Tax Payer Money and Larry Smith's Campaign

What really makes me mad about the $20,000 (approximately) that is talked about being spent to "educate the public" is really money being spent for Larry Smith's re-election campaign! Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that is illegal! This "educating the public" can wait til after the election. Calfire is not due to take over til July 2015 and as far as we know, a contract has not been signed.

Jeff Stone and the corrupt things he does!

Here is a link that is on the Hemet Politics Facebook page.

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1159497/bonnie-garcia-complaint-to-fppc.txt

Some informational facts that correlate to the above link are...

1. Remember the fundraiser for Masson, running for Hemet City Council (just saw someone putting his signs up), hosted by Jeff Stone in Temecula? Well, the group in charge of it was Innovative Political Solutions, which is run by Lori Stone. She has been hired by the following candidates for fundraising efforts: Kevin Jeffries, Riverside County Supervisor 1st District and Mike Hestrin, District Attorney-Elect. Hmmmm.  So that's two County Supervisors, Ashley and Tavaglione, who have contributed to his campaign in one way or another and then there is Kevin Jeffries, who is mentioned above. Remember that the following endorsed Masson: Tavaglione, Stone, Hestrin, Ashley and Hemet's Smith, Milne and Youseff.

2. Another is regarding James Larry Minor, who we all know simply as Larry Minor. This guy, as most of you know, is the President of Valley Wide and running for re-election. The reason I bring him up is because he is discussed in the above link.  The article I am quoting from is dated February 20, 2011 and from Inlandnewstoday.com.
"Potato 'baron' James Larry Minor has quickly settled an indictment alleging that he laundered contributions to the failed State Senate Campaign of County Supervisor Jeff Stone.
Minor could have been sent to prison, but accepted an agreement Wednesday in Riverside Superior Court by pleading guilty of two misdemeanors.
Minor was sentenced to three years' probation Wednesday and will pay a $60,000 fine to the California Fair Political Practice Commission.
Supervisor Stone was not charged with any wrongdoing.
Minor was accused of donating nearly $40,000 to Stone's campaign in the names of family members, friends and business associates".

For Stone's 2014 campaign, the following members (that I can quickly find online) of the Minor family have contributed at least $3900 each:
Larry Minor, Sandra Minor, Andrew Minor, Lorrie A. Minor, Aimee Minor, Larry G. Minor and Sarah E. Minor.  Just the above is $27,300.

Is this happening again?!  By the way, Larry Smith and Minor are good friends. Smith said so himself in an article written about the charges brought against Minor.

Information

Pay attention to the other news sources in Riverside County.  They are keeping us informed as to how contracting out public safety is working for them. It isn't going very well, as you might have imagined.

Educating the Public

Guess where approximately $20,000 of your tax money is about to go? It is going to be spent on mailers and newspaper ads trying to sell us taxpayers on Calfire. This fascinates me and pisses me off at the same time. Here's why...
It fascinates me because the council 3 hired consultants to come in and assess who gives the best service for the best price. Every single time the consultant came back saying our very own Hemet Fire Department. A decent amount of our tax dollars, some have estimated half a million dollars, was spent telling us something we already knew. Milne stated during the last council meeting that there is so much misconstrued information out there that the public needs to be educated with the facts. So, we will now spend about $20,000 on mailers and newspaper ads to tell us, the taxpayers, who just spent half a million dollars on consultants, misinformation. They are either that delusional or think we are that stupid!
And I also heard that call outs from City Hall have been made to various communities in Hemet to schedule an information session with a representative from Calfire. The Citizens of Hemet have been educated! I think by now, we know better!
Here's what pisses me off... We keep having to pay for this! This has got to stop!!!

One more thing...

Apparently, I have a few things to say tonight.

It may look like I am attacking Stone and the council three from behind a laptop, but I have called them out publicly and on record. I told Stone to his face that he and his campaign contributors are ruining our City and I want to know why. I also told him that it must be about campaign contribution kick-backs and insurance payouts. We all need to call all of them out! Now!!

And the next time you see a Hemet Firefighter, thank them not only for what they do but the fact that as of this moment our City is still Our City because they keep fighting! They have been on the front-lines for years. Think of where we would be now had they conceded years ago.

As a side note... I said the following when I spoke during the Board of Supervisors meeting:
'When my grandmother immigrated to this country (She came from the beautiful country of Brasil), her father would tell her and her siblings every night... Don't ever do anything that would make this great country ashamed of having you'.
It is a tall order, I know. We are human beings, but we must fight for the beauty of what makes this great country, Great. And that is it's people pulling together to make it right and fight when we see our voice so arrogantly stripped away!

The County Board of Supervisors meeting went as expected! They voted 4-0 to continue on the path of contracting out. Why not? This is an AMAZING deal for them! They get ALL of our resources to use whenever and however they choose without paying a dime!! They get everything our tax dollars paid for because we have had our own fire department! Stone tried to tell everyone in that room (by the way, that building and chamber is over-the-top. Far less money could have been spent on all of that.) that his biggest concern for the San Jacinto Valley was that our public safety wasn't good enough. He said that it is in the better interest of the public to move forward. Yes, because your priority, Jeff Stone, is a blue collar/working class community (Input sarcasm).
Like I stated at the beginning, this is a great deal for them. They get everything we tax payers paid for, handed to them! Jeff Stone has campaign contributors such as, Calfire, owners of both the hospitals in Hemet and Menifee and other members on the board of supervisors. I have heard rumors of selling the hospital in Menifee. If I were interested in buying a hospital, then I would want to know that my potential asset was protected, aka a ladder truck. Then, there is the hospital here in Hemet. There will be no ladder truck nearby. If something happens to that hospital the chance that lives are taken is substantially increased without our ladder truck. If something happens to that hospital, who do you think benefits from the insurance payout? The owners/board of course. Many of which have contributed to Stones campaign currently and over the years.

According to the Board, the citizens don't need to vote on everything. We elect people to make decisions for us. True, we elect people to make decisions that reflect the spirit/decisions of the majority of their constituents. The majority has spoken, time and again. We want local control of our Public Safety, our Public Works, our Water Department and our Budget; our hard earned money. How about you all figure out what being a public servant is really all about?
And by the way, Citizens of Hemet who attended the council meetings that pertained to contracting out fire, apparently we all got hostile. Honestly... I'm not sure he really wants to know what the word hostile actually means.

Special Meeting Tuesday, September 16, 2014 for the Board of Supervisors

The link to the agenda is below. After you have been directed to the agenda, click on the blue link that says FIRE. It will take you to the documentation.
Please check this out because what is interesting about this is Hawkins 'selling point'.  He makes a case that having Hemet's ladder truck is going to benefit the region. How many of you would agree that after 6 months to a year that ladder truck never comes back to Hemet?  The ladder truck will only be here 50% of the time as it is currently worded, but keep in mind that the contract is not yet signed.  You want to know the level of risk that presents to this community? They will in fact turn around and argue that it is an Acceptable Risk. We have a hospital and a large senior population. What level of risk is acceptable to you?

http://rivcocob.org/agenda/2014/09_16_14Special.htm

So, now that the Council majority has voted to contract out, we should ask ourselves, why there needs to be a special meeting? Calfire is due to take over July 2015. Are they going to expedite the process?

Also note, and this is public knowledge, that the California Department of Forestry Fire Fighters (aka Calfire. Think of Calfire as a city contract-friendly DBA), contributed to Jeff Stone's State Senate Campaign.

Jeff Stone hosts fundraiser for Robert Masson

Have you heard? Supervisor Jeff Stone is having a fundraiser for Robert Masson in Temecula! You want to know who is on Masson's list of endorsements? Here it is...
John Tavaglione, County Supervisor District 1
Marion Ashley, County Supervisor District 5
Paul Angulo, Riverside County Auditor/Controller
Mike Hestrin, District Attorney Elect
Brian DeDorge, Beaumont Councilman
Steve Hernandez, Coachella Councilman
Larry Smith, Hemet Mayor
Robert Youseff, Hemet Councilman
Shellie Milne, Hemet Councilwoman
Scott Mann, Menifee Mayor
George Price, Moreno Valley Councilman
Daryl Busch, Perris Mayor
Rusty Bailey, Riverside Mayor
Jim Perry, Riverside Councilman
Alonso Ledezma, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8
Riverside Police Department (RPOA)
Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Association

Channel 7 News

Hey Everyone! Tune into Channel 7 tonight. They will have the Hemet Fire Department's story!!!

Council Meeting September 9, 2014

I haven't seen anything this arrogant and disrespectful as to how the three city council members voted to outsource fire in a long time!  Smith tried to push a vote before Council Members Krupa and Wright were able make their comments! Thankfully, his efforts failed. I just hope what Council Members Krupa and Wright had to say was accurately recorded. I am impressed by what the two of you had to say.

Council Members Krupa and Wright showed commitment not only to the people of this City but to pure, true democracy! They made a motion to bring this decision to the people of our City for a vote. The three, of course, quickly shot that down because they know this city would never let contracting out happen if we voted. Instead, they rushed the vote. It may have very well been less than 15 seconds from the motion to the conclusion of the vote! It was orchestrated. So now I ask, why is this being forced upon us? We know from surrounding cities that the rates will go up and we will not be able to afford it. That is a fact. There is evidence to support it. Why are you trying to bankrupt this City? I don't want to hear about how you saved this City from bankruptcy by contracting out to CR&R. I hope most of you, by now, are aware that CR&R contributed to Jeff Stone's State Senate Campaign. Jeff Stone is the County Supervisor for our district. John Petty is the Planning Commissioner for our district. John Petty on a website boasted about how he used his political connections to get Milne elected. That is all public knowledge! Something is going on...

Let's get back to the meeting last night. Even if I get liberal with the numbers... Let's pretend that HFD is $30,000 a year more expensive than CalFire (We aren't calling them County because they are a State Agency). For that price, we get 3 Battalion Chiefs, a full-time Hemet Fire Chief and 100% use of our ladder truck when we want it and need it.  If you ask me, that's a deal!

It is still cheaper to risk going .9% (City said last night that HFD, over the last 8 years, on average spends 100.9% of their budget. However, if you average the budget for the last 9 years, HFD comes in under budget, but only an average of 8 years supports the council majority argument.) over a budget than to have an increase in rates (possibly yearly) anywhere from 1.3% to 40%. Wexler made a great point. If this contract gets signed with CalFire, what dollar amount do you think we will contractually obligate ourselves?  Guess what? We, the taxpayers, will not know what that amount is before that contract gets signed, if it does. If this actually goes through, HPD is next. Do you want to lose control of 75% of our City Budget?

For our HFD-  I know that you would rather continue to commit yourselves to our City and not go elsewhere even though the job would be far less demanding. I know some of you grew up in the City of Hemet and became Hemet Firefighters. Please know, and I'm sure I speak for the vast majority, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for never giving up on us!

At the last council meeting, August 26, item 11 on the agenda was to 'authorize the interim finance director to record a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $12,760.00 in Fund 255-8250-2450 for payment of storm related debris hauling costs'. This amount is to be paid to CR&R. It was stated during the meeting that when we had the massive storms a few months back that CR&R designated a truck to go around and collect the debris from those storms.  This took approximately a month for CR&R to accomplish. I find two things interesting from this agenda item. One, there was no hesitation in the council in complimenting CR&R for their efforts. Not one person from the city commented on the efforts of our city employees until after Elliano (at this meeting) reminded everyone of all the city employees stepping up during that time. Only then, did you hear any compliments driven in the direction of our city employees!  Two, after the vote passed to pay CR&R for hauling the debris, two men in suits got up and left. Don't think that on the way out the council didn't thank them for their efforts; they did!

Sorry! September 9th. This month came way too fast!

As everyone has now heard, well those of you who pay attention, the City Council is voting Tuesday, August 9th, to 'approve a five-year cooperative agreement with Riverside County Fire to provide fire and emergency services for the City of Hemet'. This is set to begin July 1, 2015. I have to hand it to them; at least they showed some restraint.  It could have been a 20-year contract. We know they will vote, most likely 3-2, in favor of this agreement regardless of what anyone says or how many people attend the meeting. It is still important for EVERYONE to attend! No one cares if hundreds of people show up, but thousands of people showing up makes a statement. So, now that they have campaigned and stated time and again that they will give us the best service for the best price, how about we all show up and make them prove it so that it is at least on record that they cannot. Riverside County Fire/Cal Fire cannot give the City of Hemet better service for a better price. I have heard that CalFire just approved raises.  I would like to know why we are going to be paying for items that will be purchased for the sole intention of CalFire. We will not receive compensation for our facilities or equipment.  As a matter of fact, we will be paying to maintain all of it. So, thank you to everyone who voted for these 3 council members.  You have successfully participated in the contracting-out/privatization of our city.  It is about to get more expensive. I hear it has for San Jacinto!  Hopefully you pay more attention from here on out when you vote.

During the council meeting August 12th, we had the pleasure of seeing this year's award recipients for the Hemet Police Department. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge advocate and supporter of local control. Even with the limited resources and slashed budgets, they have been able to keep up with what is needed.  I have had the honor of doing ride-alongs with both Fire and PD.  Those of us who live in the city of Hemet are very lucky to have the men and women of both departments. You are unsurpassed and I am grateful for each and every one of you. I come from a family of public safety and it is also a priority that you all go home to your families everyday. Because of my loyalty to our public safety, it makes me ill when I hear someone speak highly of them when I know they truly think otherwise.  I understand it is an election year, but be honest about how you would contract out our public safety in a heartbeat if you weren't concerned as to how it would impact November. Voters listen up because if you vote for Smith or any other candidate aligned with him (I hear Robert Masson is), here is what you are going to do... Contract out your public safety and every other city department.  Your city will no longer be your city. As it stands, we are letting it slip away because we, as voters, are not doing our part in the process. Get informed about what is really going on and don't listen to the election year one-liners that carry no weight. I don't appreciate people harming the integrity of our city and those who truly serve it.