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Murrieta’s Rezoning Creates a Buyer Beware Situation

August 2012

Imagine buying a dream home in a quiet rural neighborhood and then finding out that the city had rezoned the property to commercial and no new single family residential development will be permitted on the property. All residential use is now considered “nonconforming” to the new zone that does not allow single family residential use.

The Title company did not find it in their search and the County will not check the zoning status of the property until after it is sold. Worse, now that you own a commercial lot, the County can reassess to the market value of commercial property.

That is the situation for many parcels in Murrieta that were rezoned under the five year review of the General Plan. The single family homes were built legally and under County “conforming” status for zoning at the time - before cityhood. Soon after cityhood the land was rezoned to mixed-use which allowed for residential use and business use on the same parcel. The single family homes could be converted to multifamily if the second unit was attached and a detached building could be built as well for a wide variety of commercial uses including residential use for a caretaker or employee. All was good.

But last year, the current council, current staff and city manager decided to take a walk of the neighborhood and came up with a new vision - high density housing and Research Park zoning that is intended to eliminate all single family housing from Hawthorne to Ivy Street on the east side of Adams Ave. This affects approximately twenty property owners with single family homes on a half acre to 3 acre parcels of land. They not only lost market value in the homes they built but in the flexibility of business use that could have been attractive to a wide variety of self-employed buyers.

And for the neighbors on the west side of Adams, this means high density apartments and condos will affect their market values in the future. Buyer beware indeed.

Plus, now these property owners are finding out that if their home is vacant in excess of 180 days, as has been reported for one rental property, that structure is now in a state of “Loss of Nonconforming Status” (development code section 16.32.050). The loss of nonconforming status means the owner is no longer “grandfathered” for continued use as a single family residence.

How is the city enforcing the code? How is the city protecting a future buyer with full disclosure before escrow closes? The Bugle is still awaiting answers from city hall at press time.

What does Research Park mean? The city created a special violet color code on their zoning map for it but they don’t actually have a document defining its use. The Bugle still awaits a formal document that answers this question.

In the interest of good government, the council should reconsider their vote and restore mixed-use here.

Illegal Labor - Costs v. Benefits of Our Open Border Policy

June 2012

Why are Americans strapped with non-enforcement of our labor laws when it comes to illegal hiring of undocumented workers? What possible rationale do politicians and bureaucrats use to reconcile an expenditure of $383.3 billion in services and suppressed American wages per year for an open border policy?

To understand the rationale you first need to examine the three prominent industries that are known to hire undocumented workers. Then examine the cost versus benefit of looking the other way while American tradesmen lose their jobs. It is not the hospitality industry where dozens of chain restaurants and hotels are known to hire illegal labor. Nor is it the agriculture industry since there are an unlimited number of visas available for farm workers. The major industry that is served financially is the construction industry. Here’s why.

Developer gross profit margin (PM) is calculated as sales price minus subcontratror bids. PM as reported to the SEC for public traded companies such as DR Horton, a national housing developer, rose from 20% in 2002 to 30% in 2007, during the housing boom. In 2012, DR Horton’s PM is reported as 19.77%. Compare this PM to the rule of thumb of less than 6% that Dunn & Bradstreet reports as guidelines across service, manufacturing, distribution and retail industries. Then compare these profit margins to your 401k managed investment with an expected ROI of 8% in the long term. Whether you run a business legally or put your money to work in legal investments, you would never expect a 20% profit every year for over ten years.

According to data from the US Dept of Commerce, the average national sales price per housing unit rose from $180,000 to $300,000 over the ten year period from Jan 1998 to December 2007 and housing starts averaged 20,400,000 per year nationally over this period (that’s over 20 million units or 1,718 units per month forten years).

Now take the $338.3 billion per year in government costs for illegal alien services and we have an average cost per housing unit of $16,583 - which is minor compared to the developer’s profits. At a 25% profit margin, the developer’s profit is $45,000 for a unit that sold for $180,000 and $75,000 profit for a unit that sold for $300,000. At a generous 10% PM, such as with American labor, the profit is reduced to $18,000 and $30,000 per unit respectively. Greed indeed is a powerful motive!

President Reagan gave the illegals amnesty in the 80s and continued to look the other way while more cheap labor flooded the market. Why? Protect their base! Amnesty also gave the “legal ones” the hiring connections that led to the majority of lost jobs for American tradesmen in this industry - post 1985. It is time to stop blaming illegals who come for jobs and then need services such as food assistance, Medicaid, and education for their children. Employers and the politicians on both sides of the aisle who exploited the system at the expense of American labor are to blame.

A Consequence of Pro-Life

December 2011

The pro-life movement has created consequences that gets little media or political attention these days. What happens, later in life, to the developmentally challenged offspring of older parents?

Sarah Palin, a pro-choice Republican, once told the story of speaking to her husband after hearing the results of her amniocentesis, a procedure that is only conducted when abortion is an agreeable option [hence our evidence that Palin is pro-choice], and asking him, “Why did this happen to us?” As a woman of faith, one would expect her to know the answer. People of faith understand that intelligent design was not a random big boom event and that our bodies do have limitations. Fortunately, humans are also blessed with the ability to reason and to make choices. Palin’s choice was to carry the fetus to full term but only after consulting with the family and being assured she would have the support to care for her developmentally challenged child. Not only does the Palin family have a large network of family members, they also have sufficient financial resources to take on the responsibility.

Far too many parents in Palin’s situation these days are subjected to societal pressure to make a choice that they are not equipped to handle, with either the required financial or human resources. The consequences of their decision can lead to a growing need across the nation for society to find and fund the care of many adults with disabilities. Whether these individuals have outlived their biological parents or have just become too much of a burden for older parents to care for, they are in need of loving homes and mentors.

This is just one type of situation that can result in a need for foster care of mentally or developmentally challenged individuals. There are also needs for mentors of adults, children and adolescents with emotional or behavioral challenges, children with medically complex needs, people who have sustained brain injuries and court involved youth.

The MENTOR Network, a national organization, has a California MENTOR office in Rancho Cucamonga that is looking for mentors in our area. What is a Mentor? Mentors are independent contractors who open their hearts and their homes to care for someone in need. As an independent contractor you can stay home while receiving payment for services. With the support of a specialized team of health and human service professionals, Mentors become trusted guides, tutors and advocates for the individuals with whom they live. This special relationship between the Mentor and the individual provides the structure and support for development, growth and change — in a natural setting.

What type of care is involved? The services Mentors provide are specifically tailored to meet the needs of the individuals with whom they live. The actual level of support, supervision and active assistance varies, depending on the needs of each individual. This flexible approach has enabled The MENTOR Network to help thousands of people lead fulfilling lives in the community.

To become a Mentor, you must be at least 21 years of age and have: A demonstrated commitment to make a difference in someone’s life • Access to reliable transportation • An additional separate bedroom • A Background check

For more information on local needs, please see the California MENTOR ad in this issue of The Bugle and give them a call for more information.

The Family Budget and the 9-9-9 Plan

November 2011

• Ending Payroll Tax completely – Candidate Cain calls it “a permanent holiday!”

Social Security (FICA tax) is one payroll tax that Republicans would dearly love to see end. An employer today pays half of the tax (6.2 % on low wages and a regressive percentage as total wages in the company increases). The employee pays the other half. For a family earning $60,000, that’s an increase for the family budget of $4,030. For earnings of $106,800 or more the employee saves $6,622. Of course when you retire you can’t expect benefits. And that’s just for the retirement side of Social Security. The permanent holiday on payroll taxes will also end your insignificant 1.45% for Medicare too. Businesses will benefit slightly by not paying FUTA-federal unemployment compensation tax. Now that you see your savings, and loss of benefits, let’s look at your increased costs. • Individual Flat Tax – 9% and this is on gross income less charitable deductions.

No exemptions, no deductions except to keep the money flowing into the pockets of the non-taxpaying, non-profit businesses with highly paid directors and staff that includes organizations such as United Way, Churches, Cancer, Heart, Lung Societies, etc. Without exemptions and deductions, the average family will have an increase in their net income tax cost. For most of our readers, the current tax rate is only 10%-15% for income after you subtract all of your deductions. Compare it to 9% of your W-2 earnings without deductions and see for yourself. • National Sales Tax – 9%.

Now that’s a big one. A deal killer for the majority of voters who are living on a fixed income. Cain thinks this added tax is getting “the Fair Tax off the sidelines and into the game”. Is it fair that you will now pay an additional tax on everything you buy including food? Remember this is in addition to the state, county and local sales tax that you are currently paying. What about the other tax dollars that are eliminated? • Zero Capital Gains Tax and Zero Death Tax.

You don’t benefit much from a zero death tax if you use probate avoidance strategies. Also, shelters and strategic timing for the sale of stock minimizes the capital gains tax. • Zero tax on dividends.

Is your stock paying much in dividends? Many people only pay tax on these earnings as ordinary income. • Business Flat Tax – 9% on gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses and all dividends paid to shareholders.

This is a huge benefit for large corporations but not you. And as we have seen in every case where we gave tax breaks to the wealthy expecting job creation, we were sorely disappointed.

Public comments:

The Publisher Wrote: “And as we have seen in every case where we gave tax breaks to the wealthy expecting job creation, we were sorely disappointed.”

Public Comment: Job creation is, in fact, the historically-demonstrated outcome of tax breaks.

Publisher’s Response: Unfortunately, this is not true. Read “Secrets of the Temple” and look back to the true story on President Reagan’s days in the White House. Reagan was furious that the Federal Reserve Chairman (Volker) would not lower interest rates when Reagan was “trying to stimulate the economy with tax breaks”. Poor people had to create jobs for themselves and at very high interest rates (13%). Unemployment in Riverside County was 14% back in the early 80s. The wealthy didn’t create jobs with the tax breaks because of the low risk, high interest returns by just keeping their money in the bank. People, middle and low income people, had equity in their homes and gambled it all as collateral to start a business. They created the jobs. The Bush tax break scene is a different story because there is no equity in homes to get a bank loan even though interest rates are low. No job creation with the $800 billion in Bush tax cuts over the past ten years and here we are again at 14% unemployment in Riverside County while the tax break money is either spent on job creation out of the country or hoarded in the bank or on who knows what. The wealthy are not the majority of job creators anymore because America is not living in the industrial age as when this paradigm was true. Everyone agrees that small business is the job creator in America these days and small businesses are not created by wealthy people today.

Just as in Reagan’s era, jobs are created by middle class people who have no meaningful job opportunities.

Public Comment: People are looking for a visionary leader. Cain’s plan just needs a little tweaking.

Publisher’s Response: If either Party really wanted to create jobs they would use the tax breaks to pay for performance. Since most people agree that we have too many government jobs already, except for teachers, we should give the tax break money to those in the private sector who create net job growth in America and vouchers to hire more science and math teachers. Try to find a visionary, on either side of the aisle, that understands that!

Public Comment: Regarding Publisher's rejection of misinformation submitted from a reader on probate law. Other newspapers let people give their opinion in Letters without censorship. I am sure you know what the Hallmark of censorship indicates.

Publisher’s Response: I do my best to assure those in the community who want to have a voice are given one and I also do my best to assure accuracy. Key word is accuracy. Accuracy is the Hallmark of Intelligence. I do understand that the staff at many daily newspapers which you are used to reading, do not assure accuracy in Letters or Opinion Columns. They don’t even assure accuracy of the content of their reporters!

It’s Pay Back Time - California Passes Controversial Dream Act

November 2011

It’s pay back time. For over 40 years, since Reagan was Governor of California, Republicans and Democrats alike looked the other way on illegal immigration as both sides of the aisle protected their base. One side of the aisle claiming to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor Mexican and the other side paving the road with gold for employers who exploited the laborers who worked in our construction and hospitality industries.

President Reagan was the first to give amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants while millions more continued to cross the border for jobs and President Bush punished severely two Border Patrol agents who shot one illegal border crosser, a drug smuggler, in the butt. Motives don’t get any clearer than that.

Now the children of those immigrants who worked in our hotels, restaurants, and building industry, often without protection of OSHA standards or labor laws, will reap back some of the tax dollars that the state of California earned from the high profits of those unscrupulous and greedy business owners. Whatever the dream, whatever the talent, the immigrant families will be paid back with whatever form of financial assistance their children desire from approximately $3,000 for vocational training to about $12,000 for a high priced university education. In total, the cost of the government grants is expected to be in the neighborhood of $40 million. That’s a pay back from California coffers of about $1 million a year for the past 40 years. Twice that would be a small price to pay, wouldn’t you say?

Social Security is Not an Entitlement-It is a Trust Fund!

August 2011

If you are still a registered Democrat or Republican, shame on you. The two party system is broken and they are trying to break you too in spirit and in security with their shenanigans. Did you know that the government debt for the Social Security Trust Fund is 18% of the total national debt? In June 2011, this debt, your retirement savings (FICA taxes) plus interest on the “special issue” government bonds was $2.5 trillion, earning 4.22% with an 8-year maturity date. By law, payment of both principal and interest is “guaranteed” however by law Social Security is also supposed to be solvent for 75 years into the future. Based on current projections, FICA income and debt payments will only last until 2035.

Fear tactics are being played by both sides of the aisle. The worst is the politician’s plan to “wean” the young off of Social Security by claiming they will never collect their benefits. A private program for their investment is the proposed solution. Uh, huh. You bet. Transfer the debt to their friends on Wall Street. Does this plan seem like a sham to you? The politicians know they cannot be blamed when these non-guaranteed “investments” lose value. All they need to do is scare the young enough to make it happen.

Are there any better solutions? Of course. Like start earning more money. For starters, put people back to work with Performance Grants paid for by rescinding the Bush tax cuts (See my July Editorial). Adjust the Social Security formula sooner rather than later and stop implementing exemptions like they did last year that cut self-employment FICA tax by 2% and exempted employers from paying FICA tax on certain “qualified employees”. Maybe it is also time to eliminate the exemption from FICA tax on wages above a certain threshold ($107,000 this year). Everyone can pay FICA taxes all year and on 100% of their earnings just as the majority of workers in this country do. Medicare Hospital Insurance is paid with employee taxes that go into a separate Trust Fund.

Entitlements are handouts that have no correlation to money earned by the recipients, such as welfare. Medicare and Social Security are NOT entitlements.

What Citizens Can Do To Get Jobs Created and Improve the Economy

July 2011

Voter registration numbers speak volumes about your impatience with our depressed economy. Since neither side of the aisle is serious about job creation, and they won’t be as long as voters keep sending the wrong message, registered Republicans and Democrats alike have only one choice left. Change your party affiliation with the Registrar of Voters. It doesn’t matter if you choose to register Independent or Decline to State. The Party will get the message. Spread the word!!!

Not fed up enough yet? Consider this. Democrats and Republicans have had the ability to create jobs with “Performance Grant” incentives for over three years. Instead they kept the Bush tax cuts alive. There is nothing wrong with giving to the rich IF they in turn keep our economy moving with job creation during periods of high unemployment. However they have failed miserably and both sides of the aisle share in the blame.

And don’t believe the fallacy that you never get a job from a poor person - a Fox News favorite. Millions of people who are considered poor by government standards have their retirement savings tied up in the stock of large corporations. They are therefore “poor” and owners of those businesses. Mom and Pop small businesses also hire employees as well as start-up companies where a desperate, out of work neighbor has mortgaged everything he or she owns to try to make it in this economy. Yes, even poor people create jobs.

Rich and poor alike would create jobs IF Performance Grants were offered. Where would the Performance Grant money come from? Rescind the Bush tax cuts on the top 2% of of the richest among us and we would have an additional $800 billion in federal revenue for the next ten years. That is $80 billion per year. What could $80 billion buy in the first year alone? Two million, “$40,000 Performance Grants”. That’s two million jobs tomorrow.

About six months ago Fox News anchor Cavuto interviewed California Congressman Garamendi (D) who had a similar approach. The problem was this congressman limited his idea to only government jobs, specifically the hiring of teachers with the revenue taken back from the richest among us. Of course that gave Cavuto plenty of protect the rich agruments such as: “The same kind of teachers we have now, because they’re not quite all up to snuff?” and “But I know how this goes. Money that is targeted to go to something else ends up going still somewhere else. And you guys have a poor track record at allocating funds to even your most heartfelt wishes.” Ref:http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/transcript/democrat-offering-alternative-tax-cut-deal

If you go online to read the whole interview yourself you will find a discrepancy between my number of $80 billion in the first year and Garamendi’s $40 billion estimate. Since my estimate is what has been cited in many financial reports and is conservative based on the $1.3 trillion federal revenue loss reported since Bush first passed the tax cut law ten years ago, $800 billion over the next ten years is a highly confident estimate.

Private sector Performance Grants could put two million people to work in a New York minute and you have the power to get their attention. If you only would!

In defense of teachers, of which I became one among them this year, I noticed that it is students who need incentives before they apply themselves. Our country is not giving our students much of a future to look forward to when every ten years we have a recession and high unemployment even for those with a college degree. Performance Grants could also apply to critical need government jobs, such as teaching, if the teacher was given the Performance Grant voucher to take to their HR administrator when hired.

We cannot wait for 2012. The Bush tax cuts on the top 2% of the richest among us means restroring their rate from today’s 35% to 39.6%. This tax break needs to be rescinded now with the revenue given to any employer that will create net job growth. The rich can benefit and get their money back IF they create jobs with it!

Turning the economy around is that easy. Sit back and hang on to your Party affiliation and your Party will keep pointing fingers while our economy continues to decline. “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”

Do nothing and you get the government you deserve.

Nancy Knight, Publisher, Distribution of this Editorial is approved and highly recommended.

County Corruption - Claims and Evidence

February 2011

Former District Attorney Rod Pacheco issued a statement on December 27, 2010 regarding the lawsuit he filed in Riverside Superior Court on December 10, 2010. The lawsuit was filed over a personnel dispute when Pacheco was unable to process his request to hire employees to fill vacant and funded positions in his department.

The Introduction section of the court document filed on December 30 entitled “Reply in Support of Ex Parte Application for Alternative Writ” states that after the lawsuit was filed the Respondents (the Board of Supervisors, the Executive Officer and Human Resources) agreed to process the personnel changes that Pacheco had requested and now concede that vacant positions existed for eight of the attorneys and for one of the demoted employees at the time Pacheco requested these hires.

The Introduction also cites that “In an effort to deflect attention from their own egregious conduct, Respondents engage in a smear campaign in their Opposition, contending that the Petitioner [DA Pacheco] “fabricated” budget numbers and “pressured” Eric Woolery, the Deputy Director of District Attorney Administration for the District Attorney’s Office, into presenting an “inaccurate” budget to the Board. In bold the document goes on ... none of this is true and in fact, Mr. Woolery has now recanted the statements in his declaration to that effect.

The players in the statement issued by DA Pacheco regarding that declaration by Mr. Woolery are identified as Executive Officer - Bill Luna, Mr. Jay Orr (Luna’s assistant), Mr. Horst (one of the two employees who agreed to a voluntary demotion to take a new position with the DA’s office), Deputy Director Woolery, and Mr. Zellerbach (former Judge elected in November to replace DA Pacheco).

The statement by Pacheco states: “It is evident from the declarations we have submitted today and the admissions by Mr. Woolery, that Mr. Orr called Mr. Woolery over to the county building to intimidate, coerce, and force him to sign an exceedingly misleading declaration. After reading the declaration prepared at Orr’s request, and presumably at the CEO’s request as well, Mr. Woolery refused to sign it. When he refused Mr. Orr’s coercion Luna entered the room and attempted to force Mr. Woolery to sign it also. Again he refused to sign in spite of their continued intimidation. At that point Mr. Zellerbach, a sitting judge and soon to be Mr. Woolery’s new boss entered the room. He then instructed Mr. Woolery to sign the document. At this critical juncture in Mr. Woolery’s future, and that of his wife and two small children, he capitulated.... Mr. Zellerbach has been very public, particularly to DA personnel in several highly controversial meetings that he intends to terminate both ‘at-will’ and civil service employees from our office. His statements have created a ‘climate of terror’ and have caused many high ranking prosecutors, victim service personnel, and others to seek employment elsewhere even before Mr. Zellerbach takes office.... Mr. Zellerbach’s threats against DA personnel can only be ‘justified’ if he succeeds in ‘creating’ a budget deficit. Then and only then can he ‘layoff’ personnel.”

Based on the “Declaration of William E. Mitchell”, Chief Assistant District Attorney in Riverside County, he states he is aware of and involved in the issues and circumstances underlying the legal proceedings in the writ. He states that on or about December 22 he learned the County had issued a press release that stated that Eric Woolery had filed a declaration contending that he had been asked to revise budget projections several times and turn a projected deficit into a surplus. When Mr. Mitchell asked Mr. Woolery if this was true, Mr. Woolery replied, “They made me do it. I had to.” Mr. Mitchell then asked, “Do what?” and Mr. Woolery responded, “Sign a declaration about the budget.”

On December 23, Mr. Woolery told Mr. Mitchell that his declaration was prepared by Respondents’ counsel and executed in the County Executive Office in the Administration Building. Mr. Woolery told Mr. Mitchell that he initially refused to sign a declaration prepared for him despite direct requests by Bill Luna and Jay Orr. After he refused, DA-elect Paul Zellerbach came into the office and when he responded to the question about how he would feel about Mr. Woolery executing the declaration, Mr. Zellerbach responded, “It would be a good thing. I would like it.” Mr. Woolery then said as a result “he felt a tremendous amount of pressure to sign the declaration because Mr. Zellerbach would soon be his boss.”

In the court document entitled “Petitioner’s Reply” it was cited that the Office of the District Attorney was under budget $1.2 million at the time of Pacheco’s personnel requests and if all of the requested personnel changes had been processed, the DA’s Office would still have been $600,000 under budget. The figures were based on the final First Quarter Budget for 2011 as prepared by Mr. Woolery and closely reviewed and confirmed accurate by Assistant DA Kelly Keenan. The final budget, which reflected the likelihood that certain employees would leave the DA’s Office through attrition and accounted for savings from grants and County furlough policies, was submitted to Respondents in October 2010. The Board never questioned any of the figures or asked anyone at the DA’s Office for clarification regarding the report. It was also cited that the improper interference of the Respondents violated the principles of separation of power and caused the DA’s Office to lose two qualified employees who chose to find other employment, rather than continue to suffer Respondents’ abuse of authority.

In the Court document entitled “Declaration of Kelly Keenan” it is cited that on December 10, 2010 Mr. Woolery came to Keenan’s office. Mr. Woolery told Keenan he was worried about District Attorney-Elect Zellerbach and said, “I’m in self preservation mode now”. Keenan retired effective December 10, 2010.

Respondents, in their Opposition brief, contended that the Budget was falsified by Eric Woolery, who believed that his supervisors “required him to modify the quarterly budget to inaccurately state that the Office had a surplus”. In the Declaration of Mr. Mitchell, he closes with a statement that the Respondent’s Opposition was a contrived response that attempted to shift blame for the legal proceedings to DA Pacheco rather than on Respondents’ “apparent politically motivated ‘hide the ball’ tactics and refusal to properly do their jobs.”

Pacheco says, “It is unfortunate that a simple process accepted across our county has been manipulated to serve Mr. Luna and Mr. Orr’s personal and political agenda. Tragically their behavior has become commonplace. It is negative behavior of which I have registered numerous complaints about in private to their managers the Board of Supervisors. I am aware of many other complaints from department heads and personnel about Mr. Luna’s and Mr. Orr’s lack of ethics. My concerns, formerly private, have now become public as their vindictive behavior has increased in severity. Their unethical behavior has spread like a cancer through the county since the CEO’s elevation and that of his assistant.

Mr. Luna’s constant refrain early in his tenure that he intended to “layoff 1,000 county employees” due to financial constraints rang false when he buried a huge pay raise for himself in an 88 page document.

Mr. Orr previously worked in the DA’s Office and ironically was responsible for our administration, which included millions of dollars in revenues our office received from state government and their agencies for various prosecutions, such as insurance fraud. These revenues are significant to our office and dependent on operation staff documenting on payroll documents the time they spend on various prosecutions. These payroll documents were exclusively gathered and submitted by Mr. Orr and his administrative staff to various state agencies typically under penalty of perjury. In December 2002, I was told by individuals within and outside Mr. Orr’s division that operation personnel who provided these functions were being coerced and intimidated to sign false payroll claims at Mr. Orr’s direction through his immediate subordinate. I called a meeting and invited Mr. Orr’s subordinate to respond to the many complaints. She refused to appear. Mr. Orr’s treatment of Mr. Woolery is remarkably identical to his past actions and is the type of behavior not now countenanced in our office, but is apparently welcome in the CEO’s office. [Mr. Pacheco was elected to the DA’s Office in 2006 and Mr. Orr left the DA’s Office shortly thereafter].

On December 30, Pecheco filed to dismiss the action without prejudice upon proof that Respondent has taken the appropriate actions to resolve the personnel changes in issue.

From the Publisher:

Time will tell if the Board continues to move to clean up these and other incidents of county corruption.

Supervisor Benoit made an issue of Registrar Dunmore’s late reporting of absentee votes on election night in November 2010. Dismissal of Registrar Dunmore followed in December 2010.

It was a good start at cleaning up a long history of election mishaps including electronic voting cartridges that took four hours to get to Riverside on election night - in more than one election - with the accepted excuse “we got lost”.

As a former candidate for the Republican Nomination to the State Assembly in 2006, I witnessed a preponderance of evidence of election fraud in that election. I still await a response from Supervisor Benoit, who endorsed Kevin Jeffries in that race, regarding a fair refund for my costs (over $2000) for a Ballot Statement that was not mailed to voters and for information on the 17 electronic voting cartridges that turned up ‘missing’ in that election. Supervisor Benoit has also not responded to my request to rescind the county’s practice of choosing not to abide in the Secretary of States’ alphabet draw for ballot position - a separate draw that placed Jeffries first on the ballot.

Jeffries is notoriously identified as the politician who took a bribe to betray the citizens of Murrieta in a deal offered by Dan Stephenson of Rancon in 2005 that earned Jeffries the personal support of Stephenson for election to the State Assembly in 2006.

Benoit was appointed County Supervisor when Wilson retired. Benoit’s son was elected to the Wildomar City Council in November 2010.

Liberty Quarry - Where’s The Water? Including J.B. Hudson’s Big Picture Analysis

January 2011

It has been projected that nearly 30,000 gallons of water per hour will be needed for Liberty Quarry operations. What water company is expected to provide that much water and at whose expense?

Liberty Quarry watchdogs noted that, Granite Construction, Inc., faced with this same inquiry in the past, had responded with some “lawyer-slippery” language to the effect that adequate and reasonable steps had been taken to obtain supply contracts for the water from “appropriate sources.” Appropriate sources turned out to be Western Municipal Water, according to the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) and as confirmed by a recent 4-1 vote of Western’s directors. The DEIR cited Western would provide a maximum of 369 acre-feet per year (26,368 gallons per hr., 16 hours per day, 285 days per yr.). The report also states “... approximately 70 to 80 percent of the water needed for Proposed Project operations will be recycled from the onsite settling ponds and concrete plant wash out. The balance of the water needs of the Proposed Project would be supplied by Western. After accounting for onsite reuse and recycling, it is anticipated that the Proposed Project will have a peak water demand of 398 acft/ yr (Kiser, 2008), which would generally be allocated to the following use categories: • Dust control, personal use, tire washing, and landscaping • Portland cement concrete production • Washing aggregate. Within these categories, the water supplied by Western would be used for washing crushed rock, concrete production, tire washing, and dust control throughout the Plant Area, on roads, and in active operational areas.” According to the report, existing roads and easements are available to pipe the water to the quarry.

As is customary with politicians who pander to the needs of big business campaign contributors, ultimately the public pays the price for growth and profits. We have seen this happen many times when elected officials approve Community Facilities District (CFD) bond financing. Homeowners in the area of the CFD bear the burden of bond payments in property tax assessments for roads, infrastructure and sometimes even school facilities.

On December 23, 2010 the Riverside County Planning Department announced the Final EIR could be delayed three to six months. Are they having difficulty mitigating environmental impacts or is the strategy of an “understanding” under way?

Analysis of the Big Picture By attorney J. B. Hudson of Fallbrook

“The entire matter of the “Liberty Quarry” has now – through the investigative efforts of such persons as Phil Strickland, Paul Jacobs, myself, Fred Bartz and Nancy Knight – exposed the “main play” which is actually under way for exactly what it is: a grand-scale, “Master Regional Development” plan for the creation of a major, massive and decades-requiring (and vastly profitable) construction project infrastructure complex, stretching from the City of Riverside down south over the main routes of Highway I-215 and Highway I-15 to its southernmost “tip” in Temecula. Where, so the planning goes, it would terminate at the “construction materials providing ‘supply depot’” of the “Liberty Quarry.” Its official name, as we all now know, is “The I-215 Economic Corridor Development” Project, and you may find its details upon its own website – sponsored, in turn, by the “MTG Group” (a/k/a the “Murrieta Temecula Group”), a loosely knit group of self-appointed “business growth and construction industry promoting” “professionals” up in the general Murrieta area.

This entire “Master Regional Development” plan has been conceived over the past several years, and is spearheaded by – logically enough – the Founder and Chairman of the RANCON Group of Companies, Daniel L. Stephenson. Mr. Stephenson, however, inadvertently allowed his position to be revealed when his name was found to have been included on a letter dated October 26, 2009, sent by the “MTG Group” directly to the then Mayor of Temecula, Temecula City Councilwoman Maryann Edwards, stating the “unanimous” support of the Members of the “MTG Group” for the “Liberty Quarry.” That done – and the letter having been discovered by the joint investigative efforts of Phil Strickland and Paul Jacobs – the true “Big Picture Play” was brought out into the open, [in the Californian] for all to see.

Public scrutiny then began to turn onto Mr. Stephenson, including, uncomfortably enough, his “entangling economic alliances” with at least three (3) elected Members of the Temecula City Council, and quite possibly with a fourth Member. Only Councilwoman Maryann Edwards was possibly outside of this “infected circle of the – if not guilty - ‘economically compromised’.” As a result of Mr. Stephenson’s de facto control over the actions of the Temecula City Council, the Temecula City Council, while uttering many boldsounding words, and while being transparently deceived, “toyed with” and endlessly and repeatedly delayed in its “Open Space” annexation efforts by the Riverside County Local Area Formation Commission (a/k/a the “RC LAFCO”) never – NEVER – voted to order the Temecula City Counsel, Peter M. Thorson, Esq. to take appropriate challenging actions in the California courts against the illegal actions which were committed against it by the RC LAFCO. Or, for that matter, against Granite Construction, Inc., which was openly seen to be acting collusively and complicitly in illegal coordination with the RC LAFCO, effectively and indefinitely stalling the City of Temecula from taking its legally available defensive actions. And this was done – and successfully done - in order to rapidly expedite, as quickly as possible, the approval of Granite Construction, Inc.’s Surface Mining Permit Application which was simultaneously and independently pending before both the Department of Planning and the Board of Supervisors of the County of Riverside. And so we now stand, as Mr. Biddle [quarry opponent residing in Temecula] has put it, “at one minute to Midnight.”

I would suggest that this situation – which is looking the City of Temecula and the Greater Temecula Valley “immediately and squarely in the eyes,” and which is poised for the very, very near-term and decisive vote of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors – is the major issue at hand. Not haggling with local “flacks” and “spear carriers” for the “Liberty Quarry”. This process of “thrust and counterthrust,” of “thrust and parry” – while secondarily necessary – is not – not – the main issue at all. It is, if you will, if anything, a form of distracted and distracting “fiddling while Rome burns.”

Mr. Daniel L. Stephenson, as a result of the newly emerged public sense of – and knowledge of – the actual “Big Picture Play” which is in operation – and which has been in operation for a number of years – has now been placed into the position of having to step, as it were, down to the “front center stage,” and to make a public statement in the press ([Californian] November 10, 2010) to the effect that, in his “considered judgment” the “Liberty Quarry” would not be best located in the midst of The City of Temecula. Either this is a highly deceptive and cynical move by Mr. Stephenson of the first magnitude, or he actually means it. In order for him to actually mean it, however, that means that Granite Construction, Inc. – which, by its own calculations, stands to make a consolidated net operating profit of some Two to Three Billion Dollars over the “Project Life” of the proposed “Liberty Quarry” - will have to have been somehow mollified – or, in cruder language, “bought off” – into “giving up” on the “Liberty Quarry” Project.

We will only know the truth of this matter when the vote is taken by the 5-Member Riverside County Board of Supervisors. If they (the RC Board of Supervisors) vote to approve the “Quarry,” then there will have been a massive and cynical betrayal of the Greater Temecula Valley by Mr. Stephenson and his RANCON Group of Companies, who will, as the saying has it, have been “talking out of both sides of their mouths.” If this approval should happen, however, it will then be the moment of “the acid test” for the City Council of the City of Temecula. It – or they – will then have to show their “true colors,” and either challenge the approving vote in the California Superior Court by instructing their City Attorney to do so, or not. If they do not so mount such a challenge, then they will have revealed exactly what their true natures will have been, and exactly whose real interests they will have served.

If they (the RC Board of Supervisors) vote to deny the “Quarry,” then – aside from all due credit being given to the continuing public expressions of outrage and opposition – the raw economics will strongly indicate that an “understanding” will have been appropriately reached with Granite Construction, Inc., guaranteeing them their otherwise lost profit from other supply contracts, relating to other-located sources of aggregate materials. In that circumstance, Mr. Stephenson could continue in his “benevolent” role as “The Father of Temecula” and of “The Inland Empire,” Granite Construction, Inc. would still get its profit, and Mr. Stephenson and his building industry colleagues on the “I-215 Economic Corridor Development” Project will proceed to become as additionally wealthy as they can possibly – or impossibly - dream.

As the saying has it: “We shall see.” We should all bear it closely in mind, and not be distracted by the petty squabbling in the press.”

Murrieta Passes Measures C, D, E.

Limits placed on Council Terms, Staff Salaries and Benefits

Congratulations Murrieta. Your first step - on the road to recovery - was admittance.

December 2010

If you open the November issue at www.thebugle.net you will find a front page story about downgrading zoning in a west side Murrieta neighborhood. Two councilmembers appear to be duped by the highly paid City Manager and his Planning Dept. staff. Passage of Measures C, D and E by a supermajority vote clearly was an indictment by the voters in staff’s corrupt practices.

Imagine owning rural residential property and establishing a home that you have lived in for over 30 years being downgraded from a mix of residential and commercial development to Garden Office zoning. Current residents are grandfathered for their current use but when they sell it, if they could sell it, the buyer cannot live in the home - it will no longer be zoned for mixed use that allows residences. The buyer would have to use the home as an office or bulldoze the property for office development. That is the currently proposed best possible use for the area according to the city manager.

The hidden motive is that the city has run out of inventory and in order to justify a huge Planning Department they need to find land that they can rezone and The Bugle’s investigation revealed they have a Murrieta insider who wants the land on the east side of Adams Ave. between Ivy and Hawthorne and apparently they want it cheap. You can’t get more worthless than with a Garden Office zoning on individual half acre to 1.5 acre parcels.

Term limits will bring fresh blood and maybe in time rid Murrieta of their long standing corrupt practices that finally culminated in a 2005 Recall Measure. Unfortunately, Dan Stephenson of Rancon, raised over a half million dollars to oppose the Recall Measure and only one councilmember was ousted. One can only wonder if that councilmember, former Mayor Jack vanHaaster, could have been spared his felony conviction if he had been given the benefit of full-disclosure and honest advice from city staff. Staff that is, and has been, complicit in City Hall corruption does not deserve taxpayer paid salaries and benefits in excess of $200k per year.

The Bush expired tax breaks on the wealthy can create net job growth

November 2010

Performance Grants are the best way to increase jobs in this type of economic downturn. Tax cuts merely rely on faith that if people are allowed to keep their money they will invest in job creation. If you are among the unemployed, I am sure you see the error in this faith-based mentality. So, aside from relying on hope, how can Performance Grants be used as the incentive to create net job growth?

Let’s look at the numbers. It was revealed in October that the expired tax cuts will generate $800 billion dollars in federal revenue over the next ten years. That’s $80 billion per year that could be given back to business owners, not as a tax break, but as an incentive to hire new employees and keep existing ones. That is how “net” jobs are defined. At $80 billion per year, that is a Performance Grant equivalent of $40,000 for 2 million private sector jobs per year for the next ten years. That’s two million shoppers back in our economy in a New York minute that will create a domino effect for more jobs in all sectors of the economy.

For those who remember Reaganomics and studied the frustration President Reagan had with Federal Reserve Chairman Volcker, who refused to lower interest rates in the recession of the early 80s, you know the Reagan tax cuts did not stimulate economic recovery. Reagan’s tax cuts enabled the wealthy to reap high yield, low risk, interest rate rewards. Why risk increased production when you are guaranteed a 12% return on your money just by keeping it in the bank? Based on our experience in Riverside County, small businesses did spring up here not because of tax breaks but because people who were out of work had equity in their homes and they were desperate enough to sign off all of their collateral to the bank in exchange for a high interest loan to start a business. Yes poor people do start businesses, contrary to what you hear on Fox News, and poor people do create jobs. In those days unemployment in Riverside County was over 14%.

Today there is no equity in homes. There is no collateral to give a bank in exchange for a loan even though interest rates are low. We can no longer hope businesses in the $250,000 income tax bracket and above will invest their tax savings in business expansion. Neither side of the aisle has a plan on how to bring us out of this Great Recession. Somewhere in the middle of faith and public assistance is where we find the answer. The government needs to invest in job creation. If the numbers are true, and I believe they are conservative, Performance Grants for those businesses willing to add new employees and keep existing ones is the answer.

Anarchy Disguised As Religion

October 2010

The greatest concern for our freedom of religion rights stems from the use of the First Amendment to the Constitution as a ruse to circumvent the laws of the United States. There are at least two government agencies in America that have the ability and authority to deprive any church from hiding behind the freedom of religion right when that church has been found guilty of anarchy. Anarchy is the result of a cult or religion that allows or protects behaviors that conflict with the laws of the United States. Good government would not allow anarchy to be tolerated as a freedom of religion right.

One of the punishments available from the highest level of government authority, the federal government, is loss of a church’s non-profit status. This punishment is severe enough to have sweeping behavior reform in all religious orders in the United States.

For example, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not allowed the practice of polygamy since 1890. If their church had continued the practice of polygamy, when our laws forbid it, their church would be acting in a social state of anarchy with total disregard for government authority.

Another more current issue is the one of predominantly homosexual pedophilia by priests who were reported and then protected by the highest level of their administration. Quote from the 2005 Ferns Report: “A culture of secrecy and fear of scandal that led bishops to place the interests of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of children”. In 2005, Pope Benedict was personally accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys in Texas. He sought and obtained immunity from prosecution as head of state of the Holy See. Corrupt self-serving concealment is a prime example of when a church, rather than an individual diocese or branch, should lose its non-profit status.

By comparison, municipal governments have the authority to disapprove or revoke an individual church’s building or occupancy permit. In this instance, it is the individual branch of a church that is held accountable for the actions of its clergy. An example reported to The Bugle by a parishioner of Temecula’s St. Catherine of Alexandria a few months ago is their priest shouting out “Viva Mexico,” and encouraging the congregation to respond in kind (Letters Feb. 2010). Then there is the Los Angeles diocese that openly supports protection of undocumented aliens.

Other examples in current news are the proposed mosque in Temecula and the proposed mosque at Ground Zero in New York. Any leader of the Islamic religion, that wishes to practice in the United States, is practicing a social state of anarchy when they refuse to denounce Sharia law or denounce Hamas. Newt Gingrich explains it this way. “... Sharia does not support religious liberty; it treats non-Muslims as inferior and does not accord them the same protections as Muslims. In these and other instances, sharia is explicitly at odds with core American and Western values... Thus, the radical Islamist effort to impose sharia worldwide is a direct threat to all those who believe in the freedoms maintained by our constitutional system.”

Concerned American Citizens (CAC) has expressed opposition to the building of the proposed mosque on Nicolas Road in Temecula. CAC claims that the mosque supports Sharia law, which is not consistent with -- and holds itself superior to -- the Constitution of the United States. Plus Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other countries and yet the Imam refuses to publicly agree with our nation on this point. CAC leader Mano Bakh stated: “Your active participation as an American is needed to place our demand on city officials to educate themselves and perform more due diligence to ensure the safety of citizens in the community.”

The Temecula City Council would be doing their due diligence by encouraging a formal statement from the Imam that he supports the U. S. Constitution and the laws of the United States as SUPREME for his congregation. If not, denial of a permit for a mosque whose leader supports a social state of anarchy is a logical and prudent government decision.

It is time to end weakness in the U.S. for all religions that are proven corrupt. No more deception, immunity, and anarchy under the cover of religion!

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