FRED WILSON DEPARTURE

GREAT NEWS FOR HUNTINGTON BEACH

SAD DAY FOR SAN BERNARDINO

The blog story on San Bernardino's City Manager leaving Berdoo to go to Huntington Beach makes some assumptions that I personally know to be incorrect. I am sure if Joe Turner, the employee of the San Bernardino City Police Officer's Association (POA)who posted the incorrect information about Wilson knew the whole story he would have a much different take on Wilson.

Incidently, I've been called by both the current and former Presidents of the POA who tell me Mr. Turner is speaking for himself, not the POA and both of these POA Presidents would give Wilson a "glowing recommendation," the former President told me.

(The current President of our Police Officer's Association informed me a few minutes ago that he has already put in a call to the President of the Huntington Beach Police Officer's Association to tell him our cops support Fred Wilson.)

As San Bernardino's 21 year City Attorney I've watched Fred Wilson become increasingly disappointed over the last 2 ½ years with the actions of certain amateurs in municipal government, politicians who now wish they had listened to Wilson and followed his advice from the beginning.

Wilson has made numerous intelligent budgetary decisions on a regular basis for years, only to have some of them overturned by a Mayor who has tried to hang on to some portions of the day-to-day management of city government rather than turn it over to the City Manager as the voters decreed when the new city charter went into effect on March 6, 2006.

Wilson has had to walk the tightrope between a Mayor who is the only person who can terminate his employment and an increasingly frustrated city council, trying to balance the budget but seeing its charter-granted authority being ignored by the same mayor who has failed to follow Wilson's advice on how to balance that budget.

Yet neither the Mayor nor the City Council want Wilson to leave.

The budget deficit S.B. faces is primarily due to the status of the economy - nationally, regionally and locally. Many other cities throughout this county, state, and nation face similar problems.

If it had been up to Wilson, the Mayor would have buried the hatchet more than two years ago with the City's employee bargaining groups.

The mayor's failure to follow Wilson's advice has now come home to roost. All three of the city's major bargaining units, not surprisingly, declined to voluntarily agree to pay cuts while the Mayor continues to leave a new, untried and now discredited political program in place. The mayor's actions in this regard have not been the result of following Wilson's recommendations, but in spite of them.

Because Wilson is a good soldier, does his job to the end and won't pass the buck by blaming his boss, Mr. Turner apparently believes that it is Wilson who is the architect of the attempt to raid the employees' individual bank accounts. I would say to Mr. Turner, "it isn't him Joe, you've got the wrong guy."

Regarding the allegation from Turner that "According to Mayor Morris and subordinates, City Manager Fred Wilson kept a laundry list of misconduct, including allegations of sexual molestation from the mayor" is false. Neither the Mayor nor any of the mayor's subordinates, at least not any of them who are currently not under investigation, have made any such claim. I haven't even heard of those who are being investigated making that allegation against Wilson.

Wilson did not lie, as an uninformed Mr. Turner said in this blog, to the D.A. investigators regarding the reporting of alleged sexual molestation. An error in a police department press release mistakenly stated that the department learned of the allegations on "Monday, July 1." Monday, was June 30, not July 1. The department was actually informed of the alleged molestation on Tuesday, July 1, not Monday, June 30. That typo led to confusion amongst several people who were/are involved in either the criminal or the internal administrative investigations. Wilson merely passed on his recollection of the date when he was informed of one piece of misinformation that had been passed on to him. That date was not critical to the outcome of the investigation and the mistake was personally corrected by Wilson as soon as he became aware of it.

We've seen no evidence to suggest that Wilson had any knowledge of the Operation Phoenix events prior to the date he stated, July 1.

Nor have we seen any evidence that even suggests that Wilson knew beforehand of the additional evidence, discovered by this office and reported by us to Wilson, the Mayor, the Police Chief, and the District Attorney on Thursday July 17.

With the date the police department was informed of the alleged crime being confused in the department's press release, it is not surprising that other city staff who were passing on information to Wilson were also confused as to some days and dates. Under such circumstances, a mis-statement was hardly surprising, was not the product of dishonesty and was immediately corrected when Wilson became aware of it.

The Mayor does not want to lose Fred Wilson especially not now. He needs him to get through the budget deficit. It appears that the Mayor has recently come to realize that had he followed Wilson's advice from the beginning the budget crisis would be over by now, and the allegations of improper management and accountability of the Operation Phoenix program hanging over the mayor's office probably would be non-issues as well.

To Wilson's credit he has told me he intends to have the city's 2008 - 2009 budget balanced before he leaves. He also intends to have the internal administrative investigation of the Operation Phoenix debacle completed, and make the final decisions only the City Manager can make before his departure for Huntington Beach.

Congratulations Huntington Beach, you've got a winner. For San Bernardino, too sad, too bad.

Jim Penman
City Attorney
City of San Bernardino

Mr. Penman:

I appreciate you taking the time to read my comments on this blog, which reflect my personal opinions and viewpoints.

There are a couple of items you brought forth that I feel compelled to address. I will address them in order:

1. Mayor Morris doesn't want to lose Fred Wilson,

This is simply not true. The Press Enterprise had a story online yesterday in which it reported that Mayor Morris had privately encouraged Wilson to start looking for a new jobs months ago. The impression was, find a new job soon, because you aren't going to be in San Bernardino much longer.

Why the Press Enterprise took it down is something that you might want to ask them. However, the San Bernardino Sun article today also alludes to the fact that there was a rift between Mayor Morris and Wilson.

Additionally, your suggestion that there was a conflict of styles (to be nice) between Morris and Wilson lends further credance to the notion that Wilson was being pushed out.

So, I must disagree with your assertion that Mayor Morris doesn't want to see Wilson leave.

You further stated:

2. Regarding the allegation from Turner that "According to Mayor Morris and subordinates, City Manager Fred Wilson kept a laundry list of misconduct, including allegations of sexual molestation from the mayor" is false. Neither the Mayor nor any of the mayor's subordinates, at least not any of them who are currently not under investigation, have made any such claim. I haven't even heard of those who are being investigated making that allegation against Wilson.

Actually, this is true, Jim. That is precisely what Glenn Baude alleged. He stated he informed Wilson of the allegations and that Wilson said "he would take care of it." According to Baude, this occurred on the 30th of June.

In the DA report, Wilson stated he learned about the allegations on July 1st. Regardless of whether or not he lied (or misspoke), its a fact that Baude, a subordinate, has stated to the DA that Wilson was aware of these email allegations. Mayor Morris in turn stated that he was not made aware of this email exchange until July 17th.

Further, we know several subordinates(INCLUDING FRED WILSON) were aware of Mike Miller's BB gun battles. This is a fact. They had known about it for months. The Mayor claims he had never heard anything about it.

In fact, Robert Rogers of the Sun reported that even your office knew about these BB gun battles back in May.

We also know that subordinates knew about a whole host of other items listed in Glenda Robinson's July 8th memo. Whether or not Baude or Hawkins or Wilson knew of these additional items has not been verified.

So, the fact is, Wilson and subordinates did keep the mayor in the dark about a whole host of transgressions by Miller.

You wrote:

3. Nor have we seen any evidence that even suggests that Wilson knew beforehand of the additional evidence, discovered by this office and reported by us to Wilson, the Mayor, the Police Chief, and the District Attorney on Thursday July 17.

Not sure about any additional evidence you speak of, but Wilson admitted to Rogers that he was aware of the BB gun incidents for months.

Mr. Penman, I appreciate the dialogue and the points that you make. If you want to suggest that the fiscal mismanagement for this city lies at the feet of Mayor Morris, I think that is a credible argument that one can make. If you want to state that Wilson didn't lie and that instead it was an honest mistake, by all means do so.

Everyone is free to make up their own opinions and as you know me well enough to know, I love having a vigorous discussion about these matters. However, with respect to the specific points you made above, you are mistaken.

Joe,

There was one incident involving a bb gun for which the employee who fired the bb gun was already on administrative leave when the incident was discovered in May. No reports of any ON-GOING incidents involving bb guns or otherwise were made. The one bb gun incident we were aware of was not connected to the alleged crimes for which a suspect is in custody.

I can't comment on the specific outcome of investigations, and for personnel reasons I won't go into answering all of the he saids or she saids, but I can tell you that all of the allegations that have been reported in the newspaper, including those you have mentioned in your blog entry, have been investigated. The D.A. investigation did not determine that Wilson knew of any of the incidents prior to July 1, 2008.

My statements about the Mayor and subordinates of the Mayor not attributing to Fred Wilson knowledge of any such information stands. The Mayor has not said he wanted Wilson to leave and he also contends that Glenn Baude is not his subordinate and that Baude was not supervised by his honor. If you have information that the Mayor was supervising Mr. Baude please let this office know so we may evaluate it.

As for the Mayor wanting to see Fred Wilson leave, do you really think the Mayor's son would make such a statement if they wanted Wilson to go, knowing the Huntington Beach City Council hasn't voted yet?

I don't know if the Mayor's son really made that statement or not. If he did, why would they have taken if off their web page? But isn't it more likely, if the Mayor's office was going to play those kind of games, that they would say the opposite, hoping Wilson would be hired elsewhere if their goal was to have him leave? If they really want him to stay, and I believe they do, and if they are inclined to play that kind of a game with a respected employee's career, they are more likely to leak out disinformation that would cause a prospective employer to back off from hiring him. Given the historical Byzantine nature of San Bernardino City government such gamesmanship cannot be totally discounted, but even a suspicious old city prosecutor like myself isn't convinced that such an amateurish effort is underway.

Fred Wilson is probably one of the most non-controversial city leaders I have ever known. He keeps a low profile, stays out of trouble, is intelligent, loyal to bosses and is the consummate professional. I think you are barking up the wrong tree on this one Joe.

Moreover, I know the Mayor needs Fred Wilson more than Wilson needs the Mayor. I believe the Mayor knows that too. I also know the Mayor has not put any pressure on Wilson to leave. The Mayor is in the middle of a budget crisis and an Operation Phoenix crisis. He doesn't want to spend the next four to six months looking for a new city manager and leaving the city without a hand at the tiller in the meantime. Especially with a Mayoral election coming up next year.

Our Mayor isn't a detail man Joe. He is more of a dreamer. He is smart enough to know that his strength isn't in the day to day running of a city, or its programs. He may not have realized that before but I think he knows it now. Pat is a good ceremonial mayor, he has good contacts, a likeable personality and the ability to bring other leaders to the table. Worrying about the day to day operation of a fairly large city is not in his makeup. He tried to keep the reins in hand of Operation Phoenix and found out he can't manage that type of program and be Mayor too. Look what reserving that degree of control, keeping it away from the professional managers has cost him.

Finally, I checked with the Sun news reporter and he told me they did not clarify with Wilson whether he was talking about one isolated bb gun incident or a series of incidents.

Wilson actually acknowledged knowing about the one incident and the newspaper, having heard allegations of multiple incidents from unnamed sources, INFERRED that Wilson knew about more than one such happening. The reporter admitted they did not ask the follow-up question that would have clarified the extent of Wilson's knowledge.

No Joe, I think you've missed the boat on this one.

Jim Penman
City Attorney
City of San Bernardino

Jim,

Is it election time already? It looks like you are going to slather praise all over Fred Wilson just to make the mayor look like the fall guy. Personally, I think that the blame here is not just with the mayor. I think that the blame should be shared by The Mayor, the oh so honorable soon to be Ex-Mr. Wilson, Glen Baude, and perhaps a city attorney that knew about misconduct that could potentially injure children at a facility for children. Now I am not sure whether it is you or Wendy that will take on good ole Mayor Pat, but I am sure that you guys will run this one out to the hilt.

The only person on that list of people that I have any dealings with is Glen, and I have always found him to professional and pretty darn effective as a director of Code. I have even had an elected city leader tell me that he should have been the City Manager. It also seems to me that Glen did what he thought he should do, report problems up the chain. My only problem with his actions is that they weren't forceful enough.

I know that San Bernardino politics is rough and tumble, but using the molestation of little girls to advance a political coup should be taboo.

PENMAN FOR MAYOR

Jim:

In the arena of San Bernardino city politics, you are a lion and it is an honor to "tussle" with you on this blog. Again, thank you for taking the time to comment on this situation.

Obviously, you are privy to information that I do not have and you are also much more familiar with Fred Wilson as a person and the inner workings, or should I say inner dysfunction, at City Hall.

And while it is known that you haven't been the most ardent supporters of Mayor Morris, one should not discount the institutional memory you possess. So, when I hear you speak about Mayor Morris' inabilit to manage the day to day, nuts and bolts machinery of local government and suggest that Wilson was in fact hamstrung by Morris, I give those arguments serious weight and consideration.

As you alluded to, you are privy to information that cannot be shared with the public, and I respect that limitation. Please also respect the fact that I am limited to the conclusions and opinions I can make by the information available to me.

At the risk of delving into the minutiae and boring the audience, I must expand on my earlier comments.

With respect to Mayor Morris supporting Fred Wilson...

Again, in the Press Enterprise article that has since been rewritten (perhaps, something I should blog about later), Jim Morris (if I recall correctly, may have been his father) reportedly stated that Fred Wilson had been privately encouraged to seek another position somewhere else.

Further, the San Bernardino Sun quoted Mayor Morris as saying the following when asked directly whether or not he played a role in encouraging Wilson to search for a new job: "I'm not going to go there."

Just as you suggest that I might hold a different view if I was privy to information that you possess, please also consider this information that you are not familiar with in the Press Enterprise.

It seems clear to me that Mayor Morris wanted Wilson out of San Bernardino. Now, perhaps, you have been deceived by others at City Hall with respect to their true intentions and feelings toward Wilson.

Obviously, we are at an impasse since we are operating under different umbrellas of information and perhaps it would be best if we agree to disagree on this particular point until something further comes to light.

Let me turn our attention back to the "BB gun incident(s)". Again, I am operating under information I have gleaned through the media and others.

Since I am a little too lazy to back up my following statement with a citation, please correct me if I am wrong. But I believe The Sun suggested that there was more than one "BB gun incident".

Regardless, even if there was only one incident, Fred Wilson stated specifically to the San Bernardino Sun that he was aware of this incident for months. So, it is clear that Wilson was privy to information that he did not share with Mayor Morris. Mayor Morris claims to have no knowledge whatsoever of these incident(s).

In the opening line of your second comment, you state the following: "There was one incident involving a bb gun for which the employee who fired the bb gun was already on administrative leave when the incident was discovered in May."

Now, are you stating that Mike Miller was never involved in shooting any BB guns or driving kids or others who shot BB guns? This statement makes it sound like the BB gun incident was one act by a "lone gunman". I believe reports in the media have suggested that it was more of a back and forth situation.

The reason this is important is because if it wasn't a "one-time" deal involving one person, the question must be asked, if an employee was punished for their involvement in this stuff, why wasn't Mike Miller? And is the Mayor really not informed when an employee of this level is suspended?

Finally, and I apologize for the length of this response, let's touch on Glenn Baude. When I speak of subordinates to the Mayor or Fred Wilson for that matter, I am generally referring to a "the buck stops here" philosophy.

I really don't care if Baude officially reported directly to Mayor Morris. Mayor Morris is the boss and the buck stops with him. When you are the Mayor, everybody on the city payroll (save elected officials) are subordinate to the mayor and he is directly responsible for them.

Mr. Penman,
Respectfully, I disagree with your statement that our mayor is not detail-oriented. I believe he knows exactly what the consequences of his actions/involvement (or lack, thereof) are. I would think his apparent lack of concern for his subordinates' actions toward children, prior to the publication of the public’s irritation with the matter, would certainly be indicative of one who “doesn’t care unless it’ll hurt them” type of attitude. He should not have been told to accept responsibility for poor management in his program, if that is even the case. On a side note, I do hope you’ll run for mayor because I believe you’ll do an excellent job.

Dam ,... big picture let Hunington Beach council aprove "fred"s job and then the real stuff will come out . We all want him gone , everyone's being nice cuzz Hunington Beach has internet too !!! DUH we want them to take him . SSSSSHHHHHH yea what a great guy your so lucky to have him , we think he's so dedicated , oh yea and he will take a bullet . Dam fine man your getting . APROVE and take !

ME SAID,
What are you saying?