TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

“County Counsel management has abused its power to wrongfully drive me from the job I successfully held for almost 30 years. I was not an at-will employee, I had a legal right to my job. County Counsel management intentionally and wrongfully took my job away from me.”  – former Deputy Riverside County Counsel Neal Kipnis, January 2018

In 2012, the Grand Jury stated that Priamos violated its secrecy during an investigation regarding police procedures.  Back in May of 2015, according to the PE, the Riverside Grand Jury has accused Riverside County’s internal law office of interfering with its review of the county’s information technology department.  In the report released in April 2015, the Grand Jury, which serves as a court-appointed watchdog of public agencies, said the Office of County Counsel directed IT staff to accept only written requests from the investigative panel, which had asked for a copy of IT’s (Information Technology) response to an audit.  According to California Penal Code “the grand jury is entitled to free access … of all public records within the county,” the report said. County counsel needs more training and must recognize the jury as an independent body, the report concluded.  Riverside County Counsel in headed by non other than the infamous Gregory Priamos, also was former Riverside’s City Attorney, who of course had plenty of baggage….. and I don’t mean travel baggage.  The question asked, “Is why this scumbag continually is protected?”  We know why, you only have to look at the supporters behind the scum bag, which in turn, is more scumbags such as former Supervisor’s John Tavaglione and Marion Ashley.

According to a current July 1, 2019 Grand Jury report and article in the Press Enterprise stated,  “Our investigation/interviews revealed that certain county managers have set personal ego, arrogance, power and personal control above their duty to serve the people. The highest honor is to serve the public, and along with that honor, is the responsibility to maintain ethical standards in employment actions. These county managers, the CEO and to some extent the prior County of Riverside Board Of Supervisors, have failed in their leadership to provide a positive, supportive environment.”  Well it seems as all hell broke loose at the County of Riverside, primarily because former County of Riverside Supervisor John Tavaglione was not their to protect his boy, Priamos, further not even Ashley.  The real Priamos is now seemingly being exposed now that he is all in the open.  Well this was no surprise to TMC, we’ve exposed him in the past, but no one cared!  The enablers kept enabling.  This same scenario happened in the City of Riverside with former City Manager Brad Hudson and Scott Barber.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Even then no one cared enough to come out to City Council and give their opinion.  Full Grand Jury Report below for your reading and viewing pleasure. (click link below).

Riverside County Human Resources Department and Office of Riverside County Counsel 07.01.2019

Former Riverside Deputy County Counsel Neal Kipnis expressed the following in a personal email, “I assure you that I am a totally honest person. What happened to me was totally wrong and dishonest.  He is a bad person and not worthy of being in such a public position.”

Neal Kipnis arrived at the Office of County Counsel from San Diego at the end of 1988.  Since then he has worked on many different issues related to contracts and construction projects, including drafting and negotiation of professional services and technology contracts, and resolution of complicated construction disputes. He has advised many County departments and special districts on various problem-solving and dispute resolution efforts.  Since 1988, a period during which he worked under four different County Counsels prior to the arrival of Greg Priamos. In all those years, Kipnis never had a bad performance review.  Why was he targeted?  We still don’t have a clue.  Was it simply because he did his work with honesty and integrity, and could not be molded to the Priamos machine?  Honesty and integrity is not in the vocabulary of the Priamos dictionary.

Mr. Kipnis received both his B.A. (Economics, Phi Beta Kappa) and J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.  During law school, he clerked at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Trade Representative, both in Washington D.C.  He was an associate with Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith for two years before coming to Riverside.

Mr. Kipnis stated, “I have had a successful career at County Counsel since 1988, a period during which four different County Counsels headed our office prior to the arrival of Greg Priamos. In all those years, I never had a bad performance review.”

Of course this wasn’t the first incident of complaints against Priamos, he had a slew of them going back to the days of being Riverside City Attorney.  We saw how this sociopathic sycophant destroyed good people.  We saw this with former City of Riverside Deputy Attorney Raychele Sterling.  Sterling alleged that City Officials awarded millions in contracts without bids!  We now see this with Riverside County Deputy County Counsel Neal Kipnis.  This was his original letter sent to me back in 2018 which was addressed to former Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione. (click on link).

THE LETTER TO FORMER SUPERVISOR JOHN TAVAGLIONE FROM FORMER DEPUTY COUNTY COUNSEL NEAL KIPNIS DATED JANUARY 1, 2018

According to Kipnis’s letter to former Supervisor John Tavaglione, there were false and misleading information made against him.  It was a failure of Human Resources (HR) to react in a proper and fair manner.  According to Kipnis letter to Tavaglione, “Sadly, Human Resources facilitated the improper actions taken against me by failing to ensure compliance with applicable County employee discipline procedures (Board Policy C-23 and corresponding HR policy). There was a significant failure to follow or enforce these important policies – intended to provide employees in my situation with fairness and protection. This failure by HR made it far more difficult for me to be able to defend myself leading up to the termination notice.”  Sadly, Kipnis’s letter was left on deaf ears and never responded to.

So what did the the Grand Jury report say?  Well it vehemently appeared to mirror Kipnis’s complaints of the process at hand.  So what actually received the attention of the Grand Jury?  It stated, “For several consecutive years, the Riverside County Civil Grand Jury (RCCGJ) has received numerous complaints regarding HR practices, and Riverside County Counsel (RCC), regarding the methods used for terminations and other related personnel matters that are initiated and processed.”  They went on to say, “The County of Riverside has a published Code of Ethics which states: “The principal function of County governmentis to serve the best interests of all the people.””

What did the Grand Jury see?  They noticed an inherent, “Prolonged mistrust due to harsh personnel practices as well as unscrupulous tactics by some managers has created a climate of fear, intimidation and anxiety among county employees. Employees know it is “go along to get along”, even if it is immoral, illegal, unethical or goes against policies and laws. One employee was told “you have to learn how to do things the county way.””

The Grand Jury found that employees had been denied and were deprived of the ability to examine materials and other documents kept in their personnel file, which is essential to the defense of an allegation against them.  Well okay…

But the following is the kicker folks, Retaliatory Behavior known as “Special Treatment” such as the “Freeway Therapy” Treatment!  “Employees who have displeased managers in the Office of County Counsel, as well as other departments, have found themselves the recipient of a number of “Special Treatments”.  Instead of being assisted, if performance issues are present, they are subjected to various stressors and “Special Treatment”.  Retaliatory transfers are prevalent. These occur when individuals are transferred to distant work place locations for punitive reasons.  Witnesses and those who have experience with this “Special Treatment” refer to these punitive transfers as “Freeway Therapy” and it is a known means of punishment for those who have displeased managers and directors in power.  In other instances of “Special Treatment”, attorneys who have been assigned to a specific department for many years are punitively reassigned to another unrelated department in which they have no expertise.”  I wonder what they coined that as?  “Job Reclassification Therapy”?  Oh no not that! anything but the Freeway Therapy Treatment!  Give me the Job Reclassification Therapy…  While I’m reading all this, it all sounds strangely sadistic with emphasis on Soviet Style Politics, of course, in America.

The Grand Jury report concluded that, “The current Board of Supervisors must address and stop all abuses of power in the Office of County Counsel. The record of culpability is long and convincing. The County of Riverside deserves a strong CGJ (County Grand Jury) to protect the taxpayers from fraud, corruption and abuse. A County Counsel who shares that vision is critical to that goal. The public must demand this.”  The Board of Supervisors are responsible for the actions of the County Counsel, it appears quite evident, his behavior was supported.  Due to a do nothing group of Supervisors.

So what did the Grand Jury report indicate and recommend be done?  According the Grand Jury report, “Testimony of high level manager in the Office of County Counsel indicate that any personnel actions which have taken place in that department have been initiated with the full knowledge and consent of the County Counsel.  The responsibility to control and stop the abuses therefore is the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors and CEO.  The Board of Supervisors and the CEO must hold the Riverside County Counsel accountable for all past and future behavior.”  Okay, so Priamos is the culprit, we all knew that, especially if you live in the City of Riverside… but remember it’s that ‘two sets of rules bug-a-boo’ that those within this so called local representative government can’t seem to get!

Well, the question is, should Riverside County Clownsel be behind bars and/or should have been behind bars when he was at the City of Riverside?  Many taxpaying residents within the City of Riverside are stating yes, and blame the City Council and Mayor for enabling this!  The County of Riverside has a published Code of Ethics which states: “The principal function of County government is to serve the best interests of all the people.”  Interesting enough, Priamos helped draft the Ethics Guide: Practicing Ethics: A Handbook for Municipal Lawyer for The League of California Cities, which Priamos was President of that entities Department.  But we believe that they, such as former Supervisor John Tavaglione never of course believed in any code of ethics.  Because of course, who would dare question him, unless your the type that enjoys a confrontational retaliation that could hurt you financially.  Well he is gone, but his legacy of corruption continues to effect the taxpayer at the pocket book.

Let’s look at some of Priamos’s other antics that no one did anything about within the City of Riverside!

Thought it was okay to transfer Riverside Public Utility monies to the General Fund without a vote of the people.

Thought it was okay to hire outside legal without contracts.

Thought it was okay to spend $19.4 million on outside legal, even the State Bar of California thought it was okay.

Thought it was okay to lie about who actually commanded that a public speaker be arrested for violating the three minute rule, which contradicted a bonafide police report.

The real laughable take away is that he wrote the Ethics Guide for the National League of Cities, being President.

Thought it was okay to settle legal cases which were not in the best interest of the taxpayers.

Thought it was okay to ride around in City Vehicle acting as a legitimate law enforcement representative of the City of Riverside.

Thought it was okay to support City Officials with Cold Plates.

Thought it was okay to support City Officials with Fraudulant Badges.

Thought it was okay to support Pension Spiking Practices within his Office.

Thought it was okay to utilize tax monies for office parties.

Thought it was okay to utilize tax monies for extravagant outside parties such as the Papadakis Restaurant Party.

Thought it was okay to allegedly commit insurance fraud?  The Priamos Tape.

Thought it was okay to support City Officials with Badges and Fire Arms .  Further Priamos thought it was okay that former City Manager Brad Hudson use the City Hall address as his Residence!

Thought it was okay to support former Chief Russel Leach after his DUI charge.

Thought it was okay to conspire to frame a sitting Councilman Mike Soubirous.

Thought it was okay to conspire on Councilman Mike Soubirous water usage, even there was no water shortage in the City of Riverside!

Thought it was okay to conspire to frame a sitting Councilman Paul Davis.

Thought it was okay to lie to Council regarding a complaint against the City of Riverside Human Resources Department.

Was he working numbers with his family during his U.S.C year back in 1991?

In 2010, after Riverside police Chief Russ Leach was charged with misdemeanor DUI for wrecking a city-owned vehicle while under the influence, allegations surfaced that Priamos was among those in city government aware of an attempted cover-up but did nothing about it.  A probe headed by former Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Even one family member was disgusted with the family antics that she wrote a book about it!  Greg Priamos’s cousin Paula Priamos!  She talks about the underworld of the Priamos Famiglia.

An excerpt from her book:  “I see my father’s body doubled over the wheel.  I see his chest and arms spilling out of the car, his head dangling, blood seeping out of the wet hole in his scalp.”

The warning signs were evident, even Community Taxpayer Advocate Jason Hunter chimed in back on June 24, 2014 about Priamos, take a listen:

The primary take away from all this is that there are two sets of rules, there’s Priamos Law and there is Priamos Law.  In other words, the ruling political class had one law, and the rest of us must endure the real law.  Will the following finally be Priamos’s new suite?  Well it should because the taxpayers are demanding justice.