rhetorical question, since I do not believe that the settlement with The Colonies constituted a “theft of taxpayer money.”
With a lot of help from the The Sun and the Daily Bulletin, the prosecution wants the people to forget that The Colonies had imposed liability on the county by beating them in the court room. What was settled was the amount of the damages, and The Colonies gave the county a major discount.
In my opinion, the “theft” was the county trying to steal land from a private property owner. I do not believe that the county expected The Colonies to fight back. Not only did The Colonies fight back, they won.
I remain very interested in the final accounting of the costs of The Colonies debacle to the taxpayers. As the prosecution also wants the people to forget, The Colonies originally offered to pay the county 50% of the detention basin costs, approximately $12 Million. Jon Mikels scoffed, assuming he could force them to pay all the costs.
As a result, the County ended up paying attorneys at least $10 Million to fight, lost, settled the damages for $102 Million, and have now supposedly spent at least $15 Million on this prosecution.
So, instead of receiving $12 Million, the county paid out $127 Million. In my opinion, the prosecution of the “the most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself” is an attempt to sweep that fact under the rug.
By the way, did you see the article on Mike Ramos and his campaign to fight gangs in San Bernardino County? This is where the resources being spent on The Colonies prosecution should be focused. Do you think an extra $139 million would help?
OOF…….For as bad as crime in the county is, it will only get worse if corruption at the top is not dealt with…..Let us not forget that when Mikels refused colonies offer it was because their $12 million dollar cost was inflated. The claim was that the basin work could be done for closer to $1million. Colonies was attempting to squeeze more money out of tax payers. We saw him do this when he got cal-trans to pay him $18 million for the freeway right of way. Not bad considering he only paid $16million for the land. The tax payers are not responsible for ensuring profits for colony partners. So as a tax payer that recognizes the extreme danger Burum presents to our communities I have no problem with the money spent on this prosecution, in fact let’s double it if it will rid us of this plague of developer corruption. This is no different from fighting a life threatening cancer. When doing so, when does a person say “oh it’s too expensive to fight this disease, let’s just give up”. No, but we do what is necessary to fight off the attacking disease, spending what is called for until the death dealing disease is erradicated. Such is the case here.
Anonymous # 47:
Regarding your claim that “The tax payers are not responsible for ensuring profits for colony partners,” I agree. Conversely, The Colonies partners are not responsible for constructing improvements that should be the counties responsibility.” Judge Warner agreed.
If the $12 Million offer from The Colonies was “inflated” it would have been to the counties benefit to accept it, since you claim that the improvements should have only cost $1 Million. They would have pocketed $11 Million.
This argument is indicative of somebody that has been so brainwashed by the local media with endless articles suggesting bribery and theft of tax payer money that clearly specious arguments seems valid.
What happened here is fairly simple: The County tried to exact maximum concessions out of a developer, just as they and hundreds of other government agencies have been doing for a long time. The Colonies didn’t agree, and rather than capitulating, as most developers do, they decided to fight back. They won, which the county didn’t like, and Mike Ramos is now spending millions to retaliate.
You clearly support his doing so. I don’t.
OOF….For starters, everyone knew years before the colonies was even a concept in Burums mind that a freeway was going to be put through there. Whether above or below grade, the placement made no difference as runoff would still need to go somewhere. It was disingenuous of Burum to think he would purchase this property and leave any flood issue upgrades for taxpayers to fork up. Burums claim of splitting a $12 million project that Mikels believed could have been accomplished for $1million would have profited Burum $5million. Again, tax payers are not responsible for insuring colony profits. Mikels did the right thing. It’s too bad that the public had a boozer and a meth head to go along with that spineless puppet Ovitt when it came down to protecting the tax payer purse. An even better option would have been to just reject the development of the colonies all together as it has been the impetus for much of the scandal to plague upland since its inception. If any Uplander feels that it has produced such a great tax base, I would bet they would change their minds if city residents had to go it alone in paying off that $102 million instead of having county tax payers as a whole help cover that bill. BTW, the only reason why colonies chose to fight the county is because they were already pumping money into politicians who they knew would back their cause and were already developing a political strategy of removing any politician that opposed them…….
Observer, any time you have Supervisors negotiating directly with developers, THAT’S A PROBLEM!
I agree; Jon Mikels should never have had the authority to deal with The Colonies and reject their offer.
His arrogance and defiance started the entire dispute.
If that offer had been objectively reviewed and voted on by a Board or Commission, the county might have a lot of extra money right now.
Are you sure that the Colonies Partners aren’t the one’s that empowered then-Supervisor Mikels to assume this supposed position of authority in the land development negotiations process, just by the project being located within his District?
Had Mikels ever received campaign contributions from the Colonies Dynamic Duo of Burum and Richards prior to this supposed dispute? This would be another factor to consider, especially because the Westside Red Hill Boyz are used to paying their “fair share” to get their way, you know “pay-to-play”, aka quid pro quo (baby).
Was Mikels getting paid to play, or because he wasn’t getting his “fair share” due to his opposing political affiliation, da boyz from the Colonies started making Mikels look like he stopped playing the game by taking his ball and going home, therefore rejecting this supposed good faith offer?
Little Stevie Wonder:
Comment #52 is another in a long series of comments that suggests that Jeff Burum and his Colonies partners have a level of influence that makes them the most powerful developer I have ever seen or heard of.
In addition to successfully bribing a bunch of Superior Court Judges to rule against the county, these guys have the ability to “empower” the County Supervisors? Don’t let Donald Trump know, he might get jealous.
The resistance to the far more likely concept that The Colonies chose to fight back against the unreasonable demands of a bureaucracy continues to amaze me.
@ OoF – Why do you continue to be surprised that reasoning and logic are out the window when it comes to the topic of Burum and 95% of the posters on this site?
How much more fun it must be to make spurious allegations and sit behind a computer throwing out wild assumptions then to actually take the time to review the facts?
I don’t get it either so I am jumping to the conclusion that most of those who post about how “corrupt” the colonies crew is are in fact jealous of the success these men worked for.
Interested observer……….Burum’s success came from riding the Miller affordable housing gravy train. There was no work involved in that, only corruption. Unless you are claiming corruption is OK because it takes effort and effort equates to work?
Interested Observer:
I think the 95% that post are not jealous of success, but pissed off at the theft of $102,000,000.00 of tax payer money and the corruption that has permeated the county.
U 2 Observers don’t handle questions about Facts very well, do U?
Political influence equals corruption.
DA Mikey says: “Go ahead and DOUBLE-DOWN in the IE JB with that $102M GIFT-O-PUBLIC FUNDS, Upland and Redlands need Supercenters too… so please INVEST in San Bernardino County!”
CEO Devilreaux says: “Shut-up Mikey, don’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, we still owe them more! You know this I-210/ SanBAG scam on both ends of the freeway is still under raps from Mayor Viagragossa and our LA County METRO partners IN SCAG. I want it to stay that way until after we can steal-back ONT, even though SB International and the Victimville HD Logistics Airports are both in BANKRUPTCY.”
The thing that concerns me the most is the fact that there are at least 4 other S.B. Co. officials (Derry, Rigney, Millington & Mitzelfelt) that are still in office, that were involved with Colonies scam as well as Henderson Creek and others. And are currently still ripping us off, and misapproprating county funds.
Excellent point Jerry.
Jerry, can’t figure out where you are coming from by naming two seated Supervisors on your list, the same two Supervisors who have been labeled “uncooperative” by the County’s Chief Executive Officer? Then at the same time, you leave out the name of the seated Supervisor Gary “Oh not me” Ovitt, who is an obvious Colonies Settlement conspirator (the third vote on the BOS in favor of the Settlement), but not included in the DA/ AG’s charged Colonies Four. Which side of these friendly lawsuits/ settlement aka LEGAL SERVICES FRAUD are u on?? P.S. The feds RICO should have a Colonies Five, Six and Seven if they include Ovitt, Richards and DA Mikey’s Songbird Postmus too! Or maybe it should be a Colonies Five, and drop the scapegoats Erwin and Kirk if they are “cooperative” (will sing) to the federal authorities?
Upland Mayor Ray Musser accepted 15 to 20k CA$H from Pomierski’s saddlebags a few years ago and then started talking “campaign reform” to prevent newcomers from raising funds. But that’s just a tip of the old iceberg.
The best one is that Council Member Ken Willis and Musser were asking for money from Colonies Crossroads at the same time that the City of Upland (R. Turner) and SAWCo (R. Wellington) were providing incorrect information which resulted in Colonies Partners being forced to overbuild the basin. Why you might ask? So there would be more water to recharge and provide more water for SAWCo to sell. And enable Upland to drop the west spillway water project. Cha ching! No wonder old Council Member Ken Willis is fighting for his life to avoid testifying in the Flood Control Lawsuit. Willis and a few others should be bunkmates with Pomierski. Pathetic.