My Weblog

Bob Buster's Car Problems

The Press Enquirer had an interesting tid bit a couple days back about Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster now driving a Toyota Highlander Hybrid instead of his "trusty old Chevy Impala."

Seems that calamity has befallen Bob Buster's Imapala, literally.  According to the PE's story "(a) massive pepper tree limb fell and squashed the car two Saturdays ago."

What a shame for the taxpayers of Riverside County. Especially in light of today's struggling local economy and the diminishing tax revenues of Riverside County.

But it got us thinking dear readers, who outside of Buster's colleagues, Buster's overpaid staff, county employees that Buster comes in contact with, and Buster's Marxist spouse would know that Supervisor Buster was driving a different car and not the Impala?

Why was it so important for Bob Buster to make sure this story was reported about the pepper tree falling on his Chevy Impala and that's why he is temporarily driving a much more expensive car?Certainly the Press Enterprise would not have reason to seek this story out.  Therefore the story is most likely Bob Buster generated in some fashion.

But to what end?   There are two very interesting possibilities dear readers.

First, many of those in the know believe that Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster or his Chief of Staff Dave Stahovich was the source of the Press Enterprise's article in February that exposed Riverside County Supervisors John Tavaglione and Marion Ashley for buying luxury cars at taxpayer expense.

Specifically the article detailed that:

Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley warned in October that no one in county government would be immune from dire budget cutbacks. One week later, he got himself a 2009 Toyota Highlander Hybrid that cost taxpayers almost $53,000, county documents show.

Supervisor John Tavaglione, who has repeatedly called for county departments to rein in spending, had the county buy him a 2008 GMC Yukon hybrid that cost nearly $54,000 with a rear-seat DVD player, Bose speakers, leather seats and other features. The purchase was last spring, just months after supervisors approved this fiscal year's 5 percent across-the-board budget cuts.

County supervisors and department heads have since called for deeper budget cuts, reductions in public services, layoffs and employee frugality. But that has not stopped several of them from ordering new, fully loaded county cars bought with taxpayer money, a survey of county purchases in 2008 and 2009 found.

Two supervisors' county cars, including Tavaglione's hybrid sport utility vehicle, do not meet the minimum fuel-efficiency guidelines supervisors recently approved.

Buster allegedly wanted this story out to weaken Tavaglione and Ashley's positions when it came to the County Budget and Buster moved forward with his scheme to decimate funding in both the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office.  

The tactic seems to have worked in regards to John Tavaglione who sided with Buster calling for deeper cuts in law enforcement funding last week.  Marion Ashley however withstood the initial outcry and criticism the article generated. So far Supervisor Ashley has remained true to his convictions and campaign positions by strongly supporting a new county budget that continues to put the citizens' safety first.

So, if Bob Buster generated the unflattering story for Ashley and Tavaglione, it only makes sense for him to want to get his side of the story out about his new Toyota Highlander.  Buster would want to do that before anyone could pounce on him for hypocrisy after outing his colleagues for their extravagant vehicle purchases on the taxpayer dime.

But what if Bob Buster was not the source of the February article? That's brings us to our next possibility in this matter.

What if Bob Buster crashed his car into the pepper tree?  That would explain the extensive damage to the vehicle and the need for Buster to get the story written.  

Pepper trees are notoriously light, hence why their branches frequently fall and they are frequently uprooted when a good wind comes by.  If a whole tree fell on Buster's Chevy Impala maybe the car would be totaled, but one branch would most likely not cause that much damage.  And to top it off, on the weekend in question, Riverside wasn't experiencing high winds that would have downed a pepper tree or one of its limbs.

This makes us wonder dear readers, is there more to this story than Supervisor Bob Buster wants us to know?  If he accidentally hit the tree upon returning home, he should have reported it that way.  No big deal.  We all have accidents and make mistakes.

But if Bob Buster was under the influence of alcohol or prescription medication that impaired his ability to operate a motor vehicle, he would want a story to cover that up, wouldn't he?

Now before all of our blog's detractors go crazy and say we are making things up just to attack Bob Buster, consider some additional evidence:

• Last year Bob Buster was in a single car accident in his county car.
• Bob Buster waited several hours to report the accident, a violation of county policy. 
• This accident was not covered by the media. 
• When the County of Riverside reviewed Bob Buster's single car accident it ruled that the accident was "preventable." 

Now a year later Bob Buster has another single car accident.  Something just doesn't add up.  And even Buster seems to know it.

In the recent article when asked about permanently replacing the totaled Chevy Impala, Bob Buster said "I'll probably get a bike before I get a car."   A very odd statement for someone to make that does not have a history of riding a bike to work, unless of course the person recognizes that they are a threat to safety of motorists and pedestrians.

Supporters and detractors of Bob Buster all know that he is victims of erratic mood swings and incoherent outbursts of anger.  In recent years the frequency of Buster's mood swings and outbursts has steadily increased.  Could this be because of a larger consumption of alcohol on Buster's part?  Or is Supervisor Buster taking medications to help him manage some sort of mental illness? 

We don't know dear readers, but will be keeping a keen eye on Supervisor Bob Buster and any further developments in this story. 

Nevertheless, if Bob Buster has a history of driving under the influence, then it all makes perfect sense why he would want to stop law enforcement from running DUI check points, why he would want the DA to limit prosecutions of these "non-violent offenders,"  and why he would want to stop the expansion of the County's correctional  system that currently does not require convicted drunk drivers to serve time in jail.

A Brief History of Frank Robles

Former disgraced Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle seems to have hatched a plan for revenge.  He's working hard to remove his successor, Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff from office in 2010.

With the  failure of former Undersheriff Neil Lingle to win a seat on the Palm Desert City Council last November, and the unimpressive resume of his one time heir apparent Mike Andrews, Bob Doyle has been forced to scrape the bottom of the barrell to come up with a candidate against Sheriff Sniff.

And that candidate that the ol' Royal Doyle has dug out of the muck of Riverside County's good old boys club is Frank Robles.  

A quick look at Frank Robles' past shows that he could not have been on the short list of candidates to challenge Sheriff Stan Sniff, but rather every other viable candidate passed up the chance to run, for reasons we will get to later in this article.

So who is Frank Robles, the man that Bob Doyle wants to be Sheriff?

Frank Robles is the disgraced former Police Chief of Desert Hot Springs.  Robles lost that job when crime, drugs and gangs became so rampant in DHS that the City Council voted to disband its police department and contract with the Riverside Sheriffs Department for law enforcement services.

Robles came over to the Riverside Sheriffs Department as part of the deal, and brought with him another DHS cop, Neil Lingle.  Rumor has it that Robles promoted Lingle at DHS just so Lingle could come in as a supervisor in the Sheriff's Department.  This is the move that later put Lingle within one vote of becoming Sheriff when Doyle mysteriously resigned less than one year into his new four year term.  Thankfully, that one vote went to Stan Sniff.

In 1994, Frank Robles ran for Riverside County Sheriff and was soundly defeated.  According to those in the know, Robles had support from a couple of political power brokers in Orange County:  Don Haidl and George Jaramillo.   Haidl and Jaramillo were knee deep in the scandal that brought down Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona who was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in federal prison.

Our sources tell us that Frank Robles introduced Haidl and Jaramillo to Bob Doyle, and Robles even helped Doyle establish the campaign contributions for badges and gun permit program that led to the downfall and resignation of Bob Doyle.  

We understand dear readers, that while serving in the capacity of Assistant Sheriff, Frank Robles was interviewed by federal agents regarding his relationship with Don Haidl and George Jaramillo.   If this is true, it validates our theory that Doyle left office fearing that the Carona investigation was an investigation into Doyle's own abuse of power and unethical fundraising practices.

After Stan Sniff was appointed Sheriff by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, Robles retired, obviously knowing that his questionable ways would not fit into the restored ethical environment that Sheriff Sniff would be bringing back to the Sheriff's Department.

Robles announced his candidacy a few weeks ago with several costly news paper advertisements and the launching of a flashy website.  Campaign finance reports are not available yet, so Robles contributors are as of yet unknown.

The word we are hearing dear readers is that Robles' campaign is being bankrolled by those contributors who had badges given to them by the Royal Doyle, but had them recalled by Sniff.  If this is true, the only reason these people would be stepping up to fund Robles' campaign is if they expect to get either their badges or unearned gun permits back, or both.  That's illegal, isn't it?

Either way, Robles is going to have a tough time taking out Sheriff Stan Sniff.

Sniff has done an amazing job rebuilding ties to the community, restoring trust with those that believe Doyle and his cronies violated their trust, and raising morale amongst the rank and file deputies.  With the deputies firmly in Sniff's corner, and all the money that that brings to the race, Robles would need to raise a million dollars to beat Sniff next June.  

To raise that kind of money Frank Robles will have to sell more badges to rich donors and more promotions to unqualified Doyle cronies in the Sheriff's Department than one can imagine.  That's not likely to happen.  Frank Robles would probably have to sell his soul to to Devil to prevail against Sniff.  

But as this quick look at Frank Robles' career shows, maybe that happened years ago when the gangs and the drug dealers were overrunning Desert Hot Springs and Frank Robles did nothing to stop it.

Bob Buster Moves To Gut Public Safety

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster agrees with President Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. You can never let a good crisis go to waste.

For years Bob Buster, a member of the 1960's counter culture, has had to bide his time and do his best to hide his anti-cop beliefs that can best be summed up by lyrics in the Rolling Stones song, Sympathy for the Devil: "Every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints."

But now with the current budget crisis that has been manufactured by County CEO Bill Luna, the time has arrived for Bob Buster to strike at the cops he so hates, gutting the the budgets of Riverside County's public safety agencies, and leaving them weak and ineffective for years to come.

Yes, you read that right dear readers, Riverside County's budget crisis has been manufactured by its power hungry CEO Bill Luna, with the consent of at least three county supervisors.  One of them is obviously County Supervisor Bob Buster.   The other two anti-cop votes have yet to reveal themselves. 

The fiscal predictions put forward by CEO Bill Luna at first were intentionally too optimistic, luring county department heads into a false sense of security that the economy was in bad shape, but by making a few cuts here and there, things would be alright. 

The budget shortfall was predicted to be $90 million this upcoming fiscal year.  With the 10% across the board cuts that Bill Luna wanted from each department, the Sheriff would be required to cut $72 million.  The District Attorney would have to cut $12 million, for a combined total of $84 million.

This raised some eyebrows.

Why was Bill Luna demanding such deep cuts in all departments, if the cuts he was insisting on from Sheriff Stan Sniff and District Attorney Rod Pacheco almost covered the entire shortfall before any other departments had submitted their budgets?

Because Bill Luna by his own account is treacherous.  Only after he had lured the county's department heads into a false sense of budget security could he spring the trap and take control of each department, even those run by elected officials, like the Sheriff Department and the DA's Office.

When Luna revised his budget projections, the sky had fallen.  The county's budget shortfall was now predicted to be $130 million.  Drastic actions would need to be taken.  Luna would need broad power from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to make deep cuts and keep the County solvent.  On a 4-1 vote, Supervisor Jeff Stone dissenting, the Board gave him the power earlier this month.

But Sheriff Stan Sniff and DA Rod Pacheco were still questioning Luna's numbers and his motives.  But far be it for Bill Luna to let elected officials get in his way.  He needs more power and is willing to do anything to get it, like manipulate Riverside County's budget process for his own purposes.

And it doesn't hurt when three County Supervisors support your duplicity and thirst for power.

As the Press-Enterprise reported on Saturday Bill Luna is proposing a County Budget for the upcoming fiscal year that expands his power and makes drastic cuts to public safety by:

• Giving CEO Bill Luna power over both the Sheriff's and the District Attorney's operations.
• 575 employees of the Sheriff's Department are to be laid off. 
• 110 employees of the District Attorney's Office are toe be laid off. 
• 7 county fire stations are to be closed. 
• The Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning is to be closed. 

As you can see in the article, Luna has the support of Bob Buster to take these steps.  And why wouldn't Buster support this?   After all these years, Bob Buster finally has the opportunity to put some restraints on law enforcement, to reverse the County's long held pro-cop stance, and to leave a permanent stamp on Riverside County long after Buster is gone from the Board.

Since both the office of Sheriff and District Attorney are constitutionally mandated, it is questionable as to what power and authority a non-elected County Administrator like Bill Luna could legitimately take from either elected official.  One could easily imagine Bill Luna being arrested and charged with obstruction of justice if he tried to interfere or run operations in either department without a clear legal precedent on his side.  

But it would be fun to watch and report on!

Now, should the full Board of Supervisors grant Luna the power to make the cuts he and Buster are supporting they would be devastating to Riverside's public safety operations.

The cuts to the Sheriffs Department will end almost all sheriffs patrols in the unincorporated areas of Riverside County.  Supervisor John Tavaglione who represents the largest populated unincorporated area of Riverside County would have to be out of his mind to vote for this.

Closing seven fire stations will put thousands of Riverside County residents at greater risk to losing their homes to wildfires and threatens lives by greatly increasing emergency medical response times.  Supervisors Marion Ashley and Jeff Stone had portions of their districts devastated by the Esperanza Fire.  Would they really risk greater fire dangers by shutting fire stations so Bob Buster can punish the firefighters that did not support his re-election efforts?

The closure of the Banning Jail will increase the number of criminals that get out out jail early each year to over 10,000. If memory serves, both Jeff Stone and Marion Ashely campaigned against ending the early release of criminals.  Stone even supports setting up tent city jails like those that exist in Maricopa County, Arizona.  Maybe its time to revisit that proposal.

The proposed layoffs and cuts to the DA's office are the most intriguing.  By imposing these cuts and giving Luna a voice in the DA's operation, it appears that Buster and Luna intend to force District Attorney Rod Pacheco to maintain his unyielding focus on prosecuting violent crime by cutting back on what they consider to be "less essential prosecutions", like those involving public corruption.  

Does this mean that the scandal involving Bob Buster's political consultant and county lobbyist Patrick O'Reilly goes deeper than we currently know, dear readers?  If so,does such a scandal implicate O'Reilly's other past clients like Marion Ashley, Roy Wilson, and the County of Riverisde?  

We promise keep you posted on that one as we keep digging.

The question now dear readers is will Supervisors John Tavaglione and Marion Ashley break their silence and speak out against the dangerous cuts Bob Buster and Bill Luna are proposing?  Or will they remain silent and let Buster have his way and continue to allow Luna to usurp the power the voters entrusted to the Board of Supervisors?

County Supervisor Roy Wilson is unlikely to participate in the budget deliberations since he broke his hip and is recovering from surgery.  Supervisor Jeff Stone has indicated that he has serious reservations about the cuts Luna is bringing before the Board of Supervisors. 

So the fate of public safety in Riverside County lays squarely at the feet of John Tavaglione and Marion Ashley.  They both have campaigned as strong public safety supporters.  Now is their chance to prove their credentials.  If they don't, at least the voters will have a chance to show their displeasure in any lack of leadership Tavaglione or Ashley show come the election next June.

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, his former boss, County Assessor Bill Postmus was arrested on drug charges when investigators discovered methamphetamine in his home while executing a search warrant.  Postmus then resigned as Assessor and recently entered a drug rehabilitation center.

Jim Erwin, the Chief of Staff to County Supervisor Neil Derry has also been arrested, which of course led to his resignation.  Now before going to work for Supervisor Derry, Jim Erwin had been an Assistant Assessor to Bill Postmus, and before that he was the head of the San Bernardino County Deputies union.  Jim Erwin's previous claim to fame had been having a sexual relationship with the County's chief negotiator during contract talks for the deputies.

The heart of the San Bernardino County District Attorney's corruption investigation appears to be the $102 million settlement the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay Colonies Partners and developer Jeff Burum in a flood control dispute in Upland, California.  Bill Postmus was a County Supervisor at the time, and he along with County Supervisor Paul Biane threw the lawyers for the County out of the room and reached the questionable deal with the Colonies.

The Rise and Fall of Bill Postmus is well detailed by InsideSoCal in it's "Behind the Story."

 The Press Enterprise Reported on March 27, 2009 that Burum celebrated his windfall by taking San Bernardino County political operative Jim Erwin and Inland Empire lobbyist Patrick O'Reilly on his private plane to New York City.   Once in NYC Burum gave Erwin a watch valued at over $12,675 and O'Reilly a watch worth more than $18,100.  Burhum put them up in expensive hotels, took them to the hit Broadway show Rent, wined and dined them at top restaurants, and even arranged for the services of some prostitutes, before flying off to Washington DC for more fun and games.

The question that must be asked dear readers is what was Jeff Burum rewarding Jim Erwin and Patrick  O'Reilly for?  Burum said in the article above that "O'Reilly and Erwin were instrumental in the settlement."   

What exactly does that mean dear readers?  Were political operative Jim Erwin and lobbyist Patrick O'Reilly in the settlement conference that lawyers were not allowed to attend?  What were their roles in the questionable settlement?  Were bribes arranged and paid?  If so, did Erwin or O'Reilly deliver the cash?  Is that what this corruption investigation is all about?

Of interest to us dear readers is the involvement of Patrick O'Reilly in this mess.  O'Reilly is a fixture in the Riverside County political establishment and has been for years.  Along with San Diego consultant Tom Sheppard's Campaign Strategies, O'Reilly has an active hand in several campaigns in Riverside County.

Patrick O'Reilly's past and current political clients include the following politicans:

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster

Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley

Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson

Former Riverside County Supervisor Tom Mullen

Former Riverside County Supervisor Jim Venable

Former Riverside County Supervisor Norton Younglove

Former Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle  (the Royal Doyle himself!)

Former Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge

Former Riverside City Councilman Dom Betro

Former Riverside City Councilman Ed Adkison

Former Riverside City Councilwoman Maureen Kane

According to our sources, Patrick O'Reilly helped get these people elected, then used his relationship with them to sell his lobbying services to those with business before the County and the City of Riverside.  His biggest source of business had been developers.  They would pay him, he'd walk them into meet a County Supervisor or a City Councilmember and viola!  More houses were being approved without the adequate infrastructure of roads, schools, waters, and parks were suddenly approved.

O'Reilly is also alleged to have used his relationships with the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to get the public relations contract for County Supervisor Tom Mullen's pet project, the Riverside County Integrated Plan (RCIP).  Our sources dear readers say that the County Board of Supervisors spent more on O'Reilly's public relations operation for RCIP than they allocated towards the environmental science!

Some say O'Reilly was responsible for the badges for campaign contribution scheme that helped bring down former Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle.  And its possible that because of his relationship with Patrick O'Reilly, former District Attorney Grover Trask never investigated O'Reilly or his clients for their possible illegal activity.

After the publication of the Press Enterprise's story,  Patrick O'Reilly has taken the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions from reporters.   Not a good sign.

It will be very interesting dear readers to see where the San Bernardino County District Attorney goes with this one, and it will also be quite interesting to see if the Press Enterprise continues to dig into this story as they have been.  So far dear readers, the signs look good so far.  If not, we will be here to bash them and tag them with the moniker the Press Enquirer once again.

While we have shown nothing but contempt for that rag of yellow journalism that calls itself the Press Enterprise, we must now give credit where credit is due, dear readers.  The Press Enterprise has done a remarkable job of covering this story and letting the chips fall where they may.

It is perhaps dear readers the last dying gasp of the Press Enterprise, as it struggles to stay solvent as newspapers with larger readerships and more credibility go under across the country.  These stories won't save the PE from going under, but at least some of the reporters over there can claim that when print journalism came to an end in Riverside County they actually went digging for a real story to go out on a high note rather than simply finding the stories that fit their editors pre-arranged headlines.

Dennis Hollingsworth Fails To Stop Tax Increases

Well we told you yesterday dear readers, that the elevation of State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth to the position of Senate Minority Leader might not be a good thing.  Well so far it's not paying off.

Hours after Dennis Hollingsworth ousted Republican State Senator Dave Cogdill from the Minority Leader post, the California Legislature approved $12.8 billion in tax increases.

Senator Hollingsworth was powerless to stop it.  The Governor and the other legislative leaders snubbed Hollingsworth's demand to reopen the budget talks and remove the proposed tax increases.  They clearly recognized him as the ineffective lightweight that he is.

Therefore, from this point forward he shall be dubbed Senator Hollingsworthless.

The tax increases that Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworthless failed to stop include:

• A 1 cent increase in the State's sales tax.  Seems like a little, but it's not. 
• A quarter percent increase in the State Income Tax.  Again, seems like a little, but it's not and every little bit will keep adding up.  
• A doubling of the Vehicle License Fee or VLF or car tax.  Yep, history repeats itself dear readers.  This is the same tax increase that got Gray Davis thrown out.  Arnie is hoping that only doubling it will not upset voters as much as tripling it.  Not a wager we'd make dear readers.
• Reducing the dependent child tax credit from $309 to $99.  This will hit low income families and single parents the hardest.  It's one tax increase that we're surprised any Democrats voted for.  

The one tax that was removed was the 12 cents per gallon tax increase on gasoline.  Now before you conservatives run off to give slobbering praises to Senator Hollingsworth as you try to claim some victory for a huge defeat not only for the GOP but for the hard working people of California, it should be noted that it was turn coat Republican Senator Abel Maldonado who got the gasoline tax increase removed from the budget.

Maldonado who has been using the media to build a public persona as a reasonable Republican who would vote for the budget fix, therefore he thinks voters should put him in a higher office, like that of State Controller, provided the necessary vote to pass this flim flam budget and these tax increases.

To be able to say he is still somewhat of a Republican, Senator Maldonado cut a deal with the Wee Five to remove the gasoline tax increase and change the 5% income tax surcharge into an across the board income tax increase.  What he was drinking when he came up with that logic is beyond us, dear readers.

Additionally, Maldonado got the Wee Five to agree to put two  constitutional amendments on the ballot at a cost of many millions of dollars to our already cash strapped state.  

Maldonado's pet amendments are:

1. An amendment to create an open primary that allows the top two vote winners to square off in the November election regardless of party.  This is a much needed reform to bring a sense of balance and bipartisanship back to the state, but it never should have been part of the budget deal. It should have been voted up or down regardless of Maldonado's vote.    
2. An amendment to ban legislative pay increases when their is a budget deficit.  This will pass but it is worthless as the State Constitution prohibits the state to officially run a deficit.  That's why all of the borrowing gimmicks go into place whenever the Legislature overspends tax revenue.  

All but one of Riverside County's legislators voted against this budget and these tax increases.  With our county being dominated with Republicans this shouldn't come as any surprise, but one never knows, especially when five Republicans who campaigned against taxes turned around and voted for them.

Only Democratic Assemblyman Manuel Perez voted for these tax increases, which means he's likely to face a stiff challenge next year.  If the economy is still in the tank and this tax plan that allows the State to keep spending money even as average Californians are pinching pennies does not work, as we here at Inside Riverside believe it won't, then its a good bet dear readers that Perez will only serve one term in the State Assembly.  And rightfully so.  

Anyone who voted for this budget should be ashamed and does not deserve to be in office.  But there's a leadership vacuum in Sacramento and as long as legislators keep choosing people like Dennis Hollingsworthless to be their standard bearer, then nothing is going to change except our rising tax bills. 

  

Conservative Hypocrite Dennis Hollingsworth Ousts Senate Minority Leader

California State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, a Republican from right here in Riverside County, the City of Murrieta to be precise, has been selected leader of the Republicans in the California State Senate.  

Dennis Hollingsworth successfully led a coup against the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Dave Cogdill of Modesto.  Cogdill was overthrown by his own party for embracing a budget deal that will raise taxes on income, sales, gasoline, and vehicle registration.  Senator Cogdill helped broker this bad deal last week as a member of the State's Wee Five (the Governor, Assembly Speaker, Senate President, plus the Assembly and Senate Minority Leaders).

Senator Cogdill apparently misread his Republican colleagues on the issue of taxation.  But can you blame Cogdill?  After all, the Republican Party has abandoned nearly all of its core principles at one point or another in the last decade.  

Senator Cogdill must've figured his party would give him a pass for agreeing to a soak the rich, poor, and middle class tax increase.  He probably thought many of them would vote with him just to get the budget done and keep the State of California in business.  Guess again.

Late last night Republicans in the State Senate voted to remove Senator Dave Cogdill and replace him with our own Senator Dennis Hollingsworth.  But don't break out the party favors just yet, dear readers. Hollingsworth is a mixed bag, not only for our county, for the state, but also his own party.

Senator Hollingsworth is one of the most conservative members of the entire State Legislature, if not the most conservative.  Hollingsworth probably has more votes against legislation than any other legislator, while also being a leader in getting the least amount of legislation passed and signed into law.  For six years Dennis Hollingsworth has just taken up space and fed at the taxpayer troth with practically nothing to show for it but his frequent flyer miles.

On the positive side, having a committed anti-tax Republican now as part of the State's Wee Five  may be good in the short term.  If Hollingsworth can hold Republicans in line, he might be able to scale back and possibly prevent the economically devastating tax increases Governor Schwarzennegger and Democratic legislative leaders badly want.

However, Hollingsworth does not have an alternative plan.  Like most Republicans, Hollingsworth only knows how to show up and vote no.  It's the real problem in this whole budget mess. Republicans need to put up a very real and a very detailed plan that balances the State budget without any, or only with extremely limited, tax increases.

Given that state government under the horrible leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has grown 40%, there are plenty of places for the Republicans to cut.  It won't make the Democrats happy. But guess what?  At least with two competing plans on the table real work and real budget compromise can get underway.

On the negative side, Dennis Hollingsworth is bad for his party in the long term.  He is not the kind of Republican that will be able to attract moderate, independent, and Hispanic voters to the GOP that the party desperately needs to expand its numbers and win election's in California.  That will keep California a one party state and continue to lead to state government that has no purpose other than existing.  

Dennis Hollingsworth is also a hard-core fire-breathing Christian conservative that can not agree or collaborate with anyone that does not see the world exactly as he does.  Now Hollingsworth and his followers will probably read the above as a compliment, while progressives and liberals will dismiss it  since believe Hollingsworth is like all Republicans.  That is not the case. 

Hollingsworth's religious views are to the right of George W. Bush.  Yes, you read the right. Hollingsworth's views are further to the right than our recently retired President who was the darling of the Christian right his entire eight years.   To understand this clearly, if Dennis Hollingsworth were a Muslim, he would be a member of the Taliban.

Which of course makes Senator Hollingsworth a hypocrite.  In his 2002 Assembly election, Hollingsworth was forced to admit a long-standing affair with a woman he worked with at the Riverside County Farm Bureau.  

Rumor even has it that Dennis Hollingsworth once filed a false police report when a bike was stolen out of the back of his truck from the driveway of the woman's house.  Hollingsworth would have outed himself for his marital infidelity if he called the theft in from her house, so according to our sources he reported the incident and provided the police with false information about where the bike was stolen.

Dennis Hollingsworth asked for forgiveness from the voters for his affair, and they gave it to him.  Sadly people like Hollingsworth don't share the same kind of mercy and forgiveness with others that have momentary lapses of judgement or who make mistakes in their lives.

Such things aside, hopefully Senator Hollingsworth will be able to get a state budget done that does not contain many or any tax increases.  The State needs to learn to live within its means just like the rest of us dear readers.   That will require more than his standard no vote.  We are hopeful that as Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth will actually start doing the work he is being paid for.  If not, then we will all know that he shortened his name to Hollingsworth from Hollingsworthless.

Moreno Valley Moves To Stave Off Bankruptcy

Well dear readers, it appears that the Moreno Valley City Council is finally trying to get it's act together.

Last Tuesday the five members of the Moreno Valley City Council unanimously voted to approve the Highland Fairview Corporate Park (aka the Skechers project) in the eastern Moreno Valley community of Rancho Belago.  The project is likely to generate enough revenue in taxes and fees to keep Moreno Valley from going broke.

By keeping the city solvent, Moreno Valley will be able to prevent cuts to its police and fire departments, as well as keep other public works projects going, like street improvements. Additionally the City Manager will get to keep his unjustified salary and avoid laying off worthless members of his staff that are also collecting fat checks that they probably don't deserve either.

Members of the Moreno Valley City Council have been outraged at our reporting that the City's finances were in worse shape than they were letting the public know.   Specifically they disapproved of our releasing information that the City of Moreno Valley may be on the verge of bankruptcy given the collapse of the City's housing market, which has been a major source of revenue for Moreno Valley.

However it should be noted dear readers that not one member of the Moreno Valley City Council ever denied that the City could be going bankrupt, or that the City Council may be discussing the possibility of filing for federal bankruptcy protection.  Instead they have lashed out at anyone who may insinuate that the City could take such drastic action in angry and obvious attempts to stop whatever member of the City Council or the city staff is talking about such a bankruptcy contingency plan.

With the approval of the Highland Fairview Corporate Park/Skechers, all of this talk may now be a moot point.  Construction of the project will generate about $10 million of building fees for the City in the short term, finally growing to about $40 million in total fees.  1,000 construction workers, many who are currently unemployed, will soon be put back to work.  When completed Moreno Valley will have 2,000 new jobs.  

On top of that the project will generate anywhere from $100 million to $150 million in economic activity in Moreno Valley when fully operational.  This will put anywhere from $4 million to $10 million into the city coffers each year.

These arguments did not sway the misguided Planning Commission or the opponents of the Highland Fairview project who fought the Corporate Park on the basis that it would create too much air pollution, too much big rig traffic, and destroy housing values.  However, these same harbingers of doom failed to oppose a similar project in Moreno Valley located next to a residential community and near a public school that came before the Planning Commission only a week after Skechers.  

This double standard seems to have appalled the City Council and solidified its members into making this a unanimous decision.  

We can only hope dear readers that the approval of the Skechers project is the beginning of a new day in Moreno Valley and that the City will finally start welcoming job-creating industry.  Yet there are deep racial divides in the City between long time white residents and newer Hispanic residents that are rapidly challenging the good old boys lock on power, as evidenced by the racial divisions for and against Skechers and the election of Jesse Molina to the City Council over long serving incumbent Charles White.

The people of Moreno Valley would be wise to lay down their racial prejudices and avoid any race baiting politics.  It doesn't matter where they came from before because they are all in the same boat now.  That boat in Moreno Valley.  Working together they can finally get that city moving the right direction.  Or they can keep up the infighting and continue sailing the boat in circles as it sinks, even though land is in sight.   

Recall Of Gray Davis Was Mistake

It's about to become official.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is the worst governor in the history of the state of California.  Yes, Schwarzenegger is even worse than the governor he replaced, Gray Davis.

The State of California today is in ruin and the blame belongs squarely at the feet of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Every voter in 2003 who voted to recall Gray Davis --- even if they did not vote for Schwarzenegger as the replacement --- also deserves a share of the blame.

Six years ago the economy of California was in bad shape and the people got frustrated at then Governor Davis.  Gray Davis who won election as a moderate  but he was not moderate in when it came to spending.  He helped the Legislature spend billions more money than it could support in the long run. When the tech bubble burst and the money ran out, Democrats refused to limit their spending and Republicans for the most part refused t support any tax increases.

Gray Davis decided he had to take matters into his own hands and signed an executive order to triple the the Vehicle License Fee (VLF) which Republicans like to call the car tax.  A Recall Petition was already circulating and Davis outraged everyone that owned a car, truck and motorcycle which is what actually got the recall qualified for the ballot.

Davis shifted hard to the left to shore up the Democratic base.  He signed a law that he had previously vetoed making it once again legal for illegal immigrants to obtain California drivers licenses.  But this was a tremendous miscalculation, because even Democrats hated the car tax and only the most rabid members of the Open Borders Faction of the Democratic Party supported granting illegal immigrants drivers licenses.  

And on top of that most of the people of California were receiving monthly reminders of Gray Davis' ineptitude when the mail came with their electric bills.  Davis' mishandling of California's Energy Crisis in 2000 and 2001 was a big issue to them, that combined with his other lame decisions created a perfect formula for the people to oust Gray Davis from the governorship.

That's when action hero movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger rode up to rescue us all from the Gray Davis Blunder Years and to end the unproductive politics as usual that produced overspending and stymied real reform in Sacramento.

Six years later and California is in far worse shape under the governance of Schwarzenegger than it was under Gray Davis.

The State has a $42 billion budget deficit and no cash flow.  School construction has been halted. Freeway and road construction is about to be stopped.  Prison construction is non-existent.  Tax refund checks can not be issued.  And California's public schools are still amongst the worst in the nation.

And now the man who said he was going to end politics as usual is presenting the oldest solution in the political play book to fix his inability to control runaway state spending --- he's going to raise taxes, even though he has a power to control spending that the President of the United States lacks --- the line item veto.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to tax the people of California more than they've ever been taxed before.  And he's going to do it during one of the worst recessions in the history of the Golden State. But don't blame him alone, he had the help of the Wee Five (the Democrat and Republican leader of the State Assembly, and their counterparts in the State Senate) to come up with this plan that will provide death and taxes simultaneously.  Taxes to the people, death to all what's left of California's economy.

If approved by the Legislature, the Schwarzenegger - Wee Five Budget Plan will:

1.  Raise your income taxes.  There will be a 5% surcharge on what you pay the state in income taxes.  Consider it as a gratuity added against your will at a bad restaurant where the food stinks and the service is non-existent.  

2.  Raise the price of gas.  Each gallon of gas you buy, you will now pay the state another 12 cents per gallon.  They say all of this will go for freeway and road improvements, but rest assured the road you drive won't be fixed.  The money will either wind up in Los Angeles or San Francisco mass transit projects, or borrowed by another state agency to provide a service that you will never ever use.

3.  Double your car tax.  The Vehicle License Fee is going to double as you will soon find out when you get your car registration bill.  Schwarzenegger criticized Gray Davis for tripling the VLF, then repealed the action once he was in office.  Technically by only doubling it Arnie is keeping his campaign promise since he's not tripling it.  Politics as usual if you ask us, dear readers.

4.  Raise the sales tax.  The tax you pay on everything you buy is going up 1 cent.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but during a time when money is tight and families are scraping by to survive, the government isn't going to let you get away with buying less and paying less taxes. Now you can buy less and pay more taxes with this plan.

5.  Cut your child tax deductions.  Yes, if you have a kid you will be penalized for reproducing.  The current $309 child deduction is being cut by 66% to only $103.  Nothing like kicking single parents and working class families when they are down.  Rumor has it this part of the legislation is meant to punish Nadya Suleman for having eight babies at once, but we have not been able to confirm this.

On top of all this, California's schools are still failing miserably and the lunatic 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered that California release one-third of its inmate population to relieve prison overcrowding.  This will result in over 50,000 felons being released on parole well before they finish their prison terms.  And to make matters worse here in Riverside County, the Board of Supervisors two weeks ago unanimously ordered massive cuts in spending to all county law enforcement agencies.  

It's hard to imagine Gray Davis making California worse than it is now if he had been allowed to complete his term as governor.  Unfortunately Californians now are leery of the recall process and we are going to be stuck with Arnold Schwarzenegger as our governor for another two very long years.  At least he's prohibited from running again next year.  He won't be back.  And that's something to be grateful for.  If there is anything left of our once golden state and its economy by then.

Did Mike Gardner Really Win in 2007?

A disturbing issue has been brought to light by Inland Empire Weekly, the possibility of voter fraud in the 2007 Riverside City Council election in Ward One between then Councilman Dom Betro and challenger Mike Gardner.

According to Inland Empire Weekly, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office is investigating whether or not Paul Odekirk, a supporter of Mike Gardner's, actually lived in Riverside's First Ward when he voted there in the 2007 Riverside City Council Election.  

IE Weekly reports the investigation was stimulated by a complaint by the anti-cop Riverside Police Review Commissioner Chani Beeman to the DA's Public Integrity Unit.  Beeman was a supporter of deposed councilman/local dictator Dom Betro.  

IE Weekly's Block the Vote article makes the bizarre conclusion that the motivation of this investigation is that Riverside County's law-and-order-at-any-cost District Attorney Rod Pacheco is in league with the all-cops-are-evil Chani Beeman for the express purpose of punishing Paul Odekirk for his anti-Betro stance. 

Give us a break.  One would have to not only suspend all disbelief but all notions of reality to buy into that theory that has only one obvious goal:  absolve Paul Odekirk of any potential wrongdoing and portray him as a helpless victim. 

The IE Weekly's otherwise detailed and extensive article glosses over the real story that if Paul Odekirk did not in fact live in Ward One and he voted in that race then he is guilty of voter fraud.  So is any other person that voted in the 2007 Ward One Riverside City Council election that did not really live in that City Council district.

Which is what has us gravely concerned dear readers.

Mike Gardner snatched the seat away from Dom Betro by only 7 votes.  If Paul Odekirk's vote was fraudulent, then the margin of victory was only 6 votes.  Is it possible that these 6 other votes were cast by anti-Betro activists illegally voting in this race?  If there were a total of 8 illegal votes for Gardner, then like it or not Betro actually got re-elected.

If that's the case, was this the only Riverside City Council race such voter fraud may have taken place?   The Save Riverside mob ran both "Anybody But Betro" and "Anybody But Adams" campaigns in 2007.  Did anything happen illegally in Riverside's Ward Seven election?  

Riverside City Councilman Steve Adams has long been scorned and ridiculed by his opponents for his crass and earthy style, especially by Save Riverside's vocal minority.  In the November 2007 election Steve Adams found himself in a very tight election against the matriarch of Riverside nut jobs, Terry Frizzel.  Adams eeked out a victory by 13 votes.  

Did Frizzel's supporters cast votes in the Ward Seven race without living in the district?

Both the Betro-Gardner race and the Adams-Frizzel contest went to recount.  But the question now is whose votes were being counted?  Were there fraudulent votes cast for Mike Gardner and Terry Frizzel? These are questions that should be reviewed and answered by the powers that be.

While we here at Inside Riverside has never cared for the dictatorial style of Dom Betro, and while we believe that Mike Gardner is doing a pretty good job on the Riverside City Council, if Gardner did not legitimately win the election he does not deserve to be in office. 

Today Dr. King's Dream Is Fullfilled

Today is a joyous day dear readers!  Today is the day that America has lived up to her promise of being the land of opportunity, where anyone can accomplish the things they put their mind to, regardless of their race or religious views, through hard work and undeterred determination. 

Today Barack Obama was sworn in as the President of the United. States.  Obama is the first African American elected to our highest office.  And as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would probably note, Obama is a President that was elected based on the content of his character, not on the color of his skin.

While not everyone voted for Barack Obama to be the 44th President, no one can deny the importance of this moment in the history of the United States of America.  After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it took over a century for African Americans to be recognized as equal citizens with the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Since then our country has come a long way in race relations.  Consider this important fact.

44 years ago, Barack Obama would have had difficulty being able to vote in many states, and the idea of an African American running for President of the United States would have been absurd, if not suicidal.  Obama's election shows that America is truly coming of age and is leaving the mistakes and failures of the past behind.  

Additionally, the fact that a person with a middle eastern sounding name, and the middle name of Hussein, could be elected as President after seven and a half years of xenophobic hyper-patriotism is also evidence that the American people think more for themselves than the critics in the media give them credit.

Somewhere the champions of freedom and equality like Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson are smiling down on this nation as she moves forward with new promise into the 21st Century.