September 2007 Archives

"Ask Stewart Cumming a question, and you're going to get a tough answer ..."
*** The following is the entire feature profile on Cumming, the ornery 6th Ward candidate who went borderline ballistic at an Editorial Board meeting at the Sun last week ... ***

The Sun reported this week that former Councilman Frank Schnetz illegally posted Marianne Milligan campaign signs at a vacant gas station on 30th and E Streets ...

For those of you who didn't see the story on B-6 reporting the latest campaign finance totals in San Bernardino, the brief is contained below ...

Got a call late Thursday with the news: The San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committeee voted to endorse Rick Avila and Carolyn Tillman, two of three candidates vying to knock Republican incumbent Chas Kelley out of his 5th Ward council seat ...

People see this blog, read reports delivered in a style slightly askew from the one used in the daily newspaper, and may come to the wrong conclusion ...

This point, again and again, gets muddied up. This reporter looks at the accepted numbers and brings readers the only conclusion possible: Crime is occurring at a higher rate in San Bernardino than last year ...

My colleague, Selicia Kennedy-Ross, received an interesting call from politicos regarding today's page B-5 story teling her to check her facts ...

Rumors always swirl in election season in SB, but this year is going to be a bit different ...

Time to resume business as UNusual at the blog ... where the looming Nov. 6 election whips normally mild mannered men and women into cutthroats in business suits, and reporters into sleepless droids, tracking the herds' every move ...

Love him or hate him, City Attorney Jim Penman sure knows how to keep his opponents busy reading the rule books. Sounding a bit like the schoolyard basketball player who will call a foul at the drop of a dime, Penman has slapped a technical on Mary Ann Milligan over some campaign signs that may not have been legally posted (see story in Thursday's Sun). This following the spat - and subsequent lawsuit - over comments made by Milligan and city clerk candidate Joseph Turner in their candidacy filings that somehow broke state election law. Then there's his "request" that she allow her previous personnel records to be opened up. Our suggestion to Milligan: Wear matching shoes, lest Penman's dress-code enforcers discover otherwise.

In a city where elections are - wink, wink - non-partisan, it's no surprise that the Democratic Luncheon Club is endorsing Carolyn Tillman for the 5th Ward council seat held by Chas Kelley and Rikke Van Johnson for the 6th Ward seat he has held since 2003. Both are avid supporters of Mayor Pat Morrs' "Operation Phoenix" anti-crime program. The club also is endorsing incumbent city clerk Rachel Mendoza Clark over challenger Joseph Turner.  
 

Our pitbull city hall reporter/blogger, Robert Rogers, is in Colorado this week speaking to college journalism students - a perk for his winning the national Al Nakkula Award for police reporting (see Robert's bio). We're filling in for him, hence the delay in getting some of your comments posted (sorry!). Rogers, by the way, is known in our newsroom as Rojo - a takeoff on Cujo and a tip of the hat to his tenacious reporting style. He didn't like the name at first, but rumor has it, he's warming up to it. Not that it matters. Rojo he is, and will always be!

Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann's latest comments about crime are triggering a wink or two around San Bernardino. While applauding the effectiveness of Operation Phoenix in reducing crime in San Bernardino - per this week's FBI report showing a 19.6 percent drop in violent crime in 2006 - Bueermann suggested that the bad guys are being displaced to his city among others. In Redlands, violent crime rose 22 percent in 2006. If nothing else, this underscores what many have argued all along - the need for a regional approach to crime, and especially gang, prevention. Bueermann has been at the front end of that discussion. Expect him and his counterparts in Fontana and Colton - where violent crime also rose - to push the issue even harder.

When a candidate seeks a newspaper's endorsement, it's sort of a job interview. That's how The Sun's editorial board views it, to the dismay of 6th Ward City Council candidate Stewart Cumming ("I would work for the 6th Ward, not for you"). The sharpest response comes from 5th Ward candidate Randall Lee, who, in ending his editorial board interview, mused, "It's not like I'm applying for a $150,000-a-year job." The editorial board didn't need to remind incumbent 5th Ward Councilman Chas Kelley. "You know," he said, "this is sort of like a job interview." How'd they do? Stay tuned. The newspaper's endorsements will be published about the time absentee ballots are sent out in early October.

Is it a disadvantage to be a white candidate in San Bernardino's ethnically diverse 6th Ward? No, says Stewart Cumming, who is seeking the Westside council seat. In fact, he's insulted - nay, outraged - by the question. Cumming made that perfectly clear in his endorsement interview with The Sun's editorial board, his anger visible as he explained that society should "ignore" perceived racial divides. He later called the question "morally repugnant and socially irresponsible," and said "that as a society/community we may have focused far too much on multiculturalism and not enough on the common culture." The leading candidates for the 6th Ward seat are incumbent Rikke Van Johnson and Betty Dean Anderson, whom Van Johnson defeated in a close race in 2003. Both are African American. Cumming is white.

The Sun broke the story, and it was a doozy: Major retailers, including Wal Mart, weren't charging the Measure Z sales tax increase that voters approved in November.

On Tuesday, the Sun broke the story that police were buying, selling and producing T-shirts that depicted San Bernardino as a gang-infested murder capital, with the numbers "187" written in blood-red on the front ...

He was slow to publicly throw his weight around, lurking on the sideline for more than a month before announcing support with an invective-charged assault on "the city attorney" ....

Mayor Pat Morris and others have worked very hard to sell the idea of a major linchpin of downtown housing at the site of the current Carousel Mall ...

City Attorney James F. Penman, facing a challenge for re-election in November from his former understudy, is asking his opponent to sign a waiver allowing details of her employment history to be publicly discussed ...

Tomorrow's Sun will break a story interesting to some, trite to others and deja vu inducing to anyone who's been in town for more than a decade ...

In what could be an interesting sign of the times, City Attorney James F. Penman entreated the city council to give him the money for another deputy city attorney ...

The Sun has been right on top of this issue from the get-go: On Aug. 19, a contingent of police officers went to the Dorjil housing projects on the West side where residents say they were holding a street side vigil for a young father who was slain the day before. Chaos ensued, by numerous accounts, with people being arrested, officers being slightly injured and dozens of residents being outraged enough to come to the city council meeting the next day, where the dead man's mother found a sympathetic ear in Mayor Pat Morris ...

Marianne Milligan, who is challenging City Attorney James F. Penman in November, has brushed aside most questions regarding legal tangles with her boss at her former job in Costa Mesa. She has not offered much in the way of explanation, other than to say she acted as a "whistle blower" on wrong-doing in the office and that part of the legal conclusion stipulated that she couldn't discuss some details ...

A story by PE writer Mark Muckenfuss says the council "may or may not" decide to upgrade the Woolworth Building on Fourth and E streets so it can house local arts organizations ...

As in years past, a few political street signs flashed by thousands of eyes at the Route 66 Rendezvous this weekend ...

Police Chief Michael Billdt wants his position to be clear to the public ...

So there has been plenty of fallout over the very suspicious looking arrangement between former Mayor Evelyn Wilcox and a big-shot local law firm that sued James F. Penman's opponent and city clerk candidate Joseph Turner to change their candidate statement language.
Now, it looks like we might need to look real hard at Milligan's legal representation, too ...

Although the Sun was not there due to the Route 66 Rendezvous' concurrent opening (Rendezvous trumped politics), the Sun was told by a high level official in Mayor Pat Morris' office that a certain councilman was on hand ...

The only questions approaching Thursday night's Marianne Milligan fundraiser were: How strongly would Morris condemn City Attorney James F. Penman and will the mayor also announce support for James Mulvihill, 7th ward council candidate ...

City Attorney James F. Penman responded to growing concern over whether Riverside-law firm Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden worked for free on behalf of former Mayor Evlyn Wilcox when she sued to strike language from two candidates' - including Penman's opponent - ballot statements.
Penman said the firm will never work for the city again, but they have worked for the city in the past.
The firm has failed to respond to daily calls for comment.
It appears more likely than ever that the firm worked for Wilcox for free, but Penman insists it has nothing to do with its relationship with him or the city.

6th Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson caused a stir when he demanded the 9-11 tapes of a police response to a West side neighborhood ...

Marianne Milligan will have a star-studded campaign fundraiser Sept. 13 ...

The law firm that worked on behalf of Evlyn Wilcox to sue two candidates for city government continues to not respond to inquiry.

...

Click below to see an excerpt of what a responder purports to be a verbatim passage from Mayor Pat Morris' advertising a campaign fundraising event for city attorney challenger Marianne Milligan ...

A number of calls came into the Sun following a Sept. 10 press release that had the familiar heading of Councilman Rikke Van Johnson with the contact number of Mayor's office staffer D'Ann Lanning ...

In what is surely a prelude to more vitriol in coming weeks, supporters of City Attorney James F. Penman and challenger Marianne Milligan are disseminating unflattering innuendo and reports like geysers of information ...

The fire union opted to take a safer road than their police contemporaries, endorsing longtime ally James F. Penman for city attorney and staying neutral in the Joseph Turner/Rachel Clark race for city clerk.
"For the most part we always endorse together," said Scott Moss, president ...

On Monday this Sun blog broke the news that Mayor Pat Morris was a lock to endorse the opponent of City Attorney James F. Penman.

Contacted Tuesday afternoon, 6th ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson reiterated that he wants to hear 9-11 tapes of what happened between police and residents in his ward on Aug. 19.
"I need to do this just from what I've heard talking to the residents," Johnson said ...

Just had a colleague drop off the San Bernardino Police Officers Association newsletter he received in his mailbox.

Over the past few days, this reporter has done radio-style podcast interviews with most of the 14 candidates who will vie for city elected seats.

Readers have always been wary of the motivations behind the lawsuit against city attorney candidate Marianne Milligan and city clerk candidate Joseph Turner.

6th ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson released a statement at 5:16 p.m. Monday calling for an investigation into an Aug. 19 altercation between police and residents in a low-income neighborhood on the West side.

In hindsight, the question always seemed to be when, not if, Mayor Pat Morris would endorse the opponent of City Attorney James F. Penman. Now, the endorsement seems more imminent than ever ...

Days after the Sun reported the police union's list of endorsements, a number of candidates have come out slamming the union for not giving them a fair shake ...

Mayor Pat Morris' difficulties with his city council have been well-documented. The boiling frustration has led many to speculate about what he may do this election season, with regular combatants like City Attorney James F. Penman, 7th ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack and 5th ward Councilman Chas Kelley all facing voters.