On June 24, 2014, former city employee, Jason Hunter, and Attorney Letitia Pepper spoke before the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting to warn them about their new County Counsel, Gregory Priamos. With all that the Riverside County Grand Jury and City of Riverside Internal Auditor has uncovered as of late, it appears they could not have been more spot on in their prognostications of doom and gloom.
At the time, Priamos was moving only a couple of blocks down the street. He was resigning his post as city of Riverside, City Attorney, and to those who follow the rumor mill of City politics, he left under a cloud of suspicion. The skeletons he hid in his closet during his time as City Attorney were beginning to rise from their graves. In fact, he had just committed a mortal sin in the city of Riverside: playing a part in embarrassing his bosses on the City Council via sham investigations into 2 sitting City Councilmen.
Advice for our new City Attorney, Gary Geuss … you can misappropriate public money, give terrible legal advice which creates liability for the taxpayers, violate employees’ and private citizens’ civil rights, break State Sunshine Statutes routinely, heck you can hire your friends without contracts, BUT YOU BETTER NEVER EMBARRASS the City Council! They do a good enough job of that themselves we figure. So, “Exit Stage Left!” our Snagglepuss Attorney went.
The list of offenses that would soon reach the light of day seems neverending. There were quasi-judicial hearing protocols he created, whereby he would not only serve as counsel for the adjudicating bodies, but also for the plaintiff/defendant, whomever the City wanted to “win”. It was such an obvious conflict of interest, and his job in this two-part role was to manipulate the proceeding to receive a favorable outcomes for his allies. We now have active citizen reviews of the Community Police Review Commission, Human Resources Board, and Ethic Committee rules because of the uproar from the community.
For years, some active community members such as Kevin Dawson have been appearing before the Council vocalizing the City’s practice of hiring outside counsel without ANY contracts. Dawson even accused Priamos of hiring attorneys for Councilmen using public funds for private purposes. The City Attorney’s Office was stand-offish and the Council was hands-offish whenever these allegations would come forth. Now it appears this really was an issue, in fact a rather large one to the tune of over $19 million in taxpayer monies.
There was Attorney Letitia Pepper, arrested at a Council meeting for “clapping.” She settled her First Amendment case against the City of Riverside for $50,000 after the City ran up $200,000 in legal fees. All Pepper wanted from the City was an apology. Too proud to admit mistakes, Mayor Bailey, City Attorney Priamos, and Chief Diaz would rather the taxpayer fork over a quarter million dollars. If it had been their own moola, we bet the outcome would’ve been different.
Currently, we see a battle involving County Counsel and the ‘Supes attempting to show the Grand Jury (aka, the public) their place in the new world order where the municipal mob runs the show. The Grand Jury recently revealed their findings, and made no secret regarding the inappropriate behavior of County Counsel Priamos and his interference with the Grand Jury’s investigative process. Same old Greg.
JASON HUNTER: JUNE 24, 2014
LETITIA PEPPER: JUNE 24, 2014
CALIFORNIA STATE BAR DROPS COMPLAINT AGAINST PRIAMOS: What we found insulting is the State Bar’s attempt at deflection of the issues at hand because they don’t believe we (the complainant and a taxpayer) qualify as a client. So who’s the client? We didn’t expect to receive any support from this agency, as a result of their obligations and loyalty to their colleague. These are the conflicts-of-interests the general public must overcome in order to effectuate change and safeguard our interests from unscrupulous characters.
READ COMPLETE LETTER BY CLICKING THIS LINK
The letter states that based on the evaluation of the information provided, they are closing the complaint against Priamos. They conclude, based on the laws of California, the allegations against Priamos, if proved, would not be grounds for disciplinary action. Further, the evaluator, Alex Hackert, refers to rule 3-110 to inform us that that we not the client of Mr. Priamos and therefore they simply cannot go any further to investigate our complaint.
Alex Hackert, Deputy Trial Counsel, State Board of California
In fact, “Investigating this issue would interfere with the attorney-client confidentiality between Mr. Priamos and his current and former clients.” I guess we should assume the County ‘Supes are paying Priamos from their own pockets… Well, we did check into rule 3-110, and guess what? It states nothing about “attorney-client relationships.” More charades of deception.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW STATE BAR RULE 3-110
We find the State Bar is really nothing more than a mill of formality, giving the appearance that they are protecting the public. Our belief is that unless an attorney in question is charged with something criminal in the courts, they will not act on anything. Like as in this case, they will default always and everywhere towards protecting their colleagues. Lawyers in the State of California are a powerful lobbying group, and make no mistake: they take care of their own.
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST, “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “FILTHY,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONE TWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”. WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT… AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! WE JUST CAN’T SPELL! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT: THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM