iePolitics: More on Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

After being off work and without a paycheck for the past four weeks thanks to our FORMER County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer, writing that last article was a bit cathartic.  Mark was a bit upset with me for several reasons, one of which is that I finally got sick of [...]

iePolitics Commentary: Sheriff Hoops, Part 2

Sheriff Rod Hoops let’s continue from my last posting.
I do not want our readers to think that misconduct such as the credentials falsification issue with Sheriff’s Captain Bart Gray is nothing but an aberration.
It is actually the opposite. In other words it happens quite frequently.
Not only are special accommodations made for [...]

Los Angeles DA Joins Ranks of Drug Cartel Bitches Against Medical Marijuana

It was a petulant fit of pique, certainly entertaining, and potentially hilarious — if safe access for so many medical marijuana patients weren’t hanging in the balance.

After things didn’t go his way at Monday’s Los Angeles City Council joint committee meeting, District Attorney Stephen Lawrence (“Steve”) Cooley pronounced Tuesday [...]

Uffer Era Ends on a 3-2 Vote

Mark H. Uffer’s five-year tenure as the county’s top administrative officer drew to a close this week with a 3-2 vote of the board of supervisors.
The sacking of Uffer, who was named interim county administrative officer in March 2004 and then given the official title as CAO in September 2004, [...]

iePolitics Commentary: Sheriff Hoops

Rod Hoops
Bart Gray

I am not surprised to hear that you are going to try and let the issue with Captain Bart Gray and his wife die a quiet death. More on that in a moment.
I direct these statements to you because you are the Sheriff. As you know you [...]

From cop to politician

San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops has spent a career in law enforcement, but now he’s running for elective office and it’s a new ball game for him.
“I don’t really like that part of the job,” he told the San Bernardino County Democratic Club on Friday, Nov. 13. Even though [...]

County Immigration Enforcement Plan Prompts Profiling Concern

Over the objections of eleven county residents, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors this week renewed a commitment to have the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department cooperate with federal authorities in identifying illegal immigrants and targeting them for deportation.
While a representative of the county sheriff’s department indicated [...]

iePolitics: San Bernardino County to major U.S. Corporation (Google): Go away!

The news of this unbelievable episode was presented to me a couple weeks ago and I wasn’t able to gather more details until this weekend.
It looks like a major U.S. corporation recently embarked on a mission to San Bernardino County.
That mission? Establish a campus in the Victor Valley region of the [...]

The California Fair Political Practices Commission Opens Probe of DA Mike Ramos

The California Fair Political Practices Commission has opened an investigation into San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos relating to his failure to properly report income provided to his wife, the Sentinel has learned.
The matter under investigation, according to sources who were instrumental in bringing the relevant information to [...]

Grants to Fund County Drug Courts

San Bernardino County Superior Court will utilize two grants totaling $1,099,830 to fund its drug court operations.
Court officials, under the direction of presiding judge James M. McGuire, will use one grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and another Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant [...]

Anti-corruption Group Discusses Strategy

The new organization dedicated to rooting out political corruption in San Bernardino County held its first public meeting on October 6 in Redlands. The meeting was relocated at the last minute when the San Bernardino Public Employees Association (SBPEA) reneged on its agreement to allow the group to use its [...]

Public Defender Seeking Volunteers

San Bernardino County Public Defender Doreen Boxer this week moved to facilitate efforts of the public inclined to volunteer time to assist with the legal defense of those unable to pay for it.
The public defender’s office is that portion of county government which is chartered to provide legal [...]

iePolitics: Turmoil in SB County Public Defender operation

Apparently, there is rising discontent among veteran attorneys in the Office of the San Bernardino County Public Defender.
Sources inside the department tell iePolitics that one of the highly talented attorneys in the office who recently won an acquittal on a murder case is now on administrative leave. The sources also say [...]

Operation Phoenix and ACORN, sitting in a tree

Earlier this week, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was caught on video trying to help set up a brothel for underage immigrant girls (thirteen 13-15 year olds) in San Bernardino where the profits would go to support the political career of an aspiring politician. In [...]

Return of Stout a good thing?

[ As Mike Ramos cleans the house that this man helped to build, we suspect that his expressed interest in running again is little more than an advance defense against an investigation of him.  Follow Stout at the iePolitics blog.  The military- and prison-industrial complexes of this [...]

Arraignment set for ex-SB County DA investigator facing 15 felony counts

A former investigator for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, suspected of illegally using a law enforcement database to access criminal rap sheets, is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 22 in San Bernardino Superior Court.On Aug. 31, the state Attorney General’s Office filed one felony count of grand theft [...]

Former Corrupt San Bernardino County DA says he may run against Ramos

Former San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Stout announced Wednesday that he is considering running for his old job in 2010 — challenging District Attorney Mike Ramos, who defeated him in 2002.
Stout, who served as the county’s top prosecutor for eight years, said he believes political corruption is worse than [...]

Failure to disclose property ownership results in Penrod getting warning letter from FPPC

Former San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod failed to disclose, over a period of several years, ownership of several properties, a violation of the Political Reform Act, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission.Penrod, who retired in January after serving 14 years as the county’s top cop, received a [...]

DA involved with another county employee

New reports have surfaced out of the District Attorney’s Office indicating that our illustrious Mr. Ramos has found himself another woman……
Yes. You read it correctly.
Unfortunately, Ramos is feeding at his own trough again. In other words another employee in his own department. Sources say this time it’s a 28-30 year [...]

SanBernardinoCity: Sheriff Hoops Fouls San Bernardino

It was requested of this reporter to pay a visit to the Arden Guthrie area of San Bernardino by some concerned residents on August 7th of 2009. There were reports that S.M.A.S.H. team was gearing up at a local Target parking lot and the residents were concerned that, due to complaints [...]

State to join San Bernardino County corruption probe

The state attorney general’s office will join an expanding probe of political corruption in San Bernardino County centered largely on the past activities of the assessor’s office, officials said Monday.
So far the investigation has led to the arrest of former Assessor Bill Postmus and four former employees in his office.
Allegations [...]

Postmus files claim against county

SAN BERNARDINO – Former Assessor Bill Postmus filed a claim against San Bernardino County on Wednesday, alleging, among other things, civil rights violations, breach of contract and malicious prosecution related to criminal and civil cases pending against him.Postmus, 38, who resigned from his elected office on Feb. 13 amid [...]

Ramos Accused

SAN BERNARDINO – A District Attorney’s Office employee who claims she had a 17-month affair with District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said Thursday that she has lodged a sexual harassment complaint against him with the county’s human resources department.
The complaint comes in the wake of a call by San Bernardino County [...]

Racial hate group activity on increase in region

Fueled by anger over the economy, immigration and the election of President Barack Obama, white supremacists have been increasing in number in the Inland region and throughout California during the past year, local and national experts say.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate activity, reports 84 known hate [...]

Jerry Eaves case backfires on top prosecutor

Disgraced former
District Attorney
Dennis Stout

While local and federal authorities were investigating Supervisor Jerry Eaves in 2000, the District Attorney’s Office came under fire for top officials’ interactions with a political opponent of the embattled county supervisor.San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Stout and two of his top lieutenants discussed their [...]

Truth & consequences

Investigators bold enough to take on corruption in San Bernardino County have themselves seldom escaped controversy.Some have been criticized by the same leaders who hired them. For others, the stakes have been even higher.
Former District Attorney Dennis Stout, 61, says his political career was upended in large part because he lost [...]

Web of corruption

The county’s most extensively documented scandal, and the one that many consider to be one of the most egregious abuses of power in the county’s history, began in the 1990s and became public in 1998, when County Administrative Officer James Hlawek resigned and the Board of Supervisors announced the FBI [...]

County supervisor says rumors about DA should be investigated

PDF: Read San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry’s statement
Special Section: San Bernardino Co. Probe
San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry on Thursday called for an independent investigation of allegations that District Attorney Mike Ramos has engaged in improper behavior.
Derry said he is troubled by rumors that have been swirling in [...]

San Bernardino supervisors are skeptical of Grand Jury reform recommendations

Members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors weighed in Thursday on the Grand Jury’s recommendations for limits on campaign contributions and establishment of an ethics commission to help thwart corruption and the perception of it.
The Grand Jury’s 2008-2009 report released Wednesday included for the first time a special [...]

Check out (“Spirit of the Law”) Nancy K. Bohl (Penrod’s wife) for yourself, and see where your tax money is going

California Peer Support Association
2009 Annual Conference and Training
Conference Schedule
WEDNESDAY, September 16, 2009
See also:
Hoops pays back the Good Ol’ Boys
Raymond S. G. Pryke v. Gary Penrod, County of San Bernardino, B. Chambers, Dino Defazio and Does, filed June 23, 2009
Raymond Pryke ordered to pay sanctions, costs in libel lawsuit by Penrod’s wife
[...]

Hoops pays back the Good Ol’ Boys

REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA AND RECORD OF ACTION
County of San Bernardino F A S STANDARD CONTRACT

See also:
Raymond S. G. Pryke v. Gary Penrod, County of San Bernardino, B. Chambers, Dino Defazio and Does, filed June 23, 2009
Raymond Pryke ordered to [...]

Justices Rule Lab Analysts Must Testify on Results

WASHINGTON — Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision.
The ruling was an extension of a 2004 decision that breathed new life into [...]

D.A. investigators pay visit to County Government Center

Investigators from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office paid a visit Wednesday to the fifth floor of the San Bernardino County Government Center on Arrowhead Avenue, said Lynne Fischer, a county spokeswoman.
Investigators have launched “multiple investigations” on current and former county officials based on various tips they received in the [...]

Handheld stealth

New technology should not be a tool for subverting citizens’ power to monitor government actions. San Bernardino County’s example shows the need for cities and counties to ensure that all communications about official business are open to public scrutiny.
County special counsel John Hueston raised the issue in his investigation of [...]

Josie Gonzales, county supervisor, says she supports medical marijuana program

A day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s medical marijuana law, a San Bernardino County supervisor indicated Tuesday that she is ready to support the policy.
The Board of Supervisors is not scheduled to discuss its next step until June 2, but Supervisor Josie Gonzales told about [...]

Supreme Court upholds California medical pot law

[ Smoke on this, Hoops. ]
Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from two hold-out counties in Southern California that objected to the state’s 13-year-old medical marijuana law and claimed it should be struck down as violating the federal drug control act.
Without comment, the court turned down [...]

Ending the Drug War Would End the Violence

The news media are rife with stories about Mexican drug cartels operating throughout the United States and drug-related violence threatening U.S. cities near the border. Americans are becoming reluctant to cross into Mexican towns for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
Do we need another reason to end the [...]

Lab ordered to turn over list of cases handled by analyst under investigation

A Riverside County judge ordered a forensics laboratory on Wednesday to disclose a list of more than 3,700 Riverside County criminal cases that were handled by a lab analyst whose work is the subject of a multistate investigation.
In an Indio courtroom, Judge Jorge C. Hernandez ordered Riverside-based Bio-Tox Laboratories to [...]

San Bernardino County Scandal Spills Into Riverside County

The San Bernardino County’s District Attorney’s investigation into public corruption has led to three resignations and arrests.
Republican party political operative Adam Aleman was the first to be arrested following his resignation as an Assistant Assessor to then San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus.
After Aleman’s arrest and his cooperation with investigators, [...]

Supervisor: S.B. County DA looking into his complaint against predecessor

The San Bernardino County district attorney’s office is looking into a complaint by Supervisor Neil Derry alleging that his predecessor Dennis Hansberger destroyed public records before leaving office, according to the supervisor.
Derry, who raised the issue when he took office in December, lodged a formal complaint and sought an investigation [...]

Derry buys more police protection

Jamie Garland didn’t have to go far for her new job. In fact, she was able to stay about 50 miles closer to home.
Garland is the new mountain area representative for San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry. She replaces Jerry Lemke, who turned in his resignation March 17. Lemke’s final day [...]

Former San Bernardino County assistant assessor, Jim Erwin, is arrested

A widening criminal probe of the San Bernardino County assessor’s office led to the arrest Thursday of James Erwin, chief of staff for county Supervisor Neil Derry and a former assistant assessor, on 10 felony counts including “failure to disclose receipt of prostitution and masseuse services.”Investigators from the district attorney’s [...]

Medical marijuana case dismissed

JOSHUA TREE — Charges of marijuana cultivation and sales pending against Rich McCabe and his wife, JoAnn Cates, since August 2007 were dismissed Monday by Judge Rodney Cortez before a preliminary hearing began at the San Bernardino County Superior Court here.
The Johnson Valley seniors faced three felony drug counts each and [...]

Big selection of photos to warm the hearts of our county’s “appointed” dictators

Click on image, “Sheriff” Hoops, to warm your heart.

Sealing of Postmus warrant questioned

SAN BERNARDINO – A judge may have violated the First Amendment when he sealed a search warrant involving the San Bernardino County assessor without any explanation, an attorney for a free-speech advocacy group said Monday.
“You need to provide a reason,” said Rachel Matteo-Boehm, an attorney for the California [...]

NSA Whistleblower Tells More on Illegal Wiretapping of US Citizens (videos)

On January 21, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice appeared Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show. Tice, who helped expose the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, told Olbermann government programs designed to spy on the American people are more extensive and far reaching than previously admitted. “The National Security [...]

San Bernardino County accused of violating Brown Act

San Bernardino County is being accused of violating the Brown Act, California’s open-meeting law, as it challenges the state’s medical marijuana user program.
San Bernardino County joined San Diego County three years ago in challenging the program, which requires it to issue medical-marijuana identification cards to patients.
The counties petitioned the [...]

San Bernardino County Assessor Postmus arrested

Detectives investigating San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus fanned out across Southern California on Thursday morning seeking evidence of political malfeasance but stumbled across something else – his stash of methamphetamine, authorities said.
One of the county’s top political players was promptly arrested at his Rancho Cucamonga town house. But the political [...]

Temecula Clinic Offers Consultations on Medical Marijuana

A clinic specializing in medical marijuana treatment has opened in Temecula. This is the first time such a clinic has opened in the Temecula Valley.On Oct. 11, Alternative Care Clinics ( ACC ), a San Diego-based medical group, opened an office on Enterprise Circle.

County Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Erase State’s Medical Marijuana Law

San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California’s medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California’s law allowing sick people to use it.
The county is asking the nation’s highest court to overturn a state appellate court’s July decision upholding [...]