Law firm knee-deep in Bell pension scandal donated thousands to Jerry Brown

There are so many rocks in the Bell pension scandal that haven't been looked under yet.  The latest: looks like attorneys involved in the Bell pension scandal are Jerry Brown donors.

A law firm subpoenaed by the attorney general's office in its investigation of excessive pay in a Los Angeles County city gave $5,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Brown, a Democrat, subpoenaed tax and salary records this week from the city of Bell, along with records from its former law firm, Best, Best & Krieger.

A partner in the firm, Edward Lee, was Bell's city attorney and approved the pay, which included $1.5 million in annual pay and benefits to the city manager.

Finance reports show the firm gave Brown's campaign $5,000 in March. Two attorneys with the firm also gave Brown money: Michael Cowett contributed $500 in March and Brant Dveirin gave Brown $1,000 in April.

Brown campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford says the firm isn't accused of wrongdoing.

The Bell pension scandal is going to fuel the public anger at bloated government pensions.  And as this scandal unfolds I predict Jerry Brown and SEIU and the AFL-CIO and other people close to Brown will be exposed as enablers in the pension scandals.

Jerry Brown 'double-dipping' pension news makes Drudge report

Here are links to the Drudge stories:

• Jerry Brown Double Dipping on Pensions
• Flashback: Brown Says He Is Going To Investigation Out-Of-Control Pensions

On his radio show today, Eric Hogue was talking about Brown's mother making making as much as $500,000 a year in state pensions and govt-paid "survivor benefits."  If true, Brown's ties to bloated pensions go back two generations -- meaning Brown could be damaged by each new revelation about govt workers getting rich off pension shenanigans.

One week after saying he'd get rid of the (non-existent) governor's plane, we learn Jerry Brown has been tooling around on a state-owned Beechcraft Super King

Jerry Brown has figured out a way to get a smooth ride and have tax-payers pay for it.

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown sometimes travels in a turboprop airplane operated by the state attorney general's office, despite recently saying that as governor he would cut back on expenses including private jets and "things considered luxuries."

Records reviewed Thursday by The Associated Press show the plane has been used on at least nine days over the last year.

Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said Brown used the Beechcraft Super King Air 200 just three times since July 2009, all on official state business: to attend the funeral for a California Highway Patrol officer on March 8; for a gang takedown and press conference in Salinas on April 22; and to attend a meeting with local sheriffs in Truckee on June 17.

Gasparac said all flights included only Department of Justice personnel, except on the Fresno flight, when California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow accompanied them.

"It's a law enforcement plane, and they only use it for law enforcement purposes," she said.

In an interview with Univision last week, Brown described how he would save the state money, saying to "begin with, I would cut back the governor's expenses, like the private jet, mansion and things considered luxuries."

When Whitman flies you can bet she doesn't expect the taxpayers to pay for it.

Oakland's pension mess under Mayor Jerry Brown

The media is paying a lot of attention to the bloated salaries and pensions at the little city of Bell, California.  Attorney General Jerry Brown has launched an investigation.  But since AG Brown is running for higher office, people have a right to ask, How well did Jerry Brown manage Oakland when he was mayor? 

Not well at all, according to GOP assemblyman Jim Nielsen:

As mayor, Brown oversaw a bloated Oakland bureaucracy in which more than 1,100 employees, were paid more than $100,000 a year. Even more startling: the number of people on the Oakland payroll earning more than $200,000-a-year increased by more than 700 percent between 2003 and 2006.

Where was Jerry Brown?

Oakland’s payouts were so egregious that the Oakland City Auditor launched an investigation of the city’s pay practices shortly after Brown left office, and what she found makes Bell look well managed in comparison. Under Brown, Oakland paid its employees millions of dollars of bonuses, leaves and vacation buybacks that were far in excess of negotiated labor agreements. These payouts were made with almost no oversight.

Where was Jerry Brown?

Then-Oakland Controller Larae Brown found 950 city employees were paid for a combined 22,000 hours that were never actually worked between 2003 and 2005. When she tried to correct this problem, Brown’s handpicked city manager, Deborah Edgerly, refused and said the handouts should be labeled a “beneficial past practice.”  Edgerly, too, cashed in nearly $200,000 worth of vacation, sick pay and management leaves. But here’s the real crime: The Brown-appointed city manager awarded herself $60,000 in bonuses.

Where was Jerry Brown?

His management skills then and now are a serious issue when considering whether Brown or Meg Whitman, with 30 years of business experience making and balancing budgets, can be counted on to lead California out of fiscal crisis. I’m standing with Meg Whitman.

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Jerry Brown admits placing calls to chamber board members to "discuss" anti-Brown ad

According to Carla Marinucci at SFGate, Jerry Brown admitted on Friday he called Chamber of Commerce board members to complain about the anti-Brown ad launched by the chamber this week.

"I talked to some of my friends in companies that were shocked and did not know anything about it...in fact, some were mislead into thinking it was some kind of educational program, not what was obviously a campaign ad."

Don't know yet if Brown was asked if it is proper for a sitting Attorney General to pressure an organization to drop an ad that critizes the AG.

Seems like reporters would be interested in whether a sitting Attorney General misued his office for political gain.  The chamber members he called must have been aware that the  AG's office could make serious trouble for their companies.  Marinucci, though, seems more interested that the company that produced the ad is from New Jersey. 

Unscrupulous: Jerry Brown, top law enforcement officer in CA, personally pressures Chamber board to pull anti-Brown ad

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Jerry Brown is acting like a third world dictator, abusing his office for political gain.  

When the California Chamber of Commerce launched an anti-Jerry Brown TV ad this week, left-wing groups predictably complained.  And left-wing media, like the Sacramento Bee, started handwringing.

But in my wildest imagination I never thought Jerry Brown would cross the line and intervene by pressuring the Chamber to stop the ad campaign.

But according to the Los Angeles Times, Brown personally telephoned board members and pressured them  to drop the ad.

The California Chamber of Commerce on Thursday said it would stop airing an ad attacking Jerry Brown amid objections from members of the organization, some of whom received calls from Brown and his wife demanding that the spot be removed.
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Brown and his wife, former Gap Chief Operating Officer Anne Gust, had mounted a lobbying effort to get the chamber to pull the ad. Officials at multiple companies on the board of the chamber said they were contacted by the candidate or his wife. The officials requested anonymity for fear of further antagonizing Brown.

When Jerry Brown placed the calls, was he acting as a private citizen?  The board members know Brown has the power to launch a legal investigation into just about anything -- even Sarah Palin's speaking fees.  The Attorney General has no business pressuring anybody to drop an ad that criticizes the Attorney General. 

But don't expect Moonbeam's allies at the Sacramento Bee to moralize about Jerry Brown abusing his office.

By the way, if you want to see the ad, I posted it here.
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