Look at the points made in this editorial. You see the exact same dynamics at play in 2018 – except that the local press are either afraid of the tyrant or they have thrown in with him.
OUR VIEWS – Budget Bluster
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.) May 7, 2009Copyright 2009 The Press Enterprise, Inc. All Rights ReservedSo much for fiscal backbone: A majority of the Board of Supervisors quickly scrapped budgetary discipline in the face of threadbare scare tactics. No county department can expect to escape unscathed from the county’s financial crunch, and supervisors should insist that all offices contribute to solutions.Riverside County’s fiscal crisis requires strong leadership, not flight at the first cry of “wolf!” Yet at budget hearings this week, three supervisors immediately caved when confronted with the hoariest of bureaucratic ploys. Sheriff Stanley Sniff and District Attorney Rod Pacheco predicted a public safety calamity if the board cut their departments’ budgets by 10 percent.Only Supervisors Bob Buster and John Tavaglione resisted that old charade, and called for a realistic reappraisal of those two departments’ budgets. But fiscal responsibility was not a big player in the discussion. The sheriff and DA ducked their duty to contribute to county budget solutions. Three board members went along, despite having no realistic alternative to balance the budget.The board has time to correct those mistakes, as supervisors plan to approve the final budget in June. The county has a $100 million shortfall in discretionary revenue, and also faces a $30 million drop in sales-tax funding for public safety. And that fiscal picture could easily grow worse,depending on how far the economy slides and what actions the state takes to close its budget gap.That outlook requires a level of fiscal seriousness neither the sheriff nor the DA has shown so far. Sniff said that a 10 percent budget cut would require laying off 584 people, closing down a county jail in Banning, eliminating the East End Coroner’s facility and slashing police patrols in unincorporated areas of the county.
Pacheco sought a $12 million increase in his budget at a time when all other county services face cutbacks. If arrogance could pay the bills, Pacheco would not face any cutbacks.
Buster asked the crucial question about the DA and sheriff: “Why can’t they prioritize?” Exactly.Surely the sheriff can find a better starting point for budget cuts than closing a jail and slashing police patrols. Those should be last resorts – and the fact that they feature prominently in the sheriff’s presentation suggests traditional scare tactics, not realistic budgeting. And Pacheco did not even pretend to prioritize.County Executive Officer Bill Luna reported in January that the county’s spending on public safety – primarily the sheriff and DA – has grown far faster than population or crime in the past five years. And Riverside County’s DA staffing grew at a far faster rate than San Bernardino County’s, yet both counties saw about the same increase in case dispositions. Those trends hardly suggest that cuts to the sheriff and district attorney would jeopardize Riverside County’s safety.Exempting the county’s largest discretionary budget entries from cuts would be neither fair nor rational policy. Weighing budget savings against a rise in criminal activity is a false choice. The county can cut costs without putting the public at risk – and supervisors should demand it.
It would be nice to have some honest media again, but I am afraid that in the era of “Get Trump” (and the dynamic therein) that most of the media has crossed the line in to peddling opinion. I’ve been blogging since 2003 and I’ve never hid my bias. It is quite freeing.
Sniff has an obvious history of committing Extortion. He did the same thing in 2009 that he is doing now. Make lots of threats that horrible things will happen unless they give him more money. Any of these cretins who thinks Sniff’s extortion tactics against the BOS are a good thing, needs to think again, because when he does this to the BOS he is doing it to all the taxpayers.
The real shame is that because he is the top law enforcement officer in the county, he thinks he is above the law and that is the breeding grounds for corruption.
Stan Sniff must be voted out of office ASAP!!