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