A Prediction about the Pending Miller Trial Outcome

The arrest of Councilman Miller is nothing more than a blatant retaliation from FORMER acting City Manager Steven Berry and Council member Bea Cortes for the printing of the story that outlined Mr. Berry's and former City Manager Tom Schwab's criminal acts. I am confident that the charges will be dropped against Mr. Miller once the evidence or lack thereof, is presented in court.

When the Judge is presented with the facts that the Millers contacted the D.A.'s office after Mr. Berry threatened Mr. Miller with a public arrest, and Mr. Berry's open case of embezzlement, because the case is still open. Just because Mr. Schwab admits to being able to coerce the Sheriff's Office into violating the oath they took to enforce the law does not mean Mr. Berry and Mr. Schwab may not still be prosecuted. When Mr. Schwab quashed the investigation all it did was suspend the report going to the D.A..

There is no statute of limitations on embezzling public funds, nor is there any statutes of limitation on concealment of the crimes one the concealment becomes known. So Mr. Berry's revenge will open a Pandora's box for all of those involved. Council members present and past. Mr. Harper will have to answer as to why he was derelict in his duties when he knew that it was a conflict of interest and did not advise Councilman Miller or any other of the council. Mr. Berry has bitten off more than he will ever be able to chew.

In all probably he will also be charged along with Mr. Schwab for the crimes and the concealment. He will in all probably along with Mr. Schwab and Mr. Harper be charged for setting up Mr. Miller when it is more than apparent they knew it was illegal for Mrs. Miller to print the ads, if it was illegal to do so.

Why does Bea Cortes "abstain" (a word I'm sure she would have difficulty spelling) from voting on the termination of Mr. Berry. It's not rocket science You have to be either very naive or just brick dumb not to see she is complicit in the charges filed against Mr. Miller. Ms. Cortes has on occasion stated that she has a " relationship" with someone in the D.A.'s office. After observing Mr. Miller and his being unafraid to stand up against Mr. Schwab and Mr. Berry on so many occasions, when it was apparent they were not acting in the best interest of the community as a whole, but operating for the best interest of a few has made some enemies for the Millers.

So to your readers that are following this story, does not any one find it strange that the newspapers paper stories covering Mr. Millers arrest sound like they were dictated from City Hall. Mr. Miller was not given an opportunity to respond. I am glad he didn't. Mr. Berry, Mr. Schwab, Mr. Harper and any council members that conspired in this trumped up this case will be exposed in a court of law.

This, without any doubt, will come back to City Hall and expose the years of corruption that many have tried to bring to the citizens attention. The citizens will pay attention now. This will bring many people to the witness stand and be forced to testify in regards to the corruption at City Hall and their involvement. They will have Mr. Berry and Mr. Schwab to thank because Mr. Berry committed criminal acts. God bless the Millers. They are the victims here.


Got Ethics?

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, July 18, 2009
DAN BERNSTEIN
For some journalists, the red meat is reddest when electeds get charged with a felony.
But I have a smidge of sympathy for Jim Miller, the Grand Terrace councilman accused of a conflict of interest for voting to run the city's legal ads in the Grand Terrace City News, which is owned by his wife.
If I were Miller's lawyer, I'd argue my well-meaning client was merely trying to rescue an endangered species (newspapers). That said, we must hold our elected officials to high standards. They should be well versed in ethics and conduct themselves in a manner beyond reproach until they reach the Legislature or Congress, where we fully expect them to turn into self-serving louts.
Councilman Miller said he received no conflict-of-interest training. But that's no excuse. The state makes it easy to become certifiably ethical. Free! The Fair Political Practices Commission offers an online ethics test. Correctly answer 80 percent of about 30 true-or-false questions and any elected official can print out a handsome certificate. I decided to see how easy this actually is.
I googled FPPC, scrolled the left column to AB 1234 Ethics Training For Local Officials and set about the task of getting myself certified.
Once a public official has opened an account, the key to receiving an ethics certificate (suitable for framing) as quickly as possible is to just keep clicking "Next". (If you get bogged down reading about "transparency", conflicts of interest or the difference between what's legal and what's ethical, you have only yourself to blame.)
After clicking "Next" 25 times, I came to the first "Retention Check". Seven questions. Didn't read 'em. Just clicked "True" for all seven, then clicked "Submit". They were all "False" except one, so I clicked "Back", changed my answers, and clicked "Submit" again. Perfect score!
About 55 "Nexts" later, another "Retention Check." I clicked all "True", then "Submit", then "Back" to change my answers and "Submit" again. Perfect! (I've never taken online traffic school, but there's no way it's easier than acquiring ethics online.)
After the final "Retention Check" (and another perfect score), a jolt: "You have spent 0 hours and 14 minutes on this training. This is less than the required 2 hours."
I read this as a threat. They weren't going to give me a certificate. "If you would like to bolster that time, we have supplemental training available."
Supplemental training? Show me a public official who seeks supplemental ethics training and I'll show you an Alaska governor who serves out a full term.
Legislators who approved AB 1234 and the governor (Arnold) who signed it, evidently felt the same way because supplemental training turned out to be an option I respectfully declined. I clicked "Next" one last time, and now have my own Online Proof of Participation Certificate.
I can't understand why so many politicians get into such hot water when it's so darn easy to be ethical.
Reach Dan Bernstein at 951-368-9439 or dbernstein@PE.com