San Bernardino Sun reporter Robert Rogers is asking some tough, hard hitting questions about the recent legal battle between Marianne Milligan, Joseph Turner and Evlyn Wilcox regarding the formers' candidate statements via their new blog.

Before Wilcox filed suit against Milligan and Turner, Penman launched a preemptive strike through the media after his office reviewed candidate statements and suggested that ours were in violation of elections law...never mind the fact that the City Attorney's office has no responsiblity or standing to involve itself in reviewing candidate statements.

After Wilcox filed suit, she admitted to Rogers that she had discussed the matter with Penman, but that she acted independently.  Yeah...right!

Wilcox has been a long-time supporter of Penman, giving him thousands of dollars over the years.  Penman married his current wife in her backyard about a decade ago.

Wilcox then "hired" local law firm Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden to handle the job.  This caught my attention since Gresham Savage have been players in the local political scene for quite some time.  Savage, of Gresham Savage, gave Mayor Morris over $6,000 during his campaign.  And I recently documented the connection between Penman and the law firm as well in an earlier post which showed that Penman had received several thousands of dollars this year alone from the firm or lawyers at the firm.

It is also understood that Penman parcel's out city legal work to the firm, although the extent is unknown.  So, here you have a law firm that does business with the City through the City Attorney's office, which is ran by the guy they contribute to politically.  The law firm is "hired" by Evlyn Wilcox, a long time Penman supporter, to target two candidates Penman has vociferously criticized...supposedly without being prompted to by Mr. Penman.

Now word comes down that perhaps, Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden were doing a little "charity" work and didn't charge Evlyn Wilcox for the work.  Clearly, this is becoming a case of political thuggery whereby Penman was attempting to use the big bad law firm to intimidate and drain our two candidacies of precious resources.

Rogers reports that she said the following when asked about the arrangement:

Reporter question: Was there no charge? Evlyn: "That has probably not been clarified. Call the attorney that represented me, call Mr. Nolan."

"I'm not worried about this, about the cost, so I don't think anybody else should be."

Why should she be worried, she wasn't charged for the work? It is no skin off her back.

I have some questions:

1.  Are there any FPPC violations regarding these efforts to oppose candidates in this election?

2.  What is the true financial relationship between the City and Gresham, Savage, Nolan & Tilden? How much money is Gresham getting from the city?

3.  How can Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden request reimbursement for legal fees in their suit against Milligan and Turner if they are working for free?  Is it not fraud to request reimbursement for fees that were never incurred or for work that was agreed upon in advance to be conducted for free?

What a disgusting abuse of power and demonstration of the "Old Boy's Network" being displayed in this town.  I hope Rogers follows through like a pit bull on this matter.