TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

FBM (@FBM2005) says:

First of all, you need a Bill Batey pointed out in the PE as concerned about Mo Val corruption and you don’t have one at City Hall right now. You have some internalized bitching and moaning about not wanting to do unethical behavior where people who are the sounding boards are used as pressure relief valves to cleanse these politicians of any residual guilt they might feel about what they’re privy to or actually doing. That and being ethical and doing the right thing are NOT the same thing.

You need a recent and hotly contested election cycle to rile up passions between opposing candidates knowing there will be a winner and a loser in the November cycle. And nothing can be more contentious than a long-time incumbent losing his power including by proxy. There was some turnover in the power structure except for Richard Stewart though one of the “newest” had to be powerful as a newbie to broker enough votes to be selected mayor pro tem as Mo Valley doesn’t elect its mayor. That takes some doing.

Look at the timing of when his concerns allegedly made their way to Zellerbach’s office. Last December when his wife lost her bid to replace him to Victoria Baca and he lost his assembly bid to Jose Medina. He’s got nothing to lose at this point, which is a good time to develop a conscience if that’s the case. Maybe he was always worried but felt more vulnerable earlier.

Sketchers is being handled by a developer and the city council goes through some turnover in the past several election cycles including by candidates financed by this developer’s firm. Sketchers being a warehouse project which shipped in most of its labor from Ontario and generated the usual concerns by neighbors about health hazards with traffic in and out of it is going to be a lightning rod for scrutiny by very motivated and politically astute individuals. So this all is going to attract attention if someone files a complaint. It’d be interesting if Batey’s concerns as a former elected were enough to make the situation eligible for state comptroller involvement. Riverside’s leadership has been smart enough for the most part let the surrounding cities do most of the warehousing and to defuse other “hot” issues when they arise fostering what MLK, jr. called a “negative peace.”

One of the major monopolies (not a developer) in Riverside uses the same playbook in different cities in the I.E. and also L.A. County to further its own operations. One elected representative on the dais knows which company that is using this playbook. So does its main competition. And federal and state laws are possibly being violated though an investigation is needed to determine that.

As far as Zellerbach’s office…

An interesting question would be to do a compare and contrast of endorsements between the current DA and political candidates both successful and those who weren’t in the past several election cycles with the city of Riverside. I’m glad that public integrity in his office finally showed some activity so we know it’s not just an assignment for working on your golf handicap. The job it does is so critically important but one of the most difficult and anyone who does this type of work should be respected for it but that respect needs to be earned. The one deal he thought “highly suspicious” is still outstanding with six years remaining. Nothing personal against the guy. He’s done a lot of good things during some very turbulent times in the city’s history but I guess this is one reason I don’t feel like the county prosecutor should necessarily be elected. on the not so cynical side, there’s always that sticky issue of having to recuse an entire office of tax paid resources from certain investigations and prosecutions where it has primary or sole jurisdiction.

FBM (@FBM2005) says:

The PE didn’t need other cities or RDA to help them get office space and I don’t think they need other city’s publicly owned utilities to via the city council approve discounted utility rates for them as happened in Riverside in April 2000. At least one prior publisher was appointed to the Charter Review Committee and another recently tried and failed to get on that committee. That surprised me only b/c I thought their greater obligation would be reporting what a committee does or doesn’t do rather than trying to influence it.

There was a rumor floating around about a meeting with the mayor, some elected officials and city manager with the publisher and editorial board in 2010 on how to “soften” the whole Leach, guns, badges etc. miss. Maybe true, maybe not. I do know with the latter story just how hard it was to get ANYTHING about it in the press once the hardworking reporter wrote the story. If there hadn’t been competition out there, I doubt that story would have ever seen the light of day.

judy says:

Point taken! I guess it depends on where your loyalties lie ( as far as not burning your bridges!) I have found in life that those “Bridges, that you are afraid to burn” usually go up in flames at some point and you loose them anyway. DOING THE RIGHT THING is always the hardest of our choices. I admire those who stay true to what good reporting is all about. Unfortunately I saw first hand this year “evil at it’s best” ! Something I would not wish on anyone else in this city, however the evil going on at city hall involves all it’s citizens not just myself, the press included. It is many good reporters who have broken news stories that have changed this nation. All I’m saying is ” Moreno vrs Riverside”, is much bigger that the stories being written.