But this goes beyond Postmus's personal problems. He, and a cabal operating out of the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors, allegedly used their office to secure bribes of several hundred thousand dollars in exchange for voting to authorize a $102 million land settlement with Colonies, a developer.
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos today announced the filing of criminal charges against former Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors William Postmus and James Erwin, former Chief of Staff to Supervisor Neil Derry, on "conspiracy, corruption and bribery" charges related to a $102 million land-development settlement paid by San Bernardino County.
The complaint alleges that Erwin took $100,000 for inducing the Board of Supervisors to pay $102 million of taxpayer's money to Colonies, a development company, in a fraudulent settlement and that Postmus took a $100,000 bribe for his vote to approve it. If convicted of all charges, Erwin faces a maximum of twelve years in state prison, and Postmus faces a maximum of eight years in state prison.
***
The complaint alleges those votes were obtained as part of a broad conspiracy which involved extortion and bribery, culminating in acts of public corruption that cost San Bernardino taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. The investigation uncovered four bribes totalling $400,000 paid by the Colonies to secure the settlement. (AG Press Release)
The whole tale is very sordid. The press release and the complaint (PDF ) are definitely worth a skimming. Even the SB County Young Republicans were in on the racket.
Public corruption is a terrible crime, no matter if it's a sketchy Republican like Postmus or William Jefferson. It erodes the faith of the people, and makes the country more difficult to govern. It steals from us all, and loots the money intended to serve the community. In this case, the corruption stole millions from the parks, schools, and other important county programs.
Congrats to the AG's office and to SB DA Mike Ramos. If he is able to win a statewide primary, that guy is going to be a strong Republican candidate for whatever office he chooses to pursue.
In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dated Sept. 25, Chief Deputy Attorney General James M. Humes said the office has "opened an investigation of both ACORN and the circumstances under which ACORN employees were videotaped." The governor had asked Brown two weeks ago to look into the incidents.
The probe was sparked by a series of hidden-camera videos in which a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute are advised on how to set up a prostitution business by people identified as workers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The videos were taken in Washington D.C., San Diego, San Bernardino and cities in several other states.
There's at least a nod to the possibility that the videotapes were obtained illegally, although I'm not sure California law mirrors the state of Maryland, where the filmmakers clearly violated the law. But the tendency for Brown to follow Governor Headline and chase the popular story is pretty lame. Remember that the Governor specifically called on Brown to investigate ACORN because of the San Bernardino tape, which is full of holes:
Most critically, it is clear that Fox News has made virtually no attempt to verify the authenticity of the tapes before broadcasting them -- something no self-respecting journalistic organization would dare do. Consider the case of the San Bernardino ACORN office, which was featured in the most recent video to be released. The words of ACORN employee Tresa Kaelke appear to be damning. Not only does she offer assistance to Giles and O'Keefe, but she claims that she murdered her former husband following a period of domestic abuse [...]
The problem, of course, is that Kaelke was deliberately lying. The San Bernardino Police Department itself has now confirmed that her claim regarding her husband was untrue. A department statement released on September 15 reads: "The San Bernardino Police Department is investigating the claims made regarding the homicide. From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well."
Furthermore, Kaelke has claimed that when she made the statement, she was seeking to mislead the undercover videographers, whom she was suspicious of. "They were not believable," Kaelke is quoted as saying in an ACORN press release. "Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't even good actors. I didn't know what to make of them. They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me."
But none of these simple facts stopped anyone at Fox from running with the story. Any cub reporter would have thought to actually call the San Bernardino police before effectively alleging that ACORN was staffed by murderers. But such an act never occurred to people like Beck, Hannity, or Carlson. (In her defense, Carlson later added that the husband was still alive, "according to ACORN," but ignored the police report.)
Let's be honest. Fearmongering about ACORN is a cover for a racially tinged agenda by ideological extremists. If the actions of a couple employees provokes a state Attorney General investigation of entire companies, I eagerly await the investigations into every company in California. But we don't have that. Instead, Jerry Brown has decided to follow the fearmongering, and legitimize it. Sad.
The wingnutosphere has been in high froth the last week or so about ACORN, the community organization dedicated to helping low-income Americans. The freak-out concerns a series of videos showing ACORN employees engaged in nefarious schemes (it took lots of shoots for the right-wing activists to get the footage they wanted, incidentally). This has led to the Census Bureau distancing themselves from ACORN and the Senate to block HUD funding for the group. It's interesting in and of itself that the right has decided the source of all ills in America is a relatively small non-profit community organization and not the banking and financial interests who destroyed the economy and took hundreds of billions in bailout money for good measure (lots more on this here). But never one to miss a pile-on, the Governor has requested an investigation of ACORN:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently has been captivated by recent news stories about a conservative filmmaker who exposed misdeeds at ACORN, the national organization that serves low-income residents and has been involved in controversial efforts to register Democratic voters.
The Republican governor sent a brief memo Wednesday to Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to investigate ACORN's activities in San Bernardino. Two conservative activists have posted videos of their visits to ACORN offices around the country in which they posed as a prostitute and a pimp seeking advice.
In San Bernardino's ACORN office, a volunteer who claims to be a former prostitute is shown offering advice to the two activists on how to set up a brothel using underage girls from El Salvador. She tells them that they would be breaking various laws, but also explains ways to get around those laws. At one point, she claims to have connections to various Democratic lawmakers in the state Legislature and Congress.
It's amusing that the Governor has honed in on the San Bernardino case. Because that would be at least one instance where the guerrilla filmmakers - and now, the Governor - got totally played. John Santore explains:
Most critically, it is clear that Fox News has made virtually no attempt to verify the authenticity of the tapes before broadcasting them -- something no self-respecting journalistic organization would dare do. Consider the case of the San Bernardino ACORN office, which was featured in the most recent video to be released. The words of ACORN employee Tresa Kaelke appear to be damning. Not only does she offer assistance to Giles and O'Keefe, but she claims that she murdered her former husband following a period of domestic abuse.
On September 15, Beck and Sean Hannity both broadcast Kaelke's assertion. Beck, who had reported breathlessly on the supposed confession during his radio program, added on Fox, "She never spanked her kids, but she did shoot her husband dead." Later that night, Hannity played the same clip before commenting, "Specifically, now, she goes into this scenario about her husband and the killing of him."
The following morning, on September 16, Fox News' Gretchen Carlson repeated the allegation, saying, "She killed somebody? Despite this, some lawmakers want to keep funding the group."
The problem, of course, is that Kaelke was deliberately lying. The San Bernardino Police Department itself has now confirmed that her claim regarding her husband was untrue. A department statement released on September 15 reads: "The San Bernardino Police Department is investigating the claims made regarding the homicide. From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well."
Furthermore, Kaelke has claimed that when she made the statement, she was seeking to mislead the undercover videographers, whom she was suspicious of. "They were not believable," Kaelke is quoted as saying in an ACORN press release. "Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't even good actors. I didn't know what to make of them. They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me."
But none of these simple facts stopped anyone at Fox from running with the story. Any cub reporter would have thought to actually call the San Bernardino police before effectively alleging that ACORN was staffed by murderers. But such an act never occurred to people like Beck, Hannity, or Carlson. (In her defense, Carlson later added that the husband was still alive, "according to ACORN," but ignored the police report.)
Some of the other allegations have shown what may be wrongdoing, if the tapes are legitimate and not doctored (they are certainly edited for effect, and we know they were in some cases obtained illegally and therefore inadmissable as evidence). It may even warrant an investigation. But Schwarzenegger is specifically riffing off the San Bernardino incident, in which the main offense described there has been proven to be a lie. This apparently doesn't matter. I'm wondering what other provable falsehoods have led to the Governor urging a criminal investigation.
This is at least not as embarrassing as Tim Pawlenty, who ordered agencies in Minnesota to "cancel all state funding for ACORN," when there... is no state funding of ACORN in Minnesota. But it's pretty weak nonetheless. And par for the course for a headline-chaser like Gov. Schwarzenegger. But if he wants to get in line with far-right extremists with an obvious racial agenda who want to demonize people of color and the organizations that provide help for them, go ahead. It did a lot for Pete Wilson.
The Bill Postmus story is really a sad one, not only for the County of San Bernardino that he abused, but also for the man himself. This is a movement conservative that was undone by fear of his own identity that lead to a spiraling descent into meth addiction.
But there always seems to be another layer in this tale. One of the issues that always hung around Postmus, even before he was elected Assessor, was from his days as a Supervisor. He helped to negotiate, and then get approved, a settlement with a developer over a land use lawsuit. Colonies Partners sued San Bernardino County for $300 million. The case seemed to be proceeding slowly until Postmus intervened. In a meeting where he and fellow supervisor Paul Biane kicked out county attorneys, he negotiated a settlement for $100 million. I guess you could say, hey, that's only a third of the value, but the fact is that the case was hardly a sure bet. Far from it. In fact, Postmus and Biane were only able to squeak it past the Board of Supervisors with a 3-2 vote.
But now it seems that Postmus may have had another reason to settle the lawsuit: cash. From the (rather conservative) Victorville Daily Press:
In a landmark legal settlement, San Bernardino County supervisors agreed on a 3-2 vote to pay $102 million to the developer Colonies Partners in November 2006. The lawsuit involved a dispute over flood control improvements at an Upland development.
Within six months of the settlement, Colonies contributed $100,000 each to PACs tied to Biane, Board Chairman Gary Ovitt and then-1st District Supervisor Postmus - the three supervisors who voted in favor of the settlement.
According to the informant in the search warrant affidavits - identified as Aleman in three e-mail strings in support of the warrants - those contributions were payments to the supervisors and their staffs for their help facilitating the settlement deal.
In May 2007 Colonies Partners contributed $100,000 to Alliance for Ethical Government PAC, controlled by Ovitt's chief of staff, Mark Kirk. Kirk then withdrew $10,000 from that PAC as a consulting fee, the informant told investigators.
Both Ovitt and Biane are still serving Supervisors. Biane will even issue you a sort of creepy video welcome to his county website. This is hardly an irrelevant issue to what is going on right now in the County. It appears exceedingly unlikely that Bill Postmus acted alone in the Colonies settlement.
And there is more beyond the 100 grand to each of the supervisors PACs. Colonies gave $100K to the San Bernadino Young Republicans, controlled by Paul Biane's chief of staff, Matt Brown. And toss on $50K to two more PACs controlled by Postmus, and you have a cool $600,000 donated by Colonies Partners for their $100 million settlement. All in all, a pretty good deal for them. Not so much for the people of San Bernardino County.
Incidentally, Adam Aleman, Postmus' longtime aide and so-called "confidante," was supposed to be a confidential informant, but some copies of released information accidentally included Aleman's identity. Postmus' relationship with Aleman, was very interesting, to say the least.
Congratulations to the Democrats of San Bernardino County! As you can see from these numbers, which are apparently from this morning at 6am, Democratic registration exceeded that of the Republicans in the largest county (by area) in the nation.
Blue County's Dream is half realized! We have become a Blue County again! According to the San Bernardino Register of Voters, the number of registered Democrats now outnumbers registered Republicans by 312,000 to 311,000 Countywide. Since Blue County was organized in February 2007 there have been over 50,000 new registered Democrats due to the great efforts of voter registration drives by clubs, individuals, and candidates throughout the county.
The effort was facilitated by Blue County, a PAC set up for the effort. I'll let them explain their mission over the flip. You'll also find the SB Dems press release there too.
Another one bites the dust as we turn Red California into a nice shade of purple on the way to blue. Good work!
Note: Title edited as per a suggestion in the comments
To expand on the voter fraud in San Bernardino County that the CDP alerted us to yesterday, funded by would-be governor Steve Poizner, Carol Robb of the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee has provided more details, including Republican DA Mike Ramos' unwillingness to even return Democrats' calls:
Here's what has happened:
·Immediately after the Labor Day weekend, we saw a large increase in San Bernardino County in Republican Registration, as compared to Democratic, for the first time in 14 months
·The office of the Registrar of Voters was alerted to this situation by Carol Robb.
·The Secretary of State's office was also alerted by a phone call from Carol Robb.
·Knowing that voter registration fraud was taking place in Riverside County, Carol Robb got a list from the Registrar of Voters, containing new registrations and re-registrations between Aug. 18 and Sept. 3. That file was used to identify over 400 voters whose registration changed from Democrat, or "declined to state," to Republican.
·Calls were made to about 100 randomly selected voters from the 400+ on the list. Because of incorrect phone numbers, only 33 interviews were completed.
·Phone interviews determined that 27, of the 33 voters reached had been "slammed" -- their party affiliation was improperly changed.
·The advice of the California Democratic Party was sought, and Bob Mulholland was designated to assist us.
·Carol Robb, Patrick Kahler, Sam Clauder, and Phil Robb (Carol's husband, retired Deputy DA) met with Kari Verjil and her key staff on Friday, September 12. The Registrar was given all information, including copies of our 33 telephone interview forms.
·Carol Robb also filed an on-line complaint with the DA's Public Integrity Unit.
·Carol and Sam kept in close contact with Bob Mulholland, who constantly urged us to "go public."
·When our calls to the DA's office were unreturned Monday and again Tuesday morning, Mulholland took matters into his own hands, and sent out a press release from the state party linking San Bernardino's situation to State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's repeated press releases, about his personal funding of Republican voter registration bounty programs.
·In the meantime, the Registrar's office has handed over all information to both the District Attorney and the Secretary of State, with her request for immediate investigation.
·Congressman Baca was asked to call DA Mike Ramos to urge immediate action.
·Supervisor Josie Gonzalez has pledged to contact the DA's office and urge immediate action.
·A copy of our press release and other information has been shared with a representative of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Karen Bass will be meeting with both Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Attorney General Jerry Brown in the next day or so, and will share our information directly with them.
SBD Republicans are trying to cast this as Democratic sour grapes but it's clear that there is something worth investigating here. Democrats are holding a press conference at 11 AM today to explain the matter to local media and demand an investigation and accountability.
It's worth keeping in mind that this isn't just about the 2008 cycle - but that the involvement of Steve Poizner, a leading candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010, suggests this could be a long-term strategy for Republicans in California. Certainly the track record of YPM, the Republican firm at the center of the scandal and with many years of voter registration fraud dating back to at least 2004, suggests this to be the case.
As the news comes in on the indictment of Series of Tubes Ted Stevens, it's instructive to take a look back at who the Yacht Party in California allows to speak for them as "leaders". First we have Sheriff Michael Carona, "America's Sheriff," who is apparently more than just a run-of-the-mill corrupt public official, but actually deeply vulgar, venal and unethical, even by the standards of the GOP - but also weirdly representative of a certain level of corruption in the OC.
His attorneys are asking a federal judge to prevent a future jury from hearing secretly recorded tapes of Carona snarling racial epithets, referring vulgarly to women and boasting of both sexual and political prowess.
"I mean, I've met millionaires, billionaires, and I've traveled on personal airplanes . . . drank great wine and, you know, had great booze and had some, you know, phenomenal [sex] along the way," Carona told his longtime patron, an auto auction magnate who was wearing a wire. "I'm the most lethal [expletive] in politics in Orange County."
The revelations have disappointed but not quite shocked Orange County, where the sensibility enshrined at Anaheim's Disneyland long has informed local politics, as well. Each invests heavily in an idealized, lavishly financed and fervently polished vision of Americana that few appear to accept as entirely real in the first place [...]
Before Carona's public disgrace, a superior court judge last year was sentenced to 27 months for possession of child pornography. The founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, located behind white wrought-iron curlicues in Costa Mesa, paid $425,000 to suppress an account of an alleged homosexual encounter. The Orange County Register reported that the Justice Department is investigating the county treasurer for allegedly diverting funds from a bankrupt trucking company to pay for Botox.
(the party affiliations of these officials have been strangely expunged. Thanks Washington Post!)
And this behavior is not limited to Orange County (flip it)...
Pat Meagher, Progressive Democratic Candidate for the 41st Congressional District, has received endorsements from multiple Union and Democratic Clubs. A Forest Falls resident and Principle of Fontana Adult School he has gathered the support of the Mojave Desert Democratic Club, East Valley Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club,
Greater Rialto Dual Endorsement, Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club and The Democratic Club of Big Bear Valley. His Union endorsements include IBEW Local 440, UAW Region 5 Western United States CAP Council, California Labor Federation's Committee on Political Education (COPE), San Bernardino/Riverside Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, San Bernardino/Riverside Building and Trades Council, and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12.
This father of nine, seven of whom are adopted, has also gotten the attention of Progressive Democrats of America Dr. Bill Honigman, So CA State Organizer, who was the Keynote speaker at Pat Meagher's fundraising event held at University of Redlands. Ahjamu Makalani evoked Meagher's name and sloganas an inspiration to a standing room only crowd at the State Democratic Convention PDA Caucus. Meagher embraces the entire PDA platform including their current campaign for Healthcare Not Warfare.
The war is real for the Meagher family. Their newly married son will be returning to Iraq this summer for a second tour, as well as a daughter whose first tour was in Afghanistan. To thunderous applause at Arlington West Santa Monica following Col. Ann Wright (Ret), Meagher declared "Don't tell me I don't support the troops. Those are my kids. It is time to bring our glorious and victorious troops home!"
Col. Ann Wright, 29 year Army Veteran, 13 year United States Diplomat, was so impressed after meeting with Meagher that she adjusted her schedule in order to share the podium with him when he announced his candidacy to a crowd of community leaders and peace and justice activists from the Inland Empire at the Carriage House in Redlands.
Pat Meagher is proud that his campaign is funded through grassroots supporters who believe he is the best man to represent their concerns in Washington DC.
Pat Meagher, Progressive Democratic Candidate for the 41st Congressional District, has received endorsements from multiple Union and Democratic Clubs. A Forest Falls resident and Principle of Fontana Adult School he has gathered the support of the Mojave Desert Democratic Club, East Valley Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club,
Greater Rialto Dual Endorsement, Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club and The Democratic Club of Big Bear Valley. His Union endorsements include IBEW Local 440, UAW Region 5 Western United States CAP Council, California Labor Federation's Committee on Political Education (COPE), San Bernardino/Riverside Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, San Bernardino/Riverside Building and Trades Council, and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12.
This father of nine, seven of whom are adopted, has also gotten the attention of Progressive Democrats of America Dr. Bill Honigman, So CA State Organizer, who was the Keynote speaker at Pat Meagher's fundraising event held at University of Redlands. Ahjamu Makalani evoked Meagher's name and sloganas an inspiration to a standing room only crowd at the State Democratic Convention PDA Caucus. Meagher embraces the entire PDA platform including their current campaign for Healthcare Not Warfare.
The war is real for the Meagher family. Their newly married son will be returning to Iraq this summer for a second tour, as well as a daughter whose first tour was in Afghanistan. To thunderous applause at Arlington West Santa Monica following Col. Ann Wright (Ret), Meagher declared "Don't tell me I don't support the troops. Those are my kids. It is time to bring our glorious and victorious troops home!"
Col. Ann Wright, 29 year Army Veteran, 13 year United States Diplomat, was so impressed after meeting with Meagher that she adjusted her schedule in order to share the podium with him when he announced his candidacy to a crowd of community leaders and peace and justice activists from the Inland Empire at the Carriage House in Redlands.
Pat Meagher is proud that his campaign is funded through grassroots supporters who believe he is the best man to represent their concerns in Washington DC.
In May I noted that San Diego County Hates Clean Elections and mroe recently confirmed that nothing had changed and San Diego was suing Secretary of State Debra Bowen for forcing San Diego's elections to be verifiable in the event of a margin of less than one half of one percent. Turns out it isn't just San Diego's election officials who chafe at the notion of actually delivering an accurate vote tally.
San Bernardino has voted to sue Debra Bowen as well, complaining that, as officials specifically tasked with ensuring a fair, open and accurate vote, being forced to count those votes- occasionally- is outrageous.
"I don't see how it improves anything other than creating more work," said [San Bernardino] Supervisor Dennis Hansberger.
Except, of course, the fundamental integrity of democracy. But who's counting?
