IE Chatter

Fred Shorett Trounces Field in San Bernardino City Council Special Election

In a mail in election to replace newly elected Supervisor Neil Derry, Fred Shorett received an overwhelming majority of the votes cast to replace him.  Congrats to Shorett.  Why he would want to be a Councilman in San Bernardino is beyond me.  Got lots of problems over there.

Shorett received nearly 75% of the vote. Saman Saman, the clown candidate with a rap sheet littered with domestic issues garnnered 2% of the vote.

Shorett won more than 73 percent of the more than 3,100 votes tallied for Tuesday night's vote count. Joe Arnett, an IT manager, took second place in Tuesday's totals with nearly 20 percent of the vote. Pharmaceutical company representative John Valdivia collected nearly six percent of the vote. Internet mattress salesman Saman Saman won nearly 2 percent of the vote.

Regional Economic Carnage...

Man...it is just ugly and uglier out there.

San Bernardino Unified School District looking to do layoffs.

San Bernardino City is a wreck.

Redlands is in trouble.

Fontana is doing the layoff thing.

Riverside County is laying off people.

San Bernardino County is looking to do furloughs and hopefully avoid layoffs.

Victorville is a disaster.  Their former city manager may have been criminally negligent on some "verbal contracts".

Temecula had a round of layoffs I believe.

Unemployment is at historic levels.

Car dealerships are begging for handouts.

The stock market is plummeting.

The state is raising taxes to astronomical levels.

The president is spending trillions of dollars on what exactly?

Foreclosures litter the landscape.

It is depressing.

San Bernardino Police Caving on Demands as Budget Crisis Worsens

San Bernardino Police Officers can't stand Police Chief Mike Billdt.  They have been calling for his ouster for months and he was supposed to retire/resign.  However, Mayor Morris stated that Billdt would stay on.  During budget negotiations, the SBPOA was demanding Billdt's ouster.  Now the San Bernardino Sun is reporting that Chief Billdt's resignation has been taken off the table.

Tuesday's negotiations followed the City Council's decision to impose furloughs on police officers as part of a plan intended to solve a $9 million deficit.

The council voted for furloughs Thursday when negotiations broke down after the police union demanded Police Chief Michael Billdt's departure in exchange for $3.3 million worth of concessions.

Weinberg wrote in an e-mail that the police union has dropped its demand for Billdt to leave his job. He also wrote that the police union's interest in discussing matters beyond dollars and cents has created a challenge.

All San Bernardino - An All America City [chuckle]

If San Bernardino were a sports team, it would have been contracted by now.  Here are some stories highlighting this joke of a city.

Cancelled Budget Meeting

With rumors and reports that some council members might be arrested by the SBPD for a Brown Act violation.

No Confidence Vote in Police Chief

A "few" malcontents vote no again on the Chief.  18-1!

Jobs Fair for Pink Slipped Cops

San Bernardino hires cops as late as November/December of 2008...still trying to fulfill a pledge to hire 40 new cops after voters raised the sales tax.  Then they give them pink slips.  The city "had no idea" of the budget situation.  How is this treatment of people not criminal?

San Bernardino Considers Mini-Bailout of Car Dealersips

Good luck. Throw good money after bad.  By the time the state legislature is done raising income taxes, sales tax and car registration fees..nobody is gonna buy a car.

SB Crime Drops; SB Responds By Looking to Layoff Police Officers

Crime is down in San Bernardino.

San Bernardino's elected leaders have long promised to hire more police and crack down on crime.  In fact, voters agreed to raise taxes a few  years ago to hire more police.

Now, the city is tlaking about laying off police officers...up to 50 in fact!

San Bernardino officials have started notifying city employees that they could be laid off.

Police Officers Association president Rich Lawhead said 49 cops received layoff notices Tuesday. Those officers have not been put out of work yet, but the paperwork is required to tell cops and other employees that they may lose their jobs.

The city could lay off 130 or more employees as part of an attempt to solve a projected $9 million budget gap.

Interim City Manager Mark Weinberg has recommended that 29 police be laid off, but 49 cops could lose their jobs if the police union rejects a 10 percent pay cut.

It's the City Council's duty to decide if potential layoffs become actual layoffs. The council's next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17.

Layoffs, Layoffs and more layoffs...

Riverside County is looking to lose 250 employees.  The City of San Bernardino is looking to cut jobs...including POLICE OFFICERS.

It is getting ugly out there.

More on San Bernardino City Council Candidate with Felony Record

Today, the Press Enterprise has weighed in on Saman Saman and the revelations about his felony criminal record.

In this report, there is new information about a previously unmentioned insurance fraud charge.

In the past dozen years, San Bernardino City Council candidate Saman Saman has pleaded guilty and served time on three domestic violence charges, one charge of failing to provide for a child and one charge of filing a false insurance claim, records show.

He is currently on probation for one of those convictions. On Dec. 27, 2005, Saman pleaded guilty to one felony count of inflicting injury on a child. He received a county jail sentence of 124 days and three years' probation.

Nobody is commenting, including Saman Saman or the other candidates.  I wouldn't mind seeing another candidate actually step up to the plate and take a position on the guy.  Do they have opinions on anything?

San Bernardino City Council Candidate A Convicted Felon

San Bernardino City Council candidate Saman Saman has several arrests primarily centered around domestic violence issues according to Andrew Edwards of the San Bernardino Sun.

On Sept. 4, 1998, Saman pleaded guilty to one felony count of domestic violence. Court records show he was sentenced to 36 months probation and 263 days in jail, for which he received credit for time served.

On that same day, Saman also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of domestic violence from a separate incident. He was sentenced to 36 days in jail, for which he received credit for time served.

On Dec. 27, 2005, Saman pleaded guilty to one felony count of causing injury to a child. The next month, he was sentenced to serve 36 months probation and 124 days in county jail, for which he received credit for 58 days served.

His probation is scheduled to expire Feb. 8, according to court records.

It is one thing to have a criminal record and to walk the straight and narrow.  It is another to have a criminal record and seek elected office.  As little as three years ago, Saman Saman was convicted of a felony count where he caused injury to a child.

His explanation is absurd and it is almost unthinkable to think that he would actually have been charged with a felony and plead guilty to a felony when you hear his explanation of what happened:

He said the 2005 case stemmed from an accident that happened at a time when an Achilles-tendon injury forced him to use crutches. Saman said he lost his footing and inadvertantly tumbled onto his son.

"I slipped and fell from the crutches and hit him," he said.

This doesn't even begin to pass the smell test.  Saman Saman should save himself and the city from any further embarrassment and withdraw immediately from the race. 

Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid in San Berdoo

San Beranrdino City Councilwoman Wendy McCammack is alleging that some of her fellow councilmembers violated the Brown Act and met and discussed an important matter before a council session.

I have no idea whether or nto this specific allegation is true.  But, I believe that city councils throughout the state violate the Brown Act all the time via winks and nods and so forth.  Some folks say that the Brown Act is so burdensome that it is inevitable that violations will occur.

Anyway...back to San Berdoo.

Councilwoman McCammack is going to have an uphill battle with this fight as she even admits that short of a confession it is going to be difficult to prove her allegations.  In other words...this is going nowhere.

So, I kind of wonder what her motivation behind this charge is...and what she hopes to accomplish.

Here is a bit from the article:

She said Tuesday morning she is intent upon reporting her allegations to the District Attorney's Office.

"I'm working on those details as we speak," she said.

------------

McCammack acknowledged her allegations would be difficult to prove without a confession.

Asked why she is convinced state law was broken, she said "you knew straight up. Based on their conversation."

The Brown Act prohibits a majority of council members from meeting out of the public eye to settle official business. The law makes it illegal for politicians to meet in a proverbial back room or to reach an agreement through a series of communications.

Developing Story: Another Teacher Sex Scandal

Breaking news today in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin regarding an alleged sex scandal involving a school teacher and a former student not of legal age at Cajon High School in San Bernardino.

This should be interesting.  Though it hasn't been covered on this blog as of yet, there is antoher sex scandal rocking San Bernardino as we speak.  There is a program called Operation Phoenix, which is billed as a program to fight crime and provide positive and safe environments for troubled youth.

The immediate director of that program was arrested in early July and is currently being held on $1,000,000 bail for alleged child molestation. 

What is interesting and why I bring it up, is that there have been two major camps.  Those who called for the closing of Op. Phoenix and those who said, be patient and let the legal system take its course.  The rebuttal from supporters of the program to the critics calling for an immediate closing of Op Phoenix was "would you shut down a public school if a teacher was arrested on molestation charges"?

Well.......lookie here!  We have a real life example of this playing out right before our eyes.  This should be an interesting discussion.