CPRC: The final selections

More judges are coming to the Inland Empire, according to this article published in the Press Enterprise. Seven judges will come to Riverside County, with eight going to San Bernardino County.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George testified before the legislation up in Sacramento about the ongoing shortages, which have virtually shut down the civil courts in Riverside County.


(excerpt)


The gap between expanding caseloads and the number of judges available to handle them has continued to grow, adversely affecting the administration of justice," George said in his annual State of the Judiciary address.

The speech was delivered Monday evening to a joint session of the Legislature in Sacramento. George noted that because criminal cases facing dismissal have priority under the law, civil cases are delayed.

"In Riverside, one of the most affected counties because of an enormous growth in population, for two years in a row all civil courtrooms were closed for several weeks," George said. "Civil litigants saw the resolution of their family law matters, contract disputes, housing, probate and personal injury claims deferred and delayed."





The final round of the selection process for two people to fill vacancies on the Community Police Review Commission concluded with the appointments of Peter Hubbard and Steve Simpson.

Hubbard, a manager at American Medical Response and Simpson, a former Riverside County Sheriff's Department reserve deputy both received the required five votes. Sharon Tyrrell, an escrow officer got three votes as did Human Relations Commission Chair Chani Beeman.


The vote breakdown was as follows:



1) Dom Betro: Chani Beeman, Peter Hubbard

2) Andrew Melendrez: Beeman, Sharon Tyrrell

3) Art Gage: Steve Simpson, Hubbard

4) Frank Schiavone: Tyrrell, Simpson

5) Ed Adkison: Hubbard, Simpson

6) Nancy Hart: Beeman, Simpson

7) Steve Adams: Hubbard, Tyrrell

8) Mayor Loveridge: Hubbard, Simpson



Not surprisingly, Hubbard cruised on through the final round despite giving an interview that was only slightly better than his first one last week. But the fact that he had served 10 years on the Board of Public Utilities as a member or an alternate obviously resonated with Loveridge and the majority of the city council.

The city council went for board and commission experience by also selecting Simpson who had done eight years on the planning commission before applying for the CPRC, and had even run for political office in 1978 for the first ward council seat against Loveridge who defeated him. Even Betro had pushed for someone with more board and commission experience saying during the first round how important it was for the new commissioners to "hit the ground running" during the current situation. The only thing, the wrong experienced commissioner was voted on the commission, as far as he was concerned. Betro also stumbled when he began his questioning of his two choices, Beeman and Hubbard by flattering them first especially Beeman which made the road tougher for her.

What happened with Simpson wasn't surprising, because he was expected to pick up some votes if Loveridge and the full city council participated in the process. What was surprising is that it was the dual selection of Simpson and Hubbard which showed how the division between members of the GASS quartet on the city council has widened. It also showed that the former GASS quartet is evolving into something else, as reflected in the Hubbard vote.

People will point their fingers at the GASS quartet, but the only thing its members including sometime member, Loveridge, had in common was that none of them voted for Beeman. Beeman had led a charge against them when they fired former city manager, George Carvalho which she is to be commended for doing. But no matter how much you play nice with the current leadership, they don't forget the past. For most of us who had opposed Carvalho's firing, that's just fine.

Hubbard received support from three GASS members, Gage, Adkison and Adams but not from Schiavone while Simpson picked up three votes from GASS quartet members, Gage, Adkison and Schiavone. Betro jumped in to support the three GASS quartet members with Hubbard and Hart did the same with Simpson.

Both Adams and Hart changed at least one of their votes and for Simpson, picking up Hart's vote along with Loveridge's was enough to get selected.

The Hubbard/Simpson ticket was backed by two quartet members, Gage and Adkison as well as Loveridge.

Tyrrell was backed by her councilman, Schiavone, Adams(who dropped Simpson) and Melendrez even though she lost Hart's vote.

The vote reflected one thing, and that's if you have friends at City Hall like Simpson clearly did as he had either served on a commission or was on a first name basis with nearly everyone or Hubbard, who was a weak candidate but his employer, AMR, is well known to at least the campaign treasurers of most elected officials. His years spent on the Utilities Board obviously introduced him to the inner circle at City Hall, you know the one that allows you to come to board and commission interviews and call elected officials "Ron", "Art" and "Dom".

You can give a great interview like Beeman did especially this round, though she said that she believed the current model was "adequate" when she had complained publicly of its weakness. She is also aware that the community had supported the stronger Berkeley model rather than the hybrid the city council created for them.

One thing that got her was the response she gave to a question asked by Schiavone about how many parents of law enforcement officers would she think was too many on the CPRC. Beeman had trouble with that question and at one point, she answered that if there were any, she herself would come to City Hall and have something to say about it. It was an honest response to a difficult question, but it also showed that while she would complain as a community member, she could also excuse herself from self-examination by saying it gave her a perspective that made her more qualified. That left her wide open. But it's better to walk away from a process having given an honest response even if it's not the *right* one than to be seated on a commission having given a safer response.

She was also female, and even though the women gave interviews that were better than the men, and in Tyrrell's case much better than her first, it's a man's world at City Hall. The two men selected will join a commission that has eight men and only one woman.

The sad thing was that three out of four of the final candidates applying to serve on the CPRC all came from backgrounds where they had extensive experience already serving on the city's boards and commissions. That tells you that there needs to be more work in recruiting candidates and opening up the screening process so that not only those who are have this experience are selected for interviews.


And late in the day, the city council's afternoon session was brought abruptly to a close after three women were escorted out of the chambers by Riverside Police Department officers including Yolanda Garland and Marjorie Van Poule, who is in her early nineties and told officers they would have to carry her. It started when Councilman Frank Schiavone had said during a discussion item on an ordinance to address the issue of eminent domain that he was sick and tired of people coming up and complaining on the issue. He asked for evidence of the city taking houses from people for eminent domain, and when several individuals spoke up, an argument broke out and the police escorted individuals out, the city council banned several of them from tonight's meeting and suspended the proceedings.