In San Bernardino County government, a fine line divides aides' activities

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

At a time when the use of county resources for political work is in the spotlight, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has at least 15 current staff members engaged in outside campaign work.

A review of public records shows staff routinely work for the re-election campaigns of supervisors, are paid political consultants to local candidates and are actively involved in the operations of the county Republican Party.

Campaign finance reports and statements of economic interest for the past two years show no evidence the staff members engaged in the political work while on county time.

Supervisors and their top aides say they are careful not to do so during business hours. Still, they say they walk a fine line and remind employees that campaigning must be done on personal time.

"We basically continually remind everyone when you are on county time, you are on county time," Supervisor Gary Ovitt said Tuesday. "Your political efforts have to be on your own time."

State law and county policy prohibit staff members from engaging in political activity while paid by taxpayers. The issue has come to the forefront after the release last week of a grand jury report and after news that Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane had a complaint filed with prosecutors over possible political activity in the assessor's office.

The grand jury reviewed thousands of e-mails as part of its investigation and chastised the assessor's office for using county e-mail systems for political activity.

The content of the e-mails included "arranging political meetings, solicitations for campaign contributions, instructions to move campaign monies from one campaign fund to another, solicitation of political proxies" and political discussions on a Republican blog, the grand jury found.

Postmus, in a response to the grand jury, said any use of e-mail for political purposes was incidental. But he agreed that safeguards could be put in place to block the receipt of political e-mails.

Work Away From Work

A seat on the Board of Supervisors is a nonpartisan post but supervisors and many on the staff are involved in Republican politics. Four of the five supervisors are Republicans.

Ovitt serves as the party's chairman and employs the party's executive director on his county staff. Biane serves as the party's vice chairman.

Ovitt said he reminds staff during weekly meetings that political work can't take place during working hours.

The staff members engaged in outside political work range from field representatives to chiefs of staff, a powerful post in county government. Chiefs of staff earn more than $100,000 a year and are the top deputies to supervisors. They oversee the day-to-day operations of the office and manage a full-time staff.

All five chiefs of staff in the county have done some campaign work for supervisors, campaign finance records show.

Matt Brown, Biane's chief of staff, said Tuesday the majority of Biane's employees do not do political work. Brown said he is in charge of making sure staff members do not cross the line.

All the employees in the office, he said, use personal cell phones and go through ethics training. Most fill out statements of economic interest where they must disclose any pay from political campaigns, he said.

Brown, who works on Biane's campaign and is a member of the Republican Party central committee, said most of the partisan political work takes place on nights and weekends.

"I have way too much to do during the day," he said. "I don't have time to goof around with political work.

"It is pretty simple. The rules are straightforward," Brown said during an interview at the County Government Center in San Bernardino. "When you are in this building, you serve the public."

Campaign Efforts Common

It is common for staff members of elected officials to work on campaigns for their bosses or others. It's routine throughout the state Legislature. Supervisors in Riverside County also have staffers who are paid from their campaign accounts, records show.

San Bernardino County supervisor-elect Neil Derry served on the staff of former Assemblyman Fred Aguiar, also a former county supervisor. Derry said he always took a leave of absence to work on the campaign.

But Derry said there is a fine line. "Whenever you are talking about policy development, you are talking about politics," he said.

Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies, said there is no issue incidental to political work, such as receiving a political phone call. Problems arise when staff members are being paid by taxpayers but producing no work for the public, instead getting a salary to campaign.

Tim Hodson, director of the Center for California Studies at Cal State Sacramento, said the elected leaders must know the rules and not tolerate any political activity on the taxpayers' dime.

"The elected official and chief of staff have to set a clear tone and limits," Hodson said.

Elected officials commonly employ people who helped them during their campaigns. A look at the political activities of top aides to San Bernardino County's supervisors:

Supervisor

Paul Biane's staff

Matt Brown, chief of staff: treasurer, county Republican Party; member, party central committee; president, Young Republicans PAC

Tim Johnson, district director: Romney campaign volunteer; Republican central committee; Biane's campaign manager for two years

Marshall Riley, field representative: president, San Bernardino County Lincoln Club

Supervisor

Josie Gonzales' staff

Bob Page, chief of staff: paid by Gonzales campaign for political work

Daniel Flores, field representative, reimbursed for campaign work

Supervisor Dennis

Hansberger's staff

Jim Rissmiller, chief of staff: reimbursed by campaign for work

Elaine Bailes, field representative: paid by campaign for work

Jessica Austin, intern: editor of GOP blog Red County San Bernardino; heads College Republicans at the University of Redlands

Supervisor

Brad Mitzelfelt's staff

Paula Nowicki, chief of staff: paid by Mitzelfelt campaign for political work

Michael Orme, deputy chief: county Republican central committee; president, High Desert Young Republicans; paid consultant to campaign; owns political consulting firm

Robert Eland, field representative: past political director, county Republican Party; consultant to Postmus and Mitzelfelt campaigns

John Richardson, field representative: paid by Mitzelfelt campaign; in 2006, deputy executive director, county Republican Party; volunteer for Postmus campaign

Supervisor

Gary Ovitt's staff

Mark Kirk, chief of staff: paid consultant to political consulting firm and to Ovitt's campaign; seeking seat on Hesperia City Council

Brian Johsz, special projects coordinator: executive director, county Republican Party; Hansberger campaign consultant

Naseem Farooqi, constituent service representative: consultant to the campaigns of Hansberger, Postmus, Ontario Mayor Paul Leon and Banning Mayor Brenda Salas' 2006 Assembly campaign

SOURCE: San Bernardino County campaign disclosure reports; statements of economic interest; San Bernardino County Republican Party