Attorney General will assist D.A. in Postmus corruption probe
The state Attorney General's Office will assist the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit in its ongoing corruption probe of former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus and his former staff.
A news release issued today by the District Attorney's Office stated that on Aug. 4, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos directed the Public Integrity Unit to prepare a formal request that the Attorney General's Office officially associate with the District Attorney's Office in its prosecution of former Assessor's Office officials. Attorney General's Office staff will also assist county prosecutors in their investigation into possible corruption involving the landmark Colonies settlement in November 2006 and the sell of a 1,200-acre chunk of county-owned land in Rancho Cucamonga, which was also once dicussed during the county's settlement negotiations with Colonies Partners, in which the business entity's co-managing partner, Jeff Burum, is at the center.
"We thank the Attorney General's Office for officially joining our effort. Their expertise and assistance will be a major asset as our continuing investigation expands," District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said in the news release. "Their agreement to directly participate is a further demonstration of the integrityof our efforts."
Bring on AG Jerry Brown into this "investigation"! I'm guessing this will bring some professionalism and focus to this probe, which has been sadly lacking to date. There isn't a shred of evidence that Burum did anything illegal or improper. Nor that there was anything tainted with Colonies agreement. My best is AG will come to that conclusion quickly.
Not a shred of evidence that Burum did anything illegal or improper? This is hardly true. A more accurate description is that there is a large amount of circumstantial evidence to say that Burum induced the SBC supes to rob the taxpayers of $100M to help out their buddy. There is no doubt the Postmus/Biane/Ovitt triumvirate are buddies of Burum.
It would be far more accurate to say that publicly known evidence is insufficient to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, especially since a trial may uncover misdeeds by a judicial colleague. That does not mean that such evidence does not exist, or even that it is unknown to the SBC DA's office.
Does anyone remember that all this nonsense started when the County of San Bernardino tried to force the Colonies to pay for regional flood control facilities that resulted from the I-210 extension? Please go check the court records. Not once, not twice, but THREE times the County went to court, and THREE times they were told they were responsible for the cost of the flood control facilities and the land they lay on, a number that was climbing each day as the County tried to make everyone else pay for their foolishness, including the city of Upland and CalTrans. The settlement amount was significantly less than what the court was indicating the County should pay.