Supervisor-elect Janice Rutherford
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors is playing fast and loose with the rules once again. And this time around it seems they may very well be in such a hurry so to prevent newcomer Supervisor-elect Janice Rutherford, who ran on a platform of ethics reform, from providing her input into a law that will affect her ability to serve her constituents for her entire term of office and keeping her promises to voters.
Four out of the five current supervisors supported Rutherford’s opponent and now they are pushing through a new county ordinance to transfer authority from the Board of Supervisors to their hand-selected County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux. Devereaux appears to have little concern for ethics reform as evidenced by his handling of the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center scandal, which was highlighted this past week with his misstatements to the press and his covering for supervisors who are accused of wrongdoing. Inside sources say that those supervisors were targeted in the search warrants and criminal charges against them are possible.
Greg Devereaux
Sources also say Devereaux is also behind the extended stay of County Counsel, Ruth Stringer, whom a majority of the Board wanted to terminate over a year ago. The Board handed her termination process over to Devereaux months ago, but he has been slow to respond.
Stringer has been a driving force in prodding BOS members into misbehavior, often rendering unorthodox, if not bizarre, legal opinions to cover for suspicious actions of those members she has aligned herself with and who have protected her despite the fact she has cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary legal fees and litigation.
Stringer has been responsible for persuading the Board to fund the civil complaints associated with the Hueston investigation of the Assessor’s Office to the tune of $1.6 million and growing by the day. But more importantly, without Board approval, she violated attorney-client privilege by turning over parts of the Hueston Report over to her friend, District Attorney Mike Ramos, before getting approval from the Board.
Stringer showed her loyalty to Ramos once again when he was accused of creating a hostile work environment by a former employee he had also courted and engaged in a sexual relationship with. Stringer interfered with the special investigation to the point that the report was gutted to the point of only including information in Ramos’ favor.
We recently learned that Supervisor Paul Biane claims he was given a letter from County Counsel that suggests the free medical services at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center were allowed for county supervisors. Now that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in the investigation, Stringer’s advice could cost one or more county supervisors their freedom.
Yet, with Devereaux’s help, Stringer remains at the County Government Center, interfering in Board actions and policies. Perhaps that is because Stringer is also behind the new ordinance mentioned above that will take power away from the Board of Supervisors and bestow it upon Devereaux. Not only that, but it includes a new non-interference clause that forbids the Board from interfering in Devereaux’s oversight of county departments and staff. Devereaux knows who has his back.
But the Board has not given Devereaux all the power he wants . . . yet. They are scheduled to do so on November 19, 2010, with the ordinance taking effect thirty days later, just after Supervisor-elect Janice Rutherford will be sworn in.
We suppose such actions should be expected by this dysfunctional, constantly-sparring Board of Supervisors. But with several of them possibly facing criminal charges, they should reconsider such an underhanded endeavor, to not only thwart the will of those who elected them, but also disenfranchise their newest member. If they are serious about reform, this ordinance should be tabled until Rutherford has taken office and given a chance to learn the dynamics of the Fifth Floor. She deserves a voice in whether this ordinance becomes law or not.
The Board of Supervisors needs to delay this action until Rutherford is sworn into office.
Everything is spot on in this article. It has been the unholy alliance between Ovitt and the CAO that has fueled every step of the way from Big D’s hiring, turning over BOS staff to him and now the CEO powerplay.
The County already has a CEO…The citizens of San Bernardino County. Deveraux has already removed the citizens from the top of the County organizational chart and has moved himself to the top now.
Now that the BOS position has no more authority or responsibility than any other city council in the district, their pay should be reduced to a $600 per month stipend just like every where else.
When the pay goes away, the CAO will not stand up to protect the board, he will just be laughing at them instead. The BOS members have all been warned about the consequences of yeilding all power to big D, so they have no one else to blame except for themselves.
This represents the absolute end and complete termination of the electorate’s control of what once was held out to be self government.
I predict that this house of cards will collaspse in the biggest pile of rubble ever in a scandal that will make the colonies debacle look like a fender bender.
There is no mechanism to prevent this kind of takeover in county governments from despotic power freaks. It was formerly controlled through the ballot box, but the entire charade could only be accomplished by the will and consent of the supervisors.
I suspect that after the upcoming collapse, that five good Tea Party candidates for superivsor will be needed to rebuild a real board of supervisors and never let something like this happen again.
Ken Hunter
Hunter For Congress 2012
This is like the Democrats and their lame duck secession. Wait of Janaice Rutherford to be sworn in.