Breaking news: Council to consider subpoena for Police Chief

Serenah,

You have to start somewhere. The top is the best place. That will lead them to the next witness, then the next, and on and on.

Did you know that the kids at the Central Operation Phoenix site are no longer allowed to play outside. They are being forced to eat their FREE lunch inside. They are no longer allowed to eat on the benches outside.

It looks like the Church wants their property back and nothing to do with the Operation. I guess since the money has dried up so has the LOVE.....

Question for Chief Billdt. You must be an outstanding investigator if you were able to tell a females age simply by looking at a photograph. Being a novice I would have sent detectives out immediatly to verify the identity and age, but I guess that is what a trained investigator would do, not someone who never really had any real investigative experience.

Question for Chief Billdt. I understand you spent very little time and have limited experience as a detective. What training did you receive that made you an expert at being able to determine a persons age by looking at a photograph. My experience tells me that I would have sent investigators out immediatly to verify the young lady's age and identity, guess you did not think that was important.

Question for Chief Billdt. I understand you spent very little time and have limited experience as a detective. What training did you receive that made you an expert at being able to determine a persons age by looking at a photograph. My experience tells me that I would have sent investigators out immediatly to verify the young lady's age and identity, guess you did not think that was important.

How typical of Chief Billdt to say the concerns are baseless. The man hides inside his office and does not have a clue of what is going on with the men and woman of SBPD. He lets his Captains run around out of control interfering and hampering investigations and considers that business as ususal. Billdt has lost the confidence, and more importantly the respect of his officers

If the subpeonas are approved, does that mean that the five employees involved would interviewed separately? Or would those five employees be present at the same time and can hear each other's answers? Would the questions posed be different for each employee? What guarantee is there that a high ranking source won't leak those questions to these five employees prior to them appearing? Can the attorney's for these five employees be present and provide council during the interview process?

The inconsistencies are apparent. One would think that Hawkins, Brown and Robinson have talked extensively about their roles to each other during this process to protect each other and their jobs. They all work for the same department. Baude wasn't afforded that same protection he stood alone and spoke out and seemingly paid the price by being the only on put on leave. Which doesn't make sense. Operation Phoenix duties were taken away from him and then he was placed on leave. There something not right with that. Not saying that Baude is innocent but if no one else has been put on leave when it's become so apparent that Miller was a problem long before he reported to Baude that makes it not right.

And is it true that Miller couldn't report to Baude without council approval? If that's true, how could the d.a. state that Miller reported to Baude on June 5th or 6th? Miller was a Parks and Recreation employee while photos were being taken, donations being misdirected, televisions being stolen and during bb gun battles. Seems like Parks and Recreation stood by and did little to stop Miller. The photo session took place on a weekend and the city is essentially closed on weekends. Have a hard time that those involved didn't brag to someone about their antics. It was a game to them. But then a big screen television was stolen days after Miller turned off the camera. Could that have been a payoff for silence?

It all leads back to Parks and Recreation. And who are the top people there? Hawkins, Brown and Robinson. Yes the alleged molestation happened at Operation Phoenix but Mike was clearly out of control months before that. If he was dealt with on these other matters or at least placed elsewhere while he was being investigated maybe the victims of the alleged molestation wouldn't have been victims.

Parks and Recreation has dropped the ball albeit a ball without any air.

I hope that council gets their subpeonas. Though I doubt that they find out the truth. Sadly too much time has elapsed and stories had time to be scripted.
All those involved need to be put on leave while the investigation is on-going. I think that's the only way the truth will come out. You really think that any employee at Parks and Recreation that still has a job will speak out on what they know when the three principals under investigation are the ones still running the department? We know that the city can get interim people in the affected departments immediately, it happened in Baude's case.

"anonymous" certainly has a lot of inflamitory opinions. But, all of us know that the courage to fight against what ever is wrong requires that we stand up, identify ourselves and allow our character and motives to be examined by all.

I am the Senior Pastor of the Master's Plan Church of the Nazarene, which is the host of the Operation Phoenix central location. Yes, the OP kids are eating inside and are playing inside---playing in an air condidtioned gym and eating in an air conditioned room while the outside temp hovers around 100.

Our campus also is host to a Charter School, two church congregations, a ministry that feeds thousands and a pre-school. All of these organizations require protection. The questions and comments from any reader are encouraged.

Pastor Rhone regarding Anonymous: Pastor Rhone, thank you for clarifying the unnecessary comments of Anonymous. Those types of negative comments are what create so much tension, anger, and frustration. Now, if the children had been eating outside in the 100 degree heat, what would anonymous have to say then? Too bad more people can't find peace in their lives to make a positive impact on our society. In general, people should try getting all the facts before jumping to conclusions and opening their venomous mouths.

Pastor Rhone
How is Mike Miller holding up in jail? Do you keep him up to date on how safe you're keeping the kids?

Maybe the Council should consider checking your background. Oh that's right you can hide behind the cloth.

Is it just possible that Baude was placed on administrative leave for something totally unrelated to the Mike Miller case?

Maybe you're close enough to Baude to know that it was related

If that's the case I personally wish that he would rollover on Wilson and the Mayor and anybody else hiding information.

Subpoena the Chief of Police, why bother? That would involve telling the truth under oath. This chief along with his command staff lackeys have difficulty discerning truth from untruth. Coverup is the rule rather than the exception.
I find it disturbing that this chief is inaccessible or invisible during the recent events. He constantly has his Capt. & Lt. puppets being his "voice" to the employees and the public. What bravado & courage for a "leader" of a no longer respected police orgainization.
These days it's embarrassing to be a member of the San Bernardino Police Dept. Myself & others are thinking about moving on before we end up next on the chief's ever growing hit list.

"pastor" rhone, are you aware that you will have to answer to God for your support of Patrick J. Morris' sins on your property? Are you prepared to answer for what your property has been used for? It's not about what they "say" it is. It's about you and everyone else knowing what it really is. God knows your heart and he expects his pastors to be smarter than a patsy- no matter how much money is involved. If you continue to support Operation Phoenix, you know God will deal harshly with you. I see your church's name all over my radar in this investigation in ties to finances all over the place and have talked with members of your congregation. I will pray that you evict satan from God's land before it destroys the glue that holds your church together. Don't let Patrick J. Morris use you for his personal gain. God would never approve.

Anonymous: You are nuts.

Did I miss something? Is Pastor Rhone, the mayor's new unofficial Operation Phoenix Director? How much more money is the Mayor and Council offering to or paying you to do that job?

Since when did it become your job to direct the activities and kids at the OP. Oh that's right you just happen to meet the Mayor and offer your failing campus I mean church. Sound more like a cover for something else. How many members do you really have.

Give me a break....This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. The Parents in San Bernardino should be verry very afraid..

To quote Senior Pastor Rhone from his blog, "All of these organizations require protection", to which I ask the good pastor, Where was the protection for the victims of Mike Miller?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND TOO MUCH STANK (NOT STINK) BUT STANK.

I'm smellING a FOWL ODOR and it's not my upper lip.

LET'S STOP THE MADNESS!!!!

If by some miracle, Billdt decides not to flaunt the subpoena and appears at City Council after being subpoenaed, someone may want to ask why he froze some detective and sgt positions, BUT instead is trying to create a 4th Capt's position so he can fill it with another crony, Brian Boom. Just what the PD & city needs, more incompetent leaders and less needed workng cops.

Truly, I have never experienced so much hate as I see on this blog. My life and minsitry are an open book. Come on by any day and take a look. I know that our oprganization is doing good work in the neighborhood,feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and visiting the imprisoned. I can give you the names and adresses of 100+ kids who eat breakfast each day becuase we are on the job.

I'm in the open. Find me at (909)886-8104. That's the main difference between me an the no-name bloggers.

Here's the good news---in spite of your hate and lies, God still loves you and has a woderful plan for your life. we're serving kids and famailies in spite of an accused felon in our midst...May God richly bless you even as you curse me. Pease and blessing as you endevor to match our contribution

Clever words the pastor used, "clothing the naked and visiting the imprisoned".
If the Pastor writes a book about the Mike Miller saga, this would be a GREAT title!!!

Pastor Rhone don't get it twisted this is NOT ABOUT YOU, THE BLOGGERS nor are YOU WORTH HATING. But it is about those 100 kids that you so freely offer up their names and addresses.

Who or What gives you the right to betray their confidentiallity? Oh you think just because you give them some food (CANDY) you have that RIGHT?

Who do you think you are THE GREAT WHITE HOPE?

No,No, I'm actually starting to see a profile developing. You know white men in their late 40s and older handing out free hot dogs, sodas, toys, A SAFE HAVEN.

It's really not important that I give you my name. It's more important that I leave you with this

Number 32:23 Ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. God Bless You

I really think we need to keep things in perspective.

It is my opinion that most of the people who were/are associated with Operation Phoenix (OP) are good people. For some of the employees in OP, I suppose it was just a job. But, I think most of the people from the Mayor on down felt they were/are truly making a contribution, even making a difference in the lives of the children who were participating in OP.

I believe the Mayor had the best of intentions with this program. Possibly, in my opinion, the people who were actually in charge of the program did not have the education, training, or experience needed in running a social program. Especially one with such sophisticated goals.

Please understand, the City’s Parks and Recreation Department wasn't really running the program.

On paper, some of the people in OP still reported to their Parks and Recreation supervisor. In reality, from Operation Phoenix Director Glenn Baude on down, they all believed they were reporting to Baude and he believed he was reporting to the Mayor.

As a result those beliefs became reality.

People with backgrounds in social work and in recreation programs who visited the OP center formed opinions that there were problems. Some of their concerns were passed on to the City Manager and to the Mayor.

The City Manager felt that OP was not under his authority; the Mayor didn't believe what he was being told. Mayor Morris felt the constructive criticism he was getting was contrary to what he thought he was hearing from the City Manager and the Parks and Recreation Director: a reaffirmation of his beliefs.

In my opinion, he thought the ideas shared with him, such as (for only one example) the principle that such programs benefit from a sophisticated "graduation" system built in, so the children progress from one "level" to another, was just rhetoric from critics.

It seemed as though he believed, still only my opinion, that suggestions on such things as time and travel forms, a proper reporting chain of command in the social works/parks and recreation culture, and suggested protections for the children, were already in place due to the proximity and involvement in OP of some Parks and Recreation staff.

I feel the Mayor had, and still has, no idea of how dysfunctional this city government is, and has been for some years now. I don't think he had any idea of the extent to which the ineffective leadership, disorganization and the personnel problems, pervasive in much of this city's bureaucracy, would negatively impact his program.

From my observations, such problems as lack of proper leadership, disorganization and a fragile, less than competent personnel infrastructure exist not only in Parks and Recreation but throughout many, but not all, of our city departments.

But, it hasn’t always been so dysfunctional and a city attorney can only watch, comment and give advice. Our office has no authority to direct any other department or city personnel.

A statement in a recent memo from the Mayor is, in my opinion, illustrative of two of the basic problems in the mind-set in the Mayor's office.

That statement was, "(p)resumptively, Development Services was continuing to work on these issues but we were not informed of these concerns."

First, while the leadership in Development Services is topnotch, unlike that in some other city departments, the volume of work, the insufficient staffing level, a pay scale that hampers recruitment, the lack of time to adequately train the several bright but inexperienced employees, especially the junior woodchucks, means that top city leaders must presume little and check EVERYTHING.

Most previous mayors and our city manager understood at least this much. They may not have known how to fix it, but they all gradually came to understand it. The current mayoral administration, in my opinion, does not. This is what I've referred to as, "not knowing where the bathroom is."

Until this lack of understanding is corrected and until programs and actions are adjusted accordingly, we can expect to see the recent problems spotlighted by the OP debacle to be repeated.

Second, you have to ask questions. Simply assuming things are humming along the way one might wish them to is dangerous, especially in this city government. More often than not things are not going as they should be.

Saying, "but we were not informed of these concerns" really means you didn't ask the questions, or at least, not the right questions.

In other words, "you can't find the bathroom if you don't look for it."

Programs such as OP can pay great dividends for a community, if properly structured, delivered and run by trained professionals. Programs that are formulated, led and implemented by amateurs, as was OP, are destined to fail.

Great strides in real social work have been made in the past twenty to thirty years. Yet OP was functioning at a level that ignored the very minimum standards of even those few social programs that were successful in the 1960s and 1970s; not to mention more up to date and successful programs.

I'm not speaking of the failed quasi-political/quasi-social programs of the 60s and 70s, I'm talking about the ones that really worked and have statistics and a plethora of examples to bear that out, such as Head Start.

Many of those were faith-based and some of the others were accomplished with faith partners. Not unlike what OP seemingly started out to be and to do.

At this point I want to put in a word for Pastor David Rhone and his church. I was surprised, although I probably shouldn't have been, by some of the assumptions that were evident in the thoughts being expressed by some of the bloggers in the SBNOW, Sun website. We should all be upset, and I know the Mayor, the City Council, the City Manager, Kevin Hawkins, Glenn Baude and Pastor Rhone are all distressed, over what has happened in OP.

But the solution, in my opinion, is not to form a torch carrying mob, hunt down everyone with any OP contact and figuratively burn them at the stake.

I am sure that Pastor Rhone and his congregation are good people, as are the Mayor, the Council members, Fred Wilson, Kevin Hawkins and Glenn Baude. Pastor Rhone's church provided the venue, but not the program and it is not fair, I feel, to blame them for ANY of the failures that occurred.

Likewise, Baude, in my own opinion, had little to no experience (outside of running a for-profit athletic business for a period of time) in doing formal Parks and Recreation programs, yet alone in running a sophisticated social program like Operation Phoenix was supposed to be.

Baude was a man who got things done. Tell him to furnish a recreation center and it was done. Tell him to recruit kids for the center, that was done. It wasn't his fault that he didn't have the background, the training and the experience required to make OP a success. He was an excellent Code Enforcement Director and, in my opinion, the Mayor should consider offering him back that job, provided the City Council is satisfied that Glenn now knows his strengths, and now recognizes his own limitations. But, that won't be my decision to make.

It is my opinion that a hopefully more humble, back to the friendly, open-minded, non-judgmental Glenn Baude of the past would probably result in an even better Director of Code Enforcement than he was originally.... and it would be hard to top what he did with that department originally.

Flushing the toilet on OP, Glen Baude, and many others is, only in my opinion, not what we should be doing, and certainly is not the lesson(s) this recent disaster should teach us. Yes, we need to learn by our mistakes, but let us learn the right lessons.

Again, I believe that being mean to others, looking down our noses at them, being judgmental, believing and assuming that "only I know what to do; if only they had listened to me; if only I was king, this wouldn't have happened," isn't the answer any of us should be offering.

If we take that approach, aren't we doing exactly what those who launched OP did from the beginning?

I feel we should learn from those mistakes and treat them as our collective mistakes; rather than crucify those who made them, especially if they are to continue to be our city's leaders, as they will continue for some time yet. Instead, let us help them back onto their feet and move on to solve the problems we face together.

Some say, "they don't want our help." If they continue to refuse that help? “Well,” they will say, “we can pray for divine intervention and wait for the next election.”

But should we give up so easily? I hope not. Let's keep trying to pull together, figure out what went wrong, fix it and then move ahead. If they keep telling us "no," rather than walk away, approach them again and again and perhaps, with that persistence, and if its God's will that we do so, we can figure out what to do and then do it.

After all, its still our town, too.

These are my thoughts and my opinions. They aren't necessarily the only answers and may not be 100% correct. But what we've done hasn't worked and figuratively nailing more people to the cross isn't going to solve our problems either. Some people tried that once and it did very little to reach the goals of those who held the hammers, (even if was, unintentionally, the means by which the world was saved.)

Jim Penman

In the wise words of Barrack Obama describing McCain at the convention "It's not that he doen't care, It's that the Mayor just DOESN'T GET IT"

It's always easy for someone like you to say let the Mayor have another chance because it's not your children or grandchildren attending the OP Centers. It's not your children using outdooor restrooms in the DARK nor your children or grandchildren names and addresses being offered up to the world for personal gain, egos or more GRANT FUNDS. What parent in their right mind would even consider sending their child to a place where the Pastor (that's doing such great work) warns "All of these organizations require protection" Protection From What?

You talk about the successful social programs of the 60s and 70s, do you know that's over 40 years ago? Is Head Start the only program you can reference.

I'ld be interested in hearing your thoughts/opinion on the book "Black Like Me"

And why is it when a person calls a spade a spade the people that want to maintain tha status quo, make remarks like let's keep things in perspective.

It's TIME FOR CHANGE. It's time out for only the very few being serve at the expense of the many. ESPECIALLY OUR CHILDREN

You know, the City Attorney makes a lot of sense here.

I've dismissed him as a hothead in the past. Maybe he's more of a Harry Truman type. Watch what you say about his daughter's singing.

A part of governance is knowing the times. Expansive, experimental social programs aren't really in the spirit of the times. OP was (and is) a noble cause, maybe too much so. As it is easier to love mankind than a man, so it is easier to posit grand changes than to make them with the tools at hand. That's what we elect people for; that's what we expect of those who take command of resources. You should know what you're doing, be accountable for knowing the day-to-day activities. That's how you earn $144,000 per annum. Maybe the grand vision doesn't match up with the reality of the resources, or what can reasonably be accomplished. It doesn't mean you proceed anyway. It means you adapt your plan. Look for outside agencies. Don't reinvent the wheel of after-school programs when schools have them. CAPS, anyone? If you don't know what it is, that's a problem right there.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This one is more like a highway.

This Penman guy, maybe we've underestimated him. Dang.

These might be some really stupid questions but why wasn't Kevin Hawkins, Director of Parks and Recreation ever given the resources and support to run the program?

If the City’s Parks and Recreation Department wasn't really running the program, why not?

Why did the Mayor select Baude over Hawkins and when Baude didn't work out he chose Ken Paxton another person without a recreation background.

Why didn't the Mayor believe what he was being told by the Wilson, Baude and Hawkins? I'm sure they shared all of their concerns about OP and Mike Miller with him.

Why isn't the Mayor demanding that the Chief of Police submit a resume ASAP?

Did politics play a part in how fast the photos were investigated?

There are just too many questions unanswered and our leadership with the exception of Estrada and McCommick) are not demanding that these questions are answered before moving forward.

Just sounds like there's a hiden agenda that's more about access as opposed to progress.

"Boom" is a great name for a police lieutenant. Right out of Dick Tracey.

Serenah,
Thats heavy.....Wouldn't that be called human trafficking?
There are many very wealthy couples looking to adopt in this country.The waiting lists are years long. I knew San Bernardino was corrupt...but WOW!

I don't think the Mayor is stupid by any means.

I’ve known this man for about thirty years. He and I served in the same army reserve unit in the late 1960s. I knew him as a school board member and as a lawyer. I spent a good deal of time trying and arguing cases in his various courtrooms when he was a judge. Pat Morris has always marched to the beat of a different drummer, has always interpreted things a little differently than many of the rest of us. Over the years I have formed the opinion that he is very naive.

I don't know about the alleged corruption to which Serenah alludes. As the city's prosecutor I try to keep an open mind on such allegations unless and until we have the kind of proof you have to have in order to go to court.

Serenah is right that the Mayor was warned, by more than one person about the problems with Operation Phoenix. But Pat has never been one to let information to the contrary, even if it is accurate information, negatively impact his views or his willingness to continue to do what he first set out to do. He may well be a "true-believer." It is hard to imagine anyone being as phony as he would have to be if he isn't a true-believer.

I think we should all remember this. Pat Morris will be our Mayor until at least March 2010, God willing. I know some believe we should just let him stumble along and make mistakes in order to make it easier to remove him from office come November 2009. I respectively disagree. Nineteen months is a long time to sit by passively while the city sinks deeper into the abyss.

We need to renew our efforts, even increase them, to help the Mayor get his administration, including OP, on track. He isn't going to be able to do it by himself. He is in way over his head in this type of governance and I feel it would be wrong for us to just sit back, criticize and say, "I told you so."

I still want to believe he is a good person. I am not oblivious to evidence to the contrary, especially the falsehoods we’ve heard, but I'm not yet convinced, as some seem to be, that the man is the devil incarnate.

Good people can make mistakes. I think I'm a good person (some disagree,) and I've certainly made my share of mistakes. I remember my pastor, when I was in high school, telling our Sunday school and catechism classes,"if you ever find a perfect church, don't join it. You'll ruin it."

It is a lot easier for us to judge Mayor Morris than it will be to help him turn to the kind of programs that will truly help this community. But for those of us who still believe in this town, and the people who live in it, we cannot give up. If we have been strong enough to remain in San Bernardino, despite the adversity that has arisen year after year, if we are strong enough to survive our own mistakes, and those of others, then we are strong enough to keep pushing for City government to do the right things, the things our citizens have a right to expect us to do.

The ideas behind OP are good ones. It may seem to be failing now, more disasters may seem to be just around the corner. Perhaps they are. But that doesn’t mean the program can’t be salvaged and turned into an effective tool to help children reach their potential and become productive citizens.

(By the way, for the anonymous blogger who doubts there were successful social programs besides Headstart in the 60s and 70s, take a look at the Work-Study program, the National Defense Student Loans, the Public Health nurses, especially in our nation's rural areas, the hundreds of revenue-sharing federal programs that resulted in kids staying in school, going on to college, getting good jobs, and avoiding lives of crime and drugs.

Also, look at the numerous federal, state, private business and trade union vocational programs that have prepared men and women who weren’t interested in college for good lifetime careers. This doesn't even count the many non-government, faith-based programs that achieved great results. If you don’t already know about these successful social programs, and many, many others, my reminding you may not make much of a difference.

(But I want to share with you the fact that for twelve years I served as the Resident Director of a church settlement house, the Home of Neighborly Service on San Bernardino’s Westside. I have seen lives saved, lives turned around, kids turned away from drugs and crime. I know first-hand that those programs can work my friend. If you want to find out how much they can work, become a part of it, spend some time as a volunteer in just one of those many successful programs. You’ll feel even better about yourself than you already do; you may be surprised at what you learn (I was) and when you're done, you will know that you’ve personally helped to turn at least a few lives around. Imagine being able to say, “in my lifetime, I personally influenced five/six/eleven, or twelve young people to stay in school/get off drugs/stay out of trouble.” Now, THAT, is a powerful accomplishment. And, the longer you labor in that vineyard, the more lives you will personally impact. Many people know they’ve made a difference in the lives of dozens, and in some cases, even hundreds of young people. Come on buddy, join up, it isn’t too late.)

Sitting by and criticizing won't get the job done. We need to keep trying to help OUR Mayor even if that means pushing him until he loses his naivete.

Wouldn’t it be a lot easier in the long run, and more productive, if we really got behind the Mayor, helped him and even pushed him into being the kind of Mayor I believe he is capable of being? Spending our time and resources tearing the man down for the next thirteen months isn’t going to solve San Bernardino’s problems.

I would rather see the Mayor have an epiphany, fix what needs to be fixed in this town, restore public confidence in city government and in himself, and let him be re-elected, rather than spend the same amount of energy trying to kick him out and watch this city make no progress for the remaining nineteen months of his term in office. Yes, we might not succeed. Failure is possible if we try, but certain if we don't.

Let's face reality here,the Mayor has already been knocked on his behind. Sometimes that wakes people up. Give him the chance guys. You’re stuck with him anyway, what have you got to lose?

Jim Penman

I wonder just how all those alleged victims of Mike Miller are doing right now.

Mike Miller was put in JAIL FOR THESE ALLEGATIONS. I don't hear you requesting donations for his bail or legal defense.

I wonder ten years from now, when those victims are adults want will they say about all of this mess and they forgive the Mayor for being so naive. Will they be able to live normal lives?

I'm sorry the Mayor is not the VICTIM here. Maybe you should think more about those 3 girls and prayer that they don't suffer any life long problems from the great social program Operation Phoenix brainchild of MAYOR PAT MORRIS.

Great social program or great social experiment?

Serenah,

I'm not the vehicle to get a message to the Mayor.

He avoids contact with me whenever he can. He cancels or continuously changes our appointments to the point where I have to try to catch him unexpectedly and unannounced to even get into his office for a few minutes alone with him.

My lawyers and I limit our conversations with him to meetings and memoranda, by necessity, not by choice.

Even in those interactions, he listens to us the way a judge does, then he does what he wants. I don't think he can help it, he was on the bench too long to change.

Sadly, there is no attorney client relationship between us, ergo we cannot violate the sanctity of that which does not exist.

The Mayor, it appears, gets his legal advice from his son and from the County Counsel's office and has done so from the day he first walked in the door of city hall.

But we aren't giving up. As the sad saga of Operation Phoenix continues to unfold, as city departments continue to implode and as high-ranking city officials continue their exodus, hopefully he will come to realize that the advice we have given (albeit in public as we are denied the ability to do so otherwise)has been correct. Perhaps then he will realize that we do have good advice to offer and hopefully that realization will come before it is too late for his administration.

I still think it better to educate a current Mayor than it is to go to the great trouble of electing a new one and starting all over again from scratch.

Also, Serenah, we should avoid assuming that just because someone doesn't see things the way we do, or because they do things we disagree with they are an evil person.

I have been on the receiving end of the results of that kind of mind-set, and am reluctant to visit that upon anyone else.

I respond to evidence, not conjecture. So far I have seen little evidence to back up your allegations in our previous discussions of criminal conduct by the Mayor, yet alone the evil soul that you and others attribute to him.

Yes, I am aware that he seems to have a tendency not to be truthful at times and that he is has proven to be a poor judge of character. None of that convicts him, in my mind, of the evil that is being attributed to him.

In the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary I continue to believe that he is quite naive and simply hasn't taken the time to learn the job he holds, hasn't taken the time to learn and understand the role he is currently in.

None of those factors are evidence of criminality nor evilness.

Jim Penman

Serenah,

Thank you very much for your kind words. I hope I am the kind of person you believe me to be and I will try not to disappoint you.

As to running for Mayor again,I am still thousands of dollars in debt from the last time I ran. I was willing to do it then, I'm not now. The people made their decision. They elected Pat Mayor in 2006 and they re-elected me City Attorney in 2007. I have accepted both decisions, I thank the public for both decisions, and I have now moved on.

Since the last election I have resolved to just be the best City Attorney I can be and do whatever I can, legally and ethically, to make this town a better place for our children and grand-children who live here still.

I don't begrudge Pat his win, and am grateful the voters rejected his candidate for City Attorney last year for. You are right, I'm in "no position to fix this problem." What I can do, however, I am doing and will continue to do.

The City Council is the entity that must step up to the plate at this point. They have the authority and the duty to fix the problems if the Mayor cannot or will not.

They finally started to move as a unit yesterday. More than one vote of five or more was cast against what the Mayor wanted. I believe those same council members are going to come around to the point of having concerns equal to those of Estrada and McCammack.

Things are just too dysfunctional inside city hall for some Councilmembers to continue to avoid doing the job the people elected them to do. The Council members are the "check and balance" provided for in the City Charter by the people and most of the public expects to see that check and balance employed soon.

Those Council members who continue to refuse to do their jobs may not be at the dias in March 2010, and some more of them may be gone after March 2012.

As to your questions about why the Mayor doesn't just do certain things, many of us have those same questions.

I believe we are going to get answers to many of those questions before the November 2009 Mayoral election.

I expect to see more than one qualified candiate's name on that ballot, at that time.

Jim Penman

There are those of us in the City of San Bernardino who did vote for Jim Penman for Mayor, and as one I believe that this city would not be the embarrassment that is has become if he had won. Unfortunately that was not to be however I am glad that he was re-elected as City Attorney, not that poor excuse that Mayor Morris trotted out to run against Jim Penman.

Thank you Jim for your service to this city. At least we have you in place to take care of the lawsuits that Pat Morris and his social experiment, Operation Phoenix, are creating for us taxpayers to fund!

Well said Cal.

At what point do we pull the plug on OP so we can have police, fire, rescue and infra structure developement?
And pay the law suits that are sure to follow........

Cal & Shelby-- Surely & hopefully the victims of Miller & the City of San Bernardino (since he was an employee of the city when it occurred) have retained counsel for the lawsuits. & knowing the Mayor with his extensive legal background, will say the lawsuits are frivilous.

And as good a City Attorney Mr. Penman is, the city will not come away from this blunder finacially unscathed. The city's reputation & integrity is already ruined because of this. Yes indeed, our Measure Z money hard at work.

Fortunately I'm a renter, so we're making plans to relocate away from this soiled metropolis & go to a city where my tax dollars aren't used to pay for criminal activities (alleged) in city operated facilities.

Operation Phoenix is a drain on our already strained budget. There are countless organizations that do daycare. We do not need Operation Phoenix. It's motto is something about "Changing Lives" - well, I'd say that those three little girls lives have been changed plenty and we need to shut it down before anymore of these kids have their lives changed like that! Nude photo sessions, drive-by BB gun wars, feeling up minors in the parking lot. Enough is enough.

As a property owner/taxpayer I want my sidewalks fixed, I want the potholes filled, I want the street lights working, I want the trees trimmed. The YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, CAPS, etc. can babysit the kids - for a lot less money and a whole lot safer!

At first I thought that Mike Miller's arrest and his over 20+ charges was a terrible thing for our Children and Community but look at all of the other problems that are being uncovered as a results of his arrest and Penman providing the SUN with the emails.

I don't know about you but I'm angery that all of our supposingly EXPENSE

stop GAPS that are put in place to protect us from all of this corruption are in the hands of the CORRUPT LEADERS and we the TAXPAYERS have to pay for this mess.