The House that City Hall Built: The Costs of Scandal

UPDATE: Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz hires Christopher Vacino who is Pasadena's acting chief. Here's a short bio. Guess who's his soon to be ex-boss while he was interim? Hint: It's an ex-Riverside City Hall employee who now works in that city.

His background according to his bio is community policing and Strategic Planning, having over 30 years with the Pasadena Police Department.

He also has this page at Rate My Professors. Also this article on his hiring as interim last year including comments by City Manager Michael Beck.






UPDATE: Rumors of intrigue at City Hall over the fate of one of the players in the Leach DUI incident...has there been any developments out of the Seventh Floor?

The Fate of Lt. Leon Phillips:

Demotion or something else? Did he meet with Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis and have his demotion and suspension reduced to lighter discipline? City Hall has battened the hatches on this one but if this is true, what happened?

[The epicenter of what's been going down in River City.]

"Take me back
To a world gone away
Memories
Seem like yesterday..."

---Chicago (1975)

There's been a lot of debate about whether or not city residents should be playing close attention to what's been going on inside the police department and inside the halls of power of City Hall. Some say that city residents should just forget about it, move on and focus on other things. There's some merit to focusing on the positive but while that's life affirming and leaves one feeling lighter, it's been very difficult for many city residents to do that especially when the scandals just keep on coming. It's also very difficult when the denizens at City Hall keep everyone enraptured by their behaviors, both the past ones exposed and the current ones when addressing the scandals that had been after all, locked up in a closet somewhere with the key purportedly kept in a safe place. City Hall used city residents' money to keep this closet locked up and the key hidden but it's like the Rolling Stone song says, you can't always get what you want.

But maybe Riverside can get what it needs.

A thorough cleaning out of those responsible for wreaking the havoc in Riverside that's been seen the past few months but really stems from behavior taking place behind the scenes of the city and police department since at least 2005. Because until this is done, it will be more of the same, more scandals, more embarrassment and ultimately more cost to the city's residents. No point in going broke before the true costs of Riverside Renaissance comes to light. And if the city becomes more of a liability with the emergence of more scandals, that will impact its bond ratings. Which might be when City Hall finally really starts to feel the repercussions of a lack of responsiveness to what's been going on in the past few months to the point where people have been hearing pins dropping all over the 'Hall. But in the meantime, Riverside's hottest serial drama/reality show continues.

Are the producers of Survivor and American Idol paying attention?




[Long-time Mayor Ron Loveridge who's not been in town much as his activities as the president of the League of Cities keep him on the road but apparently he's found enough time to broker the creation of a new position reporting to him at City Hall.]




So far the reaction in City Hall including by Mayor Ron Loveridge who's not been in town much lately since he's been selected the president of the League of Cities is to contemplate hiring another employee to handle public information requests and intergovernmental relations at City Hall. This person would report to the mayor, mayor pro tem and chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee and probably wouldn't be working for free. It's interesting that the city would suggest this after laying off employees especially in the areas of libraries, museums and public works. But it's more than considering this plan, it's trying to get it implemented.

As if the Mayor's office needs another staff member, while huge vacancies exist in libraries (which lost most of its actual librarians) and museums (which lost at least half of its assigned personnel) not to mention public safety where there's still high vacancies including in the civilian divisions.

The denial of public records, as selective as it clearly turned out to be, is not about ignorance of the law (which is an acceptable excuse only inside City Hall) or about "mistakes made", nor can it be fixed by hiring another public relations employee. Doing this just masks the real issues which led to the selective release or denial of public documents to various city residents, media outlets and city labor unions for the past five years.

It's about the city council and mayor holding their direct employees, Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos (who remember, couldn't find two police management contracts in his own office three years ago) accountable to both ethical and honest behavior including but not only involving the CPRA. Let's poll the city right now and see if many agree that this is what's being done and if so, who the city residents find ultimately responsible for the transgressions. But until the city council and mayor realizes that abiding by state laws including CPRA just isn't optional and until the city government collectively holds its direct employees accountable, nothing will change, they'll just put another employee against them to first, barricade themselves against being accountable to their constituents on public information requests, and second, have a convenient scapegoat to throw under the bus the next time they get caught trying to not release public information that might expose them to embarrassment by highlighting misconduct including criminal violations.

It might be interesting to do another poll in May 2010 just before the mail in ballots start flowing into the Voters Registrar's offices to be counted. And then there's the most important poll known as the election process.

But what really has people concerned about what's been taking place isn't just the cost to public trust in Riverside's City Hall which plummeted along with that of the police department after Feb. 8 but the financial costs and fallout of what has taken place. Mostly through the recent rash of expensive retirements, medical and otherwise, that have taken place during the past few months.

The question many ask, if the recent antics of City Hall are what's contributing greatly or more likely causing these slew of expensive retirements and litigation to be filed and ultimately settled, then why are the city's residents being sent the bill of payment rather than those responsible inside City Hall? And these actions taken by city employees including those in other departments besides public safety, are not being filed for frivolous reasons or because people just love to sue other people, they're stemming from behaviors that have resulted both from how City Hall conducts its business involving its own labor force as well as management of specific city departments including police by the city manager's office. The city will prove this point by settling these cases not to avoid the cost of litigation but to avoid the cost of losing.

These payouts are the costs that City Hall doesn't include on its Web site or advertise during the "economic success" reports given by council members at regular city council meetings. The most that City Attorney Gregory Priamos has to say about it is that there's no reportable action when these claims and lawsuits appear on the closed session agendas as two police-related ones did this week. City Hall can't or won't talk about them citing confidentiality laws even to explain why the city apparently settles at some point many labor related actions.

What does the public hear when they're filed? Priamos or one of his employees saying the claim or lawsuit's "frivolous" and that the city will defend itself vigorously. And it does, all the way to the demurrer stage or even occasionally the motion for summary judgment. But when things get more quiet and fewer people are paying attention, these cases all settle and some of them do get reported but how many don't?

The Human Resources Board tried to obtain just basic statistical information about lawsuits filed in the various courts by city employees. The lawsuits themselves once they hit the courts are public but apparently according to Human Resources Director Rhonda Strout who was channeling both Hudson and Priamos at one meeting said no, that information can't be released by the city and it's outside their purview. Hudson did feel compelled to attend a Human Resources Board meeting to smooth some feathers and essentially told the Board to "redefine" its mission so smoothly and skillfully that he left the board members thinking that their own redirection away from some sensitive issues was their own idea. That's the art of manipulation that only can come from a highly skilled player in action and really something to behold in person.

But no, the city doesn't want to be handing out even statistical information on the money spent on litigation stemming from the current management of City Hall. And yes, a lot of it has been initiated, some might too much. But there's a clear pattern in the processes behind many of this inhouse litigation.


1) City employee does one of the following:

a) files a complaint of discrimination usually involving the disciplinary or promotional process (i.e. Roger Sutton, Christine Keers, African-American and Latino employees from various city departments including public works, women alleging ageism). They usually start by filing claim for damages, many of which aren't accessed by the media or public due to the insulated nature of that process. Discrimination might be by race, gender, age or political affiliations, i.e. labor associations. At this stage, hardly anyone outside the person or department might know of the allegations of misconduct.

b) Employees complaining about corruption within city departments, City Hall or violations of policies, practices or even state laws including the penal code. This may or may not lead to investigations of said allegations by outside law enforcement or prosecutory agencies. Sometimes this may or may not be publicized depending on the nature of the investigations or whether either party releases this information for strategic reasons.


2) Investigations are initiated against them and/or relatives of theirs after these employees initiate complaints through the inhouse and as a result, more insulated process that the public often doesn't have access to in regards of information. The investigations might involve allegations that are recent or in the past because the statutory of limitations on disciplinary action only starts when misconduct is suspected by at least a supervisor. Also, in many cases the actual disciplinary action might be secondary to the exposure of the investigation. In several cases, criminal investigations against employees were initiated after claims were filed, i.e. Keers and in her case, an arrest was made by the department in direct violation of the D.A.'s office.


3) Employees either file lawsuits which are more public, claims which become publicized and consequently, the city residents might find out for the first time when this happens. It also makes it appear as if the employee is complaining about their allegations after being investigated or suspected of misconduct.

4) City Attorney's office claims publicly lawsuits or claims have no merits, are "frivolous" and will be rigorously defended by the city. Then the case gets farmed out by his department filled with deputy city attorneys to an outside firm.

5) City ultimately settles litigation which may or may not be revealed publicly. One case, Sutton, went to trial with jury and presiding judge both saying that the retaliation aspect of his case was the most compelling evidence wise.


But it's been an interesting few weeks with even more interesting revelations about what's taken place at City Hall particularly its Seventh Floor have come to light. Particularly for some on the roster at City Hall.

Getting to the Bottom of his Bag of Tricks?

[City Manager Brad Hudson said that ultimately the "cold plates" scandal had been on his watch but he pointed the finger at former Chief Russ Leach (who incidentally had started the circulation of the cold plate list that ultimately found its way to the State Attorney General's office) and his own subordinate, Tom DeSantis. ]

DeSantis, Meet Bus

[Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis who was unceremoniously tossed under the bus by his boss, City Manager Brad Hudson over the cold plates deal. Some people were shocked but could the man who followed Hudson to Riverside be vulnerable?]

Targeted by His Own Employee?

[In case Councilman Paul Davis doesn't know it yet, his employee, Hudson has allegedly called him a "one term" councilman for his bucking the culture of the current city council of "going along to get along", the mantra that could do for City Hall what the "Heavens will Fall" quote did for outgoing Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco.]








[One of the employees from the police department who both retired and filed a claim for damages alleging retaliation from the city and department. Are his allegations true, maybe so, maybe not but the city will settle his claim or lawsuit when things get quieter as it does in almost every case except for its $1.64 million mistake in 2005.]








[Asst. Chief turned Acting Chief John DeLaRosa retired from the police department in July allegedly after receiving a notice of intent to terminate by City Manager Brad Hudson. Even in retirement, he's still counseling key people inside the department. ]

Riverside Police Department Departures and Retirements

(Since Feb. 8, 2010)

Police Chief Russ Leach (medical) convicted of DUI


Asst. Chief John DeLaRosa: Delayed criminal investigation into Leach incident, involved in decision making to take him home. Retired suddenly the day that the hiring of the new chief was announced.


Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel: Thought about putting in for chief position, before internal investigations opened up on him, retires instead and then files claim alleging retaliation by city and department.


Sgt. Frank Orta: Took a medical retirement after involvement in Leach incident as supervising sergeant. Authored controversial report later signed off by Esquivel.


Det. Chris Lanzillo: Fired after confronting DeLaRosa in roll call and then filing a claim against the city for retaliation. Sued the city and allegedly met with DeSantis recently. Will the city offset a costly firing by the former acting chief backed by Hudson with a retirement for the former RPOA president?


Sgt. Frank Patino: Long-time officer of over 30 years had investigations opened on him in hopes of pushing his retirement? It might have worked as Patino's set to retire later this month.


Lt. Tim Bacon: Retired after settling a lawsuit alleging that he was retaliated for his activities as union PAC member by the department and City Hall for among other things reporting the guns, badges and cold plates scandals to the State Attorney General's office.


Lt. Darryl Hurt: Retired after settling a lawsuit alleging that he was retaliated for his activities as union president by the department and City Hall for among other things reporting the guns, badges and cold plates scandals to the State Attorney General's office.







As these folks retired, further vacancies were created inside a police department already facing a 10% vacancy rate over all and approximately 19% inside the civilian ranks. Those vacancies were filled through three promotional phases under DeLaRosa and more recently, a quite extensive promotional list put out by Diaz on July 30. These promotions were necessary to pull the department out of the direction of moving along with a very young and relatively inexperienced patrol division (created by the post-1999 exodus which was followed by two hiring waves) with less and less supervisors handling more and more work shifts especially in the watch command division which saw its numbers cut in half just in the past six months.

A next important step that needs to be taken by the city and department is to open up vacant patrol officer positions and create more of them to overcome the losses generated by the rash of promotions which ultimately draw from the bottom rank. Not to mention addressing a rash of retirements and departures as well as the reality that Riverside's a city that's still increasing greatly in population through migration even as over a dozen annexations have been put on ice.


But in the midst of all this, some desks have been filled at the department's administration headquarters on Orange Street. Filled by officers who were transferred there in the police department's equivalent of the Island of Lost Toys. Their fates aren't clear at this time because nothing much has happened to them for the months that some of them have spent there. Two of the original group, Lanzillo and Leon Phillips were given notices of intent to terminate though only Lanzillo was actually fired.

But others man the desks and the phones as the clock keeps ticking.

Answering Phones at the Orange Street Station

These officers were sitting in what some call the "penalty box" last spring and they're still there, for various stalled investigations or disciplinary processes instituted by DeLaRosa and current Deputy Chief Mike Blakely. Several originally were set to be terminated but is it possible that the department is waiting for the clock established by Governmental Code 3304(d) to expire on these cases? There's been internal debate about whether or not they are where they should be but their cases have essentially put them in limbo and having them sit around awaiting the clock to run out so they can't be disciplined appears to contradict the purpose for putting them there in the first place which is to have them await disciplinary action for misconduct. It's just odd on its face though no doubt there's some internally generated logic to have officers sitting in limbo at desks if only to allow the statutory limitation for disciplining them to run out. That's clearly what's happening if a situation's allowed to drag itself out essentially in limbo until the one year anniversary of the alleged notification of possible misconduct by an officer was made.

Because if officers commit misconduct that's sustained, you discipline them certainly if it's serious enough to warrant sticking them in Orange Street Station in the first place and not allowing them out in the field as patrol officers. And if you have serious intentions to discipline for misconduct serious enough to take them off the streets, you do it within the time required by state law. But if you allow the clock to run out instead so your hands are tied so to speak, then clearly the misconduct if serious enough to move officers out of patrol even before it was investigated and proven or disproven, didn't happen to warrant disciplinary action. Actions like these are among those which ultimately cost the city money through grievances and lawsuits.




[Deputy Chief Mike Blakely (l.) known for his impressive work ethic has been quite busy in his newly regained assignment. And with an officer whose loyalty lies with no one in a city where you need a score card to determine who's beholden to who about what, he's truly the wild card in the infrastructure of the police department and City Hall.]


Here are the current roster of people hanging out by the phones at the Orange Street Station, attracting some attention by those walking its hallways.



Officer Richard Glover: involved in October 2009 incident involving arrest of allegedly intoxicated people. Testified in the criminal trial of former Officer Robert Forman in late 2009 and made waves when Blakely allegedly fired his wife. Did either or both come back to haunt him?


Officer Michael Bucy: Glover's partner and also testified on behalf of Forman in his criminal trial late last year as a former trainee of his.


Officer Jeffrey Adcox: Involved in a pursuit/officer involved shooting with another officer and was facing termination all earlier this year Convicted of a DUI after car accident in March 2009. Supervisor in that incident with the pursuit currently working for Internal Affairs.


Officer Justin Mann: Involved in same incident with Adcox and also testified in the Forman trial last year as the officer who reported the incident involving a victim who eventually filed a $1.9 million claim against the city.


Det. Ron Kipp: He's on administrative leave or duty for an out of town altercation between himself and police officers in another city. Long a magnet for controversy and disciplinary action, it's not clear what lies in his future. He's doing his time at one of the police facilities.


Officer Neely Nakamura: Filed a claim for damages against the city for her treatment by the police department during its quest to allegedly retaliate against Esquivel. It's not clear what her fate currently is but forging a future in the department that hired her in December 2005 would be extremely difficult at that point. And you know when management and those in a lower rank screw up or get investigated for screwing up, management retires and the person in the lower rank gets the discipline. Just ask former Lt. Leon Phillips.




Nakamura's alleged treatment by internal affairs including the highly detailed and graphic nature that it appears the questioning took has disturbed many people following that story. You sit there reading the excerpts from her interrogation by Internal Affairs personnel and many people are asking, okay was it necessary after an admission of an intimate affair between her and Esquivel to ask questions about whether or not they engaged in specific sexual acts? That appears to be a tactic done primarily to embarrass or intimidate someone being interviewed because if an admitted intimate relationship constitutes a departmental policy violation or any fraternization policy then that's already been established without further questions on sexual acts. It does make one wonder if these questions were actually asked of Nakamura, what the real purpose of the interview was by those interrogating her and those directing the actions of the interrogators.

And how did her interview with interrogators contrast with that done with a male officer who worked at management level given that no excerpts of Esquivel's interview were included in the claims for damages filed by both of them. Are interrogations like this routine practices in the department and are investigations for so-called fraternization common, because if the comments at the PE.com site are any indication, if everyone got investigated most especially closer to the top of the department, who would be left?

But the allegations raised by Esquivel and Nakamura in their claims should be investigated thoroughly. Yes, kidnapping and extortion are serious allegations which is precisely why for all involved, there should be an objective, timely and thorough investigative process and since the allegations involved the department's administrative investigative and oversight process, it might not hurt to have someone outside review that process. Including perhaps the Human Resources Board for example.

At any rate, there's a lot more going on in the department and City Hall which will certainly attract more attention as more and more of what's been kept hidden in some case for some time comes to see the light of day.


To Be Continued...

Steve Adams Gets an Early Campaign Donation

[Captain John Carpenter who had the sit down with Councilman Steve Adams in Corona to "clear the air" before his January 2008 promotion after being too closely associated with a police association which didn't endorse him apparently got it *right* this time allegedly donating money to Adams' campaign coffer for the 2011 election. Otherwise, Carpenter is busy settling into his job as being in charge of Special Operations with a lot of divisions on his lap and assignments coming in fast and furious from Blakely. Maybe that's why he spends most of the time in his office these days but then the captains have been quite busy. Adams of course is running for a third term as the Ward Seven councilman. ]

A Former Councilman responds....

Former Councilman Frank Schiavone did respond on the cold plates issue to say that his city owned vehicle had never been cold plated. He said that the Press Enterprise printed a correction on the article just published on the cold plates story involving elected officials whose vehicles had been assigned cold plates. He said that he did drive a Toyota Highlander for a period of time that had been assigned previously to Hudson and then may have been later assigned to Councilman Rusty Bailey.

And the publication posted this on the article at its Web site:


Editor's note: This story has been updated from a previous version to clarify the status of city cars driven by former Riverside City Councilman Frank Schiavone. He drove a car with untraceable plates for most of 2007, but a car issued to him in 2008 did not have such plates.



He also asked the question of what benefit did having a car with cold plates provide for elected officials such as himself.

WI FI Service Restored

[The city's WI FI system currently managed by AT&T until next month was returned back online by Tuesday evening after an city-wide outage lasting over 24 hours. Numerous people called the city asking what was up with that. The cause was unknown but computer tests run by this blogger narrowed the issue to problems with internet users accessing the internet through the network's DNS servers. ]

Public Meeting

Thursday, Aug. 12 at around 6:00 p.m. at the Orange Terrace Community Center, Councilman Paul Davis is holding a community meeting to discuss issues as well as to welcome Police Chief Sergio Diaz to his ward.

RPOA School Program

The Riverside Police Officers' Association is holding events to issue backpacks with school supplies to lower income students in this city. They will be doing so at three parks as part of a joint effort with the Riverside Unified School District after spending several days putting the 400 packets together.

They did this so far this week at Highlander Park and Islander Park.

The locations, dates, and times for another event:


Thursday August 12th at Mt. View Park at 11.00am


It's very good of the RPOA to show its involvement in the communities of Riverside by engaging in these project. Believe it or not, this is part of what community oriented policing is about and the department needs to undo the damage that's been done to that philosophy of policing by budget cuts and the decentralization of the department's resources that had a negative impact on the advancement of community policing even if it provided benefits in other areas.

Oh What Tangled Webs We Weave...City Officials and their Wheels

UPDATE: City Wide WI FI outage enters into its second day after it quit working at noon on Monday...with no ETA announced yet for restoration of the city's free internet service. ATT currently researching the source of the problem since it received the service request yesterday afternoon. Multiple reports from all over the city.

The city is scheduled to take control of the network's management and operations by Sept. 12.








"That's not the position that any public official wants to be in, that you don't know that you are doing something illegal."

---Riverside Councilwoman Nancy Hart


"Why would I suggest it?"

----Former Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach





"I think ultimately he's responsible as our top law enforcement officer to give our city manager advice on that, and he gave him bad advice," Bailey said.

How can this be true when Hudson said he never heard about cold plates until after the attorney generals inquiry?

Can anyone down there on the City Council tell the truth?"


---Commenter, PE.com who makes an excellent point but then the truth doesn't have to be remembered.










The whole cold plate scandal took a rather interesting turn when it was revealed through the Press Enterprise that five former or current city officials had also been driving around cars issued cold plates by the city. At this point, few people are really shocked to learn that this took place but it does explain the city council's rather blase attitude towards the recent scandals to rock City Hall. It's difficult to point fingers at your direct employees for what you've been doing too and besides, those fingers have all been collectively pointed at former Police Chief Russ Leach, a rather easy scapegoat in this mess. But probably not an accurate one.

After all, City Manager Brad Hudson and Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis have a rather extensive history of equipping or trying to equip themselves with various paraphernalia including badges, illegally purchased guns and emergency equipment in the case of DeSantis for his vehicle so he could "roll in" on critical public safety incidents. Hudson and he were allegedly highly involved in seeking out police paraphernalia since they first arrived in 2005 since it took all of six months or even less for the shenanigans involving the use of the police department as an illegal gun vendor to take place. The officer listed on the document as the agent of sale, he got promoted by Chief Sergio Diaz last week despite being demoted from that same rank little more than a year ago.

But the interesting thing about both Hudson and DeSantis is that every time they say something publicly, it's not too difficult to create a counterargument to what they have said, or corrections of the way they have said things. And so it is the case with the mystery of the cold plates. You have to remember that the newspaper is building its record of it based on again, very selective release of public documents pertaining to the issuance of cold plates provided by the city management at City Hall. Something that if the city council believes is going to be fixed by hiring another public information employee, then it's fooling itself which isn't good certainly not on the eve of an election year.

The infamous Cold Plate list

River City's Cold Plate Hall of Fame

"Sure, it makes you mad, but you move on. I'm tired of hearing about them, actually."

Said the plates on his city issued car where changed in late 2009 and he didn't know why

"I think ultimately he's responsible as our top law enforcement officer to give our city manager advice on that, and he gave him bad advice."

"There is really no benefit to having those plates. It doesn't allow you to park illegally, it doesn't allow you too drive fast. Why it was done, I don't know, and I don't understand even today."



[Note: Adams had his city-issued car impounded in Newport Beach allegedly for being "illegally parked". It was cold plated at the time and Former Chief Russ Leach had testified in a deposition that Adams had identified himself as an undercover police officer.]

"I'll blame Tom for the cold plates, Tom and the chief, with the chief getting a little more of the blame. But ultimately, I'm responsible." He said he didn't know about them until the you-know-what began hitting the fan.

Blames the chief who he directly supervised for the issuance of cold plates but if you've been watching closely, the accounts by city management have evolved through time and retelling more than that of Leach. But then he's been quite busy lately.






So you have five elected officials and their explanations as to why they had cold plates on their cars. It's only "old news" to them rather than their constituents because the city tried very hard including behind closed doors to make sure that the public wouldn't ever find out what took place.

They point the finger at Leach because he's easier to blame because he's a convicted criminal of sorts and has gone off into retirement after a scandal that shook the city. But the problem with this version of "I did it because Leach told me to" is that this doesn't explain why Leach then went and complained about the cold plating to two former lieutenants, Tim Bacon and Darryl Hurt who essentially no longer work for Riverside in large part because Leach wasn't really the responsible or the sole responsible party. Why would Leach institute illegal actions and then report them to Hurt and Bacon knowing fully well that they might or would take them to the state attorney general's office? That seems a bit bit foolish on its face and it doesn't jive with the portrait of an eager to please Leach who all of a sudden after four previous interim or permanent city managers and two assistant city managers decides to engage in illegal actions to give police-related equipment to his bosses. It doesn't jive with the reality is that Leach showed a pattern and practice of complaining to various people when disagreeing with actions that he was ordered or told to do by his bosses, Hudson and DeSantis. He didn't like what he was doing, he went off and told people about it.

And he's kept his version of events fairly consistent while Hudson and DeSantis' change their own with all three scandals.






[Another picture of the cold plate list which is difficult to read but on the bottom, next to the written notification for Schiavone (which is below a listing of his city-issued vehicle), there's a right slash (which means "per") and then "De Santis" which means that the authorization appears to have actually come from DeSantis.]





Per usual when the city gets caught doing something, the document record it provides after CPRA requests isn't complete but what was received seem to strongly indicate that the appropriate procedures for acquiring cold plates were violated. Even though the forms are required to be signed by Leach as the head of the law enforcement agency, they were instead signed by a former office specialist named Virginia Titus. So again, if Leach is so onboard with these cold plate issuances outside of the police department, then why isn't his signature on it or at the very least that of a high ranking designee if he was indisposed? Why leave it to an office specialist to authorize? Interestingly, one who just happens to no longer be employed by the city and issued a "no comment" response when called by a newspaper that clearly knew where to locate her. That's not an uncommon response to a journalist request necessarily but if it's a former employee, was a nondisclosure statement involved? As has happened in the case of some of the city's more high profile retirements since Hudson and DeSantis arrived in 2005.

The form even states that it's supposed to be signed by the head of the law enforcement agency and also states clearly what the very narrow parameters are for the issuance of cold plates, yet these forms were still processed anyway. But then the sales registration forms for the weapons purchased by Hudson and DeSantis by the police department clearly state that knowingly providing false information on them is a misdemeanor offense yet it didn't take long for a representative from the state attorney general's criminal division to query the city about questionable and ultimately false information produced on that form.

What's interesting about the belated email produced by DeSantis to *prove* that it was Leach who authorized the plates without of course explaining why his own name appears as authorizing Schiavone's plate on the cold plate list. Interestingly enough, the email was addressing the cold plates put on Schiavone's city-issued vehicle. The email subject line indicates that Leach was emailing administrative manager Karen Aquino about Schiavone's cold plate. He claimed to the Press Enterprise that the email was taken out of context. His email was written in January 2008 about a month before emails were sent by police employees to the State Attorney General's office. Leach had met with them on Jan. 8, 2008 about the issue and then later allegedly sent them the list of cold plated vehicles which were then forwarded to the State Attorney General's office.

Perhaps DeSantis could shed some light on the situation and provide the context by forwarding the entire email exchange to the Press Enterprise and the public in the spirit of this new pledge by City Hall to be more open and transparent. Very nice platitudes indeed to announce that the city government's going to make better efforts not to violate the CPRA law but it's time to see some actions.

Leach mentioned getting further information on vehicle codes from former Traffic Lt. Ken Carpenter (who retired in 2008) and that list of codes does include provisions for "confidential plates" which can be issued to a roster of type of people including elected officials but these aren't the same as cold plates. But even though all this took place including correspondence with the State Attorney General's office in early 2008, the city still issued out cold plated vehicles to city officials including Councilman Rusty Bailey who received his in September 2008.

Bailey and Hart then say that Riverside's politicians weren't the only ones to receive cold plated vehicles. After all, look what happened in neighboring Hemet, they said as if that had happened out of the blue. And it's true that Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana had to remove cold plates from several vehicles used by city officials upon learning it was illegal. But what Hart and Bailey don't mention is that Dana took the job in Hemet after retiring from the Riverside Police Department as a commander. In his interview with the Press Enterprise, Dana said he didn't know the practice was illegal because while working in Riverside, he knew that nonpolice employees had cold plates on their vehicles. So ironically, what happened in Hemet wasn't an isolated incident in a vacuum but stemmed from behavior that had been taking place in Riverside.

Adams who's up for reelection next year said in the article that he was puzzled at why it would be a good idea. Earlier he hadn't believe it was likely that vehicles issued to city officials would ever be used again as police cars because they had too much mileage on them. But then when his city-issued vehicle had been impounded in Newport Beach allegedly for being "illegally parked" it had been cold plated at the time and Leach had alleged in a deposition that he gave that Adams had identified himself as an undercover police officer and that a watch commander at Riverside's police department had been contacted to discuss that.

Several city council members including both Hart and Adams have issued dismissive statements about how it's all "old news" and it's time to move on. But while the city officials are eager to erase their memories and those of city residents especially before next year, what many city residents are thinking right now, is what the hell will be coming down the pike or spilling out about City Hall next? Because the scandals at Riverside's City Hall are the gift that keeps on giving.

It's difficult for city residents to be as blase about all these scandals as City Hall clearly wishes they would be but seriously everyone's just waiting to see what happens next in his unfolding soap opera. Over the weekend the latest scandal involving the filing of a claim for damages by former Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel hit the national news once again putting Riverside on the map as an epicenter for scandals. So far the reaction at City Hall has been to talk about hiring another public information person to handle intergovernmental relations and public information requests.


But Riverside's been hitting the national radar since earlier this year and it's interesting hearing from people outside the city and the state wondering what the hell's going on in this former city that historically had been more interested in its now vanishing citrus industry rather than in generating scandals. But this is reflective of an indecisive body of leadership at City Hall which remained silent on all the scandals involving illegal behavior as they erupted until it decided it was time to hire another employee on the Seventh Floor to monitor public information requests which still will be overseen by the same two direct employees, Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos who have generated most of the problems involving the city's compliance with the CPRA. Remember Priamos was the one who three years ago couldn't find two police management contracts which were generated by his own office as evidenced by his office's information being stamped on every single page of these contracts when they did finally show up just a month ago. It comes down to elected leadership being able and willing to collectively hold their direct employees accountable including for their misdeeds and that's glaringly absent from the equation so much so that many city residents have picked up on it as an election cycle looms for four elected officials on the dais. City officials including those who are elected don't take responsibility for their actions or those of their direct employees and pass the buck elsewhere, this case at Leach who's responsible for his own share of misbehavior but there's more than one individual involved in this rash of illegal behavior and misconduct that's shaken the confidence of many residents in City Hall.

Look at the scandals and look at the sheer list of claims for damages and lawsuits faced by the city from all over its workplaces. Major litigation is brewing that could embarrass the city in several different departments not to mention employees who suddenly don't work for the city anymore. The cost of this ligitation including that at the grievance level (and the city does lose quite a few even at this stage) will be one that many city residents would be shocked to know. Which is very distressing in a city that prides itself in being self-insured.



And the sense is that when it comes to revelations about more scandals, there are still plenty more of those where they came from currently sitting on the horizon. After all, 2010 isn't over yet and when you combine apathetic, rudderless leadership at the top with entitlement and opportunism in upper management, it's hard to imagine any other outcome.

After all, Riverside is reaping what it has sown.




Riverside hires another manager at the Fox Theater to be more user friendly?



More pension troubles erupt in Riverside County.

WI FI UPDATE


Another outage took place beginning about noon today. The extent of it is not clear nor is the estimated time for restoring the service back online.

Scandal plagued Maywood severs its "marriage" to scandal plagued Bell.

An (un) Modest Proposal from River City While Another Scandal Breaks

UPDATE:


More cold plate violations emerge including by four sitting city council members.












Pete messed up. Big time. Had he not made waves, the affair and its attendant ethical charges would never have come to light. It was exposed out of spite and revenge. Was it a fatal flaw in his character? Yup. In his job did he do the right thing? You bet he did.

In the final analysis, he was an excellent officer in a very difficult environment. He never participated in any corruption and was promoted only on merit, respected by both good and bad cops.

Hopefully the new chief will have the guts to remove about 9 officers and employees out of hand. He will never succeed until this is done. If we had a city council that wasn't full of incompetent meeting attenders, they could help watch over the process, but, sadly, no, they have neither the knowledge of the situation, the guts, the desire to play hardball nor the political power to carry out the necessary personnel actions with decisiveness and skill. Can this be done against the Union's will? Let me just say that the corruption extends in their direction as well. They would agree to just about anything at this point to "keep the lid on."

The new chief is, of course, being isolated from all this and he will probably never know the full extent of what was going on and who the triumvirate were that were running things. That is why he better start firing immediately before the regrouping starts. He's already made one potentially "fatal" promotion, which tells me he is either in on the cabal (which is nearly impossible) or he is very naive.

Professional chess matches are usually won in the first few moves. If this were a chess game, things would not be looking so good for Riverside right now.


----Guest at PE.com







When is PE going to to a real investigative report about RPD corruption? This is tip of the iceburg. What about Leach's Stripper girlfriend / meth dealer that was previously married to Corona PD officer with ties to Mexican Drug Cartel.
What about the illegal sale of guns by RPD to public servants? City Mng DeSantis then threatens mother with children with same gun in Blockbuster parking lot and police refuse to file report, let alone arrest the SOB.
The same DeSantis that destroyed public documents regarding city owned cars being used for private use.
Of course they screwed Esquivel because he didn't cover it up. RPD needs some federal intervention fast! Where is the Riverside DA? Where is the CA AG?


----Commenter, PE.com






Whew! I remember in the 70's when all the young deputies were migrating from the Sheriff's Office to RPD. Better pay, better equipment, better moral, better working conditions.


Something happened to all the good stuff! Now RPD is a department in crisis. Glad I stayed with the Sheriff's Department -- Anyone remember the old saying "One Riot-One Deputy"?

Hope the new leadership can change the course of an important law enforcement agency -- But not sure if I will hold my breath, the new leadership comes from another department in crisis!!!!

Shucks! 30 years from now it will not make any difference to us old timers anyway.



---Commenter at PE.com





"I'm finding in this department there's been a history of extreme litigiousness" by officers accused of misconduct,"


---Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz who said he will investigate the allegations.

"We need to get to the bottom of it and not have a double standard and treat people fairly. It seems to be a never-ending story."

----Riverside City Councilman Paul Davis

News broke that former Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel has become the latest police employee to file a claim for damages against the city. But it was pretty much obvious that this was the case after this item showed up on the city council agenda for closed session next week. Rumors had been rampant about Esquival had been involved in some internal investigation involving conduct with a female police officer that might have involved the use of his cell phone. But not much about the investigations were released by City Hall, though a few eyebrows were raised when City Manager Brad Hudson failed to show up for one of Esquivel's public retirement parties while he showed up for one held for former Asst. Chief John DeLaRosa. Proving once again that not all departing police management employees are treated equally by City Hall even when they exit the stage.

It also provided signs of the ways the relations between city management and their disparate police management employees played out in the final days of two long-time careers with the police department. Esquivel had denied at the time being forced out of the department to individuals. His statement that he gave to CHP investigators for the Leach incident suggest at some of the earlier events depicted in his lawsuit. The CHP had interviewed him because he had signed off on the report wrote on it though his signature didn't appear on the copy distributed by the city.



Esquivel had announced his retirement after 30+ years with the agency in April not long after he had expressed his interest in possibly applying for the police chief's job. At the time, he said he believed it had been time to step down given the current climate of the department which was in complete turmoil at the time. But as stated in this blog, what had happened was that the police department had opened several internal investigations against him not long after that. Esquivel retired quietly in early May and several parties were held in his honor including by the Latino Network. DeLaRosa also retired quietly though he's still out and about offering advice to a variety of his former protegees from his old workplace.

However, in his claim for damages, Esquivel stated that he had been forced out of the department in a retaliatory action for insisting that the DUI incident involving former chief Russ Leach not be covered up but that it should be farmed out to the California Highway Patrol for investigation instead. Earlier, he had signed off on a rather questionable incident report crafted by former Sgt. Frank Orta about the incident but the copy with his signature wasn't the one distributed by City Hall to the media and the public. But still if Esquivel signed what was an integral component of any attempted coverup which is a written document attached to it then why did he carry out that action? And if by doing so he participated in a coverup by signing off on what was essentially a highly questionable report, then why is he claiming that he was the individual who had tried to stop the coverup within the department and City Hall?

Hopefully that will be explained more fully when the grievance turns to a lawsuit which might then provide civil dispositions given by the players involved. If the grievance even gets that far which most likely it won't because for one thing, the city ultimately files nearly every "frivolous" lawsuit filed against it. Because if there are elements at City Hall that wanted Esquivel out of there, he didn't leave the department without 36 years worth of information and probably more than a few secrets. But what Esquivel apparently stated in his claim was that he had been the principal player in trying to prevent the coverup of the Leach incident beginning not long after it happened. And that included getting the CHP in to do the investigation.

He said that he was the one who had insisted that this action be taken and that after that, city and police employees came after him, soon opening an internal investigation into a "consensual relationship" that he had with Officer Neely Nakamura who has also filed a claim for damages against the city. There had been allegations raised that Esquivel had been sex-texting a female officer on his city-issued phone and that current Deputy Chief Mike Blakely had received copies of these texts which were later kept away from a CPRA request filed by the Press Enterprise for use in an ongoing internal investigation.

It's not clear how long these text messages were allegedly in the hands of Blakely or the individuals at City Hall but clearly they were a keg of dynamite waiting to be detonated. Another power play launched by members of upper management past and present who face it, have adapted to play in a highly contentious environment where those are just the rules. Most of them rose through the ranks banking less on management skills and work ethic and more on their lobbying skills and doing whatever was needed to get up higher even if it meant stepping on others. People in the city have been asking over and over what kind of police department this city is operating and how on earth did it turn out this way. Most of the officers and other employees are viewed as being professional employed inside a house of cards that has been tipping over and preparing to fall in the past few months. The professionalism of most of the department's why it still can carry out many of its duties. But that doesn't mean that its infrastructure or foundation as it's called isn't a micromanaged mess of probably worse behavior than what's come to light so far.

What's been seen at the top is pretty much a disgrace and an embarrassment to the city and its residents not to mention the officers and civilian employees in the department who do behave.

But City Hall and its syncopates owe the city residents a clean out and a clean up of the mess that a lack of visionary leaderships and effective oversight of city government over its own direct employees. Instead the city's paying money that should go to public services including public safety and works to fight and then ultimately settle litigation filed against it. It really takes one leader with enough fortitude to be accountable to the public to ensure that this will be done to get it heading in that direction but such leadership hasn't emerged from the dais so far. In fact, the only comments from there is to essentially hire yet another public relations person to buffer city government from the public it serves. Many people out there paying attention to all this do understand that this is happening.

Esquivel's claim of retaliation against those at City Hall and in the police department is the second that's been filed by a police department employee since the Feb. 8 incident became public. Earlier this year, former Riverside Police Officers' Association president Det. Chris Lanzillo filed two claims for damages against the city for retaliation against him for his actions as union president as well as for confronting DeLaRosa about the coverup involving the Leach incident during a roll call session. Lanzillo was terminated not too long after he filed his claim for damages by DeLaRosa based on an internal investigation that allegedly was filed after the confrontation in roll call and assigned top priority for investigation by internal affairs by the Orange Street Station. Lanzillo was reassigned there, joining Lt. Leon Phillips (sent there for training for a "special assignment according to DeLaRosa) in limbo until he received his notice of intent to terminate.

In the claims, both Esquivel and Nakamura filed against the city in general and a group of its employees in particular including Hudson, DeSantis, DeLaRosa, Blakely, Lt. Mike Cook, Sgt. Frank Assuma and Sgt. John Capen, the latter three from the department's Internal Affairs division. Esquivel's lawsuit mentions the alleged incident when DeLaRosa went to roll call sessions not long after the Leach incident including one around Feb. 17 and urged people not to talk to the bloggers and the media Lanzillo (who's not named specifically in the claim) asked DeLaRosa why it took over 30 hours to turn the Leach incident over to the CHP for investigation. DeLaRosa allegedly became quite upset, agitated and said he wouldn't explain himself, calling Lanzillo a "lone wolf" by himself. Not long after that, Lanzillo himself faced an internal investigation before being fired.


In early March, Esquivel was called in for an internal investigation and told that he was a witness. An attorney attended along with Cook, Assuma and Capen along with DeLaRosa and Blakely. It was a 90 minute interview where it appeared that Esquivel was the focus of the investigation and asked about the location of Leach's vehicle. It had been in the evidence bay for repairs rather than locked down in evidence.

During the interview it was alleged that Blakely had illegally gotten hold of transcripts or phone numbers from Esquivel's phone. He was asked about a phone number called frequently which had nothing to do with the investigation. Esquivel said it was Nakamura's phone number and he was in an intimate relationship with her. It was a lawful, consensual relationship which didn't violate any rules. Esquivel alleged that they were trying to retaliate against him to put him out of the running for the chief's spot so that DeLaRosa could get it. He was interviewed as the target officer several weeks later and he showed the investigators the text message where he had been told by DeLaRosa to sign the incident report written by Orta.

On April 9, Esquivel was talking on the phone to Nakamura when he saw Capen and Assuma in the parking lot. The two internal affairs sergeants worked in a different building (housed at the downtown bus terminal). Esquivel was later called to attend an Internal Affairs interview, by DeLaRosa. Unknown to him, the internal investigators had allegedly accosted and illegally detained Nakamura as she exited her vehicle. She was taken to the investigators' vehicle and driven to the Internal Affairs building. She was interrogated there for several hours by Cook and Capen along with Blakely. She was allegedly told she couldn't leave and couldn't leave until they could compare notes with Esquivel to see if she were lying. She was able to go to the bathroom but couldn't take her personal cell phone and was escorted by an officer. Investigators told her to remain calm, she was just a witness and no harm would come to her if she cooperated. She was repeatedly shown Esquivel's phone records and was asked why she spoke with him so often. They compelled her to provide intimate details of her relationship with Esquivel. And if the excerpt included in the claim from her interview's transcript is any example, she's not kidding.


(excerpt, Esquivel claim)



Q: (IA) Okay and again I-I-I apologize for being graphic, but can you describe the type of sex acts that we're talking about just so we're clear?

A: As far as intercourse?


Q: Yeah uh well, you've already said intercourse.

A: Right.

Q: ...occurred. Did other sex acts occur?

A: What type of sex acts?

Q: Oral copulation uh, masturbation, anything like that uh or was it always just intercourse?

A: All of the above




While she was still detained, investigators then went with Blakely and Cook to Blakely's office saying they had a "distasteful matter" to discuss. Blakely indicated they had questioned Nakamura and knew all the details. Blakely said it would be incredibly damaging and humiliating if this information got out. Blakely said it would be embarrassing to his family and urged Esquivel to sigh resignation papers. Esquivel wrote who was behind this and was told by Blakely that he and DeLaRosa reported to DeSantis. Esquivel calls DeSantis and wants to talk with him.

Esquivel meets with DeLaRosa escorted by Blakely and is told that the city no longer needs his services. He received calls of support from the community but was told by DeSantis he had no chance for the chief's job.

DeLaRosa fell out of favor for the chief's job and ultimately retired because of his involvement in the Leach incident while City Hall didn't want the truth about the Leach incident included in the CHP report to ever see the public. The city ultimately went "outside" the department to hire Diaz.

There's many questions about this whole situation in terms of what policies and procedures were being violated and one question that as Diaz points out in the article which the public can never know, which is whether or not any departmental policies took place. It remains to be seen whether the allegations of "kidnapping" raised in both claims will be proven or not, whether it's when the department investigates itself on those allegations or whether they are "investigated" in a matter as the litigation moved forward to a lawsuit (which is the likelihood as the claim most likely will be denied next week) through the taking of depositions and the offering up of discovery evidence. And certainly if the claim turned lawsuit went inside a courtroom and a trial was conducted in front of a jury but in a city that's now self-insured that's probably not going to happen. Diaz had his own ideas about the past allegations involving employees in the department he now oversees.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)

In Esquivel's case, "We've got members of the department ... essentially accused of kidnapping a fellow officer and detaining that person against their will," Diaz said.

"That's an extremely serious allegation and frankly outrageous."

He's right, kidnapping's a felony as is extortion (also claimed) but the allegations should be investigated regardless and judgment as to their validity should wait until that process is completed. Any investigation done should be looking for the truth and for the factual evidence that helps to define that truth. He added something very interesting that is a topic of good discussion, which is that officers in the department have been suing.




"I'm finding in this department there's been a history of extreme litigiousness" by officers accused of misconduct,"



He's definitely correct in that there's been many claims and lawsuits filed by officers in the past 20 years and certainly quite a few this year. But in many of these cases, most notably the 1996 sexism claim and lawsuit filed by former Sgt. Christine Keers and especially in the case of Officer Roger Sutton in 2005, the payouts in these lawsuits have been considerable. In fact, if a study were done on the financial costs of this litigation, the answer would be staggering and perhaps would shock the city's residents into response. That's a fact but frankly, there's a reason for that. Because it's not that officers are suing after being accused of misconduct. He's correct in many cases as to that being when the lawsuits are filed but often times the original complaints be they claims for damages or grievances were filed before the officers were accused of misconduct. For example, Keers and Sutton which were filed about five years apart alleged that retaliation took place including by management after complaints were made by both officers. Interestingly enough in Sutton's case which went to trial to the tune of $1.64 million, both the jury and the presiding judge (who spoke at the motion for new trial hearing) said they believed the retaliation allegations were the case's strongest.

Sutton had been painted by the city as the perfect rogue officer who had misbehaved during his career in opening arguments at his trial but what his attorneys did is they spent a hour or two with the Elmo showing the jury about 10 years of performance evaluations which for the most part were fairly positive to very positive. The only exception had been the evaluation after the 1998 dog bite incident which is to be expected given that he showed very poor judgment in allowing that to happen. So it's appropriate for a poor evaluation to follow that incident and that's what happened. Once the attorneys finally clicked off the Elmo, the trial had been pretty much won by their side and what was left to be litigated was how much the damages would be for Sutton because for many jurors and people, written documentation trumps oral testimony in proving a fact, something the city should keep in mind the next time it takes a lawsuit to a jury.

But if there's a lot of litigation and claims for damages or grievances and all three areas have increased involving the police department in the past several years, then it might be more fiscally viable in the long run for the city council to instead deciding on claims, to investigate them. The reason being that if a claim appears to have any validity, then an investigation might show that and the claim can be paid out before forcing the city's residents to use general fund money for a trial and payout (given that the city is proudly self-insured) and then also to examine the root causes leading to these often expensive lawsuits especially if there's a pattern and practice of bad behavior behind them. Retaliation in particular is probably the strongest thread in most cases, including city-wide as well among workers, and there traditionally has been retaliation against officers reporting misconduct mostly at the top of the chain of command and even inside City Hall. It is actually the responsibility of the city government to do this type of investigating which might cost money but in the long run will save it by addressing and fixing some of the problems which create this "extreme litigiousness". Because Diaz is right that it exists but it's not happening in a vacuum. And retaliation is a big one this year, in claims and lawsuits. Law enforcement due to its "code of silence" is more prone to retaliation claims and actual retaliation but most professions in a sense also have similar "codes" to varying degrees and all of them including law enforcement have separate management cultures. In the case of the police department in Riverside, that culture extends to the Seventh Floor of City Hall.


In the past several years, there have been two lawsuits filed by former presidents of the Riverside Police Officers' Association and the Riverside Police Administrators' Association alleging retaliation against them including denial of promotions for their union activities. Union leadership is supposed to have the right to advocate for its membership who pay dues into the organization annually from their paychecks for that purpose. But former RPAA president Darryl Hurt and Lanzillo, the past RPOA president filed claims and later lawsuits. The city's already paid out on Hurt's (and PAC member Tim Bacon's) lawsuit in a huge way and on the eve of the April 20 trial date. Hurt alleged in his lawsuit that he had been retaliated in similar ways invovling the initiation of internal investigations against him as did Lanzillo in his grievances. In Lanzillo's case he alleged that the investigation against him that ultimately ended his 16 year career, began the day after the "lone wolf" confronted DeLaRosa during one of his roll call bull sessions. Lanzillo's career didn't last too much longer after his interaction with DeLaRosa in roll call.


The department always paints these officers as bad boys and girls and insists they've been trouble since the day they graduated from the academy. But all this is useless and the good/bad dichotomy is also useless because in many cases, the written documentation that is included in every officer's career locked away somewhere and shrouded by confidentiality laws, when released through trial or earlier more often shows little to no evidence of any major problems with these officers and very little to no disciplinary history. Okay, if you're not experiencing problems serious enough to write them down on the performance evaluations (which are annual) or to investigate, sustain and then discipline then why claim that the officer's some Rhoda Penmark bad seed child years later in a court proceeding? One of two situations is taking place here.

Either the officer didn't have a bad history and the city's attorneys are essentially lying about that in court records or court appearance by claiming otherwise or the evaluations themselves that have been done are lies. Either way, the department winds up not looking very good or professional and either way, there's lying about an officer's conduct going on either over time through writing or more immediately through court testimony or lawyer's statements. Okay, so the officer's always bad after they sue or confront higher ranking officers in a semi-public environment which as it turns out is immaterial when it comes to the merit of their lawsuits because the scope of retaliation is fairly narrow. Say you have an officer who's an angel and gets treated like one and say you have an officer who's more like a devil but gets treated like an angel meaning bad behavior is purposely overlooked. Okay so say both of them are suddenly treated as if they're devils...and say it all starts after management personnel get embarrassed by those officers. Well then what does it matter what the officer was like previously? Because in a court of law what ultimately matters is whether the behavior towards that officer regardless changed after the alleged incident that the officer said he or she was retaliated over.

In the above case, the officer whether angel or devil (and most officers like the rest of the human race actually fall in the middle of these extremes somewhere) has the behavior towards him or her change in a negative way, then he or she might be able to prove evaluation regardless of their work history. So in these cases, bringing up an officers' history even in cases where they might have been "bad apples" or "rogues" is completely irrelevant in the court of law. Because it's not necessarily the conduct including past of the officer involved, it was how this officer was treated over his or her career and whether an abrupt change in that treatment occurred traceable to the alleged incident which sparked retaliation. The officers' job performance is essentially a red herring either way.


What's interesting if disturbing about the Esquivel/Nakamura claims is that if they are telling the truth in their claims, it appears that an administrative investigation led them to being treated as if they had been suspected of criminal actions. The detention, the seizure of personal phones (when police management and select city officials only had to surrender their city-issued phones in Hudson's internal probe), the interrogative tactics of good cop/bad cop and comments about how humiliating it is to compel responses. The department's policies involving fratinization if they exist might have been under investigation but the tactics alleged seem more like those used in criminal investigations. Is sex on duty enough to really merit these tactics if they did take place? If it is, then the police department's in trouble but why is that so if sex on duty isn't really such a big deal? The department's actions on this type of misconduct as it were are just so...mixed.

After all, Diaz just promoted a sergeant who was demoted in relation to an incident where he was unable to respond to a call of supervision because he was having sex with a woman at the time in the same residence that the officers had called for assistance from. In addition, that sergeant also was allegedly investigated for a related incident of vandalism stemming from some graffiti that had been spray painted near the residence. No charges were filed, ironic in a city where its leaders stump on television and at public meetings about how they hold graffiti offenders accountable by prosecuting them and suing them or their parents for the costs of cleanup.

So if an officer in that position can get promoted to a supervisory position a little more than 12 months after his demotion for failure to properly supervise, then clearly sex on duty is no big deal in the police department even if it leaves officers or the public waiting for supervision during situations that could have been much worse or more dangerous than that faced during the incident with this sergeant If it had been, he would have never been promoted so quickly but would have had to "wait" for several years to have his job performance evaluated to see if it merited a promotion. To evaluate whether he values the job, its rank and the lives of the officers who trust in him as well as the public to supervise without neglecting to do that very important job.

Then we have former officer Robert Forman who not only had onduty sex with a homeless woman which may or may not have been consensual (as the police department and D.A.'s office's accounts differ on this issue), but for some reason recorded it on his digital audio recorder. He wasn't fired or told to resign from the department. It's not clear what his discipline consisted back when this happened but he managed to stick around long enough to be charged with three counts of sexual abuse under the color of authority and felony sexual battery, ultimately being convicted on one felony count as well as misdemeanor theft. So if he did it onduty with a member of the public that he encountered and didn't get fired, how much of a big deal can it be really? Rumors had circulated for several years including in the city's workforce about Forman's misconduct because he didn't seem that shy about boasting about being a "lady's man". But did Internal Affairs or Blakely or DeLaRosa or Leach ever tell him that he had to resign or he'd be terminated or did they fire him. No, he remained on the force to get himself in even deeper trouble and to victimize more women, the numbers of which can't ever be fully determined. Though interestingly enough though initially caught through the incident being audio recorded by the device given to him by the department, around the times of the alleged 2008 incidents, over 50 audio recordings were deleted from his recorder.

Another sergeant elevated to that position earlier this year was promoted eight years after he was terminated from the department and then had his separation expunged by an arbitrator. But what about everyone else on the sergeant's list without such baggage because most of them probably had considerably less. But then what are the promotional lists these days, pieces of paper with writing on them. For example, there were 13 sergeants on the lieutenant's list and the individuals promoted ranked #2, 9# and #12 on it. Interestingly enough, both sergeants who were sued by the two officers took their lieutenant's test with one failing to pass and the other ranked at #13.

But a new list will be generated to replace the old one in October after testing is completed this month which will provide future opportunities to compare and contrast the composition of the list as well as how it's utilized in future promotions.


Not surprisingly, the comments threads at PE.com began filling up with comments right away including some reading that this latest incident coming to light was the tip of the iceberg and that there needed to be a comprehensive and outside investigation of the police department. Some people support Esquivel in that discussion and some clearly don't. But it's clear that City Hall's hopes that the furor that began on Feb. 8 would die down now and most preferably by election time next year hasn't yet come to pass. But face it, the public is shocked at what's transpired during the past six months and it's been called, the gift that keeps on giving. The only sure thing in Riverside these days is that somewhere in its corners, another scandal is awaiting in the wings to be exposed. It's what is commonly called the chickens coming home to roost meaning that the conduct of city officials and police management employees and their decisions made in the past are coming down around everyone right now in a bad and very public way. But there's no point in complaining about all this exposure if you're responsible for what's being exposed. And there's quite a few people with finger prints all over this mess including individuals in higher positions at City Hall. What's really bad is that people have had to pay in different ways for what relatively few people did but that's what happens when a house of cards starts to fall down.

What's needed is a strong independent force either inside (not likely) or from outside to investigate this mess and implement steps for cleaning it up and for restoring the trust that's been squandered in both the police department and City Hall. The city residents didn't deserves this mess and the police employees didn't either. Those who are responsible need to be held accountable and mandated to address and take responsibility (again lacking in city leadership) in the repercussions of years of bad management and bad oversight of that management. This city is truly reaping what's been sown.

Some have praised the city for releasing the claims filed by the officers though it's not clear whether they did so or not. If so, it's because of all the exposure and pressure they have received to be more "open" meaning more compliant with state law pertaining to the release of public documents to the media and the public. Also strategically it makes sense for the city to cooperate in this case as part of its "defense" by carrying exactly what had allegedly been prophasized by individuals like Blakely.


But when City Attorney Greg Priamos returns from his vacation on Monday, he'll probably tell the Press Enterprise that it's frivolous and the city will aggressively litigate. In that case, hopefully there will be some front row seats left when the lawsuit goes to trial and its fate is in the hands of a jury. Right Greg?

Riverside Promotes Transparency by Adding More Bureaucracy

[Riverside City Attorney Gregory Priamos returns from his summer vacation this Monday with many, many questions to answer, questions that have arisen in his absence. But who will ask him, his bosses or the voters during next year's election cycle?]


In the midst of the latest scandal involving the police department. Riverside's city government has decided it wants to be more transparent which is a decision which face it, is long overdue. But the strategy that the city has apparently adopted to enforce this new philosophy is to create another position at City Hall while other employees have been laid off due to budget cuts.

The details of this new position haven't been released yet but it will be someone who will handle interactions with the media as well as public document requests. Other job duties listed in the Press Enterprise article including handling communication tasks and intergovernmental relations. The person who is hired will report to a hybrid of city management employees along with the mayor, the mayor pro tem and for some reason, the chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee. This is supposedly being done to strengthen the accountability of this employee.

Not likely. But it will be interesting to see how this unfolds and there will be plenty more to write about, that's for sure.





[Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis who worked for years as a public information officer and thus well versed in the CPRA law destroyed public documents requested by the Press Enterprise as a "mistake". Will Hudson and Hudson's boss make sure that the city's public records are safe in his vicinity?]






But then Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein lampooned the mayor's proposal in fine fashion just as he always does and he hits the nail right on the head in his commentary. But the publication's editorial board gives them some kudos for taking this step...if the city's really sincere about it which remains to be seen.

Public Meetings

Monday, August 9 at 4 p.m. the Human Resources Meeting usually takes place the first Monday of the month at City Hall. It's not clear whether this board is meeting or has gone "dark". With all the labor issues including those inside the police department, there's plenty for this board to investigate...if it hadn't been stripped of those powers in 2006 by the city council.


Tuesday, August 10 at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The Riverside City Council meets at City Hall's council chambers for its currently, bi-monthly meetings. This agenda will be discussed. Per usual, the most interesting agenda items are in the consent calendar including this item involving continuing appropriations and the usual slew of Riverside Renaissance items. Nothing on the new position proposed by the mayor to handle all its interactions with the media and public on information requests.

Finance Committee Watch

[The Finance Committee during one of its rare meetings held to discuss the city's financial issues. in an open and transparent fashion.]


On the city council meeting agenda, an announcement has been posted that the Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, August 11 at 3 p.m. at City Hall.

Elecion 2011: Mayor Ron Loveridge Speaks as Incumbents Prepare War Chests

[The formal deputy chief filed a claim alleging that the department launched an internal investigation into a consensual relationship with another officer which apparently included sex-texting, because he tried to expose attempts to cover up the former police chief's DUI incident. The inclusion of an agenda item dealing with claims filed by him and a female officer pretty much gave this one up to the public.]



UPDATE: Former Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel files claim for damages alleging retaliation by the city for trying to expose the coverup of the DUI incident involving former Chief Russ Leach. More to come...






[A common sight in the Riverside City Council Chambers. Council Steve Adams leaving the dais during the time period of public comment at weekly meetings which he regularly does. You'll know it's an election year when he starts warming his seat again.]






It's beginning to look a lot like an election year's coming. If you attend city council meetings in Riverside, you can already see this taking place with some of the dais speeches. But now you can see it because some of the incumbents up next year are beginning to fill their campaign chests. With what, a lot of people will ask. If you want to know what's officially being filed, the documentation is available at the city clerk's office at City Hall.

Mike Gardner will face two declared candidates, Marisa Yeager and Dvonne Pitruzzello plus possibly a third if the councilman he defeated, Dom Betro, decides to file to run again. That would be interesting given that most of those backing Yeager's campaign were heavily involved in Betro's campaigns in 2005 and 2007. So what will happen with that support if Betro decides to toss in his hat and run again? Betro as you know has been putting himself in the spotlight of the media lately with his comments of praise towards City Manager Brad Hudson just before the recent round of scandals broke involving guns, badges and cold plates, most of which took place while Betro was on the city council. Betro was also allegedly privy to prior drinking problems involving former Chief Russ Leach including an unsuccessful intervention several years ago yet pushed for the renewal of Leach's contract in 2005 even though concerns about Leach had been forwarded in writing to the city council and mayor in December 2005.

It's anticipated that the Ward One election will be per usual hotly contested and probably a lot of money spent by the incumbent particularly given that the higher number of candidates makes the prospect of a November 2011 runoff much more likely. And with Betro in the mix, because who could really doubt that he would be content to sit on his hands, it could be even more interesting. Does this mean he'll be picking stakes and return to living in that ward again?

Ward Seven which is represented by Councilman Steve Adams who's finally spending more time in the ward he represents than in the wards he doesn't just in time for the election. He's got one declared candidate, John Brandriff and two more possibles including rumor has it Terry Frizzel. But it's no where certain that she's running again and the election process is still young.


Brandriff's been busy writing letters like this one about issues that Adams asserts that he has received no complaints at all about even though he's been implicated in the cold plates scandal and his alleged involvement in the promotional processes of two captains positions has yet to hit the mainstream press. This letter was in response to an earlier one written by Charles E. Condor, III who incidentally shares a name but isn't, the legislative aide for Councilman Chris MacArthur. But the attitude of corruption and criminal activity being "mistakes made" and that they should be disregarded because of all the accomplishments of City Hall is a common mantra inside that building.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise Reader's Forum)

Accurate reporting shouldn't be regarded as a vendetta. Investigative reporting is a fundamental responsibility for any conscientiousness newspaper ("Stop blasting city brass," Your Views, July 29). Far from being embarrassing, the effort to ferret out possible corrupt, criminal or unethical behavior should be worn as a badge of honor.

I think it's absurd to "shoot the messenger" because it brings to light poor behavior on the part of city officials. What this city needs is more transparency and accountability, not less.

I applaud the newspaper's efforts to keep the public informed about coverups at City Hall.

If the letter writer is somehow trying to imply that the ends justify the means and that criminal activity should be overlooked because of someone's performance in other areas, I disagree. No one should be above having to answer for his actions because of his position.

John Brandriff

Riverside

Councilman Rusty Bailey is so far unopposed in Ward Three and Chris MacArthur (and his legislative aide whose son allegedly wrote a scathing letter criticizing critics of City Hall) are currently as well. But this won't be for very much longer as there are people who are seriously considering throwing their hats in these wards as well. After all, the ball has been officially dropped yet to announce the starting of Election 2011.

Mayor Ron Loveridge Breaks His Silence...Kind Of

[Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge speaks to the public with the written word, advertising about Riverside while glossing over its scandals.]






Mayor Ron Loveridge as far as is known isn't running for reelection though never say never with that guy (and he's not definitely out of an election until he declines filing for it on the deadline in 2012) but he's preaching the message that Riverside's never been better. Where Loveridge shows that he and other temporary residents of City Hall have been living in a different universe than most of the people they purportedly represent. Again, you have corrupt and criminal acts being reduced to "mistakes made" which makes you think that maybe someone needs to attempt to do some more CPRA requests and find out whether Loveridge or anyone else there has gone off and hired another public relations firm to provide them with the same sound bytes to repeat to the media.

It shows the public how morally bankrupt some individuals in City Hall really appear to be unless they're actually clueless when it comes to high ranking individuals on the watch of Loveridge and other electeds violating state laws and only "correcting" them when they get caught by who else, state law enforcement agencies. If these were average members of the public committing these acts, would Loveridge and the rest of the cast at City Hall be saying that there were "mistakes made" and would ignorance of the laws be seen as a viable excuse for breaking them and not accountable for doing that? What's the first thing that judges and prosecutors tell people who appear in court facing legal violations? They say that ignorance is no excuse for violating the law. Well in Riverside, we've learned that for a particular class of people, that just isn't true. Politicians and their elected employees are allowed to be as ignorant about the laws they break as they choose and they aren't held to the same standard as everyone else under the law. And then the same people in this privileged class turn around and talk about "mistakes made" and how it's all fixed, and my look at that lovely tree over there.

If politicians want to do that, fine. But when you lose your next elections or have to scrape by to get in, or face a crowd of political opponents, perhaps then you can think back to these same earlier words which may seem reasonable to politicians if not the rest of the city's population who are mere mortals after all.

What happened in Bell is awful. It's ethically, morally and politically corrupt but whether laws were violated, hasn't been determined yet by anyone though there are certainly investigations taking place and people are rightfully upset about what's happened. So far the best indication of legal violations appears to involve the actions taken by elected officials to raise their salaries which were largely based on subsidies they received for membership on a list of boards and commissions on a monthly basis. Plus the fact that the city manager elected himself or got elected for a board he was ineligible by state law to serve on. But in Riverside, laws were clearly broken and the fact that they're "corrected" just went to show city residents the wall of privilege that exists to separate elected leadership (who should be more accountable) from the rest of the city. And if these laws were broken and ethics were violated, the fact that these individuals are still drawing pay checks at all means they are grossly more overpaid for their positions than even the highest paid city employees or elected officials in Bell.


But anyway, Loveridge glosses over two issues which have been raised by many residents in Riverside involving City Hall which are accountability and transparency. He says he supports both of them but offers no means of ensuring that both exist in City Hall because everyone knows that neither does when it comes to everything from the mayor and city council handing off all of their financial oversight mechanisms to the city manager's office piecemeal or when it comes to delivering on public document requests by either the public or the daily newspaper.


This is what he wrote on that issue:


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



As mayor, I am committed to a City Hall that is open and transparent. City Hall must see all officials, elected and appointed, as public servants accountable not only to the laws and rules of the city, but also to the highest standards of public service.


But what does the mayor plan to do to ensure that this takes place and that city residents can be assured that it's taking place. The answer is that neither he nor the city council as a body have taken any such steps for either task. In fact, most of them still seem to be living in that alternate universe of a Riverside where none of these breaches of public trust took place. He talks about the direction of the police department under its newly hired leadership. But why does the department have a new police chief again? There's a reason for that just like for what else has taken place that's violated the public trust and damaged its faith in City Hall, on the eve of another election cycle.


He touches on the corruption as "mistakes made" in his next paragraphs.


(excerpt)



As mayor, I am committed to a City Hall that is open and transparent. City Hall must see all officials, elected and appointed, as public servants accountable not only to the laws and rules of the city, but also to the highest standards of public service.




Let's see, Loveridge has been in power as mayor since 1993 which is a long time. Yet what has he done during that time to address these issues of not only openness and transparency but their cousin, accountability. After all, the conditions that festered to create the current mess that erupted rudely in a public forum as political boils often do, they took place on the watch of Loveridge much longer than those of any other elected official serving on the dais at City Hall. So how can the public be assured now that actions are being taken (especially when these actions aren't specified) by Loveridge and others in City Hall when they never acted in the past to either prevent these conditions from developing and taking root in City Hall nor did they openly and transparently address any of the scandals that have erupted recently including the Feb. 8 DUI incident involving Leach who allegedly had other drinking issues in public for years preceding.

Some actions have been taking place including an ongoing evaluation of Hudson behind closed doors which can't be as "routine" as many make it sound because city employees working for city government are usually evaluated either at the very end of the calendar year or the very beginning of it, rather than in its middle during summer which is peak vacation time. So the fact that Hudson is being evaluated by his bosses in the summer time rather than as has been customary at other times is very significant indeed in terms that this is taking place at all. But given the silence of most of the people on the dais except perhaps Councilman Paul Davis who has publicly challenged the city on the Fox Theater's management, there's been little done or said by elected officials to inspire much if any confidence in the public that these serious issues are being addressed.

Those including Loveridge who had previously praised Hudson as well, the best thing since sliced bread are in the most difficult position because how do they reconcile such praise with serious concern about behavior that most likely they knew had taken place or should have known (including when advised by their legal counsel on the lawsuits filed by the former police lieutenants settled earlier this year) and maybe just assumed that the public would never find out.


This is the more perplexing conclusion to Loveridge's op-ed piece because he ties in openness and transparency with the latest city's slogan-driven conceptual thought called "Seizing Our Destiny". There's nothing wrong with strategizing about economic stimulation through jobs as long as there's actually...strategizing going on and not this endless cycle of city government reinventing the city through logos and slogans (at tax payer expense) every time the city generates negative press especially outside the city. And if it's anything like the city's other master project, Riverside Renaissance, the "Seizing Our Destiny" program will actually involve the city government holding onto fewer mechanisms of financial accountability and transparency than what it started with. Hardly a way to ensure that these twins along with their unmentioned relative, accountability will thrive through the pushing of another conceptual, undeveloped strategic plan.




(excerpt)

In 2010, let's make the promise of Riverside's economic strategic plan "Seizing Our Destiny" a reality. Success depends on our working together. This plan charts an extraordinary process for defining and shaping our future as a great city in which to live, learn, work, raise a family, play and visit. Let's do it.

And it is my pledge that as we seize our destiny, City Hall will be open and transparent for all of us.

The mayor's foray into writing op-eds is duly noted and is as always, very interesting but what did he say really? He said, not to worry our little selves about scandalous behavior ("mistakes made") that they essentially got caught at (aka "corrected") without giving any practical or even tangible assurances that these behaviors won't continue to be repeated and ultimately exposed putting Riverside even further into a negative light which may impact its ultimate development and realization as the city that "seized its destiny" or was the center of arts, culture and innovation.

Riverside Electric Rates to "Freeze" and then Increase?

The city of Riverside has said that it plans to freeze its utility rates and offer more assistance through its programs. It's a bit hard to get excited about the latter because the only person I ever knew who needed financial assistance on her utility bill needed it for several months before finding and starting a new teaching job for special needs kids some years ago. Well, to make a long story short, she had to prove she had the money she needed before she could receive any funding on her utility bills and well if she had it, she wouldn't need to borrow their money (and she had planned to pay it back). Not exactly what the city had advertised at least at that time.

The proposed rate freeze that will take place for two years isn't however going to come without some eventual cost which is pretty much in line with the other products that the city has sold the public including Riverside Renaissance. Yes, the rates are going to be frozen but apparently there's a part of this story which hasn't been told to city residents yet and that is after the freeze period expires in two years, electric rates will rise again, by up to 60% for the consumer. This is because some of the products that are going to be installed are going to be "smart meters" which are digital and are read by something similar to a radar gun from off of a person's property at a distance. The costs of the meters and rebates will allegedly be paid for by the public because the city failed to acquire federal grant money to get this equipment installed. But "smart meters" will render at least some jobs done by those manually reading them out in the field in danger, as technology often does.

Also "smart meters" while convenient for the city may also over time lead to the loss of 30 jobs because people won't be required to read meters the same way anymore. If this is the case, then will these people be laid off during difficult economic times by a city that has prided itself publicly on its number of layoffs or will they be given other jobs? City Hall should really answer that question when it's unveiling a plan that could impact people's lives in that way. The city residents should know of an estimate of what their ultimate costs will be and hopefully City Hall including its elected officials will provide this answer in the interests of openness and transparency.

Insulation and solar panels will be available too which can be very useful for people but people need to be told exactly what the ultimate benefits and costs to them will be. That's just doing good business to the public who are the consumers after all.

This is a reminder that if you're a city resident, it's always smart when the city tells you that you're saving money or it's not costing anything to look for any hidden costs. Because you can't get something for nothing and just like in cases like the Riverside Renaissance for example which is being treated essentially like Santa Claus bringing an indefinite supply of gifts, you need to open that gift horse's mouth and look inside it. But if the city's trying to say, they're going to freeze rates and going to the press about it, they should be telling the whole story including any rate increases that take place during a period when the recession (assuming it doesn't double dip) will be during the period when the Inland Empire and Riverside are still in a recession.

Some people say, Riverside can't raise rates only the state can do that. Not necessarily true at all. Riverside can and has voted to create tier payment structures which have involved rate increases in the past. Riverside owns its own utility unlike other cities more reliant on outside companies like Southern California Edison. Of course it remains to be seen what will pass after the two year rate freeze is over and whether rates will continue to remain at that level (which certainly isn't very likely given the freeze has a determinate time limit) or whether they will indeed increase and if so, how much. At the very least, it's something for the Riverside city resident to definitely keep an eye on and pay close attention to when 2012 approaches but the city has raised rates through redefining tiers of rate hikes.

The city council went through a period of great turmoil when it last tried to vote to approve a tier of rate increases impacting local people including businesses. Many people complained en mass and the city council voted to revoke it most likely because several of its members were up for reelection. After the election of course, another tier increase in rates took place.

At any rate, this situation bears close watching in the months and years ahead.





Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein writes about the latest pretty box called a hotel planned for downtown Riverside. That would be the city's very own hotel, the Hyatt which it plans to buy and own for itself. This comes amid news that 20 hotels in the Inland Empire have gone into foreclosure including 11 in Riverside County. This region has the highest foreclosure rate for hotels in the state.

News about the higher rates of hotel foreclosure were documented in both January and April this year.



The death of a Riverside County District Attorney's office employee was by suicide.





Corona voted to make a helicopter deal with Riverside.


Simple Simon reopens after the fire.