Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 30 January 2012 11:33 AM
A judge Monday barred 248 health-care workers from joining a one-day strike by members of Riverside County’s second-largest union.
Mike Cruz, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Created: 01/30/2012 10:27:09 AM PST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – A workplace discrimination lawsuit has been filed in Superior Court against Ontario Police Chief Eric Hopley by his former administrative assistant Brenda Vallejo.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 30, 2012 | 3:31 pm
California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye lost a round over Judicial Council power
The state’s top judge lost a political battle Monday when the state Assembly voted to shift key budget decisions from the state Judicial Council that she heads to local trial courts, some of which have complained about the panel’s handling of money.
RICHARD K. De ATLEY/Staff
RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 29 January 2012 07:33 PM
Like passengers on a plane with half the engines snuffed, Inland court officials can only wait and watch as Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget for next year fiscal year moves through the state’s political turbulence.
By Howard Mintz hmintz@mercurynews.com
Posted: 01/30/2012 06:56:26 AM PST
Updated: 01/30/2012 07:31:17 AM PST
With a crucial vote looming Monday, a conflict that has shaken California’s judiciary reaches a critical stage when the Assembly considers legislation that would strip control of most of the court system’s purse strings from a central bureaucracy and turn it over to the Legislature and local trial judges.
January 26, 2012
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye today urged the defeat of Assembly legislation that would undermine the authority of the Judicial Council, and give courts in as few as two counties authority to veto any statewide judicial project.
Cantil-Sakauye, who became chief justice in 2010, is showing herself to be a tough fighter as she lobbies to kill legislation by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, himself the consummate inside player.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 24, 2012 | 1:51 pm
Democratic lawmakers sued state Controller John Chiang on Tuesday seeking limits on the controller’s right to withhold lawmakers’ pay during a budget stalemate.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
As the Legislature reconvened this month, California’s judges resumed their civil war over money and power.
It pits Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and the State Judicial Council, along with one faction of trial and appellate judges, against a rebellious faction, organized as the Alliance of California Judges, over how to allocate pain as the courts adjust to reduced financing.
By Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/19/2012 03:50:38 PM PST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – G3 Holistic in Upland will be able to remain open.
A West Valley Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the medical marijuana cooperative because the case is under review by the California Supreme Court.
Wes Woods II, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Created: 01/09/2012 03:03:05 PM PST
View Document: Lawsuit filed by Claremont police union vs. city and chamber
CLAREMONT – The Claremont Police Officers Association has filed a lawsuit against the Claremont Chamber of Commerce and the city alleging its right to freedom of expression, association and assembly were violated at the Village Venture event in October.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 06 January 2012 11:19 AM
Defense attorneys in the Colonies corruption case announced in court Friday morning they are seeking records from an influential union representing public safety employees.
Attorneys are also seeking additional records from the county flood control district concerning its four-year legal battle with Colonies Partners.
Joe Nelson and Mike Cruz, Staff Writers
Posted: 01/06/2012 01:08:11 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – Defense attorneys in a San Bernardino County corruption case are requesting documents from a public safety labor union they believe will help refute allegations of blackmail against a Rancho Cucamonga developer and the union’s former president.
By Mark Gutglueck
Friday, January 6, 2012
Questions continue to dog the second highest ranking member of the county auditor-controller/treasurer-tax collector’s office with regard to the role he and a political action committee he controlled played in illegally passing through and laundering money for those convicted of or charged with participation in a bribery and extortion conspiracy.
By Mark Gutgleuck
Friday, January 6, 2012
Originally Published: Friday, December 30, 2011
As of earlier this week, former state assemblyman Brett Granlund had actively avoided several attempts to serve him with a subpoena relating to the Colonies Settlement case.
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/06/2012 03:35:10 PM PST
UPLAND – G3 Holistic will remain open, for now.
West Valley Superior Court Judge Barry Plotkin on Friday postponed his decision on whether or not the co-op can remain open until the California Supreme Court decides whether to review G3′s appeal.
Wes Woods II and Sandra Emerson, Staff writers
Created: 01/05/2012 03:34:25 PM PST
UPLAND – A week later: It’s still open.
Medical marijuana collective G3 Holistics Inc. continues to be open for business, but it may not be so for long.
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/03/2012 04:17:20 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – A Redlands girl who says she was sexually abused by a former sheriff’s deputy while in the sheriff’s Explorer program also alleges in a civil lawsuit that administrators at the Sheriff’s Department and the Public Safety Academy, a charter school in San Bernardino, were negligent or failed to act.
January 03, 2012 1:50 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor
VICTORVILLE • An attorney is seeking to recover more than $9 million in damages on behalf of 4,300 people who’ve received tickets from Victorville’s red light cameras, claiming the system is “unfair, unlawful, fraudulent and deceptive.”
Robert Conaway, a criminal defense attorney from Barstow, sent notice in early December to the city of Victorville and Redflex Traffic Systems that he intends to file a class action lawsuit unless changes are made with the way red light cameras are handled here. He updated that notice in late December, tacking on the calculated damages.
Monday, January 2, 2012- 1045 a.m.
The fight over the future of Victor Valley Community Hospital (VVCH) has some interesting twists.
Dr. Prem Reddy, who operates Prime Healthcare Services, wants the bankrupt facility as part of his network of highly-profitable hospitals.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 12/30/2011 11:37:49 AM PST
Investigations into corruption in San Bernardino County advanced in fits and starts over the past year.
Prosecutors gained ground when former Supvervisor-turned-Assessor Bill Postmus agreed in March to plead guilty to bribery, conflict of interest and misappropriation of public funds and to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
BY JANET ZIMMERMAN
STAFF WRITER
jzimmerman@pe.com
Published: 28 December 2011 01:56 PM
Riverside County officials said Wednesday they have begun legal action to close about three dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas.
Attorneys filed for an injunction and issued legislative subpoenas against two of the stores, the latest volley since the Board of Supervisors authorized crackdowns on Dec. 13.
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 27 December 2011 05:41 PM
Riverside County got its first Latina judge Tuesday when Gov. Jerry Brown announced the appointment of Raquel A. Marquez to the bench.
Also named to judgeships by the governor were Riverside County Commissioner John W. Vineyard and Supervising District Attorney Otis Sterling III.
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 12/22/2011 06:24:24 PM PST
Special Section: Upland Watch
UPLAND – Former Mayor John Pomierski may file a lawsuit against the city for refusing to represent him in a civil suit filed by the former Chronic Cantina restaurant and bar.
A claim was filed with the city this week by Pomierski’s civil attorney, Robert Schauer, demanding the city represent Pomierski or face a lawsuit seeking attorney’s fees and other damages.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
December 20, 2011 | 2:43 pm
California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris has filed suit against mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for refusing to answer subpoenas issued to the companies this year.
Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 12/19/2011 05:22:30 PM PST
Seven current and former employees of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, accused of forging training documents for increased pay in a decade-long scam, appeared briefly in San Bernardino Superior Court Monday for a pre-trial hearing.
Lawyers agreed to another continuance and set a new pretrial date for March 23.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 16 December 2011 10:53 AM
A retrial of two businessmen accused of attempting to bribe a top aide to San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales has been postponed until March.
By Carol J. Williams Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 16, 2011, 12:50 p.m.
A judge on Friday threw out California’s new lethal-injection protocols, which have been six years in the making, because corrections officials failed to consider a one-drug execution method now in practice in other death penalty states.
Saturday, December 10, 2011 – 09:00 a.m.
Speaking of no justice.
Friday’s plea deal between the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office and defendant Gregory Eyler depicts a stark reality when prosecutions turn political in nature.
The move avoids a jury trial originally set for January 30, 2012.
Friday, December 9, 2011 – 04:30 p.m.
The California Court of Appeal has now entered the fray on the Colonies case.
Mike Cruz and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 12/09/2011 12:50:39 PM PST
Greg Eyler
SAN BERNARDINO – Gregory Eyler, a former taxpayer advocate for the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office, pleaded no contest Friday to an allegation that he drew pay from the county for work he never performed.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 12/08/2011 08:04:06 PM PST
San Bernardino County prosecutors have filed four additional perjury charges against an Apple Valley businessman accused of lying to the Grand Jury in a sweeping county corruption probe.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 – 11:00 a.m.
San Bernardino County prosecutors have engineered another of a series of delays in a nearly two-year old case against a High-Desert developer.
The action has once again delayed the cross-examination of a key-witness.
Cheryl Miller
The Recorder
December 5, 2011
SACRAMENTO — With 2011 nearing a close, California lawyers must be wondering which will arrive first: Gov. Jerry Brown’s first trial court appointments or Santa Claus.
Nearly a full year into his administration, Brown has named just one jurist — albeit a very high-profile one — to the bench: Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu. Meanwhile, vacancies in the superior and appellate courts have gone unfilled and totaled 62 at the end of October, the latest figure available from the Administrative Office of the Courts. The vacancy rate is nearing a two-year high.
By Joe Piasecki, Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2011
A Sacramento Superior Court judge has ruled that the California Assembly must disclose budget records of individual lawmakers, handing a victory to newspapers that filed a lawsuit accusing legislators of flouting the state’s open records laws.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
December 2, 2011
A Republican-backed group seeking to place newly drawn state Senate districts before voters next year is asking the California Supreme Court to prepare for its referendum to qualify for the ballot.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 01 December 2011 09:21 AM
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge Thursday delayed the sentencing of former assistant county assessor Adam Aleman, who is a key witness in a corruption investigation.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
December 1, 2011 | 3:54 pm
A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has tentatively ordered the California Assembly to release lawmakers’ office budgets and other legislative documents it had claimed were exempt from public disclosure.
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 30 November 2011 09:20 PM
Inland officials are facing lengthy consequences from the state’s new law to house nonviolent convicts in county jail instead of state prison.
The realignment law, AB109, which took effect Oct. 1, was presented as capping county jail sentences at three years. That isn’t happening.
By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 11/30/2011 12:29:42 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – Construction began Wednesday on the new San Bernardino County courthouse in downtown San Bernardino.
The estimated $339 million project, which has been in development since 2007, will be an 11-story building with 36 courtrooms.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 29 November 2011 09:29 AM
A San Bernardino County judge on Tuesday ordered the grand jury testimony of a former county official unsealed as part of a government corruption case.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 11/29/2011 10:37:41 PM PST
A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered that the Grand Jury testimony of a former county official be unsealed.
Judge Michael A. Smith ordered the release of transcripts of testimony given by Jim Lindley, the county’s former public health director and former director of purchasing, before the county’s civil Grand Jury on April 21.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 29 November 2011 09:29 AM
A San Bernardino County judged ordered the grand jury testimony of a former county official unsealed as part of a corruption case.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 11/28/2011 06:36:01 PM PST
A new law meant to reduce California’s prison population raises questions as to whether four defendants in a sweeping San Bernardino County corruption case would serve time in prison if convicted.
November 23, 2011 2:36 PM
Tomoya Shimura
Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE • A Victorville judge on Wednesday denied the California Attorney General’s attempt to prevent Prime Healthcare Services from helping keep bankrupt Victor Valley Community Hospital open.
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 18 November 2011 08:23 AM
Two former San Jacinto City Council members were sentenced Friday to 120 days of weekend work release for their money-laundering roles in the San Jacinto corruption case.
By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2011
A Los Angeles judge Tuesday ordered the release of all pension data for 50,000 Los Angeles County government retirees, rejecting arguments by union and retirement system attorneys that the records are confidential.
“There really is no such thing as insider trading for real estate,” said Milsap. “It goes on in real estate all the time. That’s the benefit of local knowledge.”
Ryan Milsap, Adjunct Professor at USC School of Real Estate and Broker
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/14/2011 08:19:46 PM PST
Authorities looked hard at several land deals involving former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus during their investigation of the county’s $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP, according to recently released search warrants.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/12/2011 06:12:51 AM PST
The ways money flowed to candidates and political action committees and alleged acts of blackmail are detailed in search warrants in San Bernardino County’s $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP in November 2006.
The warrants, released last week, also describe what led authorities to suspect a county supervisor’s former chief of staff of criminal activity before he became a witness for the prosecution.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 08 November 2011 10:05 AM
Search warrants released as part of a San Bernardino County corruption case detail how the four-year investigation grew from reports of political gifts to allegations of a far-reaching conspiracy involving several top county officials and a prominent developer.
Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Created: 11/07/2011 06:53:01 PM PST
The remaining search warrants served in a sweeping corruption probe involving a legal settlement between the county and a Rancho Cucamonga developer were released Monday.
BY IMRAN GHORI AND DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITERS
ighori@pe.com | dbegley@pe.com
Published: 04 November 2011 09:59 AM
Search warrants released Friday provide more details of former San Bernardino County assessor and Supervisor Bill Postmus’ struggles with hiding his homosexuality and drug addiction as he was under scrutiny by authorities who suspected him of abusing his public office.
Joe Nelson and Mike Cruz, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Created: 11/04/2011 10:56:54 AM PDT
SAN BERNARDINO – Eleven search warrants served over a two-year period in a sweeping corruption probe tied to a legal settlement between the county and a Rancho Cucamonga developer were ordered released Friday by a Superior Court judge.
(Disclaimers: Document #1 contains explicit language; pages containing private information have been removed from Document #2)
Judge Michael A. Smith ordered the search warrants released Friday after defense attorneys did not appear in court to object to their release or request redactions be made to the documents.
November 04, 2011 4:53 PM
KAREN JONAS
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO • Nearly two years after Barstow Mayor Joe Gomez was charged with touching a woman inappropriately, his defense attorney said the incident was consensual at a hearing Friday morning in San Bernardino.
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 03 November 2011 12:12 PM
A state judicial watchdog agency has publicly admonished Riverside Count District Attorney Paul Zellerbach for actions he took as a judge involving the district attorney’s office, then run by Rod Pacheco, the man Zellerbach would defeat in an election.
The state Commission on Judicial Performance’s admonishment Thursday was prompted by complaints filed by Pacheco’s office before he left.
October 31, 2011 4:24 PM
DOUG SAUNDERS
VICTORVILLE • Victor Valley Community Hospital won a reprieve Monday when a judge rejected the state Attorney General’s attempt to block a stopgap financing plan that would keep the bankrupt hospital running, at least in the short term.
By Maura Dolan and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
October 27, 2011
Reporting from San Francisco and Sacramento — The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to intervene in new voting districts drawn by a citizens commission, deciding unanimously to reject two challenges to the boundaries.
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/24/2011 06:24:03 PM PDT
Nearly a dozen search warrants and their affidavits served by investigators probing the Colonies Partners LP $102million settlement with San Bernardino County were ordered unsealed Monday for defense lawyers.
Mike Cruz and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 10/24/2011 02:55:29 PM PDT
A judge on Monday declined to bar more than 2,700 pages of Grand Jury transcripts in a criminal corruption probe from being used in a civil case involving San Bernardino County and three other public entities.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 24 October 2011 12:23 PM
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that he will not prevent about 2,700 pages of grand jury testimony in a corruption case from being used in a related civil case.
By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 – 8:00 am
In any California budget fight, there are winners and losers.
And then there are lawyers.
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 21 October 2011 11:39 AM
Stephen R. Holgate, the developer called the “hub” of a years-long political corruption scandal that rocked the city of San Jacinto, was sentenced to nine months in jail Friday and handcuffed in court to immediately begin his term.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – 04:30 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – 07:15 p.m.
The attorney representing Rickie Lee Fowler is bringing forward strong accusations these days.
Fowler faces capital charges from allegations that he is the perpetrator who set the 2003 Old Fire. The case against him was brought by the District Attorney through a grand jury indictment obtained at the end of the criminal statute of limitations period.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Published: 16 October 2011 05:58 PM
A campaign alliance between San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman and city clerk candidate Amelia Sanchez Lopez is raising eyebrows among longtime election watchers and concern among those who would like to see the pair defeated.
BY DUANE W. GANG
STAFF WRITER
dgang@pe.com
Published: 14 October 2011 09:49 PM
An attorney for a former San Bernardino County assessor’s employee requested Friday that prosecutors compel Bill Postmus to submit to an interview with a defense team investigator.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/14/2011 05:11:31 PM PDT
San Bernardino County’s transportation planning agency, the city of Upland and Caltrans are fighting the county over the use of grand jury transcripts from the Colonies corruption investigation in a pending indemnity lawsuit.
Lawyers spar over the use of grand jury testimony in a civil suit tied to the 2006 Colonies settlement case
BY DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITER
dbegley@pe.com
Published: 14 October 2011 07:44 PM
Criminal and civil lawsuits centered on a controversial San Bernardino County flood control settlement continue to collide, most recently regarding what can and cannot be shared between the two cases.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 10/08/2011 08:36:40 PM PDT
Grand Jury testimony given by Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum in 2009 could prove beneficial to his defense and should have been provided to a criminal grand jury in April, according to Burum’s attorney.
Friday, October 7, 2011 – 10:00 a.m.
The civil trial of a lawsuit filed by former county executive Mark Uffer against San Bernardino County has been continued at the request of both parties.
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 05 October 2011 10:00 PM
During a bitter four-year legal battle with San Bernardino County, Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum was frustrated that county supervisors weren’t getting the real truth as he saw it, so he had his friend Jim Erwin act as an unofficial liaison who could bypass attorneys and deliver messages directly to them, according to testimony Burum provided to a grand jury.
RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Inland area cities and counties are working to close storefront medical marijuana dispensaries that have appeared all over the landscape in the past two years.
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, September 29, 2011
BY DAVID DANELSKI
STAFF WRITER
ddanelski@pe.com
A judge ruled Thursday that the San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association must reimburse The Press-Enterprise for attorney fees incurred during a dispute over public pension records the agency sought to withhold.
Postmus
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/29/2011 09:38:47 PM PDT
The attorney for Bill Postmus is concerned that his client, who is cooperating with state and local prosecutors in their investigation of San Bernardino County’s $102 million legal settlement with a Rancho Cucamonga developer, could be in legal jeopardy from a federal investigation into the deal.
Dan Walters
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Sep. 30, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
The Legislature’s budget analyst has waded into the political war between the state court system’s San Francisco-based leadership – including Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye – and hundreds of local trial court judges.
Wyatt Buchanan,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sacramento –California’s budget, already on shaky footing with tax revenues coming in lower than forecast, was hit with three new problems Wednesday when advocates for public schools, the developmentally disabled and cities filed separate lawsuits challenging the spending plan.
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/27/2011 12:07:51 PM PDT
REPORTS FROM COURT: Get updates as they happen. Follow @SBcourts to keep up with the latest developments
Alleging a conflict of interest exists, the attorney for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum wants the district attorney recused from prosecuting his client.
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