The Endless Sacramento Pass

DATE:                    Monday, December 27, 2004

TO:                          The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
                                 State of California
                                 State Capitol Building
                                 Sacramento, CA 95814

FROM:                   Lorraine Bradley, Author
                                 State Secrets
                                 P.O. Box 543
                                 Newport, VT 05855

SUBJECT:        "Blowing Up Boxes."

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

It is said that, "Actions speak louder than words" and it is this simple, axiomatic, philosophy that is at the heart of the bipolar relationship between the California Department of Corrections, the United States District Court and the looming specter of Federal Receivership.

If there is one thing that Rod Hickman, YACA Secretary, and Jeanne Woodford, Director CDC, are good at, it is the continuing regurgitation of established Departmental and Agency mantra, portraying a diseased correctional system which pretends to be self-sufficient and self-healing if given adequate time. However, the continuing actions (or inactions) of the Department of Corrections sing a much different song in this ongoing dichotomous opera. A fact which is not lost on Senator Jackie Speier who, in a recent article, published in the Mercury News, stated:

``The question I keep asking is why does it take a lawsuit being filed for the governor and his administration to do the right thing?'' asked Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who has presided over oversight hearings into the state's $6 billion-a-year prison system.

``The only reforms that have taken place,'' she asserted, ``are a result of lawsuits or special-master reports or district court judges demanding that certain steps take place.''

These observations of Senator Speier are, once again, validated in the recent Alameda County Superior Court adjudication of a Public Records Act lawsuit in favor of Stephen James, Investigative Journalist for the alternative weekly "Sacramento News and Review". Mr. James was, unlawfully, refused access to parolee records by the California Department of Corrections, access that is guaranteed under the California Public Records Act as well as the Department of Corrections internal policies¹. Once again, as the result of a lawsuit which should have been unnecessary had the Department of Corrections done their job properly, a Judge had to instruct the Department of Corrections to do the right thing - and how to do it. Once again, the taxpayer has to take it on the chin and pay ALL court costs due to the childish tantrums of Departmental leaders.

Through all of the rhetoric extolling its "New and Improved" proactive management strategies, YACA remains reactive and defensive in their continuing failure to rehabilitate an agency with no credibility or moral fiber, thereby inviting continuing judicial intervention.

The Youth Adult Corrections Agency and their subsidiary, the California Department of Corrections, can't seem to get it right. Too many years of Sacramento's Central Office being allowed, with impunity, to circumvent its own, as well as public policy, has certainly taken its toll. California is left with an agency which has fallen down and can't get up, continuing to wallow in their own corruption despite their prevarications of progress towards a glorious future.

Intentional failure to release public record information, a release which is well within unambiguous Departmental policy, unquestionably constitutes an act of employee misconduct by one or more employees within the Central Office, Sacramento, of the California Department of Corrections. Further, this misconduct may constitutes a cause for employee discipline in conformance with the Government Code². However, if past history is any measure of future events, I seriously doubt that the office of the Director of Corrections, the office of the Secretary of the Youth/Adult Corrections Agency, the office of the Inspector General or the State Personnel Board will be up to the task of determining who was culpable, much less holding those responsible to any degree of accountability.

The guilty scoundrel(s) will, once again, hide behind the apron strings of the Administrative bureaucracy, secure in the knowledge that accountability for them will never come. Comforted by the awareness that cronyism will protect them. After all, today's scoundrel will become tomorrow's Director or Secretary, a maxim which persists, year after year, decade after decade. The power brokers in Sacramento have an established track record of sweeping their dirt under an ever expanding rug.

Even the report by the Corrections Independent Review Panel, part of the California Performance Review, officially acknowledges the existence of only an institutionally based code of silence, totally ignoring the shenanigans and cover-ups occurring by the Sacramento Administration.

Refusing to address Central Office misconduct will have far greater deleterious consequences as those contemplated by the Corrections Independent Review Panel when the code of silence is practiced within California's institutions, because we lead by example. What kind of following has this type of leadership produced over the years? If, in fact, there is an institutionally based Code Of Silence, who were the architects who's actions and immunities fostered this institutional misconduct? Why isn't Sacramento's misconduct acknowledged, exposed, investigated and dispatched in similar fashion to alleged misconduct by line employees? A stalwart Russian axiom reminds us that, "A fish rots from the head".

Perhaps the refusal to acknowledge the "Sacramento Code Of Silence" lies in the composition of the Governor's blue ribbon panel, all former and retired members of the "Sacramento Club", none of which were willing to cast aspersions on their powerful politico pals, heaping all of the sins of the Correction's agency on politically vulnerable institutional line staff.

A human sacrifice which applies only to the lowest levels of State Service, while the administration in Sacramento persists with their shouts of "Let them eat cake". The classic conflict between the privilege of the bourgeoisie and the suffering of the proletariat, is maintained and perpetuated by the Sacramento Insider's Club.

As with their predecessors, maintaining the Sacramento Code Of Silence will be the combined legacy of both Jeanne Woodford, Director CDC and Rod Hickman, Secretary, YACA and, like their predecessors, they will probably spend their golden years either dodging Federal Indictments or lounging at the V.I.P. table at CCPOA's Annual Conventions.

It has been my experience that the higher one climbs the ladder of success in California State Service, the lower are the standards and expectations of conduct.

The decades old reliance on the courts to do the administrative thinking for the Department of Corrections has debilitated the correctional system to a point where the courts must now command them to perform even the most rudimentary functions mandated by their own internal policy. Like petulant children, Department of Corrections administrators refuse to follow their own procedures and guidelines. Like a bunch of churlish kindergartners on a field trip to the court, a judge must read and explain their own policies to them. All of this while the taxpayer continues to foot the bill for this Sacramento Romper Room.

Since, through their own inaction, the Office of the Director of Corrections and the Office of the Secretary of the Corrections Agency have become vestigial, little more than extraneous middlemen for the courts, the next logical and cost-effective step would be their downsizing or, perhaps, their eventual elimination in favor of Federal Receivership. Conceivably, through Federal Receivership of the California Prison System, adults can regain control over the "Lord Of The Flies".

After all, toddlers have no place in prison.

____________________
¹Departmental Operations Manual, §13010.11; Title 15, Division 3, California Code of Regulations, §3261.2
²Government Code §19572 (d) & (t)


Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com


"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

Paul Simon, "The Boxer"

Cc:

R. Hickman, Secretary
Corrections Agency

Jeanne Woodford, Director
California Department of Corrections

Jackie Speier, Senator

Gloria Romero, Senator

Stephen James, Investigative Reporter
Sacramento News And Review

Copy posted to:
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com

Bcc:

Advertisement

1515 K Street, Suite 520 Sacramento, CA 95815 (916) 323-6001	YACA QUANTUM OPTOMETRY Helping you to see an alternate reality. Two offices to serve you. Specializing in Rose Colored glasses!	1515 S Street Sacramento 95814 (916) 445-7682

---

Orwellian Doublespeak!

It is more "Business As Usual" as the California Department of Corrections, through taxpayer's dollars, buys their way out of accountability.

Through all of the rhetoric of Rod Hickman, nothing has changed in the CDC as, year-after-year, accountability for the Correctional Managers and Administrators remains non-existent. No other scandal of the Department of Corrections exemplifies this as well as the Richard Krupp affair¹.

As if taken from an episode of "The Sopranos", Richard Krupp, in suggesting ways for the California Department of Corrections to save money, incurred the wrath of the CDC and was retaliated against, along with his wife, who was uninvolved with the suggestions.

In a recent settlement between the Department of Corrections and the Krupps, one of the reported stipulations² is that there would be NO accountably for the perpetrators of the retaliation, clearly a departure from the value statement found on the Youth/Adult Corrections Agency website³:

"VALUES

We commit ourselves to principled leadership – a set of core values that guide our behavior:

INTEGRITY - We conduct ourselves professionally, achieving the highest ethical standards.

ACCOUNTABILITY - We take responsibility for our actions and the consequences.

JUSTICE - Everyone receives equitable process and fair outcomes.

COLLABORATION - Everyone supports mutual understanding of ideas, open exploration of our differences, and works constructively and cooperatively with our stakeholders.

EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING - We foster an environment that supports professional development and personal health"

Either this deal was made without the knowledge of Hickman or with his blessing.

If made without his blessing or knowledge, then Rod is guilty of ignorance and his agency is out of control.

If made with his knowledge, then Rod is a liar.

Either way, it is time for Rod Hickman to resign as Agency Secretary.

___________________________________

¹http://newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-05-13/cover.asp
²http://newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-11-18/news2.asp
³http://www.yaca.ca.gov/statements.asp

===========================

My personal thanks to Stephen James - on the web at:
http://www.newsreview.com/
And
http://newsreview.com/issues/sacto/authors/stephenjames.asp

===========================

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com

Another Example of the Code Of Silence - Sacramento Style!

Click on Rod's Picture, Read HIS memo, and ask yourself, "Is it time for Rod to step down as Secretary of YACA?"

==================================

New open records act faces prison challenge

The Associated Press

(Updated Tuesday, November 23, 2004, 6:40 PM)

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An open records measure approved by voters this month will get an early test in a reporter's lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections.

Stephen James, who writes for the alternative weekly Sacramento News and Review newspaper, sued under Proposition 59 after the department denied his request for data about parolees.

The suit was filed last month in Alameda County Superior Court by attorney James Chadwick, who helped draft Proposition 59. A hearing is set for Dec. 15.

The suit alleges the department violated the California Public Records Act, which was strengthened when 83 percent of voters approved Proposition 59 on Nov. 2. The constitutional amendment requires judges to interpret state law broadly when it comes to granting access to government documents, and narrowly on efforts to withhold them.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pledged more open government during his campaign last year, actively supported the amendment and said he would make public his appointments calendar shortly after the measure was approved by voters. James said he asked for the parolee data in February for an article about the department's parole program, its recidivism rate and related issues, but the department denied the request.

Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said she couldn't comment on pending litigation.

However, the department's formal response to the request in March cited privacy laws in refusing to turn over the names of 125 specific individuals and their records.

---

On the Net:

Department of Corrections: www.corr.ca.gov

California First Amendment Coalition www.cfac.org

News From Stepford, California (11-20-2004)

Rod Hickman and Matthew Cate become the most recent inductees into the DNC

Senator Jackie Speier - A WHISTLEBLOWER?

==============================

The Do-Nothing Crew (DNC) of Stepford, California has recently inducted Rod Hickman (Secretary YACA) and Matthew Cate (Complicitor General) into their growing club.

Joining the ranks of such DNC superstars as Robert Presley and Steve White, Rod and Mat have hit the ground running with great rhetoric, but little action, and blowing off requests to reinvestigate botched Central Office investigations.

With all of the recently garnered powers of the offices of the Secretary of YACA and the Office of the Complicitor General, the DNC has proposed that their motto be taken from the Athiest's Epitaph:

"All dressed up and nowhere to go."

==============================

Jackie Speier breaks ranks to become the Department of Corrections' most recent Whistleblower.

In an article written by Mark Gladstone, Mercury News Sacramento Bureau, and published in the Mercury News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004, is the following excerpt from Senator Jackie Speier:

``The question I keep asking is why does it take a lawsuit being filed for the governor and his administration to do the right thing?'' asked Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who has presided over oversight hearings into the state's $6 billion-a-year prison system.

``The only reforms that have taken place,'' she asserted, ``are a result of lawsuits or special-master reports or district court judges demanding that certain steps take place.''

A little truth goes a long way. In this case it appears as if not everybody in the community of Stepford, California is totally pleased with the performance of the most recent members of the DNC.

Watch out for the pods Jackie.

==============================

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com

Open Letter to Jenifer Warren, Reporter, L.A. Times

To:        Jenifer Warren, Reporter
               Los Angeles Times
               jenifer.warren@latimes.com

Dear Ms. Warren,

Before you are completely taken over by the pod that was left on your doorstep by the Invasion of the California State Body Snatchers, you should LISTEN TO, AND HEAR, that which is being said on the blogs that you, so roundly, criticize in your reporting.

From a journalistic standpoint, it is troubling when one party to the story is continually portrayed as "bashers" while the other party merely "reforms". Poor Rod, Never-Did-A-Thing-Wrong, Hickman. Poor Gloria, poor Jackie - all victims of the big, bad bloggers! Bloggers which you have ubiquitously deemed to be unmeritorious in their opinions.

I guess you haven't noticed (or perhaps choose to ignore) that the "Code of Silence" is still widely practiced in Sacramento by top administrators.

Perhaps the alternate viewpoints expressed in these blogs actually contain merit and are not merely biased reporting expressed by Stepford Reporters.

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com

More $$$$ for California's Prisons.

Friday, November 12, 2004

To:         Senator Gloria Romero
                Senator Jackie Speier

From:   Lorraine Bradley, Author
                State Secrets

RE:         More $$$$ for Prisons.

I recently read an article by Mark Gladstone published in the Sacramento Bee in which Governor Schwarzenegger is seeking more tax money for California's prison system. I have one question which you may want to consider.

Is this extra money part of - or an addition to - the windfall provided to the prisons under §16.06 of the Bargaining Unit 6 Memorandum of Understanding (also known as the "Institutional Vacancy Plan")?

This is the section of the labor contract between CCPOA and the State of California that allows the institutions to keep certain, agreed upon, budgeted Correctional Officer positions perpetually vacant, thereby allowing the individual prisons to spend this money on their "special projects". Money which has been budgeted for salaries but is being diverted for other purposes.

You may want to ask the Governor.

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com



Cc:

As Needed

The Folly of Reformation in YACA

Date:        October 22, 2004

To:             Elaine M. Howle, State Auditor
                   555 Capitol Mall
                   Suite 300
                   Sacramento, California 95814

From:        Lorraine Bradley, Author
                    State Secrets
                    P.O. Box 543
                    Newport, VT 05855-0543

Subject: Youth Adult Corrections Agency Trickle Down Discipline.

Dear Ms. Howle,

On Wednesday, October 20th, 2004 I read an article in the Sacramento Bee in which it was reported that you were critical of the slow speed at which the California Department of Corrections is affecting change in their employee disciplinary system. While we may not see meaningful change in the Departmental disciplinary system in our lifetime, there is one aspect of their defective disciplinary process which seems to be receiving no attention at all and has yet to be mentioned by your office.

The reporting of employee misconduct, together with the ensuing discipline that would reasonably follow if found to be true, is anchored in the immutable philosophy that this reporting only has validity if it occurs from the top, down. It is this singularity of disciplinary direction that has the Youth Adult Corrections Agency at a distinct disadvantage in its attempts to correct and/or purge itself of malfeasant individuals. For this very reason, Departmental employees will spare no effort to, meticulously, hide their misconduct and malfeasance from their supervisors and superiors while caring little if their wrongdoing is discovered by a subordinate. In fact, oftentimes, a subordinate is the target of the supervisory misconduct.

This places the subordinate in a, uniquely, preeminent position to observe and identify the misconduct and wrongdoing of supervisors and superiors, however, the actual reporting of this misconduct is a leap of faith which, for good reason, is more than most employees are prepared to take.

While Mr. Hickman, Secretary, Youth Adult Corrections Agency, can promulgate policies that state that the "Code of Silence" and "Whistle-blower Retaliation" are unacceptable, the effectiveness of the channels through which the misconduct of superiors is reported, together with the protection of "Whistle-blowers", remains woefully inadequate. This is due, in large part, to the pervasive State-Service philosophy that the reporting of employee misconduct is an exclusive function of supervisors/superiors toward subordinates. A reversal of these roles is, demonstrably, resisted at ALL levels of State Service, as it is seen as a threat to the natural order of things. Like "Acid Reflux Disease" it is discipline going against the established grain. Even the specialized, discriminatory term "Whistle-blower" attaches itself only to those reporting misconduct against superiors.

As it was for me ten years ago, when I reported the fraudulent investigation of the Chief Investigator for the California Institution for Men in Chino to the State Personnel Board, so it is now for employees attempting to circumvent a lock-stepping Agency chain of command. Lacking any expectations of action within their own chain of command, when a Departmental employee reports the misconduct of a superior to the State Personnel Board¹, the State Personnel Board will accept the unquestioned and self-serving statements of the accused rather than independent evidence and applicable law developed and cited by the reporting employee in the initial complaint (Request To File Charges - RTFC).

I am currently a para-legal who is assisting employees in their "Whistle-blowing" in this fashion and I can state, authoritatively, that the State Personnel Board's attitudes and philosophies have not changed over the years. It is clear from the gruff demeanor of their responses that they do not wish to be bothered with these complaints. These are the same attitudes and philosophies I was faced with almost ten years ago in my efforts to have the State Personnel Board correct the perpetrator of a fraudulent investigation. It is true that the more things change the more they remain the same.

The problems with the Youth Adult Corrections Agency's reformation movement transcend YACA, they are pervasive throughout California's Departments, Agencies and Legislative Oversight Commissions and Committees. So far, the focus of the correction has been limited to internal fixes and overhauls within the agency when, in fact, it is the entire State which must be overhauled since one hand washes the other.

Often times I rely on the following analogy to make my point:

California State Service is like a house with many rooms. If a fire breaks out in one of the rooms, all occupants of the other rooms will mobilize to smother the fire lest the entire house burns down.

Clearly, then, the reformation of the Youth Adult Corrections Agency is merely a sideshow in the inexorable march toward Federal Receivership.

_______________________________________

¹§19572 et seq GC

Sincerely,




Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com



Cc:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
State of California

The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson
Senior United States District Judge

John Hagar, Special Master

The Honorable Senator Gloria Romero

The Honorable Senator Jackie Speier

Roderick Q. Hickman, Secretary
California Youth & Adult Correctional Agency

Floyd Shimomura, Executive Officer
State Personnel Board

Letter to Thelton Henderson, Federal District Court.

Date:          Monday, August 9, 2004

To:              The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson
                     Senior United States District Judge
                    United States District Court
                    Northern District of California
                    San Francisco, California 94102

From:        Lorraine Bradley
                    P.O. Box 543
                    Newport, VT 05855

Dear Judge Henderson,

I have recently read that there is disagreement by the State of California as to whether or not the California Department of Corrections requires placement under Federal Receivership in order to function properly, within the laws of the State of California and the United States of America.

I have authored a book about my experiences with the California Department of Corrections which is freely available, on-line, at my State Secrets website and I am now a para-legal, assisting Departmental employees against a systemically corrupt system, Pro Bono, who have been victimized by the wrongdoing of Departmental Supervisors, Managers and Executive Officers.

I have read the letter of July 20, 2004 written to you by Peter Siggins, Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Schwarzenegger, posted on Governor Schwarzenegger's web site, which enumerates an impressive list of accomplishments directed toward the reformation of the Youth Adult Corrections Agency. However, I find it curious that the demand for my services has increased, not decreased, as it should, if these actions were effective. This leads me to believe that the prevailing opinion of Departmental managers and administrators is that these reforms are only temporary, purely cosmetic and not to be taken seriously.

One of the biggest benefits of a Federal take-over of the California Department of Corrections is that the source of the problems, the "Head Of The Snake" if you will, would be micromanaged by a Federal Receiver who would, hopefully, be insulated from the State politics of protecting incompetent Correctional Executive Officers and Administrators, of which there are many.

People still speak of Corcoran State Prison and the debacle that occurred there. However, it was a Correctional Administrator in Sacramento, not line staff at Corcoran, which fashioned the "Integrated Yard Policy" which mandated that rival gang members would exercise together in Security Housing Units. There are many other episodes that, when put together, demonstrate that this policy is representative of the "group-think" of Central Office for the Department of Corrections in Sacramento that remains to this day.

It is truly unfortunate that the Administrative/Executive officers of the California Department of Corrections have mismanaged the Department to the point where it must be considered for placement under Federal Receivership. However, for line employees, it may be a blessing in disguise, making the working environment safer. Perhaps California's State Prisons will no longer be a playground for perverse supervisors who are rewarded through promotion instead of disciplined for their wrongdoing.

Invariably, Departmental and Agency reformers enter their office with aplomb, but leave in disgrace, having, themselves, been the collateral damage of the numerous political obligations which have been collected upon through top level appointments, quite often overlooking ability in the process. Mr. Hickman is only the most recent link in this chain.

While I wish him well, his foundation is already starting to crumble as top level Executives and Managers, laden with controversial pasts within the Department, are installed in high level offices within Departmental Headquarters, while Wardens at the prisons openly and blatantly ignore his policies regarding whistle-blower retaliation and the "Code Of Silence".

Perhaps, under Federal Receivership, employees will no longer have to make the choice, as I did, of "Leave and live or stay and die.", a choice which no one should ever have to make. Perhaps, under Federal Receivership, whistle-blower retaliation, as well as the "Code Of Silence", still widely practiced by the Youth Adult Corrections Agency towards its employee victims, will finally end.

These are certainly issues to ponder prior to allowing the foxes to continue their reign of terror over the hen house.

Lorraine Bradley

Cc:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
Peter Siggins, Legal Affairs Secretary
John Hagar, Special Master
Don Specter, Prison Law Office
Mike Jorgenson, Deputy Attorney General, San Francisco
The Honorable Jackie Speier, California State Senate
The Honorable Gloria Romero, California State Senate
Roderick Q. Hickman, Secretary, YACA

Open Letter On Prison Reform

Open Letter to Roderick Q. Hickman, Secretary
Youth Adult Corrections Agency

Dear Mr. Hickman,

I have enclosed an article published in today's Los Angeles Times.

Curiously, you make the statement, "We are committed to creating a disciplinary system that treats people fairly but also holds them accountable", a statement which has the distinctive ring of statements made by your predecessor Robert Presley, an individual who did absolutely nothing toward this end, during his years in the office of Secretary.

As you continue to practice the "Code of Silence", Sacramento style, by refusing to address past victims of the blatant criminality within your ranks, you might take stock in the insincerity of that which you preach. By refusing to address mistakes of the past in a meaningful way, your promises of a bright and just tomorrow ring hollow.

Even though you have claimed that the "New Law" is spelled out and clear, its interpretation by corrupt officials will continue to plague the Agency until you address the misconduct and corruption within your managerial and administrative ranks. Misconduct and corruption around which politics creates a protective and, oftentimes, impenetrable shell.

Your theories sound good, it will be interesting to see how they work in practice.

Please forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com

California, A Land Of Kings

To:         Open Editorial

From:    Lorraine Bradley, Author
                State Secrets

RE:        THE CALIFORNIA MONARCHY - A LAND OF KINGS!

In monarchies throughout the world, ascension to the throne is accomplished through the succession of an heir. The overt European philosophy which keeps a family in power has historically been the "Divine Right of Kings" which asserts that GOD has deemed a royal family bloodline to be worthy of kingship.

In California, things are done a little differently - kings and queens are elected at the ballot box.

Elected politicians which probably start their careers by filling a political niche or plugging a governmental hole, quickly learn that they have garnered power in their little corner of the world, power that they use to promote their own, personal, agendas and beliefs. Advocation that exists as despotic decrees which often violate the policies of the public that elected them to the throne and, sometimes, even violate the law. The resulting anarchy seems to be of no concern to the new monarchy, as long as they have moved their personal beliefs forward, eroding society just that much further.

We need look no further than our local newspaper to see mayors involved in their, illegal, imperial pursuits, joining, in matrimony, the proud groom and the blushing bride as they both gaze longingly into each others eyes, both sporting a five o'clock shadow.

However, mayors are not the only ones that are elected to the throne and exercise their sovereignty over the laws of the land. We can't forget the District Attorneys - county prosecutors who are demanding their piece of the kingdom

In a headline published in the Los Angeles Times, Saturday, May 8, 2004 it is stated:

"Officer's Murder Divides San Francisco. Atty. Gen. Lockyer may step in as the D.A. refuses to seek death in the killing of a police officer."

"SACRAMENTO — California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer indicated Friday that he is likely to take over the controversial prosecution of the accused killer of a San Francisco police officer because the district attorney there is philosophically opposed to the death penalty and refuses to seek it."

With increasing frequency, the Attorney General is being called upon to don his armor, mount his steed and, with lance in hand, ride into the local castles to do battle with the elected monarchy. With increasing frequency, these elected potentates are thumbing their noses at public policy and the taxpayers that pay their salaries. However, this is nothing new and District Attorneys have a rich history of actions against the public interest. Chaos and disorder merely continue to reign in California's Halls of Justice - nothing new here!

What is reported in the paper is only the sensational tip of a huge ice burg that awaits, just below the surface, to wreck the ship of our Constitutional government.

Workers' Compensation Reform seems to be a historical hotbed of silent inequity and corruption for District Attorneys.

While the California legislature, in concert with the Governor, can pass laws that address and seem to rectify Workers' Compensation abuses, ultimately it is the District Attorneys who must enforce the most egregious abuses of the system - fraud.

The quality of enforcement of these laws against the abuses of Workers' Compensation Fraud seems to be contingent on the dichotomous philosophy that attaches itself to this single law which, constitutionally, should be applied equally to both employers and employees. Regrettably, this never seems to be the case.

District Attorney Philosophy #1:

Workers' Compensation Fraud, when committed by an employer against an employee, constitutes a "Personnel Action".

District Attorney Philosophy #2:

Workers' Compensation Fraud, when committed by an employee against an employer, invariably, constitutes a crime.

Even though it is the same law, if the perceptions of the two largest counties in California¹ are any measure of the validity of this duplicity, then the disparity and discrimination are whole and factual.

Click here for the August 6, 2000 scanned article in the L.A. Times regarding the self-serving prosecutorial practices of the Los Angeles District Attorney's office (1.2 Mb. file size PDF).

Click here to read how the District Attorney, in San Bernardino County, evaded Workers' Compensation Fraud prosecutions in favor of politics (647 Kb. PDF).

While civil disobedience by Mayors and breaches of public policies regarding death penalty cases by District Attorneys are aberrational signs of the times, the refusal of County Prosecutors to prosecute employers and insurance companies for their perpetration of Workers' Compensation Fraud committed against employees is the standard of political justice that endures, decade after decade.

Since California's District Attorneys are incapable of circumnavigating politics in the workers' compensation arena, the time has come for the Attorney General to create a special prosecutions unit which deals exclusively with Employer Perpetrated Workers' Compensation Fraud or, perhaps, a State Grand Jury if the Attorney General believes he cannot withstand the politics of TRUE Workers' Compensation Reform. If workers' compensation reform is ever going to be more than a mockery, the problem of Employer Perpetrated Workers' Compensation Fraud must be addressed.

Where kings reign, there needn't be either law or equity - only power.

Sincerely,

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com


____________________________

¹Los Angeles County, Largest in Population and San Bernardino County, largest in area.

Outsourcing California's State Executive Officers.

To:        The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
               State of California

From:    Lorraine Bradley, Author
                State Secrets

RE:         Outsourcing State Administrative Functions.

Recently, I have written an open letter¹ to you entitled "Part Time Legislature" in which I propound another view of the case for the California State Legislature to work, and be paid, on a part-time basis.

While your philosophy for the reduction of the legislature to a "part-time" basis is sound², upper echelon State Agency/Department/Board executives, similarly, pass "Strange Policies" and pursue "Strange Practices" which, oftentimes, shock the sensibilities of the California citizen.

"Strange Policies" such as the Department of Corrections, now rescinded - yet still infamous, "Integrated Yard Policy"³ which provided the architecture for the 1994 scandal at Corcoran State Prison. "Strange Practices" such as promotions within the Department of Corrections based on fraud and deceit, oftentimes propelling the most compromised personnel to the highest levels of the Department of Corrections.

The Corrections' Agency has become a veritable rogue's gallery of some of the most notable Departmental and Agency figures who have attained their place in infamy. In a series of articles entitled "Uncivil Servants" currently being published in the Contra Costa Times, the cooperation of the State Personnel Board in maintaining the Department of Corrections' Code of Silence is truly alarming. It appears as if all of the California government bureaucrats are involved, in some form and to some degree, in improprieties. It seems to be a "Rite Of Passage" to the upper bastions of power and control.

Having said all of this, if there is no alternative to the corruption, inattention, incompetence and dereliction of duty in the hierarchy of California's bureaucracies, wouldn't it make sense to have these qualities soil Sacramento on a part-time or private sector basis?

If public sector corruption is an unavoidable consequence of the administration of the California bureaucracy, wouldn't it make sense to get it at a discount, through part time work for part time pay or, perhaps, private sector administration of California's public agencies?

Many states who have attempted the privatization of rank and file personnel now lament doing so because of the hidden monetary and reputation costs associated with the substandard performance of that part of government that directly interacts with the public and inmates. The demand for privatization will shrink in the coming years as escapes and assaults on inmates by private staff, who are required to have a mere 40 hours of initial training and earn McDonald's wages, bring increasing lawsuits, public scrutiny and public outrage.

Anytime a restroom can become a supervisor's personal peep show and the Department of Corrections is allowed, even encouraged, to threaten the reporting employee with termination for exposing the practice, the public trust is breached. It is true that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Why not consider something that has never been tried? The privatization and outsourcing of the administrative functions of California State government utilizing an organization such as "Administaff". Perhaps administrative executives in the Sacramento and Regional offices could be, substantially, outsourced, replacing them with people who would do the job at a fraction of the cost. Since the State Administration hasn't done a very good job anyway, I doubt you would even notice the change. If you did, it would, no doubt, be a change for the better.

Sincerely,

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com



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¹Widely distributed through e-mail and fax.

²"They pass strange bills."

³A Department Of Corrections' policy requiring Security Housing Units (SHU), throughout the State, to release rival gang members, together, on exercise yards.

Californias Prison Corruption Feast

As the leaves turn and the crispness of fall is in the air . . . THE FEAST IS ON!

No, this is not Thanksgiving, this speaks about the feasting on prison corruption that is occurring within the California State Government, a feast from which the politicians, both elected and appointed, will walk away full and fat while the taxpayer's wallet will be just that much lighter. For these politicians, life couldn't be better.

Historically, over the decades, the corruption in California's State Prisons has provided the elected politicians with a soap box and podium from which to extol their own specious virtues and unfulfilled remedies, constantly keeping their name in the public eye.

For the appointed, bureaucratic politicians who have learned the mantra of "Prison Reform", higher payrolls through promotion are guaranteed as the upper echelons of the State organization expand, exponentially, to accommodate the apparition of reforming California's Prisons and the additional staff that is required to do so.

Then, last but certainly not to be least, there is the press. As sales soar from the insatiable appetite of a readership, eager to learn the dirt of the public soap opera, the tabloid market can be readily tapped by media organizations that, at one time, were considered "mainstream", but have recently found themselves in competition for the tabloid dollar. It is no longer a rare occurrence to see a soccer mom, waiting in a supermarket check out line, carrying a copy of the National Enquirer or Weekly World News and the Los Angeles Times under the same arm.

In an earlier era, William Randolph Hearst would have embraced the spirit of the tabloid publications. Now, in the finest tradition of "Yellow Journalism" we have the mainstream media basking in his glory. While it is poor journalistic practice to have the messenger become the story, it is now commonplace as the careers of reporters are also enhanced as they suckle at the corruption trough.

However, with all of this crusading and feasting, a culprit must be identified and pursued to prevent the appearance of the government/press axis of being asleep at the switch for so many years. Towards this end, in walks the ultimate patsy.

Over the decades, the government/press axis has had a "love-hate" relationship with labor unions, the Teamsters being only one example. When they do well for their membership, achieving favorable pay, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment, labor unions become society's darlings for giving the working man a break. However, when corruption is discovered within their ranks, the press seizes upon the feeding frenzy to expose it.

The government/press axis has, without evidence, attempted to correlate the activities of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association with those of other labor unions, through innuendo, intimation and unsubstantiated allegations of "undue influence over public officials". The government/press axis has decided that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association is the perfect sacrificial lamb upon which to heap the sins of the government and they have decided to utilize character assassination to achieve this goal. It is fascinating that, all at once, they have spoken with one voice. It makes one wonder if this is incidental or by design?

With so much money at stake fighting this corruption, and while the spigot of public money is fully opened for this purpose, is prison reform truly the goal or is the pursuit of this reform the most likely scenario.

Pursuit of prison reform = SPIGOT ON
Prison reform = SPIGOT OFF

You decide.

Lorraine Bradley, Author
State Secrets, The Website.
State Secrets, The Book.
lbradley282@msn.com
http://prisoncorruption.blogspot.com