Morris again showing Penman is top priority
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" ....
But now, Mayor Pat Morris makes no bones about just how doggedly he's ready to fight for Marianne Milligan - or against Jim Penman - in the November election for city attorney.
How big of a role is Morris playing this election season, one in which he is not up for election? If Thursday's actions are any indication, a very big role indeed.
The brief context here is that on Wednesday Penman issued a challenge to Milligan, his former employee, asking her to waive her rights to keep private her work in the office she hopes to be voted into. Milligan told this reporter Thursday she would not, that Penman was acting "ludicrous" and that the letter was just a ruse to free Penman to let floweth a fusillade of slanderous and libelous assaults.
Before the interview, Milligan also told this reporter a press release would be forthcoming. Indeed it was. About 90 minutes later, a press release arrived at the Sun, not from Milligan ...
From the desk of Mayor Pat Morris. Read it below. Note the paragraph where Morris cites Penman's "smear" tactics against him in the mayoral race.
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SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007 - Yesterday, City Attorney Jim Penman insisted that Marianne Milligan sign a waiver that would release him from all liability and responsibility for his disclosure of Ms. Milligan's personnel, and for untruthful and libelous comments he makes about her employment history with his office and the City of San Bernardino.
Jim Penman is the City Attorney of San Bernardino and he is pressuring a city employee, Marianne Milligan, to release confidential personnel information. City Attorney Penman has insisted that Ms. Milligan sign a legal release and waiver of liability for untruthful, libelous and disparaging comments he wants to make about Ms. Milligan, and that she deliver the signed waiver to the Office of the City Attorney, which he controls.
This inappropriate action by Jim Penman clearly oversteps the boundaries of proper conduct and ethics for a city attorney, and it completely blurs the lines between the Office of the City Attorney to which Mr. Penman was elected, and his own political ambitions. It is disturbing that Mr. Penman would use the Office of the Attorney as a means for his own political ends.
As the City Attorney of San Bernardino, Jim Penman is also Marianne Milligan's former employer, and he is now pressuring her to release her personnel file and release him from liability for libelous and disparaging comments he may make about Ms. Milligan's employment in his office. I find it highly inappropriate that an employer would pressure a former employee to release personnel information and sign a waiver for untruthful or libelous comments the employer makes about the employee.
Marianne Milligan's employment record has been an open book from the beginning, long before Jim Penman made this highly inappropriate request. When Ms. Milligan first announced her candidacy, she released a detailed biography about her 13-year career as a municipal law attorney. Mr. Penman is completely free to talk, discuss, and comment on Marianne Milligan's credentials to be the next San Bernardino City Attorney. And, as Mr. Penman well knows, there are no legal repercussions against him for comments he makes on Ms. Milligan's credentials to be San Bernardino City Attorney.
Nonetheless, Mr. Penman has requested Marianne Milligan sign a waiver and release that provides him complete immunity from any liability for his comments about Ms. Milligan. The only reason Jim Penman would request such a waiver and release, is because he intends to make untruthful, libelous, and disparaging remarks about Marianne Milligan as a candidate for city attorney and her employment history.
Unfortunately, Jim Penman has done this before. In his campaign against me for San Bernardino Mayor just 18 months ago, Jim Penman conducted an unprecedented smear campaign filled with lies. For example, he delivered mailers to voters claiming that I intended to move to the San Bernardino mountains, and that I had negotiated secret deals with leaders in the City of Redlands. He ran television ads that falsely claimed I was responsible for releasing hardened criminals into our city streets.
Clearly with yesterday's disturbing request to Marianne Milligan, Jim Penman intends once again, to conduct an ugly smear campaign against his opponent in his attempt to be re-elected as city attorney. Voters should be warned that the campaign mudslinging and lies from Jim Penman will soon begin once again.
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Read into this passage what you will, but two things are incontrovertibly present: 1. This is somewhat personal. Morris won't forget the way Penman's acolytes abused his storied record during the mayoral campaign.
2. Morris is willing to work harder than anyone could have imagined to oust Jim Penman. A prompt, crisp, lengthy press release in less than two hours to come to Milligan's aid? Judges don't pick up the pen unless they think it's an important endeavor.
Lastly, one thing should be noted about these comments. Too often, reporters rightfully get lambasted for getting pushed around, not coming out and identifying false or misleading aspects of a position to the benefit of readers.
To that end, Morris cites a "detailed biography" Milligan released at the outset of her candidacy as evidence that her past is an "open book."
In truth, the "biography" is just shy of two pages. It contains nothing that could be remotely considered negative. As for her demotion in Penman's office and the legal donnybrook she was a part of in Costa Mesa - those transpirations do not get mentioned.
It seems as if Mayor Morris is forgetting the lies he told about Jim Penman when he ran against Penman for Mayor.
Even though he knew that Penman as City Attorney, can only prosecute violations of the City Municipal Code, not the Penal Code, Morris incorrectly and unfairly blamed Penman for the high crime rate.
Now that the crime rate is back up, not down as Morris falsly says, he is trying to deflect attention from the fact that as Mayor, he does have the power Penman never had. Only Morris can hire or fire the police chief. Morris, unlike Penman, has the ability to call in County, State and Federal law enforcement for help.
Instead, Morris insists on delaying Penman's recommendations to enact tougher new codes against parolee housing.
Morris wants his friends in the parolee housing industry, who make big bucks off the illegal shacks in our neighborhoods where they cram paroled felons, including many sex offenders,to be able to make their money without interference from Penman, the one person Morris can't, and shouldn't legally control.
Penman is our City Attorney, he is our representative in City Hall. Penman is free to speak out on our behalf and keep us informed as to what Morris isn't doing and ask for changes. That's obviously a threat to hizhoner.
If Morris handpicked candidate has nothing to hide, and if Penman is going to blast her anyway as she claims, why won't she let the public see her personnel file?
Obviously, Morris and Penman's opponent have a lot to hide.
Incidently, it was also Morris who attacked Penman's well-earned credit as an honest and credible advocate for the people of our city.
The same Morris then lied to us and said he would spend all of the Measure "Z" money on police. But after the election for Measure "Z" Morris quickly tried to spend some of that money on his giveaway, free barbeques and free tv sets for the parolees in our city. Penman,and Council Members McCammack, Kelly, and Derry were able to stop him. No wonder Morris has chosen candidates to run against the four honest elected officials in our city government today.
Come on Mayor, let's tell the truth. Penman told us the truth about you, but we didn't believe him. Now, you, not Penman, have proven yourself to be the one we can't trust.
71 Year SB Resident
Ms. Milligan is a candidate for public office. The public deserves to be informed about her ENTIRE record--not the puffery she puts on her campaign literature.
Why is trying to hide the record of her job performance in San Bernardino? Why won't she come clean about her disastrou record in Costa Mesa that led to the abolition of the City Attorney's office there?
Maybe she's trying to hide behind the Mayor because her own record can't stand the light of public scrutiny.
Then again, Milligan is being supported by the same loony liberals who wanted to remove the criminal background box on city employment forms. Maybe these folks just don't care about a person's competence for the job.
Don't be silly! Morris doesn't write his own press releases-well, at least not PAT Morris. Jim Morris does. And sometimes D'Ann Lanning. Kurt Wilson wrote some good ones too
71 years and, with all due respect for the feat of surviving so long, still naive.
Rather than debate your clearly passionate hyperbole, I refer everyone to the facts, which speak for themselves:
The FBI UCR (No, not the local university; the Uniform Crime Reporting statistics).
Both the most recent statistics available and the archives of all others going back to 2005 are freely available. So are other vital facts necessary for checking before speaking off the cuff and ending up embarrassed, like you have done, are here:
http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/depts/police_department/crime_statistics/ucr_statistics___part_1_2007.asp
San Bernardino Wants Marrianne Milligan For Mayor!
Obviously, it is the previous commentor who cannot read as August shows significant increases in crime from the previous month (which was also up). 6 percent and rising for August...even with all the extra help from the Feds.
Obviously, the desperate Mayor Morris pep squad hopes we can't read.
For anyone who can read (the previous commentor obviously cannot), crime is up 6% in San Bernardino for August this year as compared to last year.
So much for NAIVE!
Dear Sun “Voice” column
Voice@SBSun.com
Voice Fax number 909 885-8741
Re: Editor’s question on Wednesday asking
“Disagree? Write the Voice”
I most certainly disagree with the NY Times type portrayal of one of our City’s best elected officials, Jim Penman, our City Attorney. Your editorial page did not offer any counter claim to the facts presented by City Attorney Penman while he took the podium to speak as a citizen of San Bernardino. The Sun, with all its’ investigators and reporters, chose not to check out the facts, but instead, chose to smear Mr. Penman simply because this newspaper took the low and the easy road. This type of mud slinging by The Sun is shameful and truly disgusting.
The fact that this paper chose to back Judge Morris for Mayor is probably a factor in their blind quest to prove the paper’s initial position. This position is always contrary to The Sun’s readers and the citizens of San Bernardino. How in the world can your editor justify this Mayor’s inaction to help the very people who believed his campaign speeches and elected him. Does he really believe the 20 block Operation Phoenix area voted for him? Why does he and The Sun turn a blind ear to the hard working citizens who want to continue to have Jim Penman serve as the City Attorney. No matter how much you smear him, do you really believe those who read your paper are so ignorant as to believe your slanted editorials? You are not fooling anyone in that you are using your editorials to help the inexperienced challenger that the Mayor recruited from another city to help the Mayor have complete and unopposed running of the City. The Mayor already has 4 council members to agree to everything he ever says and having a new City Attorney in his camp would make his day. This is not in the best interest of the City.
.
Statistics can be manipulated to say anything you would like them to say.
Have you looked at how many parolees are in similarly sized cities as San Bernardino? I haven't had time to, but I would like to know the results from someone who has the time to look into that point.
In the past I voted for Pat Morris and spoke against Jim Pennman. I just can not apologize enough! Whew, did I not only fail myself - I failed to do right by my fellow citizens of this city.
For me now to see how badly the soul of this City of San Bernardino, California has taken a beating by the antics of a man who still thinks he is and has the power of a long black robe is mind boggling, to say the least.
I am one of those individuals who has had absolute and direct contact with the results of Pat Morris' works and the damages he has left behind in the streets of this City. The people he calls the sons and daughters of the citizens of this City... NOT! They are his past CLIENTS better known as outright failures (by the tune of 98%) of the DRUG COURT that you can see each and every week day and night strolling these streets of the City, ANYWHERE!!!
Prostitution is doing just fine! Got to get the drugs ya know! Burgularies, there are plenty of victims in this City.. got to get the drugs ya know.. keep the dealers and gang bangers in wealth ya know..
Before, the Mayor became such and still was a Judge of the Drug Court I made contact with him about how his drug addicts by the hundreds and hundreds were ruining the meeting places where true soberity was being sought by those who want a better life.
I told him (the Judge) at the time how these thugs were barging in at will and threating those in attendace and causing great problems.. along with telling the (then Judge) Mayor I made it a point to back up my statements with an invitation for the Judge to come and see what was really happening with his drug addicts he'd past off on everyone else to take care of... oh, that's right.. I am suppose to call them..his clients.. duh!@!!!
I want him to see the reall truth of what the Drug Courts had done by passing over the mentally ill, drug addicted, gang bangers, thugs and outright violent criminal overe on the establishment that were never meant to be burden with this evil type of trajedy ... along with a letter to the San Bernardino Sun.
Instead, the Judge (excuse me Mayor) went off to get his Awards for the statics the courts keep... versus reality on the street!!!
Now, the Mayor is siding with establishments and those who do not have the best interest of this community nor the children in hand.. He, is not a Mayor! He is a damned Fool!
Whe Morris blames others for the past 20 years of the destruction of this City.. take a look at the length and term of when the Drug Court was turned loose on us... and those twenty years Morris accuses a Civil Attorney for being responsible for criminal activies fits right into Morris' exact tunure as the JUDGE in the LONG BLACK ROBE turning his clients loose on this community and its children!
And, I am worse than him for having voted for him!
Now he has Estrada who will do anything he says. And, another one who says I agree with everyone but (Brinker) bu..bu..but lets take is up later! The yea old Bail Bonds Man Rickie Van Johnson saying whatever the Judges ssys is right!
And, Then the one who even called himself - a clown for not being able to get the voters to give him a raise .. ol "I haven't got the slightest idea what policy is and that's what I'm suppose to set" (Baxter) look into the TV camera and keep repeating "I am a broadcaster" ...right CNN is calling you every day!
Then the Mayor has this supposed POLICE CHIEF, CITY MANAGER and A CLERK..
One is useless.. the other can at least tell you when 3 minutes are up.. wow can count to 3.. needs a clock with an alarm.. and a Police Chief that has a DEPARTMENT that rightly hates him.. and that Department is rightly hated by almost every single citizen of this City..
Time and again I hear the City of San Bernardino, California is looked at as the ARM PIT of the County... hmmmm? me thinks they hold the BAR WAY TO HIGH!
When will the hyperbole and naive ignorance stop? At least I optimistically prefer to suppose the inaccuracies writen here to be the result of naive ignorance - I hope it isn't intentional, albeit futile, attempts at supplying deliberate misinformation...
Here are the facts - also available at:
http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_6990050?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com
and fully supportive of the 9.21.07 9:59PM post above, IN SUPPORT OF MARIANNE MILLIGAN FOR CITY ATTORNEY (It seems her supporters are proven here to be more intelligent - at least more informed - than her detractors.)
Stats show SB crimes falling
Wes Woods II and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
San Bernardino County Sun
Article Launched:09/24/2007 10:51:38 PM PDT
Most Inland Empire cities saw decreases in crimes across many categories for 2006, according to FBI crime statistics released Monday.
San Bernardino was among the cities that saw the most significant changes with violent crime, dropping by 19.6 percent. Murder, rape, robbery, assault, property crime, burglary, larceny, vehicle theft and arson all dropped.
Murders in the city dropped by 21 percent, rape by 31 percent, robbery by 0.8 percent, assault by 30 percent, property crimes by 13 percent and vehicle thefts by 8 percent.
Nationally, violent crime increased 1.9 percent while property crime decreased 1.9 percent compared with 2005 figures, according to the report.
San Bernardino police Lt. Scott Paterson said much of the drop can be attributed to Operation Phoenix, Mayor Pat Morris' anti-crime program launched in 2006. Officers worked hundreds of hours of overtime for the program and partnered with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol officers to conduct saturation patrols in the city's high density crime areas during peak hours.
It also entailed the opening of the Operation Phoenix Center on Waterman Avenue to steer at risk youths away from gangs.
The latest FBI data was remarkably good news, Morris said, adding that no other city has had the kind of success San Bernardino has had driving down the violent crime rate.
"We're going the opposite direction of our sister cities in the region," Morris said. "We're going against the grain in a way that is remarkably dramatic."
Morris said the violent crime drop in his first 18 months in office is the biggest drop in more than a decade for the city.
"I don't know of another city in the nation that had this kind of drop in a year's time," Morris said of the violent crime category.
Morris said he plans to expand his anti-crime plan, Operation Phoenix, across the city.
"We need to drive (violent crime) down much more," Morris said.
Collaboration between the Police Department and state and federal agencies to arrest suspected gang members, drug dealers, and suspected high ranking members of the Mexican Mafia, is also believed to have contributed to the drastic drop in violent crime, Paterson said.
"I think the San Bernardino Police Department, while their crime problems remain challenging, they are making great strides and great inroads," Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann said.
"One of the unintended consequences of what they're doing is the displacement of crime. Moving it from one place to another."
Bueermann said that 70 percent of adults arrested in Redlands are not from the city.
"It appears to me there is an invading army of criminals infiltrating our city," Bueermann said.
In Redlands, violent crime rose by 22 percent in 2006. Murder, rape, robbery and assault were all up but property crimes, burglaries and vehicle thefts decreased.
Bueermann said staffing levels for the Police Department remain thin.
Over the last three years, more than 30 police positions have been frozen or eliminated. Redlands slashed the Police Department's budget by more than $1 million this year, Bueermann said.
"I'm very concerned about where we're heading and I find this very alarming," Bueermann said.
Fontana also saw decreases in murders, rapes and vehicle thefts.
Violent crime in Fontana sharply increased from 734 to 863 and there were also increases in aggravated assaults and robberies.
Fontana Sgt. Jeff Decker said he believed the population increase partly led to the increase in crime.
Colton also saw a sharp increase in violent crime, rising 28.8 percent. Robberies, assaults and property crimes also showed increases, while murders stayed the same with five reported.
Your Friend & Neighbor Supporting Local Community & Personal Betterment In San Bernardino,
Susana Atanasova