California Corruption: Ideological and Otherwise

By Andy Caldwell

During this past Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Supervisor Laura Capps (she is now the ideological leader of the county supes), with the support of Supervisors Lee and Hartmann, approved some very extreme measures that violate our Constitution, at least in spirit, if not literally.

The worst measure approved by these three has do with a bill in the State Legislature, sponsored by Assemblyman Greg Hart (AB 2257). I would bet anything that Capps helped spawn the bill that would allow counties to appoint “an official” other than our elected Sheriff to operate the county jail system.

Never mind that Sheriff Bill Brown has been re-elected some four times and that he is so well-regarded by his peers that he has served as President of the National Association of Sheriffs.

For county government insiders, this is one in a series of moves whereby these power-hungry, vain-glory libs are scheming to eliminate their fellow electeds to consolidate and aggrandize even more power among themselves. The current race for Auditor-Controller (which is in good hands with incumbent Betsy Schaffer) is another example whereby they hope to eliminate the independence of the office in favor of a challenger who appears to be willing to eventually hand the reins over to the supervisors.

Do Away With Fossil Fuel

Back to last week’s meeting. A second item on the agenda triggered a study the three supes hope will help them eliminate all oil and gas operations in the county (voters said no to that with the defeat of Measure P) without being sued for a “takings case.” That is, the Constitution protects the right to not have your property (mineral rights are considered property rights) taken away without just compensation. These assets are potentially worth billions; good luck with not being sued. Resumed oil production in our county would go a long way to retiring county debt and deficits, but that is not the priority of the shrew who knew too much. Of course, our current gas prices have everything to do with such pompous virtue-signaling throughout this state.

Punish and Humiliate ICE

A third item was just a little bit nebulous as it was an attempt to basically keep ICE out of the county and more precisely, off county property, to whatever extent practicable, as if the Sovereignty Clause of the Constitution was of no effect by way of county fiat. An additional component of this hearing received unanimous support from all five county supervisors having to do with “taking actions to safeguard elections” from ICE, presumably. Do they imagine themselves ordering the arrest of ICE officers if they show up outside a precinct while the majority of voters vote by mail? Who knows, but this too was some great virtue-signaling.

Fraud Capital of the Nation

All in all, these supervisors have never hearkened to the concept of “staying in their lane.” Instead, they sought to sideswipe our sheriff, oil and gas operators, along with mineral rights owners and, of course, our federal government, while failing to ensure public safety by adequately supporting law enforcement, maintaining infrastructure, and honoring the will of voters.

Meanwhile, California has become the fraud capital of the country involving the fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars and an abundance of crooked politicians.

For instance, allegedly fraudulent hospice centers in Los Angeles alone, are suspected of racking up some $5 billion in phony charges for fake clients.

And over the least 10 years, nearly 600 public officials in California have been convicted, not merely charged, but convicted on federal corruption charges, according to Justice Department reports. That total exceeds the number of cases in states better known for public corruption, including New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.

How California Became Ripe for Fraud and Corruption

The super-majority of our state legislature and our state’s executive officers including the Governor and the Attorney General are all democrats. In a one-party state, you can bet the party in charge is not going to investigate, expose, or prosecute its own members.

For example, Attorney General Rob Bonta is supposed to be our state’s top cop, so to speak. Yet, it was the federal Department of Justice that prosecuted the nearly 600 dirty politicians in our state; AG Bonta was too busy suing the Trump administration for political purposes.

Moreover, when citizen journalist Nick Shirley exposed the L.A. hospice fraud, just as he exposed the Somali fraud in Minnesota, what did Bonta do? He had his wife – a state legislator – introduce a bill (AB 2624), dubbed by realists “The Stop Nick Shirley Act,” to make fraud investigations by journalists a crime.

That was some serious pillow talk going on right there.

That’s right. Obviously, the Dems in Sacramento don’t care about stopping fraud, but they do care about stopping fraud investigations. This wouldn’t be the first time, a la the prosecution of the journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood for selling baby parts obtained from abortions.

As Daniel Greenfield put it, “AB 2624 is a Swiss army knife kit for protecting fraud. You’ve got to give the one-party dictatorship in California credit for its ability and willingness to build elaborate walls around its corruption.”

Or, as Katie Grimes put it, “one party rule always devolves into a type of totalitarian rule whereby dissent and even exposure becomes a crime.”

There is something you can and must do about all this because silence is consent. You can start by sharing this information with everyone you know.

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