BULLETIN
State Attorney General to Investigate Modoc County
Criminal investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office (AG) are coming to Modoc County next week to launch their probe into the county’s $20 million misappropriation of treasury funds.
The inquiry into the county’s financial practices, which could have statewide repercussions, may also lead to felony charges against county officials, according to a source familiar with AG procedures who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The investigators are expected to begin interviewing top level county officials, including members of the Board of Supervisors April 17, in the first phase of what is anticipated to be an initial two-week search for evidence and documents, according to the source who said there are a number of reasons for the AG’s investigation.
Attorney General Kamala Harris believes she has an ethical and moral obligation to investigate treasury misappropriations, and it does not matter how small the county. If county officials commit a felony Harris believes they should be held accountable.
(This is contrary to DA Christopher Brooke who has declined requests of past Modoc County Grand Juries to prosecute various county officials, saying he has no criminal basis to do so.)
The statute of limitations for prosecutions is four years. The AG considers the “point of discovery” as 2009, when former CAO Mark Charlton went public with his disclosure that county officials had been misappropriating treasury funds for years. There is one year left in the four-year statute of limitations.
County supervisors throughout California have been following Modoc County’s fiscal developments on the Modoc Independent News blog and are instructing their administrators to see if they too, can use restricted funds illegally and get away with it.
County administrators are reporting to the State Controllers Office their concerns that their boards of supervisors will try the same tactics as Modoc County, which they see as illegal.
“Attorney General Harris knows this and has told her staff that what the people in Modoc County are doing is wrong,” the source said. “She says it’s a felony, and that she has an obligation to investigate. Also, she knows that other large cities and counties are thinking of doing this.”
Modoc County is going to be used by the AG an example to send a message to other counties and municipalities that illegal use of treasury funds is not going to be tolerated.
Modoc County CAO Chester Robertson, when asked by the Modoc Independent News to confirm the AG investigation, dodged a direct answer saying he had placed a call to the AG's office and had not heard back from them.
“They have not contacted my office or the county offices,” Robertson said. “I heard they are coming, but I don’t have specifics because they have not contacted my office.”
Even so, Robertson did say he has advised members of the Board of Supervisors of the impending investigation and that they may be interviewed.
He did say he wanted to know “what the AG investigation meant to the county, what the intentions of the AG were and what the implications of these allegations meant to local officials.
“Woolverton hasn’t said specifically why they are coming,” Robertson said, referring questions to Gary Woolverton, former Modoc County district attorney, who Robertson said the AG notified rather than his office that it was starting its investigation.
Woolverton drafted the initial “performance bond claim” alleging various county officials were responsible for the misappropriation. Calls left with Woolverton’s office were not immediately returned.
The impending investigation was confirmed by Supervisor Dave Allan, who said the county was notified on April 11 of the AG’s intention to meet with county officials.
"The Attorney General's office is coming on Tuesday,” Allan said. “They say they're going to talk to people and write a report."
Allan said he, Robertson, Supervisor Loren “Shorty” Crabtree and Woolverton met April 11, the same day Woolverton informed them of the investigation to discuss their preparation for the AG meeting. He did not specifically say what the county’s plan was for working with the AG investigators.
Various county department heads are speculating among themselves as to why the AG investigators have chosen April 17 to begin their interviews and document search because that is the day Auditor Darcy Locken, Treasurer Cheryl Knoch and Robertson wrap up their “pay ourselves back“ special session workshop with the Board of Supervisors.
A surprised Locken told the Modoc Independent News that she had not been notified by Robertson that an AG investigation would start next week.
-- Ray A. March
Editor’s Note: Barbara March, publisher of the Modoc Independent News and this blog, contributed to this article.
62 comments:
Hell it is about time hope they fry the BOS and any others that where in the know.The BOS needs to learn they are here to support the laws of this state not they're
own agendas.
Oh great, now we have a leftist Attorney General from the bankrupt State of California investigating.
And of course she is impartial, but has already decided that "what the people in Modoc County are doing is wrong" even before investigating.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
This all sounds very suspicious. Chester Robertson says that his office has not been contacted about the Attorney General visit but the supervisors all know about it? I thought Gary Woolverton did not run for District Attorney, in what capacity is he working. Is there a position titled “former District Attorney” in Modoc County and if so, who is paying for his services? Most attorneys don’t work for free.
It's about by Gawd time!!!! Let's see the heads roll!
For too long the citizens of Modoc County have felt helpless against the bullys threatoning death to those citizens that dare speak (I'll blow his head off. I'll blow cigarette smoke in his face until he dies.) and loss of job to any employee speaking up. Run run run Pat Cantrall, Dave Maxwell and all the others that brought this mess upon us with their arrogance and disrepect for honesty and the rule of law.
Now we'll see people get in line to speak up and speak out. Great timing for the day to show up. Bet the public financial meeting gets cancelled. Do I see four or five new supervisors being elected in June, maybe a treasurer? Modoc County may have to pay for defense lawyers for the county supervisors but it will be worth it to finally get some justice for the taxpayers of this wonderful county.
Th A.G. would not be sending investigators here if they weren't sure of convictions. Money is too short to waste it on an investigation without convictions. I say HOORAY, YIPPEE AND HOORAW throw the bums in jail and take everything they have to help repay what they misapropriated. Violating the public trust should be a serious matter and not to be laughed at as our county supervisors do. GO GETUM.
Error to correct on previous post.
Should be Mike Maxwell, not Dave.
Mr. Robertson said he wanted to know “what the AG investigation meant to the county, what the intentions of the AG were and what the implications of these allegations meant to local officials.”
What a stupid statement. It's pretty obvious to us “common people” what is happening, the dishonest politicians are finally going to get there come-up-uns. Finally, those trying to do the honest thing and comply with the law won't be threatoned with arrest, death or losing a job for their honesty. Hope they stick around and attend a BOS meeting to see how things are done there.
Lets hope that AG Harris has studied up on the "good ole boy Modoc suck up", and doesn't fall prey to the antics of these clowns. Bet she'll be really impressed with Cantrall and Crabtree! Maybe Pat can take her to target practice and Shorty can take her to a brandin'.
OPEN LETTER TO THE MODOC COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
Good luck in the upcoming attorney general investigation. You that have been doing a good, honest job will be recognised for it now by being separated from the guilty. For the guilty I have no sympathy at all. You knew you were doing wrong and chose that path voluntarily, now run, run, run. Modoc County is going to become a nice place for honest people to be able to remain honest without worry of going to jail for being honest. Hooray, hooray, hooray, hooraw. I want to throw a party, I feel so good.
--- Ron Rutledge
Hey Greg. Would you prefer no investigation? Furthermore, this is the land of the free where a person is allowed to be a "lefty", Righty, or In Betweenie. Nobody else has had the guts to do this. You pass judgment before anything is done. The A.G simply stated the obvious that "what the people in Modoc County are doing is wrong".
A.G. invetigators coming to town. I bet Cantrall won't offer to blow thier heads off if they show up.
Greg, your lack of impartiality and blatant political bigotry epitomizes why in part, as a former Modoc County Grand Jury member, the citizens of Modoc County have had no effective recourse locally in resolving this illegal borrowing issue.
The taxpayers have learned that county grand juries (despite previous members protestations) do have the responsibility and the ability ask for criminal investigations for illegal behavior – a duty and obligation that the grand jury that you were on and subsequent grand jury’s chose to ignore regarding the illegal spending.
Likewise with the District Attorney. The county D.A. is:
“the public prosecutor, except as otherwise provided by law.”
and as such,
"The public prosecutor shall attend the courts, and within his or her discretion shall initiate and conduct on behalf of the people all prosecutions for public offenses."
Therein is the problem: the local checks and balances (the grand jury and the district attorney) have failed their local constituency in providing the effective investigation and, if need be, prosecutions to halt the illegal behavior.
The bottom line is that for too long many of the local county officials and residents – including the BOS, the CAO’s , the county schools superintendents, the mental health directors, the county health directors, the county librarian, the auditors, the treasurers, the Modoc County Record, and the Modoc First 5 commissioners have ignored both the law and common sense with this illegal borrowing and lending scheme, and despite warnings from within and without continued the practice unabated.
Finally, counties in the state of California are not above the law, but are in fact extensions of the state itself – so the only public entity acting responsibly at all is the State Attorney General, because they have the responsibility to act in the name of the people of the state.
Thank goodness someone is finally acting responsibly; because all Modoc has proven thus far is just how far it will go to continue bilking the taxpayers without their knowledge, input, or consent.
Hope the AG talks with Michelson. Her experiences as a quasi-county employee who had interactions with most of the cronies in Modoc that wanted to keep the lending scheme going has been an eye-opener for this former Modoc County taxpayer and resident.
Also, the AG will have sense enough to figure out that the argument put forward by the Modoc County Record and the county officials for all of this illegal borrowing to "keep the hospital open" to be the logical fallacy that it is.
The next question to be answered is how much money are you taxpayers up there going to allow the board of supervisors to spend on their defense by hiring additional attorneys?
Wonder if the BOS and First 5 Commissioners wish now that they had listened to Mrs. Michelson? I do hope they contact her, but I also hope the AG contacts Phil Smith, Carol Harbaugh, and the rest of the crew involved in covering up this debacle. They may also regret not hiring a new County Counsel too. I certainly do.
Can anyone advise if it is LEGAL for the County to pay for their personal defense? The Law is fairly clear that illegal acts are not supposed to create rewards (as in selling stories about your personal illegal activities), but what area of the law would cover this? Perhaps as local citizens we need to be prepared for this and "gang up" on them if necessary. They should pay for their own attorney if one is necessary.
Regarding the legality of the BOS and others using taxpayer dollars to pay for their crimes against the taxpayers:
From www.counties.org:
"The County Counsel in most counties defends or prosecutes all civil actions and proceedings in which the county or any of its officers is concerned or is a party in an official capacity. In some counties, the County Counsel handles most of the civil litigation involving the county or its officers, while in others the Board of Supervisors hires private attorneys to do some or all of this work under the County Counsel's general supervision.
How this pertains to felony matters is unclear – but whatever the case, they will all expect and demand that the taxpayers pay to defend them all, because what they all did was, after all, “for the greater good.”
It is highly unlikely that the AG herself will come to Modoc, but rather will send staff up here. Probably a good thing.........who knows what racial slur might come out of Sup Crabtree this time. She is African American/Asian, was the former DA of San Francisco and is commonly referred to as "the female Obama". Oh, or 'leftist' as one ignorant biased Modocer has already called her. Someone needs to sell tickets to this affair!
Is it just coincidence that the current First 5 Director, Amanda Hoy, a former employee of Modoc County under Auditor Judy Stevens, has been the Director of the First 5 Program and a "county employee" ever since Donna Michelson was fired?
4:33 PM - The illegal acts in this case have already created their own rewards.
Many of those involved have retired at taxpayer expense. The county librarian gets to keep her ill-gotten raises. The county employees too. Even the local rag gets to reap the rewards of more advert dollars for not reporting the news.
That's the inherent problem with cronyism and nepotism: you and your friends/relatives get what they want, no matter the expense to the rest of us taxpayers.
Well, it’s a problem for taxpayers anyway.
The Modoc County debt debacle may not rise to the level that the City of Bell, CA did; however, its roots seem spread more deeply throughout the community.
For example, do most Modocer's realize that Modoc County's first CAO was also it's first to sanction nepotism at the highest level?
It's true. The first CAO of Modoc County hired his wife to be his secretary.
One could argue that our county's first CAO set the tone for what would be acceptable hiring policies for the county in the future.
Yeah, and by the way...the first CAO and his wife?
They both got to retire on the taxpayer’s dime as well...
And the beat goes on...
It is a certainty that our county supervisors will decide that county counsel is not the one they want representing any of them at the upcoming investigation. They will expect the taxpayer to pay the bill for an attorney for each of them and they have the power to access all the money in the treasury to pay for them. The good news is that they will have to authorize money to hire lawyers at an open meeting. Would you want Mr. Kenny representing you at a criminal investigation?
On a personal note. I am overwhelmed by this news. I expected the crooks to walk away with nice retirement packages, laughing at the foolish voters of Modoc County. We may even see an end to all the secret budget committee meetings and some real openness in county government. We may even get five honest representatives after this is over.
Don't get your hopes up folks. Stupidity isn't a crime.
I think there is a mistake regarding the first CAO if your referring to Maxwell, as he was NOT the first CAO that this County hired.
No one has been charged, staff is being sent from the AG's office, and people might be interviewed and they'll (AG) go home. Doubtful there will be charges, and it's just allot of hype about a problem that's been around for awhile. They've been here before, what is different this time? New AG doesn't change the way the law reads, they can threaten, but really, does the State have the funding to really pursue this. It's all just speculation at this point. Your all excited thinking that Sups are going to jail, but that costs a few dollars too. None of this is good for the County right now, none of it. But that's right most of you want County employee's to work for 3.00 an hour, wait like dogs on those of you that are the real "tax payers" because County employee's apparently aren't. And they should make sure that you have books to read, and free mental health, free drug and alcohol counseling, subsidized medical care, etc. And all the while you bitch about how fat the County employee's are. Get real. Don't speak unless you've done your research, most of you don't know what the hell your talking about.
Ignorance (of the law) is no excuse (for breaking it).
7:02AM - Well yes, stupidity can be a crime; particularly when the actions of public officials result in taxpayer dollars being used illegally.
The "I didn't know" or "we only wanted to save the hospital" arguments have no merit in all this.
In the end, stupid actions do have consequences; whether it is to keep the Modoc taxpayers in debt for years to come through no fault of their own...or hopefully, to see that those who were duty-bound to the safe-keeping of our tax dollars are finally held responsible for the (to put it mildly) extremely poor jobs that they have done.
7:02am Stupidity isn't a crime, however ignorance of the law is still punishable!
Re: paying for the attorney's, most of the parties who are implicated, Maxwell, Judy Stevens, Dunn, Macsay, Rudimetkin and others not listed here do not work for the County anymore, so would they be "entitled" to legal counsel paid for by the County?
I think as citizens we need to put our collective feet down, you don't get to mis-spend our funds and then spend them to defend yourself also! So pay your own way or just quit blubbering and work out a deal. You tell the truth for a change and let the court punish as is appropriate.
Of course, everyone will feel so sorry for pretty Ms. Knoch and poor, ol' Pat Cantrall (or however her name is spelled) that they think we need to protect and defend them. Heaven save us from the Good Old Modoc Gang.
John Dederick was the first CAO of Modoc County.
Everyone is screaming that they broke the law, they broke the law. Can any of you site the laws that were broken? Can any of you speak to intent? And who profited? According to all of the postings it was ALL of the County employee's therefore they should be punished as well with pay cuts, which has already happened.
State the facts, not just what you think is happening otherwise your just one more person feeding the rumor frenzy.
Post at 12:07 PM: WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKIN?
Anonymous at 12:07 writes that none of this is good for the county right now. OK if not now, when? You're correct that "this problem has been around for awhile" but I think I would say for too long and it's about time to end it. End the secret committee meetings, the nepotism and cronyism.
Hiring a CAO with a mother-in-law working in the county is about as dumb as it gets. Even if nothing wrong is ever done there will always be suspicion. Most counties have rules forbidding this type of hiring and for good reason.
to post april 14 8;26 pm
PENAL CODE
SECTION 424-440
424. (a) Each officer of this state, or of any county, city, town,
or district of this state, and every other person charged with the
receipt, safekeeping, transfer, or disbursement of public moneys, who
either:
1. Without authority of law, appropriates the same, or any
portion thereof, to his or her own use, or to the use of another; or,
2. Loans the same or any portion thereof; makes any profit out
of, or uses the same for any purpose not authorized by law; or,
3. Knowingly keeps any false account, or makes any false entry or
erasure in any account of or relating to the same; or,
4. Fraudulently alters, falsifies, conceals, destroys, or
obliterates any account; or,
5. Willfully refuses or omits to pay over, on demand, any public
moneys in his or her hands, upon the presentation of a draft, order,
or warrant drawn upon these moneys by competent authority; or,
6. Willfully omits to transfer the same, when transfer is
required by law; or,
7. Willfully omits or refuses to pay over to any officer or
person authorized by law to receive the same, any money received by
him or her under any duty imposed by law so to pay over the same;--
Is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three,
or four years, and is disqualified from holding any office in this
state.
(b) As used in this section, "public moneys" includes the proceeds
derived from the sale of bonds or other evidence or indebtedness
authorized by the legislative body of any city, county, district, or
public agency.
(c) This section does not apply to the incidental and minimal use
of public resources authorized by Section 8314 of the Government
Code.
425. Every officer charged with the receipt, safe keeping, or
disbursement of public moneys, who neglects or fails to keep and pay
over the same in the manner prescribed by law, is guilty of felony.
426. The phrase "public moneys," as used in Sections 424 and 425,
includes all bonds and evidence of indebtedness, and all moneys
belonging to the state, or any city, county, town, district, or
public agency therein, and all moneys, bonds, and evidences of
indebtedness received or held by state, county, district, city, town,
or public agency officers in their official capacity.
does that answer your question
It is troubling. But some folks still seem to see this fiscal crisis as merely a bookkeeping error. One in which the 1's were transposed into 7's or some such thing.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
County officials - elected and hired alike - were told time and again over the course of more than a decade that taking restricted funds to use in the manner that they did was not only fiscally unwise but illegal.
The idea that nobody decided to spend the taxpayer’s money on a vacation or to buy a new car is beside the point.
Laws are based on principles. In the case of the plundered Modoc County treasury and the state and federal tax dollars that were spent improperly, the central idea is simply to follow existing laws that prohibit spending taxpayer dollars on things they weren’t intended for.
Secondly, there is the principle of equity; in that you do not treat one segment of your population - in this case the county employees - differently than the taxpayers to which services are to be provided.
By using the restricted funds as they did to maintain the county coffers (i.e., the county employee salaries and benefits) for over ten years, the county officials actions, and the inaction of those who had a duty to speak out (those who knew it was occurring) - such as your local newspaper - did nothing but make worse a problem that could have and should have been addressed years ago.
So what you have seen in your county is what happens after many years of mismanagement; of behind-closed-doors meetings; and the willful neglect of the local officials and the local news media to address an open and ongoing concern with honesty and public involvement.
Rather than worrying that "prosecution" might do harm, many of the posters in your area seem much more disposed to the idea that accountability is in order.
A therapeutic process - not a punitive one.
In other words, forget the personalities involved – be they county supervisors, auditors, CAO's, or newspaper editors – and focus on who was harmed by the actions and inaction's of those accountable.
The benefit of accountability is that in the end the taxpayers will know what the government that they have created on their behalf is doing for them - or to them.
“A nation under a well regulated government should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is a monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792
10:03 AM OK, so where in there was the law broken exactly? Nobody put this in their pocket, and there wasn't an intent to line their own pockets.
The County is in debt to itself, but consider this, why was there 13 million in reserves to be squandered away on the hospital? Why weren't those funds being used for the programs they were intended for?
The BOS is ultimately responsible, but which BOS. This has gone one for years. When there were constant reports that the hospital debt was rising where was everyone then. Where did you all think this money was coming from?
I agree Ron, that the nepotism has to stop, but technically according to County Code the BOS didn't do anything wrong when they hired Chester, in regards to the nepotism. What they did do wrong was to ignore County Council and the recommendation that he not be hired part time as he is also a City employee. This raises the conflict of interest issue, and there are many times where that comes into play.
There has been chatter on here about the employee's getting raises and that's where the 13 million went. That is not true, the County was trying to save a hospital that was financially floundering. Now if you want to be angry, be angry about the Porters and what they were allowed to do, and that the board allowed them to get us this deep in the hole.
Putting people in jail won't restore the treasury, and if laws were truly broken then there should be consequences, but borrowing from yourself is not against the law.
Been following this from So-Cal for several years, and it seems that so far your board supervisors and county employees have held more power than the taxpayers that pay them. This is what is concerning to taxpayers in my area: having supervisors that spend taxpayer funds without regard for the consequences.
To be blunt: What the hell is wrong with you people up there? Your county library and its funding priorities was a particular eye-opener; I mean seriously, after all of the poor spending policies your county has gone through already, you folks up there let the library spend their one-time reserve “rainy day” funds on raises (bad enough, in and of itself) and then the county librarian shows up at a public meeting requesting to let other employees go and reduce taxpayer services, all without a peep from the taxpayers? Since you let them get away with it…well you deserve what you get. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the state needs to start acting that way.
Whether you like it or not, your county has become the poster child for ‘what not to do’ in regards to how to spend taxpayers money wisely, and the fact that you just keep on doing it over and over again is what prompted the AG visit.
You guys up there may be just fine with how you’ve been doing business all these years, but for goodness sake, we don’t want our board members and city councils down here to get it into their heads that it’s OK to spend like you fools have been doing.
This AG visit to your county will hopefully have a chilling effect on how all of our state and county public officials spend the taxpayer’s money; if nothing else they might just confiscate the stupid-pill supply that has been keeping the misappropriation and misspending frenzy going on in your neck of the woods.
8314. (a) It is unlawful for any elected state or local officer,
including any state or local appointee, employee, or consultant, to
use or permit others to use public resources for a campaign activity,
or personal or other purposes which are not authorized by law.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Personal purpose" means those activities the purpose of which
is for personal enjoyment, private gain or advantage, or an outside
endeavor not related to state business. "Personal purpose" does not
include the incidental and minimal use of public resources, such as
equipment or office space, for personal purposes, including an
occasional telephone call.
(2) "Campaign activity" means an activity constituting a
contribution as defined in Section 82015 or an expenditure as defined
in Section 82025. "Campaign activity" does not include the
incidental and minimal use of public resources, such as equipment or
office space, for campaign purposes, including the referral of
unsolicited political mail, telephone calls, and visitors to private
political entities.
(3) "Public resources" means any property or asset owned by the
state or any local agency, including, but not limited to, land,
buildings, facilities, funds, equipment, supplies, telephones,
computers, vehicles, travel, and state-compensated time.
(4) "Use" means a use of public resources which is substantial
enough to result in a gain or advantage to the user or a loss to the
state or any local agency for which a monetary value may be
estimated.
(c) (1) Any person who intentionally or negligently violates this
section is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand
dollars ($1,000) for each day on which a violation occurs, plus three
times the value of the unlawful use of public resources. The penalty
shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the
name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General
or by any district attorney or any city attorney of a city having a
population in excess of 750,000. If two or more persons are
responsible for any violation, they shall be jointly and severally
liable for the penalty.
(2) If the action is brought by the Attorney General, the moneys
recovered shall be paid into the General Fund. If the action is
brought by a district attorney, the moneys recovered shall be paid to
the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered. If
the action is brought by a city attorney, the moneys recovered shall
be paid to the treasurer of that city.
(3) No civil action alleging a violation of this section may be
commenced more than four years after the date the alleged violation
occurred.
(d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use of public
resources for providing information to the public about the possible
effects of any bond issue or other ballot measure on state
activities, operations, or policies, provided that (1) the
informational activities are otherwise authorized by the constitution
or laws of this state, and (2) the information provided constitutes
a fair and impartial presentation of relevant facts to aid the
electorate in reaching an informed judgment regarding the bond issue
or ballot measure.
(e) The incidental and minimal use of public resources by an
elected state or local officer, including any state or local
appointee, employee, or consultant, pursuant to this section shall
not be subject to prosecution under Section 424 of the Penal Code.
THIS GC CODES
so it looks like penal code 424 is the code people should be looking at hope this helps
The AG is not only concerned with misappropriation of public funds, it is also concerned with open government and the separation of powers locally.
For example, if we (the BOS) are paying former county officials (Mike Tedrick, etc...) and CAO Robertson to basically do end-runs around both the County Auditor, County Treasurer, and County Sheriff (not to mention the taxpayers) then the AG will want to see if such behavior contributes to the fiscal problems Modoc has.
One thing is sure - the information control and inadequate reporting by former and current BOS members, CAO's, the Record newspaper, and other public officials had a large part in why Modoc went so deep into debt in the first place.
The AG's office, on behalf of the local and state taxpayers, will hopefully be looking to make sure that the cronyism that got us into this mess won't be allowed to continue.
Anonymous April 13 8:38 am,
I have been watching what kind of cases the California AG takes on and what she says about them. Her politics are definitely Leftist, so my statement is simply a statement of fact.
My comment "from the bankrupt State of California" was intended to suggest that she should be investigating the State officers who have certainly violated laws similar to those we accuse the Board of violating.
I prefer an impartial investigation. One that starts with a statement like "what the people in Modoc County are doing is wrong" is not impartial and may cause the AG to take actions that justify her pre-judgement rather than follow the law.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
Anonymous April 13 12:01 pm,
Stating an obvious fact is not bigotry.
In previous posts I chastised the Grand Jury for failing to do their duty to investigate. I also explained that the Grand Juries that I was on tried to find out what was going on and were the money to cover the Hospital debt was coming from. We failed to penetrate the smoke screen and only got a possible clue in the last week of our term on service.
Also, as I previously posted numerous times, the obvious existence of a violation of the law is not the same as being able to prove a case for a specific individual in court. The AG may come to the same conclusion as the DA, that here is not enough clear evidence to charge specific persons and prove it.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
p.s. For those citing law, please explain how the law you cited applied to our situation.
Greg, as much fun as it is to pre-judge the "leftist" and "prejudicial" AG before any investigation has occurred (how ironic is that), let's try jumping off of the hypocrisy wagon and let them do their jobs.
Modoc has already proven they ignored the laws regarding, at the very least, spending tax dollars on things they weren't intended for.
There is existing case law and settled AG opinions from AG's (both right & left) regarding fiduciary responsibilities of public officials and misspent taxpayer funds.
In the end, the county has been rewarded with this investigation because of its own ongoing inaction and obfuscations.
Has anyone questioned why Gary Woolverton, the former DA is involved? Is he on the County payroll? Was there a board action to contract with him? Is he representing County officials? What is his role in all of this, and why was he contacted as a private practice attorney as opposed to County Council or the DA. Something does not sit well with how this is going down.
And the games continue.....
with the back log of cases at the AG office it could be that Woolerton asked the A. G. office to look into this case before he left office.Only saying that may be the case for why he was contacted.
Greg. what part of penal code 424 did you not understand???? they the BOS use funds to pay down the hospital bills that was not to be used from other funds. THAT IS MISUSE OF PUBLIC MONEY that is the law they the BOS broke. OR GREG are you just another part of this cover up or is it you can't read and understand simple english.
Just thought I would share this little bit of information that I just came across. It is no secret that Karen Stockton’s sister and daughter(Chester’s wife) both work under her in the Mental Health Department. With all the recent talk about nepotism, I did a little looking back into BOS agenda’s and found a rather alarming fact. On 4/7/09 Karen’s sister received a raise from $5819 to $6656 per month. Then on 9/22/09 she received another raise from $6656 to $7705 per month. I have also heard rumors of her being allowed to go to Hawaii last year for training. Oddly enough there were no other employees in any of the departments that Karen oversees that received raises similar to her sisters. For a county that is struggling financially, this speaks volumes. It also makes me wonder if the employees of her departments feel there is nepotism and how they feel about those raises.
Maybe Modoc County should be called All In The Family County with so many members of families working together employed by the county. It's doubtful that there was any favoritism though, our county supervisors would not allow any of that here. If Dr. Stockton's sister wasn't earning that money the BOS would not have allowed it. There must have been a good reason to load up the price of the two Toyotas also or the BOS would not have allowed it. Our present BOS looks at every request for more money very carefully before aproving it. As for the other employees of mental health, they would have gotten a raise if they deserved it as much as Karen's sister.
The BOS and the County CAO set the tone for what has become acceptable behavior for the other public officials and employees they oversee.
The problems regarding nepotism and cronyism arose with the very first Modoc County CAO, when John Dederick, who hired his wife to be his secretary, allowed nepotism and cronyism to become the standard of how the county hired staff. It became the rule, rather than the exception.
Now we have John Dederick, Mike Tedrick, and other retired and/or former Modoc County officials working surreptitiously for this BOS in the background, trying to plug up all of the holes created by their previous management styles.
Modoc County Motto:
"We support family values here - almost as often as we promote family members."
~ Anonymous
Seems like fair pay for those positions...see the state controllers website and look at comparable positions.
http://www.sco.ca.gov/compensation_search.html
I bet it is hard to recruit these positions in Modoc, should be glad this family is willing to serve. If the definition of nepotism is people that are related working for the same government...we are going to be in real trouble up here...I think nepotism is where you report directly to a relative. But keep it up "anonomous", you will run off another set of good public servants...Get to know what your servants do, and don't let tabloid comments spin this into something it isn't.
9:27 PM, you ask the wrong questions. Do we need someone with those credentials and can we afford to pay her. Those questions were not mentioned in the request of the BOS to promote her, only that she's qualified and deserves it. I can't find any other employees in that dapartment getting raises of $2,000.00 in less than six months or any other county employee. It seems to pay well to work for the county and have your sister for a boss and your nephew for CAO.
You chose to remain anonymous so I shall follow your lead.
9:27PM - Rationalizing bad behavior (such as nepotism and cronyism) in order to make it seem right does not make it right.
As far as "what our good public servants do," that has become painfully obvious:
1) They hire, promote and protect their friends and relatives at the expense of the taxpayers
2) They misspend public dollars to give themselves and their family and friends raises - even when the money isn't there - to the extent that their neighbors are over $13 million dollars in debt.
3) They deficit spend to continue giving themselves raises (the county librarian as one example)
4) They fire or cause the layoff of their neighbors because of these bad spending practices
5) They refuse to accept responsibility for their actions
6) They allow or condone the misspending of taxpayer dollars - even if it means debt and job losses for their community later on
7) They are almost always the more highly paid employees, so that when the sh*t does hit the fan (as it has been recently), their jobs are protected from the layoffs and furloughs which resulted from their bad behavior - and their fellow employee and taxpaying neighbors get to pick up the tab for them
In short, the sycophantic behavior that these employees exhibit is anything but what I want for a neighbor, much less a public employee paid for with my tax dollars.
As far as “running off these good public servants,” you bet I would. Nobody is irreplaceable, even in Modoc, and they, like the rest of us, are supposed to be responsible and accountable for our own actions.
These folks, on the other hand, let their taxpaying neighbors and their subordinate employees take the financial and emotional hit for their actions instead.
This behavior is cowardly, costly, and reprehensible, and it needs to stop now.
Fair pay and what the county can afford to pay after being bamboozled into $13+ million dollars of debt are completely different matters.
But we see instead that the more senior and/or highly paid county employees are able to get and keep raises given to them only because of the illegal borrowing, otherwise the cash just wasn't there.
Wonder how the Modoc Record will rationalize the AG visit? Probably the same way they did the misappropriation and illegal borrowing all these years.
By reporting little or nothing at all.
April 17, 2012 9:19 AM
The nephew was not the CAO during this time...2009 was Charlton and Asst. CAO Locken...
So it was the board and these people that oversaw this raise.
So again, twisting and spinning...how could the current CAO be said to be responsible due to nepotism...he didn't even work for the county then.
The current CAO is responsible for the biggest spin job of all. He's spun so many story's he can't even start to remember them. And though he may not have been responsible for his Aunt-in-Law's raises, he now is playing his own role in how Health Services is doing business. An earlier post stated that nepotism only applies if you answer to a family member. Well, technically Chester is his Mother-in-laws boss, and his mother-in-law is the Dept. head for the department that her sister works for. I believe though that the closest relationship is that of the CAO and his mother-in-law, as she would answer directly to Admin., for line item budget modifications, the hiring of personnel, and apparently procurement in where County Policy was not adhered to. That just doesn't quite sit right.
Anonymous April 15 10:05 pm,
The problem is that 424 doesn't use the ambiguous phrase "misuse of public money", rather is says a bunch of specific things. There may be some precedent, AG Opinion, or definition elsewhere in the Code but the only part of 424 that seems to apply is 424a2 which in part says "for any purpose not authorized by law". Paying County Hospital bills is authorized by law, so the interpretation is difficult with respect to "restricted funds".
Somewhere in the law, regulation, or contracts there must be specific language that prohibits certain named funds ("restricted funds") from being used for some other purpose both temporarily and permanently, and not even by loan. So far I have not found nor seen published any such specific law. If you can cite such a specific law, please do so.
If you see 424 otherwise, please say so in specific language not accusations and generalities.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
Greg, while paying hospital bills may be authorized by law, those funds first have to be legally appropriated for that purpose (which they were not); and secondly, that is not the only things that were paid for with the illegally borrowed money.
Almost every county employee and elected official during this time got paid over-and-above what they would have been paid if the illegal borrowing had not happened.
Otherwise, the county would have been cutting expenditures and not going into debt.
What the laws and precedent do say is that:
"Even if an expenditure of government funds benefits the public, it is not legally permissible unless it is authorized by law."
Modoc County violated the law because the funds that were borrowed were only authorized to be spent on specific things (children, roads, health services, etc...) and not on hospitals and recurring costs such as county employee salaries and benefits.
4/18 10:38AM You are mostly correct, however you err when you state that restricted road funds and not to be used for county employee salaries and benefits (if I understand you correctly).
The Road Dept. personnel are legally paid from those restricted Road Dept. funds; however, no other department may be paid from said restricted funds unless performing work for the Road Dept. Ditto Mental Health, Social Services, and other restricted fund depts.
MMC, Library, General Fund depts. etc. obviously, do not perform work for those restricted fund depts.
You all need to understand the funds. The Auditor explained this a few weeks ago, borrowing from the restricted fund departments is not illegal. There is some "loop hole" in the law that allows it......so please get your facts straight before you start speculating about what is or isn't legal.
You need to understand the difference between "paid" and "loaned". It was not stated that restricted funds could not be legally "loaned" to other departments.
10:21 & 11:26, the phrase you are looking for is "used for."
Because the borrowed funds were "used for" purposes not authorized by law (i.e., raises and benefit increases for county employees that they otherwise would not have received had they not been available via illegal borrowing), this is the crux of the matter.
Using these funds outside their legislative intent for ongoing and recurring employee expenses exceeds the criteria for borrowing - simply because paying for escalating and recurring costs like raises is not the same as, for example, paying for a fixed priced item such as a computer, which might be repaid in a short period of time on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
In other words, using borrowed money from whatever source - whether it is from another agencies funds, "rainy day" or forest reserve funds, or any other one-time source is not a reliable ongoing supply of income - as the county librarian (and the rest of the county, for that matter) has found out.
A recurring and dependable income stream that is not based on borrowing is what is needed to develop a prudent budget - something that the county officials and the Modoc County Record have had an extremely hard time coming to grips with.
"Used for" is not the phrase.
The County can legally loan money from restricted funds to a general fund provided the loan is repaid by the end of the fiscal year, and those loaned monies can be used for any necessary function.
Private enterprise conducts itself in a similar manner by its utilization of a credit line when it needs an infusion of temporary cash.
All this is related to the MMC problem when the BOS eliminated the hospital advisory board, hired Bruce Porter, and whereupon, that person immediately jacked up the hospital "debt" by $5 million in one year.
$5M for raises? Nope. You are always letting Porter off the hook.
8:54AM - You are missing the point regarding "used for." It is against the law to use or lend funds for purposes not allowable by law.
Secondly, it does not matter if Mickey Mouse was the one who was "running" the hospital when the debt increased; the fact is it is the BOS who has the responsibility to make sure that budgets and how money's are spent align both with the law and the public's priorities.
Porter wasn't ultimately in charge of overseeing the spending - CAO Maxwell and the BOS were - and they did a crummy job of it.
In the end, the BOS spent moneys it did not have on things it didn't want to cut (i.e., employee salaries, health benefits, and retirement) and never told the public or had a plan to pay it back if even if it were legally borrowed.
8:54am, The BOS pays the bills, not the hospital administrator. The BOS, CAO, Auditor and Treasurer misspent the public funds for over a decade and with multiple hospital admins during that time.
These public officials had the fiduciary duty to care for these public funds and they chose not to.
Instead, they kept giving all county employees raises and benefit increases when they did not have the money to do so.
So did the A.G. really show up and talk with people or not? Modoc is not known for keeping it's mouth shut but it seems no one is talking about interviews with the A.G. Is this just more smoke?
Anonymous at 8:37. The silence about the AG visit says volumes. If the A.G. investigators had not shown up or were indicating a whitewash we would be hearing Cantrall crowing loudly every day about being vindicated. Silence is good. If none of our present and past county officials are at least charged with crimes we will see this problem repeated constantly and will never get honest people to run for public office. Nobody will ever lift a voice against corruption in Modoc again and the dishonest will feel ever more emboldened to do as they please.
What good does charging someone with a crime do? Do you really think anyone will do jail time? Look at the Cooley girl, accused of murdering her father pleads out and get off with 3-5 years probation and time served....yep Modoc Justice..
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