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This is an interesting story on the whole "we can't do anything about it" line comming from the DA and County. It turns out that they can but won't. Lauren Mc Sherry writes for the San Bernardino Sun. This post was on www.insidesocal.com/behind_the_story/

An addicted assessor

Postmus hooked on meth, sources say

Lauren McSherry and George Watson, Staff Writers

Article Launched: 08/08/2008 09:49:47 PM PDT

Assessor Bill Postmus, who once dreamed of rising as high as Congress, has been pulled down by an addiction to a common street drug that has been sweeping the region like an epidemic, several sources said.

Postmus has for the past few years struggled with an addiction to methamphetamine, which has twice landed him in drug rehabilitation centers, said sources close to Postmus who asked to remain anonymous.

With rumors hovering around why the man elected in 2006 to the San Bernardino County assessor's post abruptly announced he was taking a medical leave of absence last month, Paul Biane, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, is now calling for Postmus to come clean or step down.

"I am extremely concerned about the allegation of illegal drug use by Assessor Bill Postmus," Biane said in a prepared statement. "I call on the assessor to publicly and personally refute this allegation if it is untrue. Otherwise, the assessor should resign his post immediately."

Contacted Friday afternoon, Postmus spokesman Ted Lehrer said, "Assessor Bill Postmus has no comment."

Postmus has twice gone to rehabilitation centers, sources say, including during a major fire in 2006 in his supervisorial district when he chaired the Board of Supervisors.

Once a political juggernaut who showered money on his Republican allies, Postmus' career has been crippled by drug addiction. Those close to Postmus have said he gave up his seat on the Board of

Supervisors to regroup while holding the more obscure position of county assessor.

In addition to meth, Postmus has also battled an addiction to painkillers, sources say. It's unclear which addiction came first, but sources said he became addicted to pain medication after suffering a back injury.

Just one hit of the white crystalline powder can imprison a first-time user in an endless cycle of using meth just to avoid the hallucinations, paranoia and unbearable sensation of bugs crawling on skin that often accompany withdrawal, said Alexander Cordova, a prevention specialist at Inland Valley Drug and Alcohol in Upland.

There are many ways to get high from meth. It can be smoked, snorted, injected into a vein, even dissolved in water and drunk.

Coming down from meth may plunge an addict into a nightmare, but the high itself is longer lived than most drugs. It's also a quick fix for low self esteem, transforming a user from feeling unremarkable to feeling larger than life, Cordova said.

"It inflates their ego," he said. "It gives them more self esteem. It gives you more confidence."

The office overseen by Postmus has become entangled in scandal following a grand jury report describing misuse of power by the assessor and the arrest of Adam Aleman, Postmus' top assistant, who faces trial on six felony counts of tampering with evidence. An investigation by the district attorney is ongoing.

Biane's statement indicates the supervisors' tolerance of the scandal may be fraying.

"The county must resume the public's business without the ongoing distraction and erosion of the public's confidence being generated by these continuing and troubling questions about the assessor's conduct," Biane said in the statement.

lauren.mcsherry@inlandnewspapers.com(909) 386-3875

george.watson@inlandnewspapers.com(909) 386-3875

  

S.B. County assessor asked to answer allegations of illegal drug use

09:00 PM PDT on Friday, August 8, 2008

The Press-Enterprise

PDF: Read the news release from San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane.

Special Section: S.B. County Assessors Probe

Paul Biane, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, on Friday issued a statement demanding that Assessor Bill Postmus answer allegations of illegal drug use or resign immediately.

Postmus, a former supervisor himself, has been on medical leave since July 23. News reports have quoted anonymous sources as saying Postmus has taken illegal drugs.

A spokesman for Postmus said Friday the assessor was on medical leave and unavailable to comment.

The full text of Biane's statement:

"I am extremely concerned about the allegation of illegal drug use by Assessor Bill Postmus. I call on the Assessor to publicly and personally refute this allegation if it is untrue. Otherwise, the Assessor should resign his post today. The County must resume the public's business without the ongoing distraction and erosion of the public's confidence being generated by these continuing and troubling questions about the Assessor's conduct."

Postmus mum on meth addiction claims

VV Daily Press August 7, 2008 - 4:19PM

RYAN ORR

 

Postmus' problems reveal startling lack of accountability

George Watson, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 07/26/2008 09:35:48 PM PDT

So now we at least know where Bill Postmus wasn't.

A year ago, Postmus tried to lay to rest concerns about his whereabouts during the 2006 wildfires that burned in Yucca Valley, which happens to be in what at the time was his supervisorial district. Postmus, who had since vacated his seat as San Bernardino County supervisor to be the assessor, said he was in Wisconsin burying the ashes of his late grandmother.

As he and I sat in his office last year, Postmus explained that he didn't understand what the fuss was all about. Other county officials knew where he was, he said. Although he was chairman of the Board of Supervisors and fire was laying waste to one of his communities, I still remember him asking, what's the big deal?

Well, the big deal turns out to be, as we reported earlier this week, he wasn't in Wisconsin. He was not doing anything with the ashes of his grandmother. He was out of the area, most likely in the state of Washington, going through drug rehab. Some county leaders claimed that they had no idea where he was or how to contact him.

The fact that he needed help for what several impeccable sources say remains an ongoing battle with an addiction to drugs is not the big deal. People get hooked on narcotics all the time and recover quite well, actually.

Anyone remember Rush Limbaugh and his problem with prescription drugs? He seems to be doing just fine now.

Perhaps Postmus will use his 10-week medical leave announced last week to get himself some help, and if he does, he should be commended.

And although drug addiction is very personal, it becomes a matter of public concern when the person is the leader of the biggest county in the contiguous 48 states, especially when that person is out of touch during a natural disaster. People criticized President Bush for his handling of the disaster in New Orleans, but he was at least paying attention to it.

The truly bigger deal that evolves out of this latest Postmus revelation is a question that I have raised now in several columns: accountability, and I don't just mean holding the beleaguered assessor up in front of bright lights.

We know now, as several sources have told me, that the assessor still has a drug addiction. We know he has been to rehab on at least two occasions. We know his behavior has grown increasingly erratic over the past few years.

When I say "we," I really mean, you, the public. It's something some of us in the media have known about for a while but struggled to find a way to write about it. When Postmus announced that he was stepping down for medical reasons, the opportunity finally presented itself.

For county government leaders, the Postmus revelations should come as no surprise. If they say they didn't know, they are either lying or so out of touch that the public should be worried about how irrelevant they are.

So let's get back to the accountability issue. Because they have known about it, they are essentially Postmus' enablers. This is a man who clearly needed - as he still does - their help, their strength, their ability to step in and make something happen. Perhaps it was because they didn't want the county to be embarrassed. Perhaps they perversely enjoyed watching the former golden boy of the Republican Party imploding before their very eyes.

Who knows?

Instead, they chose to do little to nothing, knowing that the man was battling his own personal demons, all the while being the head of a multibillion-dollar budget that is filled by taxpayers' hard work. They let him make decisions, negotiate eight-figure deals on the county's behalf, and hire ambitious "kids" like Adam Aleman, the 25-year-old former assistant assessor charged with destroying evidence and making changes to documents sought through a 2007-08 grand jury investigation of Postmus' office.

At the same time, they stymied attempts by the media to look at Postmus' county-generated e-mails and his work calendar as we tried to answer the question: Where was Bill during the wildfire?

So I question whether folks like County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer, board Chairman Paul Biane, supervisors Gary Ovitt, Josie Gonzales and Brad Mitzelfelt, along with County Counsel Ruth Stringer, feel that the transparency - or lack thereof - found in their governmental policies is working. I particularly wonder about Mitzelfelt, who was Postmus' chief of staff when his former boss' great plunge began, and who has said nothing publicly about the situation.

Given the dark cloud once again hanging over the county, I can only wonder what they think. But, given the fact that all but Uffer and Stringer owe their jobs to voters, I have a feeling that they might get a picture of how the public feels someday in the future.

Postmus' climb both steep, fast

ASSESSOR: Those watching his S.B. County career wonder what happened and what next.

10:36 PM PDT on Friday, July 25, 2008

By DUANE W. GANG and IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

SPECIAL SECTION: San Bernardino County Assessors Probe

Less than six months after Bill Postmus took office as San Bernardino County assessor, nationally syndicated political columnist Bob Novak cited him as a possible successor to Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis.

For many who had watched Postmus' political rise in county government and within GOP circles, it surely wasn't a surprise.

Postmus had long been ambitious.

But two weeks after that May 30, 2007, column, Postmus was forced out as chairman of the county Republican Party. In August, prosecutors received information about possible misuse of public resources for political activity.

By November, the county grand jury was investigating his office's operations, eventually issuing 25 subpoenas.

Now, one of his closest friends and former aides faces six felony charges, and Postmus is out on medical leave with the looming possibility of departing office before his term ends in 2010.

Story continues below

Click to enlarge

A district attorney's investigation remains ongoing, and the assessor's office continues to cope with the aftermath of a critical grand jury report that faulted Postmus for his choices for key staff positions and for political business that was conducted in the assessor's office.

A quest for power and influence combined with undisclosed health problems have led the 37-year-old assessor to one of the lowest points of his career, say those who know Postmus and have followed his political climb.

"A lot of people are just shaking their heads and wondering what went wrong and why didn't people start asking questions sooner," said Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, who served as chairman of the Riverside County Republican Party when Postmus led the GOP in San Bernardino County.

Holly Downs, a server at Steer'n Stein, Postmus' favorite High Desert restaurant, said she doesn't know what to make of the latest news.

"He seemed to really want to do the right thing for the desert," said Downs, who remembers serving Postmus. "I thought he was a hometown guy done good."

In an e-mail response to The Press-Enterprise, Postmus, 37, said Friday that he is proud of his career as county supervisor and assessor. He said he remains the elected assessor.

The 10-week medical leave he announced this week was taken on the advice of his doctor, he said. He provided no details.

"Public service is not easy. However, I have a servant's heart and I approach all challenges with the expectation of resolving an issue," he said.

"I never became too concerned with power," he said. "As supervisor and especially my tenure as chair, I always chose the best and most qualified applicants to manage county departments, irrespective of political maneuvering."

Political Passion

The Victorville office he used while a supervisor was lined with plaques, presidential portraits and 11 framed political cartoons chronicling his race for the board in 2000.

A framed newspaper story documenting Postmus' fundraising prowess for President Bush also hung on the wall. Postmus became Bush Maverick, a designation for those younger than age 40 who raised at least $50,000 for Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

Postmus was 33 when he served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. He stood on the floor of Madison Square Garden intently watching President Bush speak on the last night of the convention.

In the standing-room-only crowd, Postmus clapped and cheered as confetti rained down and the crowd erupted in a deafening cacophony.

It was a high point for someone who had always been passionate about politics.

"He had very strong opinions about certain things," said Sharon Schlegel, Postmus' English teacher when he was a junior at Phelan's Serrano High School. "Even in high school, politics was a real love of his.

"I think there's still a lot of support for him in this area," she said.

Schlegel said she finds it hard to imagine what went wrong.

"Maybe things snowballed and got out of control," she said.

Climbing Political Ladder

Two years after graduating from high school in 1990, Postmus worked on President George H.W. Bush's failed re-election campaign.

By 1994, he was district director for then Assemblyman Keith Olberg, R-Victorville.

"Bill was always entrenched in party politics, at the state level in particular," said county Supervisor-elect Neil Derry, who was working for Assemblyman Fred Aguiar, R-Chino, at the same time.

The more Postmus worked in politics, the more influential he became. He revived the High Desert Young Republicans. Then, in 2000, he eked out a victory for the 1st District seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Postmus campaigned on a clean-government platform that linked incumbent Kathy Davis to the political misfortunes of then Supervisor Jerry Eaves and the county's unfolding corruption scandal.

"Bill's rise was interesting and quick. He was rather young. Were people surprised? I think they were," Derry said. "I think his age had an impact. It made him more energetic but made him more prone to mistakes."

At 29, Postmus was the youngest person elected as a county supervisor since the 1800s.

"I thought Bill Postmus was our great hope for the future," said Barb Stanton, a High Desert talk-radio host who helped produce a weekly radio show for Postmus. Now, she is one of his most vocal critics.

"He looked you in the eye and spoke directly to you. It was like a love affair," she said. "We loved him so much, but now we hate him for letting us down."

Sparking Controversy

Within six months of becoming a supervisor, Postmus touched off a controversy by seeking to require county clinics to obtain parental permission before supplying girls with the morning-after contraceptive pill. Supervisors debated the matter for months but eventually dropped it.

In his first year in office, Postmus proposed cutting then Assessor Don Williamson's $12,000 advertising budget and slashing $123,528 in salaries for two public-relations positions known as assessor liaisons.

At the time, Postmus accused Williamson of using the ads and the liaisons to promote himself with voters rather than to educate the public about their property taxes.

In 2006, after Postmus had been elected county assessor but before he left the Board of Supervisors, he persuaded his colleagues to approve six new positions for the assessor's office, an executive team that would cost the county $300,000- plus a year in salaries alone.

The grand jury earlier this year said those employees engaged in "public image" work that was "peripheral to the core activities" of the office.

Rise to County Leader

By 2005, Postmus had become chairman of the Board of Supervisors, one of the most powerful positions in county government, making him the county's de facto leader.

As chairman, Postmus pushed to move county economic development offices under a single director, advocated more funding for public safety and worked to improve the efficiency of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

But he also drew scrutiny, for his roles in the purchase of a private jail in Adelanto and a $102 million legal settlement with a politically connected developer as well as for his efforts to strip money for a new fire station in his High Desert district and to use the funds to renovate the assessor's office, which he was about to occupy.

Victorville Councilman Bob Hunter was a Postmus critic when he ran against Davis in 2000. But Hunter later became a supporter, eventually joining Postmus' staff as a field representative and following him over to the assessor's office.

He was terminated from that position last year after about two weeks. He said he hasn't talked to Postmus since. Postmus replaced him with Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez.

Hunter, who said he's known Postmus for most of his political career, said he's seen Postmus' personality change over the years, although he couldn't explain exactly how.

"It wasn't the same Bill I knew 12 years ago," he said.

'Wolves See Weakness'

Government and Republican sources call Postmus a textbook case of a political operative who built a power base after achieving elected office -- and then was consumed by it.

Some think that quest for power and influence turned sour for Postmus. Going out on medical leave and possibly pursuing a disability retirement is a way to ease away from his troubles, they contend.

"Sometimes when a person gets too much, too fast -- too much of everything -- you get messed up," Hesperia Councilwoman Rita Vogler said. "That's what happens."

Ed Laning, a former member of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, said Postmus had "a quest for power."

"My whole goal in building the Republican Party was to move the Republican agenda forward," Laning said. "With others, it was to move their own agenda forward."

The first sign of weakness came when Postmus was ousted as party leader in mid-2007. A cadre of lieutenants in their mid-20s failed to detect the challenge in the extremely insular world of San Bernardino County Republican politics.

"You can live off residual power for a while, but not too long," said a veteran Republican operative who has followed Postmus' career. "The wolves see weakness."

One close Republican associate pegged the beginning of Postmus' downfall to mid-2002, when he was preparing to run for re-election to the Board of Supervisors.

A private campaign poll showed that he had massive support. Postmus began thinking he was invincible, the person said, adding, "That's when the snowball began down the hill."

Postmus in his e-mail said his time as chairman was praised.

Vogler did not become a Postmus critic until she was elected to the Hesperia City Council in 2002.

"Just listening to other politicians and being told I can't get things done without his approval," Vogler said.

Although he no longer lives in the district that he represented as a supervisor, Postmus in his e-mail said he loves the High Desert.

"It was a high honor to represent the 1st District as supervisor and an equally high honor to serve High Desert taxpayers, and the rest of the county, as assessor," he said.

Dennis West, 60, of Hesperia, said Postmus has built up a lot of goodwill during his years as county supervisor and believes most people will give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I thought he was great," West said. "I think he did a lot for the 1st District."

West said there is "really nothing concrete yet to present any wrongdoing as far as I know."

Acquanetta Warren, a Fontana councilwoman who has worked with Postmus on the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee and considers him a friend, believes the criticisms of Postmus have been unfair.

She said her main concern now is his health, which Postmus has not detailed.

"I'm glad he's taking the time to resolve any medical issues he has so he can be well," Warren said.

She hopes he is able to return to the assessor's office and said people should not count him out yet.

"This young man is very brilliant," Warren said. "He has a very bright future ahead of him."

Staff writers Jim Miller and Michelle DeArmond contributed to this report.

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-368-9547 or dgang@PE.com

Reach Imran Ghori at 909-806-3061 or ighori@PE.com

S.B. County assessor bought land since taking office

0:32 PM PDT on Thursday, May 22, 2008

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Since taking office as San Bernardino County assessor in early 2007, Bill Postmus has added another entry to his resume: real estate investor.

Postmus is a partner in Tri-Land Inc., a High Desert land development company formed five months after he took office, and has a financial stake in six vacant properties in the Lucerne Valley and west of Adelanto, records show.

Each has an assessed value between $75,000 and $90,000, according to property-tax records.

At the same time, because of his ties to a host of developers and homebuilders, Postmus has declared conflicts of interest on more than 250 other pieces of property throughout the county, according to records from the assessor's office

In an interview Thursday, Postmus said he has taken the steps necessary to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

"Why not?" Postmus said when asked about his new real estate ventures. "I am an American, a capitalist."

He said there are no immediate plans for the vacant land, particularly in light of the ongoing housing slump.

"I sold my house and made a hefty profit and decided to invest it in land in the High Desert," Postmus said.

But the Tri-Land partnership has raised questions among Postmus' critics -- and surprise from an open-government advocate.

"It would be one thing if this was property he owned before he was assessor," said Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies.

"For him to be buying property after raises the whole question of insider information."

Postmus said he has no insider information. Every member of the public has the same access to property data as he did when investing in the land, he said.

"Let's be honest, these are vacant pieces of land," Postmus said, adding that assessing the property is not difficult.

The assessor's office has more than 230 employees and a $21 million annual budget. Its primary role is establishing property values to determine how much tax owners should pay.

The elected assessor heads the office but generally does not personally appraise property. Assistant Assessor Harlow Cameron, a 35-year veteran of the office, leads the professional staff of appraisers.

Postmus has spent nearly all of his professional career in politics and elected office and little in the private sector. In 2000, he was elected to represent the High Desert on the county Board of Supervisors. Six years later, he narrowly defeated incumbent Don Williamson to become county assessor and took office in January 2007.

Other than his Hesperia home, Postmus did not have any financial interest in real estate in the year before he became assessor, records show. He sold his home on Sunnyridge Street for $306,000 in June 2007, according to property records.

Artisan Home Builders President John Dino Defazio, a longtime Postmus friend, established Tri-Land Inc. on May 7, 2007. Postmus lists his involvement in the company as a partnership.

Tri-Land acquired the six properties from June through December, records show.

The company owns one property outright and has a two-thirds stake in five other properties with Jeff Bentow, an executive with Calico Homes.

Three of the properties Tri-Land owns are in the Lucerne Valley and total 42 acres; three are just west of the Adelanto city limits near the El Mirage Off Highway Vehicle Recreation Area and total about 30 acres.

Defazio, Tri-Land's president, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Hesperia resident Paul Bosacki, who runs a Web site critical of Postmus and is a former City Council candidate, said he wonders whether the company and other developers who have been longtime Postmus campaign contributors are getting special treatment on assessments.

Property values are falling throughout the county, and the assessor's office has instituted temporary property-tax reductions to take the downturn into account. Residents can apply on their own for a reduction if they believe their property value has dipped.

"I don't think it is appropriate that he as assessor is in business with a High Desert developer," Bosacki said. "The county assessor's job is to assess property values for property throughout the county, fairly and evenly."

In addition to the six properties Postmus has a stake in through Tri-Land, he declared a potential conflict of interest on 262 others. Postmus has recused himself from any direct involvement in that land and the property Tri-Land owns.

The second list, on file with the county's chief appraiser, includes property owned by Defazio, Bentow, Artisan Home Builders, Artisan Home Development Inc., D & D Home Development Inc., Ken Richmond, HP11 Development and Calico Homes & Development.

Postmus said he was under no legal requirement to disclose the property separately owned by business partners but wanted to be "above board on everything."

Listing the land, he said, makes sense if people raise questions about his involvement.

Ted Lehrer, Postmus' spokesman, said, "It avoids any appearance of conflict."

Stern, with the Center for Governmental Studies, said voluntarily disclosing the properties owned by developers in which Postmus has ties was a smart decision.

"That's good for him," Stern said. "It shows he is well aware of potential conflicts."

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-368-9547 or dgang@PE.com

Parallel internal probe troubles San Bernardino County assessor's staffers

10:33 PM PDT on Thursday, May 22, 2008

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

A decision by San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus to hire a private investigator has employees worried they might be pressed to disclose information they have told a grand jury, multiple county sources said Thursday.

A county grand jury is looking into operations, including possible illegal political activity, at the assessor's office. In an interview Thursday, Postmus said the outside firm is not asking his employees how they testified.

"Hell no," Postmus said. Claims to the contrary are "completely inaccurate" and come from people with a political agenda.

Rather, the assessor said, the Burbank-based Frasco Investigative Services is examining whether a $49,200 public relations contract with Mike Richman and MPR Strategies was properly followed. Postmus hired Richman to develop public outreach efforts and forge closer ties with the state Board of Equalization, among other duties.

While Richman worked for the county, he also was a paid consultant for at least six political campaigns across the state, including four in San Bernardino County.

Ongoing district attorney's office and grand jury investigations are under way into the operations at the assessor's office. County sources have said the investigations include the MPR Strategies contract and whether the assessor's office was improperly used for political activity

Investigators in April served a search warrant on the assessor's office, removing computers and documents. And on April 17, Postmus placed one of his top deputies, Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman, on paid administrative leave.

In his first interview since the search warrant was served, Postmus declined to comment on the district attorney and grand jury investigations and on whether the assessor's office was used for political purposes.

During the interview, Postmus at times became visibly upset when discussing the concerns over the investigative firm's hiring. He said he has every right to look into personnel matters in his office. As an employer, he said, he can examine whether business is properly conducted.

"When all the stuff happened with the district attorney and grand jury there were some questions into a contract I had given," Postmus.

It is an "internal inquiry, nothing more," he said, declining to comment on the scope or when the matter will be concluded.

County spokesman David Wert said Thursday county officials learned of the assessor's office inquiry from an employee who approached the Human Resources Department. Generally, the department is involved in most personnel investigations, he said.

Wert said that neither human resources, the county counsel's office, the Board of Supervisors or other county administrators are involved in any internal assessor's office inquiry.

The contract with Frasco was taken out in mid-April, Postmus spokesman Ted Lehrer said Thursday. He did not immediately know how much the contract was for, but said it is below the $50,000 threshold required for a public vote by the Board of Supervisors.

Postmus is using county funds to pay for the outside investigator.

Postmus said the firm has long been used by county government.

Some employees have raised concerns about the private investigator with county officials outside of the assessor's office. They have been told they do not have to disclose information they gave the grand jury, according to multiple sources in county government.

Lehrer said employees were informed of the internal inquiry during a recent staff meeting.

In San Bernardino County, the grand jury foreperson typically admonishes each witness against disclosing information after he or she has testified, said Charles Umeda, a San Bernardino County deputy district attorney and grand jury legal adviser.

The foreperson will tell the witness that the proceedings are confidential and that the witness is not to divulge any of its information, Umeda said. Doing so could result in a misdemeanor charge, he said.

Umeda could not recall any instances of that happening in the county.

Staff writer Douglas Quan contributed to this report.

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-369-9547 or dgang@PE.com

 

Duties of worker in assessor's office overlapped other S.B. County sheriff's deputies

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

By DUANE W. GANG and ZEKE MINAYA
The Press-Enterprise

A candidate for the state Assembly worked for seven months in the San Bernardino County assessor's office in a job that overlapped with work sheriff's deputies and other county officials performed.

Bob Smith, a retired sheriff's deputy, earned $46 an hour in a part-time position overseeing facilities and safety management. He made $27,232 from March to September 2007, county records show.

"The purpose of the position is to ensure the highest safety standards for assessor employees," Ted Lehrer, a spokesman for Assessor Bill Postmus, said this week.That type of work, however, generally is conducted by the Sheriff's Department, and sheriff's officials said they had no interaction with Smith last year on safety matters.

 

Smith no longer works for the assessor and is seeking the Republican nomination for the 34th Assembly District. He said his job at the assessor's office was not political patronage or a way to tide him over until his campaign got off the ground.

An ongoing district attorney and grand jury investigation is under way into the operations at the assessor's office. Last month, investigators served a search warrant on the assessor's office, removing computers and documents.

The investigation, county sources have said, includes whether the office was improperly used for political activity. It is unclear the full scope of the inquiry or whether Smith is a subject of the investigation.

Postmus has placed one of this top deputies, Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman, on paid administrative leave.

Smith, who has testified before the grand jury, said he never ran his campaign while on county time.

"I have everything I need from my home," Smith said.

Neither has Postmus been that active in Smith's assembly campaign, he said.

"His involvement has been very minor," Smith said.

Smith has received money from contributors who also have donated to Postmus' campaigns, and for a time used the same political consultant that Postmus has hired for campaigns and in the assessor's office for public relations work, records show.

Political consultant Mike Richman, who has a $49,000 no-bid public-relations contract with the assessor's office, also worked for Smith's campaign.

When asked if Richman had ever campaigned on his behalf during his time at the assessor's office, Smith said, "certainly not at my direction, and he better not have."

"Beyond that, I can't answer any further because of the ongoing investigation," Smith said.

Duties

Supervisors voted to authorize the safety management position in December 2006 at the request of then-supervisor Postmus, who at the time was the assessor-elect.

The job description said the safety manager would oversee facilities repair, remodeling and construction, and the office's safety program.

Sheriff Gary Penrod is also the county's director of public safety, which places the Sheriff's Department in charge of security for county buildings and personnel.

Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Phelps said a "threat assessment" of a county building is done at the request of county officials, not at any predetermined time intervals.

When there is a request, the sheriff's representative, in this case Detective Rob Carson, would go to the county building, examine the facility, interview tenants, take photos and develop materials to build a report that is then presented to the county.

Earlier this year, the assessor's office contacted the Sheriff's Department to begin the process, Phelps said.

He said that Carson, who has filled his present role for the Sheriff's Department for several years, has never heard of Smith.

Former Assessor Don Williamson, who served three terms in the post and lost to Postmus in the November 2006 election, said county administrators required the office to have safety and evacuation plans in place.

"One of my regular employees took that on as one of their duties, but that wasn't their only duty," Williamson said in an interview. "That wouldn't be something you devote a whole year to. Our current staff, without adding any more staff, did the work."

Lehrer said Smith also helped install computer software to track correspondence from residents. The system is identical to one used by the Board of Supervisors, he said.

Lehrer said Smith worked on the proposed renovation of the assessor's downtown San Bernardino office.

The county's architecture and engineering department handles renovation projects. A remodeling of the assessor's office is set to begin June 4, county spokesman David Wert said.

Since October, Sylvia Cooper, who has worked in the assessor's office since 1999, has held the title of facilities and safety manager. In addition to taking on some of Smith's duties, Cooper orders supplies, such as furniture and business cards, and coordinates the office's alarm systems, Lehrer said.

Cooper is a full-time employee and earns about $31 an hour, records show.

Postmus Ties

Smith has long been close to Postmus. He worked as a field representative for then-supervisor Postmus from January 2001 to January 2005. From 2005 to January 2007, Smith served as a Postmus district director.

In addition, Smith served as a $19-per-hour field representative for incumbent 34th Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, from September 2005 through March 12, 2007, just after he was hired in the assessor's office.

From July 2005 through Sept. 30, 2007, Smith worked on the county's conversion to 800 MHz radios. Over the final several months, he worked only a few hours a week, Wert said.

"He stopped working on the project because his phase, the planning phase, was completed," Wert said by e-mail.

Smith, got to know Postmus in 1999 while serving on the Silver Valley Unified School Board, which serves desert communities such as Ludlow, Newberry Springs and Yermo.

Eight years later, Smith was at his home in Colorado, he said, when he learned third-hand that Postmus had tapped him for an assessor's office job.

"I don't know if it was created for me. I don't know the logistics of how it came about," he said. "I know a lot of the duties I handled were not particular to the title I had."

Reach Duane W. Gang at 951-368-9547 or dgang@PE.com

Reach Zeke Minaya at 909-806-3062 or zminaya@PE.com

 

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