The screenshot above shows around $30,000.00 each from Progress Victorville to Victorville City Council members Rudy Cabriales and Mike Rothschild right before the election last year. Hunter lost to Ryan McEachron who has since received $2,500.00 from Progress Victorville and $1,250.00 from the Inland Group ( the other Buck Johns PAC).
These 2 stories reflect Buck Johns involvement in Victorville politics and what happens over there.
Victorville under probe
SB Sun Friday, April 24th 2009
The San Bernardino County grand jury has questioned several Victorville officials about the citys financial woes, an alleged smear campaign and alleged verbal agreements with contractors. Three members of the grand jury met individually about two weeks ago with Mayor Rudy Cabriales and Councilman Ryan McEachron, as well as City Manager Jim Cox, Finance Director John Sullivan, Economic Development Director Keith Metzler and City Attorney Andre De Bortnowsky. The bulk of the interviews, each lasting about an hour, centered on the citys financial situation, said Yvonne Hester, city spokeswoman. A recent audit concluded the city is facing a financial crisis with hundreds of millions of dollars in deficits, defaults and overstated assets.
McEachron, who was elected to the City Council in November, said the grand jurys interest in him centered mostly around a "hit" mailer campaign aimed at thwarting his election. He said there was also interest in ties various political action committees may have to the city. He said he suspects William "Buck" Johns, an industrial engineer and president of the Newport Beach-based Inland Energy Inc. was behind the smear campaign. Johns, who has been instrumental in the entitlement and development of a power plant at the Southern California Logistics Airport and several other power-plant projects in the High Desert, couldnt be reached for comment. He has previously denied any connection to the McEachron mailer campaign.
Committee spends $150,000 on incumbents
Victorville Daily Press
November 01, 2008 11:18 AM
BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE • The signs, mailers, newspaper ads and commercials that have flooded the city over the past month in support of incumbent council members “Team Victorville” all have one source: Progress Victorville.
Progress Victorville is a political action committee based in Santa Ana that has spent roughly $150,000 over the past two years promoting the three incumbents: Rudy Cabriales, Bob Hunter and Mike Rothschild.
The funds were split evenly — aside from an extra $3,500 recently given to Hunter.
None of this money is required to be reported by the candidates, because it was spent independently without their knowledge.
The PAC’s donor list reads as a who’s who of agencies connected to the city’s power projects and development at Southern California Logistics Airport.
The single largest donor is Inland Energy, the Orange County company overseeing the city’s power projects. Inland Energy gave $5,000 cash and another $3,600 in nonmonetary contributions to the committee.
Donating $5,000 each were Walter Powers International and Preventive Maintenance Service Inc., both out-of-state companies overseeing the Foxborough power project since 2007.
Also on the $5,000 list: Stirling Capital Investments, overseeing development at SCLA; Edward Sledge, a Baltimore attorney specializing in power projects and wastewater facilities; ICE Energy Inc., with which the city has contracted for a number of cooling units, including 10 for the new Green Tree Clubhouse; Michael Carroll, attorney for the Victorville 2 Power Project; and Venable LLP, a Washington-based law firm the city has used for its power projects and its EB-5 investor program.
Venable’s $5,000 donation is the same amount the city pays the firm each month, according to the agenda wherein the attorney’s contract was approved.
Though their names are absent from the donor list, two men were behind fundraisers held at the Grumpy Golfer at the Green Tree Golf Course, where much of this money was brought in: Mayor Terry Caldwell and Buck Johns, owner of Inland Energy.
Both fundraisers, held in August and earlier this month, were organized by Caldwell, according to an e-mailed invitation to the Oct. 14 event sent by Johns.
Johns requested contributors RSVP to the event through Inland Energy but make checks payable to Progress Victorville, care of the same treasurer handling the committees who’ve funded recent fliers against candidate Ryan McEachron.
Brooke Edwards may be reached at 955-5358 or at bedwards@vvdailypress.com.
