Heard This One Before?

Former Claremont City Manager Glenn Southard (photo, left) may be settled into retirement, but he continues to cast a long shadow over the city of Indio, where Southard fled to in 2005 after it became clear his days here were numbered.

Just as was the case after he left Claremont, Southard remains a factor in Indio's politics. Southard, you'll recall, engineered a golden parachute for himself earlier this year, leaving Indio to contend with the $9 million budget deficit he left in his wake. Now he's a humble pensioner struggling to make ends meet on $255,600 a year from his CalPERS retirement plan, of which Claremont is on the hook for $131,500, according to the Daily Bulletin.

The Desert Sun reported last month that most of the candidates for Indio's November 2nd city council election are running as fast as they can from Southard's record:

During a meeting with The Desert Sun's editorial board last week, five of the six Indio council candidates distanced themselves from controversial former city manager Glenn Southard.

The only candidate expressing full support was Elaine Holmes, a local businesswoman who helped organize a half-page newspaper ad commending Southard for his work after he retired amid the credit card saga.

Maybe Holmes' support is part of the reason she's also the only candidate to get a $1,000 donation from Southard.

When he was still in Claremont, Southard never shied away from maneuvering behind the scenes in city elections. Perhaps our man Glenn is angling for a consulting gig with Indio and is just trying to ensure he has a friendly face on their council when he makes his pitch. A call to arms has been circulating Indio, and it seem that some citizens there are trying to head Southard off at the pass by removing the incumbents who supported Southard and his policies.

Strange, isn't it, that Southard somehow managed to elicit the same "throw the bums out" fervor in Indio that he did in Claremont? And, just as he did here, Southard slipped off just as things were heating up, leaving the sitting council members to take the fall for the wreckage he wrought. As a result, the Indio voters are feeling mighty chippy:

CITIZENS OF INDIO:

A group of concerned Indio citizens have formed a "Committee to Oppose Melanie Fesmire, Gene Gilbert and Ben Godfrey for Indio City Council, 2010". This committee wants to remind the taxpayers of Indio about the past few years of City Council issues and why everyone should vote against the incumbents.

The issues are simple: honesty, integrity, character, and leadership.

The Indio City Council has repeatedly said "we have $14 million dollars in reserves and we do not have to lay off employees". Even the public spoke out about financial concerns. The incumbents lied to us the taxpayers. They failed miserably to be honest, truthful, with integrity and show leadership. Show up to heal the current City of Indio Council and The People we are hoping to replace them.


COME

Date: October 19th – Tuesday, 6:00PM SCSH Club House

Bring your questions and if you have a broom Sweeping bring it to show that we want to sweep out the Incumbents

See more below the signs and make sure you pass this to everyone you know that votes in Indio. Help save our city !

What are we the voting public to make of this failed leadership?

· Are we to turn our heads?

· Are we to simply overlook the facts that they chose not to lead by example?

· Are we to settle for City Council members who are not trustworthy?

· City Council members who do not have character?

Are we to believe their word has any value?

So when you hear them say "I'm a leader with honesty and integrity", you know these are untruths and their prior actions speak louder than words. For these reasons SHOULDN'T CHARACTER MATTER?

Our group is supported by donations and we need money to purchase signs -

Call:
THE COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE INDIO CITY COUNCIL INCUMBENTS
PHONE # 760-342-6115
or Email : NOT4INCUMBENTS@AOL.COM

The incumbents of Indio are not deserving of your vote to be re-elected.

SHOULDN'T CHARACTER MATTER?

SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT LIVES IN INDIO TODAY

Crime Alert

Padua Park was the scene of a crime last month, though city officials don't seem to want the public to know about it. Apparently, on Wednesday, September 29, when city workers tried to turn on the soccer field lights at the park, they discovered the lights were inoperable because someone had stolen over 130 feet of copper wire from the park's main electrical vault.

The information going around town is that the copper, presumably taken by thieves who turn around and sell the wire to metal recyclers, was worth around $500. Like gold, copper's price has shot up the past few years, and such thefts have become more common. The city of Glendale issued an alert last year because of a rise in just this sort of crime:

Glendale has seen a sudden rise in metal and copper wire theft in the last two years. Customers are urged to contact authorities if they see people lingering near electrical equipment or inactive construction sites. Stealing copper wire is a crime and very costly for the City, but the bigger issue is public safety. Tampering with wires can cause serious harm, bodily injury or death. Power and telephone outages can also result from copper wire theft.

Odd that Claremont officials haven't issued a similar alert. The only way of catching copper thieves in the act is to have more eyeballs on the lookout, and people who reside near likely targets like parks and schools need to be alerted to this fact.

We suppose the City may say this was just a case of vandalism, but this kind of theft requires specialized knowledge. Poking around a high voltage electrical panel can be very dangerous, and from time to time we hear about the occasional copper thief getting electrocuted. The Padua Park incident, however, sure sounds as if it were done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

City Hall and the Claremont Police are no doubt hesitant to let news of the Padua Park theft get out because one of the complaints before the park was built was that it would lead to a rise in crime. Police Chief Paul Cooper (photo, left), who has worked with Claremont AYSO Region 3 as their Volunteer Protection Advocate, himself may have an interest in keeping a lid on the information, even if means less public awareness about the matter.

Or maybe it's all just a sign of CPD's competence level. They've issued press releases before when there were scams or more serious crimes in our area, even in cases where Claremont wasn't hit. So why not now?

Speaking of crime at Padua Park, we're waiting to hear about an increase in burglaries in the area. The public restroom sits on a rise that a good 20-25 feet higher than it should be, with the result that it offers a great vantage point from which to peer into the backyards and windows of several of the surrounding homes.

When they were planning the park, the City promised to plant a screen of trees around the perimeter to create a natural screen. But you know how it works with Claremont and promises. When the park was finally built, a good part of that natural screen consisted of oak saplings, which are pretty slow growing. Maybe in 15 or 20 years, City Hall will finally make good on its word to area residents. Of course, given the City's record with landscape management, a good number of those trees won't last that long:

Community Service

The debate over the Claremont Unified School District's $95 million Measure CL bond has raged in the pages of the Claremont Courier's reader letters section these past few weeks. Citizens on both sides of the school bond issue have used letters to the Courier as a sort of community forum.

The Courier itself seems to have slanted its coverage more towards the Yes on CL side, presenting an interview with members of the Yes on CL committee, taking readers on a CUSD-sponsored dog-and-pony show tour of Claremont High School, tossing in an article praising the district's test scores, as well as what amounted to an interview with Yes on CL's campaign consultant Jared Boigon of TBWB Strategies, who has been stage managing the yes campaign from San Francisco (at the cost of many tens of thousands of dollars, we might add).

Still, there not many other places to find both sides of CL the argument presented, the Courier did manage this past Wednesday to throw the No on CL group a bone by featuring an interview with their spokespeople, Donna Lowe, Opanyi Nasiali, and Jay Pocock. In a normal election year, our various local service organizations and institutions would be holding election forums where matters such as the November school bond could be debated.

For example, The Kiwanis Club, the Claremont Chamber of Commerce, Pilgrim Place, the Claremont Manor, Our Lady of Assumption Church, and Active Claremont all traditionally hold city council candidate forums, as they will next spring in advance of the March, 2011, municipal election.

The local League of Women Voters chapter holds the forum with the greatest cachet. It's usually one of the best attended of the candidate debates, and a good showing there can certainly help a prospective council member's chances of winning a seat.

Which is why this blurb from Daily Bulletin reporter Wes Woods' Claremont Now blog strikes us as odd:

Pros and cons on the nine California propositions for the Nov. 2 general election will be discussed at 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 10 at the Claremont Public Library, 208 Harvard Ave.

The league and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Pomona Valley Alumnae Chapter will host a 59th Assembly District candidates forum. The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday Oct.11 in the Padua Room at the Alexander [Hughes] Community Center at 1700 Danbury Road.

We would have expected the LWV, an organization that prides itself on its non-partisan efforts at educating voters on local, state, and national issues, to have been one of the first to offer both sides of the Measure CL debate to give their reasons why voters should be for or against the bond. This is clearly an issue that's generated a great deal of community interest and one that will affect CUSD property owners' pocketbooks for years to come. Yet, Measure CL is conspicuously absent from the League's fall election events.

Similarly, the Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations, including Sustainable Claremont, have endorsed the bond without giving opponents a chance to present their views. Whatever side one favors in the Measure CL election, all this lack of activity by our so-called communitarian organizations gives a good insight into how things work in our little, close-minded community.

As always, it's not what you know but who you know. It's a good ol' girls and boys network of the same circle of people running each and every group mentioned above, along with the Claremont Education Foundation, the Claremont Community Foundation, the Red Cross, and a host of other local charities.

The result is that opponents of any issues have an extremely hard time making their cases to the voters. Forums, by their very nature, require each side to have equal time. So even if the LWV tries to tailor the debate questions to the strengths of the people it favors, they still have to give opponents a chance to respond.

The absence of any school bond forums makes us wonder if the League and their fellow Claremont 400 organizations recognize Measure CL's weaknesses and are trying to help it by not holding any public debates. This goes along with the perception that bond's proponents are trying to avoid substantive discussions of the measure.

All of the Yes on CL mailings, for instance, speak in generalities, and the proponents, as well as the school board, have failed to offer up any specific details of how the money will be spent. For instance, the most recent mailings, which went out this past Monday and Tuesday, don't make any mention the $95 million price tag. And you'll never hear them talk about the $250 million total price after financing the bond for 40 years - an extra long payment schedule CUSD had to use to keep the payments per household at $45 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Further, CUSD has actually ignored public records requests and has withheld public information on the bond's financial details because they know that their own numbers will torpedo their arguments (another thing you won't hear about in the Daily Bulletin or the Claremont Courier).

The one organization that is holding a forum is Active Claremont. The AC school bond forum will be 7pm Thursday, October 21, in the Santa Fe room of the Alexander Hughes Center. Both sides will answer questions submitted by those in attendance.

By the way, Active Claremont, unlike the League or the Chamber of Commerce, is truly neutral, which probably explains why they're willing to host the debate. They don't endorse one side or another, they just let them talk. So let's stop giving false praise to those other groups for their community building efforts. The real communitarians in Claremont demonstrate their respect for all people and opinions in town through their actions, not their words.

O'Toole Pleads Guilty in Somalia Gun-Running Case - UPDATED

Claremont resident and former City Council candidate Joe O'Toole pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to move planeloads of AK-47 to Somalia. Politico has all the news available right now.


We covered aspects of this story here, and here, over the summer.

Until recently, O'Toole resided north of Baseline near Mountain Avenue. More recently--and perhaps for the next five years--he has been the guest of the Feds in Florida. At 79 years of age, there may be tactical and practical reasons O'Toole chose not to contest the charges. Who knows?--maybe he is actually guilty. We understand he had a public defender at least until a month or so ago when a private attorney was brought on.

Things started to take a serious turn last week when the judge and prosecutor said there would be no more delays, and no plea bargain offered, and the trial would proceed as scheduled on October 5. That's gotta clear one's mind.

[Update: Apparently there was a plea agreement; see below]

Sentencing is scheduled for December 14.

We'll have more as this develops...


UPDATE - 9:55pm

We tracked down the O'Toole plea agreement, signed yesterday by the prosecuting U.S. attorney and the defendant.

O'Toole pleaded guilty to count 1 of his indictment, and the government dismissed counts 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the original indictment. In addition to dropping the remaining charges, the government tentatively agreed to go easy on O'Toole, giving him a sentence towards the lower range of whatever advisory sentence the court arrives at after its probation office conducts a Pre-Sentence Investigation.

Judging from the language of the plea, it sounds as if the feds are mainly miffed at O'Toole's arm dealing without a proper license or permission. Uncle Sam apparently owns the American arms sales rights to Somalia. So no gun shows in Mogadishu, unless you get the official thumbs up:

Click Image to Enlarge

Here's the whole thing:

It's Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than to Get Permission

Coming Soon to a Yard Near YOU!

Updating the Saturday post on Sign Wars, we see that many of the signs appearing with the "Yes on CL" message carry the following note taped to them:

please click on image to enlarge

This is a strategy we haven't seen yet: just go ahead and plop the signs in someone's yard, and leave it for the homeowner to deal with. Sort of the "Opt-Out" model of yard sign commerce. There oughtta be a law...

Harvey Mudd College 7th Most Expensive in Nation According to Forbes.com

Harvey Mudd College, the local institution for propeller-heads and other nerdy types has just made the Forbes.com list of the nation's top ten most expensive institutions of higher learning, garnering honors in the Number 7 spot.

America's Most Expensive Colleges--Number 7

click image to enlarge

Topping the list was Sarah Lawrence at $57,556 yearly, followed by:

2. Columbia University, $54,385
3. Bard College, $54,275
4. Wesleyan University, $53,976
5. Vanderbilt, $53,660
6. University of Chicago, $53,604
7. Harvey Mudd College, $53,588
8. Trinity College, $53,380
9. Georgetown University, $53,340
10. Bates College, $53,300

Observant readers might note in the screenshot above, that Forbes has the enrollment wrong at 200 students (that might have been the enrollment forty years ago), and you wonder what else they are not getting right.

Still, fifty-three Large is a lot of dough. But HMC president Maria Klawe is doubtless used to large numbers. We see in a flyer sent by CUSD--Oh! excuse us; we mean the private and totally independent "Support Claremont Schools" committee--that Mudd president Maria Klawe (right) endorses the $95,000,000 Measure CL. "One can't shovel too much money into education"--that must be her thought.

Education, along with health care, has sported the highest rate of price increases of any sector of the economy for decades. By our admittedly crude and offhand calculation, the Claremont Colleges have raised prices by an average of something like 7.25 %, compounded, over at least a generation. The CPI increase over the same period has been "only" 4.4%. So institutions like President Klawe's have been inflating their prices about 65 percent faster than the economy as a whole.

But then, higher education shares the same pricing model as a used car lot: There is the sticker price and then there is the price you pay. Many students get subsidies--in higher ed these are called "scholarships"--participants in the sector's own private income-transfer plan.

Too bad the institution President Klawe runs, Harvey Mudd College, won't have to participate in paying for the school measure she supports because non-profits, such as the colleges and some of the retirement homes in town, are exempted from paying property taxes.

Signs of Our Times

Let the Sign Wars Begin


Claremont has a rich recent history of political signs. Usually the arc of the story is predictable: One side puts out signs; the other side, or possibly kids, steal them; there is a complaining letter in the newspaper, maybe two; the opposing signs sprout up; corner lots such as the southwest corner of Indian Hill and Foothill are plastered with multiple signs; one or two pop up in the public right of way; there is a gripey Courier letter from a partisan--as was the case we think in the early part of the "Parks and Pasture" debate when the "No Assessment" signs appeared unanswered--"so I guess the side with the most signs wins"; and then things settle down to the Claremont Norm: the Village one color and the rest of the town another.

It's probably a small beer issue to note that the "NO Bond" people stole the march on the YES folks last week and got their signs out first. It remains to be seen whether this is indicative of superior organization and strategy on part of the ragtag ad hoc NO team or sand in the gears of the YES juggernaut.

We do note that in more than a few places where the YES signs appeared, they were planted directly in front of a NO sign. This strikes us as bad form. Having talked to people on both sides of several political issues, we know that usually the locals try to get permission from the property owner. And some property owners allow signs of any stripe on their property on the theory of robust public spirit and all that. (The aforementioned Sherwood Florist at Indian Hill and Foothill seems to be one such business.) However, most owners try to encourage comity and civility in the signs' placement. We know that some places, such as the strawberry field at the corner of Towne and Baseline (see image, end of post) never give permission to the establishment side.

On the other hand, placing your signs literally on top of the opponents' signs seems to be a quite natural and predictable behavior on the part of the proponents. Like a big old tomcat spraying his territory, the YES people are busy putting their scent over that of the unwanted interloper. It's a limbic response to a perceived threat, atavistic really in its entitled origins and operation.

When we see one of the signs covered by another, it's a bit of a jarring image to imagine one of the alpha male leaders of the YES side--Bill Fox or Mike Seder or Jeff Stark or Superintendent Terry Nichols--doing the marking.

Unfortunate E-Mail Addy

We wish the Sycamore sixth-grader good luck in his or her search for a dog walking gig. Kind of a poor choice for an e-mail address though.

from today's Courier classifieds; click to enlarge

Dumpster Diving

Sam Pedroza's Waste Connections

Click Image to Enlarge
One of the Insider's favorite activities remains the nocturnal leap, powered by sinewy legs, as we fly into our town's trash bins while the rest of Claremont sleeps. Our nighttime dumpster dives have sometimes caused us undeserved grief from some of the community's less careful thinkers (you know who you are, Sonia Carvalho), but we just can't help ourselves.

Our latest bit of refuse rummaging was prompted by a Request for Proposal (RFP), issued by Claremont's city staff, who solicited bids from six waste hauling companies to see what they'd charge for providing the city's trash service. Here's all the information on the City's website:

Sanitation Study (Sep 16, 2010)

On August 3, the City of Claremont released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for solid waste collection, recycling, and disposal services. The purpose of the RFP is designed to provide the City with an opportunity to evaluate the cost of providing disposal and recycling services to its residents and businesses. The deadline to submit proposals was September 14, 2010 by 2:00 p.m. The companies that submitted proposals were the City's Sanitation Division, Burrtec Waste Industries, Waste Management Inc., Athens Services, and Republic Services.

Staff will review the proposals and will make recommendations to the Community Services Commission.The Community Services Commission will then forward a recommendation to the City Council. Hard copies of the RFP are still available for review by residents at City Hall as well as at the Community Services City Yard building. In addition, hard copies can be purchased for $25 at either facility. A copy of the RFP is available on the City's website for public viewing. Residents having questions regarding the RFP process may contact Pat Malloy, Interim Community Services Director, at 909-399-5432 or via e-mail at pmalloy@ci.claremont.ca.us.

• View RFP (Adobe Acrobat, 1826KB)
  

City staffers were apparently trying to see if they could get the same service for less money. However, they failed to take into account the irrational love Claremonters have for their municipal trash service. Letters in the Claremont Courier have been uniformly in favor of having our own Community Service workers picking up our garbage and yours. It seems as if everyone in town with the exception of the Claremont Unified School District sees this as a matter of civic pride.

One council member who knows a thing or two about solid waste is Mayor Pro Tem Sam Pedroza, who in his real life works as an environmental planner for the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. Pedroza came to the attention of the Conscious Claremont blog vis-à-vis a potential conflict of interest regarding Claremont's landfill options:

So, what happens when the city has to choose a landfill & the law prohibits officials from participating in actions that may effect their employer? In 2008, Mr. Pedroza recused himself from said discussion, citing conflict of interest. But, when the same item appeared in Dec, he participated.

Photo, right:
Claremont City Council Member Sam Pedroza, explaining the downhill flow of the sort of waste he's most acquainted with.


The ol' switcheroo on Pedroza's part was undoubtedly familiar to people who supported Claremont's original affordable housing project at Base Line Rd. and Towne Ave. when he first said he was for the project, then said he was against it, all while calculating the ramifications of his choice on his 2007 election campaign.

Conscious Claremont quoted Pedroza as he described some of the private companies and agencies he works with. Among the private waste companies he named were three that received one of the aforementioned RFPs from the City: Waste Management, Athens Services, and Valley Vista Services.

We thought we'd heard of Valley Vista Services before in connection with Pedroza. It turns out that Valley Vista is a part of a City of Industry-based company called Zerep Management. In fact, if you type "zerepmanagement.com" in your browser, you'll get directed to Valley Vista's website.



Zerep sounded kinda strange. What exactly is it? We nosed around and learned that Zerep is a holding company owned by the City of Industry's Perez family. (Get it? Spell Z-E-R-E-P backwards.)

And that's where our man Sam comes in. In his 2007 city council campaign, Pedroza received a $250 donation from Matthew Perez, who listed his occupation as manager of Zerep Management Corp. Here's a part of Pedroza's campaign finance Form 460 filings for the 2007 municipal election:


If you didn't know, the Perez family pretty much runs Industry, where David Perez is the mayor. The Perez family has Industry's commercial waste hauling franchise. Since that city is almost entirely commercial, the commercial waste contract is worth millions every year to the family.

The Los Angeles Times ran an article about the Perez family in October 2009. The piece, written by Rich Connell explained some of the eccentricities of the David Perez's town:

[the commercial waste account] is just one Perez investment thread that runs through town -- a place with fewer than 100 voters, tight-knit City Hall relationships and now a good chance of becoming home to an $800-million stadium complex and Los Angeles' next professional football team.

On top of the commercial refuse franchise, which generated more than $12 million for Perez's disposal operation over the last year, another Perez firm collected nearly $6.8 million from the city for maintaining street medians and parkways, removing graffiti and other services, a Times review has found.

The mayor's business-partner brother serves on the city planning commission. A nephew, who works for the family's management company, is on the board of Industry's redevelopment agency, which provided income last year to yet another family business in which the mayor and his brother are investors.

The Times article went on to say that "nearly a third of the town's registered voters appear to be related to the mayor or residing in homes owned by a family land investment partnership...."
According to the Times, besides having a Perez in the mayor's seat, one council member rents his home from a Perez land investment partnership, and another is a "landowner that the company paid more than $100,000 [in 2008]."

More recently, on September 11, the Times had an article about a $1,500 donation from David Perez to L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley's campaign for California attorney general. The LADA's office is currently looking some of the goings on in Industry, so the donation seemed to present a possible conflict. The Times piece quoted Rene Cota, an Industry businessman who had his own problems with Industry's City Hall:

For about a year, Perez, who is also the mayor of the City of Industry and whose family owns the Valley Vista trash hauling firm, has been the focus of an inquiry by Cooley's office into his private business ties to City Hall. The ongoing probe, apparently examining multimillion-dollar refuse collection and landscaping maintenance contracts, began after Cota filed a complaint.

When the city shut down his bar for alleged code violations, Cota began looking into Industry's close-knit political culture — there are fewer than 100 registered voters, and many are related to one another or working for the city.

"It disheartens me," said the former Anaheim police officer. It is "obviously unethical if he's taking contributions from persons or entities" under scrutiny by Cooley's office, he said. "It definitely shakes my confidence in the legal system."

Cooley's top anti-corruption deputy says there is no connection between campaign money and the district attorney's investigation or prosecution of public officials.

But the donation highlights a tricky choice for an elected prosecutor like Cooley. Where does he draw the line on taking money from people who could figure in an investigation?

Besides the Times coverage, Industry was also the subject of a book called "City of Industry: Genealogies of Power in Southern California" by Victor Valle. The book is written as a kind of ethnography, describing in great detail the web of relationships between Industry politicians and businessmen.

Now, getting back to our Sam, we'd like to think of him as our local tongue-tied goof, like Ted Baxter from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, not too bright, more ego than substance, but generally pretty harmless. Unfortunately, Sam's got just the wrong combination of ambition, weakness, and insecurity that has caused us so much trouble at every level of government.

It's probably very fortunate for Sam that Valley Vista hasn't submitted a bid for our trash service. He might start squirming and tripping over his tongue if that were to happen. Circumstances may have saved Sam from himself.

We can only hope.

Fruit Falling Far From the Tree

CUSD Board Member

Jeff Stark

That photo of Jeff Stark at the Labor Day campaign kickoff for Russ Warner, the Democratic candidate running against incumbent Republican David Dreier for California's 26th congressional district seat, reminded us of some Stark's own family history and how it's linked to Dreier.

Dreier, for those of you who don't know, got his undergraduate degree in political science from Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College) in 1975. Dreier later earned a masters degree in government from Claremont Graduate School (now CGU). He also worked as a director of corporate relations at CMC. In 1980, our district elected Dreier to Congress, where he has been ensconced ever since.

At CMC Dreier (photo, right) no doubt crossed paths with Jeff Stark's father, Jack Stark, who was CMC's president from 1970 to 1999. Dreier would have also met Jeff's mother, Jil Stark, who was the director of the Marion Miner Cook Athenaeum. It turns out that the Starks kept in contact with Dreier after he became a congressman.

We checked and saw that both of Jeff's parents donated to Dreier's campaign war chest. The Huffington Post's FundRace listed two donations for Jil, one in 2009 for $1,000 and one in 2007 for $1,150. Notice that the latter contribution Jil's trustee position with the now-defunct PFF Bank & Trust, a 116-year-old local institution that survived the Great Depression but couldn't survive our Great Recession.

You'll recall that Jil Stark made a small fortune off PFF stock options right before the stock price plummeted. She may have used some of that windfall to help out a friend:

Click on Images to Enlarge

Jack Stark, too, got into the act, throwing a $600 bone Dreier's way in 2009:



We noticed that the Starks' son Jeff is a registered Republican, so one would presume he's a Dreier supporter as well. That's why we were so surprised to see him caught at the Russ Warner event. We hear Jeff didn't stick around very long. Maybe word got out to Dreier's office. Or to Jeff's folks.

Next time, Jeff ought to send Ken Corhan in his place. Ken's much more slick when it comes to this kind of sneaking around.

Neighborhood Forum Tonight

The City of Claremont is holding another of its neighborhood meetings tonight beginning at 7pm at the Alexander Hughes Center. Come on out and meet a couple of your council members. Let them know what you really think.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
City Council Neighborhood Forum - Hughes Community Center

7:00 PM
1700 Danbury Dr.
Padua Room
Claremont
(909) 399-5460

Council Members are also hosting a series of Neighborhood Forums. Neighborhood Forums give residents from different neighborhoods the opportunity to talk with City Council Members in a relaxed and informal setting. Neighborhoods can discuss issues that are important to them, air concerns, share ideas, ask questions and get the latest information about topics and projects that are specific to each neighborhood. Although forums are scheduled for specific neighborhoods, you do not have to live in that immediate area to attend.

A Family Affair

This sidebar article appeared next to a more substantive article in the Claremont Courier on Saturday, September 18:

From the Claremont Courier

We posted twice on the advertising for a paid staff member, here, and here with the job description.

We're glad to see the support committee has filled those billets, but it's a little unnerving that the Committee a) has to hire someone to be for the School Bond and b) has the money to do so.

The article makes plain that Aly Stark is the daughter of CUSD Board member Jeff Stark. We've already noted there is nothing new under the Sun in Jeff Stark exploiting family ties in support of a Claremont school bond. What is interesting is that he not only did it upward, to his father, Jack (retired/emeritus CMC President in Measure Y, but now is doing it down the family tree through his daughter.

(By the way, was that Jeff Stark a friend of ours saw at Democratic congressional candidate Russ Warner's kickoff party last week? The phantom in the picture certainly looks like CUSD Board president Hilary LaConte. We heard Mary Caenepeel may have been there, too, for a non-Brown Act social occasion.)


What is not so clear at first glance is the family connection of Lisa Germano. From what we can tell, Lisa Germano is a mid-90s graduate of Claremont High, sometime substitute teacher, and the current Dance Team adviser. Who is on the Dance Team? Among others, the daughter of Measure CL Triumvirate Member Bill Fox.

Here is a copy of a photo from Bill Fox's daughter's Facebook page, showing the dance team and adviser Lisa Germano at lower left (we know the image looks like a badly-doctored Photoshop job, but we didn't think it fair to associate recognizable images of the team members, or even Fox's daughter, with this whole deal. So we blurred everyone but Germano).


This is more or less in keeping with the whole ethos of Measure CL: It's not what you know, it's who you know.

click to enlarge

OPM

Other People's Money

We see in today's Daily Bulletin an article by reporter Canan Tasci relating that the Cal Poly Pomona Board of Trustees will shortly consider a proposal to demolish Cal Poly's iconic CLA Building (Classroom, Laboratory, and Administration), housing student services and administrative offices and, we assume, classrooms and labs.

This is not a case of the university knocking down some old, dilapidated out-building remnant of Kellogg Ranch, this is a 200,000 square foot building built in 1993--it's only 17 years old! Plus, it has become a symbol of Cal Poly. Hence the term "iconic". By the way, 200,000 square feet is about 5 acres. The tower is 173 feet high. This is a huge building complex.


We can scarcely think of a better example of the phenomenon of OPM--Other People's Money. When public agencies are paying for things with OPM--which is all they really ever do--they just don't care.

Build a monumental building in 1993 that leaks and doesn't meet program needs? Sure, it's OPM.

Plan on tearing down the same building scarcely 20 years later and replacing it with a new $80 million dollar one? Sure, it's OPM.

All the while, be careful to shroud the issue in student safety (earthquakes in this case), energy efficiency, and LEED-sustainability-greenness. And don't worry, somebody else is paying for it-- "Funds would be allocated from the Chancellor's Office utilizing state construction bonds." In other words, OPM.

Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like the proponents of the $95 million Measure CL:

So what if we only built about half of what we said we'd build with Measure Y money? OPM.

Repair or replace leaky and faulty roofs. OPM.

Improve student and school safety, including fire alarms and replacing old wiring. OPM.

Install solar panels...other energy-efficiency improvements...environmentally sustainable... OPM.

Remove hazardous materials...lead...asbestos. OPM.

Maybe we all ought to go out and get some OPM of our own.

Campaign piece pushing CUSD Measure CL, prepared by the School District, and handed out at a recent elementary school Parents' Night.

Burying the Lede: Disgraced Former Bell City Attorney Has Always Seen Peter Yao as a Man of Integrity

What a Recommendation!

Peas in a Pod

Several readers have taken us to task, and rightly, for burying the lede or missing the most interesting part of the Peter Yao story:

Peter Yao's recommendation letter to the Applicant Selection Panel for the State of California Citizens Redistricting Commission was written by none other than Edward Lee, the disgraced/resigned/fired former City Attorney of Bell. Yao thus far has made the cut of the 120 names to be winnowed to 60 names by October 1, 2010.

Shortly after the Bell salary and governance scandal was publicized by the Los Angeles Times, Edward Lee was removed as Bell City Attorney, fired as Downey City Attorney, and resigned from Best, Best and Krieger. The city of Covina removed Lee but kept BBK. Best, Best and Krieger, which continues as Claremont City Attorney, has been subpoenaed by Attorney General Brown in the Bell scandal.

See the letter from Lee below:

15322

Imagine having the guy who signed off on the obscene salaries of the Bell City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Police Chief, and four of the five councilmembers, say this about you [emphasis added]:

I firmly believe that Peter possesses the skills to balance the competing interests of the State. His experience in his professional and political arenas make him uniquely qualified to weigh and understand the issues which redistricting the State will present. My knowledge of his integrity and honesty also speak to his valuable qualifications to present the views of all segments of our diverse State.

While the corruption at Bell may or may not directly affect Claremont, certainly a good bit of the stink has rubbed off on Peter Sunway Yao.

You can't pick your relatives, but you can pick your friends.

Chairman Yao Under the Radar

Chairman Yao

It came to our attention recently that Claremont's own Peter Yao has made the cut and has been accepted into 120-member pool for interviews and possible membership on the State of California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

This action was taken on July 19 by the Applicant Review Panel, but we haven't seen it in any of the local media--maybe with vacations and all...

from the minutes of the Review Panel meeting:

Ms. Camacho moved to interview the following 40 applicants who are affiliated with the Republican Party:

Christine Allcorn, Kathleen Beasley, Robert Gonzales, Larry Kerr, Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino, Martin Lax, Nancy Lyons, Sandor Mayuga, Davin McAndrews, Gabriel Morales, Henry Norton, Lilbert “Gil” Ontai, Roy Salume, Christine “Chris” Shipman, Gina Simas, Charles Starr, James Vidal, Evelyn Volpa, Michael Ward, Mary Werthman, Cecilia White, Ronald Wilczynski, Peter Yao, Gene Lee, Jeffrey Kwong, Peggy Huang, Jodie Filkins Webber, David Ikari, Michael Briggs, Vincent Barabba, Edward Duran, Evelyn Zneimer, Bev Perry, Alan Jorgensen, Donna Beers, Orrin Banta, Suzanne Levy, Daniel Seagondollar, Susan Miller, and Wesley Hussey. Ms. Spano seconded. There being no public comment or opposition, the motion carried.

Ms. Spano moved to eliminate from the applicant pool the remaining Republican applicants. Ms. Camacho seconded. There being no opposition, the motion carried.

Panel counsel reported receiving two written comments both of which were supplied to the panel members and available at the back of the room. [We especially like how at the State level written comments are provided the commission members after the vote is taken.]

Still, this process should get more notice than it has been getting.

It's fairly lengthy, but see councilmember Yao's supplemental application. Letters of recommendation (glowing) can be found here, including one from an attorney at the City's law firm, Best, Best, and Krieger.

These resume or personal history-type things tend to be exercises, in self glorification. Yao's application tends to be nothing much more than auto-hagiography. It doesn't stray far from that template. We list below a few quotes from Yao's application. We believe they should be compiled into a little red book we could carry around. Hey!--we could call it "The Sayings of Chairman Yao":

• The challenge of working on a meaningful task, solving a tough problem to secure a just representation for Californians and working with a high performance team entice me to apply...

• I treasured solving problems.

• I have always found satisfaction in solving tough problems. Redistricting is a very tough and complex political problem.
  

• I consider exposure to new knowledge and experience as the reward of commission assignment.

• In life, one is obliged to play with the cards you are dealt.

• I am efficient in using spreadsheet programs including the first VisiCalc in the 1960’s.

• Diversity is California’s competitive advantage in commerce, scientific and technological research, and in securing a truly democratic society.

• As a working engineer, I understand and employed dense and technical written material... [anyone who has read Yao's unedited writing, or heard him speak, will go along with part of this observation.]

It's worth noting several features of the 120-member applicant pool in which Yao swims. It seems to be made up disproportionately of third-tier local officials or government employees. One who made the cut but who has dropped out in the last month is retired Los Angeles County Recorder Conny B. McCormack, for a prima facie ineligibility. See here, and here.

Another, from northern California, is Nancy Lyons, who works in the Governor's office. See here.

Another, we noted in passing was a public agency lawyer.

Yao interviewed with the panel on August 24, 2010, and it's a regret of our young life that we missed that performance. Interviews were apparently streamed in the Internet.


The process from this point forward is this: by October 1, 2010, the State Auditor (responsible for winnowing the 30,000- strong initial applicant pool) must reduce the pool of 120 to a pool of 60--20 Democrats, 20 Republicans, and 20 "Other". These names go to the Majority and Minority Leaders of both the State Assembly and State Senate, and each may strike up to 2 names from each of the three sub-pools. This will be done prior to November 20, 2010.

If the legislative leadership exercises all of its "strikes", there would be 12 names in each pool for a total of 36. By November 20 the Auditor will select 8 names randomly from these 36. By December 31, 2010, those 8 will select the remaining 6 members of the commission from the remaining names in the applicant pool of 28.

Chairman Yao still has a steep hill to climb to reach the Final Fourteen, but, as he says, he thrives on tough challenges.

Helped Wanted, Part Two - UPDATED

As we indicated on Friday, the Claremont Unified School District's school bond campaign committee is looking to hire some able-bodied college students for its to work with its paid campaign consultant and its paid campaign manager in their "grassroots" Yes on CL effort.

We received a few emails from readers who were more than a little irritated by Yes on CL committee member Mike Seder's attempt at reaching out to his alma mater, Claremont McKenna College and CMC's Rose Institute, and we published a "Help Wanted" email from Rose fellow Douglas Johnson.

Johnson's email included this job description for the Yes on CL campaign manager position :

Campaign manager/field organizer – Claremont, CA, school bond measure.

Some political campaign experience or experience working with campaign volunteers preferred.

Irregular hours: >40 hrs/week through early November. Some evenings and weekends included.

Must have your own car. Laptop ideal but not necessary.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Coordinating communication between members of the campaign team, including campaign consultant, superintendent & district officials, steering committee, volunteers, fundraising team and other community leaders and activists.

[CUSD's superintendent and district officials are barred from working directly on the campaign. Yet, according to the campaign's own job description, the district seems to be directly in charge of the campaign. Someone needs to file a complaint with the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. -ed]

• Under direction of the campaign consultant, implementation of a field campaign operation staffed by volunteers. Field operations may include volunteer recruitment, scheduling and training, voter registration, phone banks and precinct walks, vote-by-mail drives, lawn sign distribution, staging free media events and getting out the vote (GOTV) activities.

• Working with members of the fundraising team to mail invitations,
request contributions, collect checks, write thank-you notes and hold events (if necessary).

• Coordinating with treasurer to ensure accurate and timely filing of campaign reports and other necessary forms.

• General day-to-day coordination and management of the campaign office, phone banks and other ongoing activities.

• Closing down campaign following election day, including the coordination of final fundraising reports, ensuring that campaign committee members and others are thanked appropriately and making arrangements to settle all outstanding campaign financial commitments.

Contact: Mike Seder, seder@fairplex.com

UPDATED Sunday, September 12, 5:45pm:

The CMC connection for Mike Seder goes beyond his alumnus status. Seder's wife Diana is director of CMC's Career Services Center. As her CMC bio states, she "knows CMC and CMC students from start to finish."

Diana Seder
Director
Oversees all Career Services programs and events
dseder@cmc.edu

Diana’s long-standing relationship with higher education administration started in 1987 when she graduated with her MBA from Claremont Graduate School and was hired by the same program to be their Associate Director. In 1991, she became the Acting Director of the Claremont Graduate School Office of Career Services, and then came to work at the CMC Career Services Center in 1997. Interestingly, at different times she has held both the Associate Director (Recruiting) and the Associate Director (Internship) positions as year-long assignments, so she is very familiar with the operations of the CSC. Diana assumes her role as Interim Director after an 8-year tenure with the Office of Admissions at CMC. “I know CMC and CMC students from start to finish” she says.

Piano Piano and Claremont Turn Up in Bleeding Edge Meme

Okay, this is complicated, and only propeller-heads have much of a chance of following it.

There has been a disturbance in the Internet Force the past few days about "Google Instant", the newly-enabled search feature on Google that allows you to see intermediate results as you type your search term into the box. (Thus far, it seems to work only sporadically)

For example, searching on "Claremont Insider" might produce the following first suggestions and instantaneous search pages for them:

C: craigslist
CL: club penguin
CLA: claim jumper
CLAR: claremont colleges
CLARE: claremont colleges
CLAREM: claremont colleges
CLAREMO: claremont colleges
CLAREMON: claremont colleges
CLAREMONT: claremont colleges
CLAREMONT I: claremont insider

...and there you are! The entire search results page for "Claremont Insider" pops up. You didn't have to type the whole word "Insider", just the "I", not the "nsider", saving you 2.4 seconds per search or thousands and thousands of hours over your lifetime. Google does this by serving new search results with each letter typed--some 20 sub-searches for each information search on average, according to reports.

(The sustainability harpies will probably cast the evil eye on this given the results of this 2009 study that said that each single Google search generated 7 grams of CO2. Now, with this new feature, that will be multiplied by twenty to 140 grams of CO2. And, with those thousands and thousands of hours added to our lifetimes, we will probably make even more searches. Pounds and Tons of CO2. An inconvenient truth.)

How does this relate to Claremont, you ask?

Well, Friday morning the Huffington Post carried an article about a new pastime using Google Instant and YouTube. It amounts to typing the lyrics of a song into Google Instant, saving the page images, and setting these to the music of the song. The HuffPo embeds a couple of examples. One is Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, (lame) and the other is Tom Lehrer's, The Elements (excellent). They are calling this a Lyrical Google Instant Search Meme.

Watch the Lehrer piece, The Elements. It's only 1:25 and consists, as Lehrer told us on the 1960s album, of the names of the chemical elements set to a possibly recognizable theme [from Gilbert and Sullivan].

As the search auto-complete terms flash by, note at 1:14 that piano piano claremont ca flashes by:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

That's it. Not really all that earthshaking, but moderately charming. What's really amazing is that people have enough time on their hands to do this, and other people have enough time on their hands to write about it.

CUSD to CMC: Help wanted

The Claremont Unified School District's Measure CL campaign team seeks students to work with a paid campaign manager to work on the Yes on CL effort.

Campaign committee person and Claremont 400 aspirant Mike Seder, whom we've seen on several occasions, is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and, in his search for able-bodied campaign workers, seems to have been in contact with at least one person at CMC's Rose Institute.

This came in over the wire from a couple sources:

DATE: Wed, September 8, 2010 10:53:27 PM
TO: Claremont Insider [claremontbuzz@yahoo.com]
SUBJECT: FW: Claremont campaign openings


From: Douglas Johnson [douglas.johnson@cmc.edu]
Organization: Rose Institute of State & Local Government at CMC
Reply-To: [douglas.johnson@cmc.edu]
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 13:54:57 -0700
To: XXX
Cc: Mike Seder [seder@fairplex.com]
Subject: Claremont campaign openings

A friend from the Fairplex is deeply involved in the current campaign in support of a parcel tax to support Claremont schools. The campaign has a firm doing strategic consulting, along with a board of prominent local supporters, but they are looking for student volunteers and a paid day to day campaign manager.

Do you know of students (or student organizations) who might be interested in spending some time helping with this campaign to help Claremont schools, or who want to get some experience in a campaign at the grassroots level? This is a great way to do this without having to travel far from campus. If you know of anyone interested, could you encourage them to contact Mike Seder (seder@fairplex.com)? Mike's both a great guy and CMC Class of 1982. If they have questions, I'm also happy to talk to them and share what limited info I have regarding the campaign.

Obviously, time is tight as campaign day's approaching rapidly. Thanks!

- Doug

Douglas Johnson
Fellow
Rose Institute of State and Local Government
Claremont McKenna College
o 909-621-8159
m 310-200-2058
douglas.johnson@cmc.edu
www.RoseReport.org

Johnson's email seems to support the notion that the campaign is driven by "a firm doing strategic consulting," no doubt TBWB Strategies and consultant Jared Boigon, who has advised the CUSD Board of Education from the very beginning.

It also struck us as very strange that a conservative organization like the Rose Institute would lend itself to campaigning for a highly dubious $95 million school bond (not a parcel tax, Doug). You'd think that with Claremont property owners still paying off $30 million of the last, misspent school bond, the Rose Institute would be ideologically inclined to question the wisdom of tacking on another $95 million in bonded indebtedness, especially when that new money amounts to little more than a blank check for a district that has repeatedly failed to demonstrate any fiscal commonsense.

But then, these are strange times.

* * * * *

Coming Soon: You may wonder what the job description looks like for the above position. Check back this weekend.

* * * * *

Our spies tell us that the Yes on CL campaign is casting quite a wide net in its outreach efforts. For instance, a couple weekends ago, a group of Claremont High School students who are against the bond were at the Claremont Sunday Farmers' Market handing out arguments against the bond. We hear that the kids had a volunteer sign-up list.

Who signed up to help on the "NO" campaign? None other than than the ever-subtle, pro-CL Ken Corhan (photo, left), who was summoned to the scene by CUSD board member Jeff Stark. Shilling for failed Claremont City Council candidates isn't enough for the ol' Kenster. This just goes to show that the Claremont 400 can be relied upon to run the same plays, over and over.

Leave it to Corhan to think he's so clever he'd be able to plant himself as a mole in a No on CL organizing party. Why can't he just be like the Insider and let the clandestine information come in over the transom unasked for? A word to the wise: When it comes to the Claremonsters, trust no one.