From In the Sun:.. Steve Berry & Miller Equal Jusitice?

http://www.sbsun.com/letters/ci_12979583
A special place
Posted: 08/02/2009 05:47:29 PM PDT

Let me see if I understand this.

Grand Terrace City Councilman Jim Miller and his wife profited from votes that Jim cast. He was told by the city's legal counsel that it was OK for him to vote for the city to pay his wife's newspaper for city obligations.

At the same time, other City Council members (serving at that time) certainly had to be aware of his votes and what that would mean for Marge's business income. Why didn't they ask Jim to recuse himself?

And Steve Berry, who has recently been in the limelight for his 2003 actions, found it necessary to publicly assert that he made it clear to Jim that he should recuse himself?! If I were in Steve's current situation, I would not want to be making public statements regarding someone else's misdeeds.

Why aren't the involved council members standing beside Jim and acknowledging their part in this mess? It certainly doesn't appear to have been only Jim's mistake. I am not an apologist for him. However, I am annoyed that everyone else is staying quiet. I am also baffled as to why Jim was arrested on a felony charge and Steve, who allegedly has stolen from the city, has not suffered legal consequences.

I also am annoyed that Tom Schwab felt he had to protect me and the rest of the Grand Terrace population by not blowing the whistle on Steve Berry immediately. I believe mistakes are less traumatizing when acknowledged and corrected quickly. The members of this community can handle mistakes and the truth.

We are a great, small town and this special quality can continue if we do not take a page from San Bernardino County's book of ethical behavior.

Our elected officials should be appreciated for the effort they put into helping make this city a good place to live. However, if one of our city representatives forgets that they are elected to serve us rather than profiting financially or otherwise, let's deal with the issue immediately and fairly, without finger-pointing and political posturing.

LYNDA SNYDER Grand Terrace


Dear Linda: It isn't quite that simple.

First Issue: Tom Schwab didn't just not blow the whistle on Steve Berry's Criminal Activity he directed a Law Enforcement Officer not to proceed with advancing the Criminal Case to the DA's Office. This is on Tom Schwab's part an admission of a crime, and on the part of the Sheriff and anyone else in on the cover up Conspirators to the Crime After the Fact.

Second Issue: The City Attorney guided Jim Miller Properly in that the "Purchase of the News Paper" was not an issue of Conflict of Interest. The City Attorney was not at the time specifically asked, can the News Paper do business with the city and there not be a conflict of interest. Apparently the wiser Steve Berry recognized the Conflict of Interest potential prior to the first ad being placed. He reports that when he brought this to the attention of then City Manager Tom Schwab, he was told to drop it, "that is how you get fired". Well he remained silent and the adds were placed, (which by the way cost to print, the payments are not all income). The STAFF and CITY MANAGEMENT made the arrangements with the News Paper, including Mr Berry himself.

THEN after Mr. Berry became the Acting City Manager, and was no doubt frustrated by Council Member Millers insistence and request for detailed information on issues before the council, Mr. Berry brought the matter up again, and Jim Miller received a letter from the City Lawyer saying that the practice "May" be a conflict of interest. The Practice stopped and the City Left a Unpaid Bill at the News Paper. That was in Aug 2008 It was not until Late September 2008 that the complaint came to the attention to the DA's Office. So the Add Placement by the city and including Steve Berry himself went on for 2 years, prior to Steve Berry acting on something he apparently thought was wrong BEFORE the Event took Place.

Then enter the Schwab vs Berry fight over the City Manager's Job. Well, clearly either Schwab or a Friend of Schwab spilled the news of Berry's Moonlighting, and later the Criminal Investigation thinking this would "Help" Schwab get his job as City Manager back. Tom Schwab's interview in the news paper, clarifying the events of the Criminal Investigation eroded his own case for City Manager. He was now a Berry Collaborator in a criminal act, by his own admission of covering up that act, and stopping the advancement of the case to the DA's Office and Court. The City Rewarded Tom Schwab with a 170,000 payoff to keep his mouth shut. Even so Tom Schwab was quoted after the fact that Steve Berry lacked morals and integrity. Perhaps that interview was done prior to the hush money deal was made.

Council Member Bea Cortes publicly defended Steve Berry. Wagging a finger at the SBCS Reporter saying you should be ashamed about printing lies. Then she offered her own version of what happened to the "Donated" wine, that did not really help Berry's accountability or statements on the wine being taken from City Hall being used at his private party at his house. She was the only Council Member that did not vote to exclude Steve Berry for consideration for the City Manager's Job. Her motivations are yet to be fully discovered. However, she and Steve Berry have received reimbursements for lunch meetings and have been seen in each others company outside the city limits.

Steve Berry Panicked, and wanted to keep this story out of the local news papers. He threatened the Millers in earshot of GT Citizens that if Margie Published the story about the Embezzlement and Falsification of Records he would push the Conflict of Interest Case. "He had friends at the DA's Office". This intimidation of a Council Member is an illegal act of attempted coercion of a public official. Before his exclusion of candidacy for the City Manager's job, he boasted he would have Jim Miller arrested and publicly humiliated.

Fact, the "Criminal Investigation" of Jim Miller did not start in until after the San Bernardino County Sentinel had contacted Berry regarding Berry's Criminal Case. Perhaps he was thinking the SBCS wasn't a widely read news paper and if the story would stop there he could survive. He needed to stack the Deck of Political Pressures against Jim Miller who was favoring Tom Schwab or a New Hire for the City Manager Position, and keep the News of his Embezzlement and Falsification of Documents out of the Local Press, in particular the widely read in Grand Terrace the Grand Terrace City News.

The Sun, and the printed the articles, Grand Terrace City News even printed Berry's Attempt to say oh it was no big deal, it isn't even in my personnel record, not so much as a discipline action was taken...... Then the Press printed the same basic news but attached 25 pages of the original investigation report. After which the Grand Terrace City News printed a similar story. Still a candidate for City Manager... Berry took no action. BUT after the Vote to Eliminate him as a candidate, he gave the go ahead and had Council Member Jim Miller arrested, booked and made sure the DA's Office sent out News Release to the Media.

Steve Berry then knowing that he had put the last straw on the camels back and knew he was on his way out as the Council Agenda showed his job as Assistant City Manager was going to be terminated and the result would be his immediate termination. The Acting City Manager has to be a City Employee. SO, what does he do. He grabs the City Information Technology Tech and locks he and the tech in the City Hall and attempted to access computer files. Now this is either a theft or inappropriate use of city property, (Data), and Unlawful Detainment (Kidnapping) of the Tech for the purpose of commission of a crime, or the destruction of evidence of criminal activity.

He was escorted out of the building. We hope his keys were taken away from him and Criminal Investigation will FINALLY be done. Included in that investigation we the Citizens should know what files he was after and if the Information Technology Tech was a victim or a collaborator.

Perhaps Steve Berry was making a list of all the times the Mayor voted to pay the water bill. Every Land Owner is an owner of a part of the water company and the Mayor's Husband is on the Water Company Board of Director.

Perhaps Steve Berry was making a list of all the times he or members of the city staff and council ate at Pasta Italia and paid for it with a credit card, then approved later as a bulk credit card payment on the Voucher approved as Non Controversial?

Perhaps Steve Berry was collecting details of the Payments to Terra Loma / Gene Carlstrom who is the Employer of Bea Cortes. (A job has co-mingled with her City Council Position as Mayor Pro tem in her Business Advertisements).

Perhaps Steve Berry was collecting details of the Travel Expenses of Lee Ann Garcia for some sort of disclosure.

For sure, more is to be made clear to the Citizens of Grand Terrace before these issues are resolved. The only place this can happen is in a Court of Law because this council will hide all behind the Closed Door Meeting Excuse. They won't come clean, until they are forced to testify in a court of law in front of a judge. Where as, with Council Member Miller, as soon as he was informed of the "Possible Conflict of Interest" he made he situation PUBLIC. and the Paper Stopped taking adds from the city. However, even after that stoppage, Committees such as the Historical Committee used the GTCN as their news paper to advertise City Hall sponsored events, including those at the request of Steve Berry.

Perhaps, in the real world a Court could rule that due to the fact the City has only one local news paper, that is delivered to every home and is available at many stores for free, that the contract negotiations is less than or equal to the cost of advertising in the Colton Currier, the Sun Telegram or the Press Enterprise that there is no Conflict of interest or undue financial advantage of the the use of the Grand Terrace City News, in spite of the inconvenient fact that a Wife of a Council Member owns the news paper. Giving the Miller's a waiver of the apparent conflict of interest.

If Margie Miller had not purchased the News Papers, Loma Linda, Colton and Grand Terrace would not have any local news papers. We are only an after thought for the Sun and the Press, who never do the hard news in GT unless it has appeared in this blog, or in the GTCN or in the SBCS first.

In the Court of King Solomon would give the paper and Miller's a situational waiver. However, the rest of the criminal activity and cover ups would have no such benevolence applied.