Corruption? Contra Costa County

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By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/20/2010 05:33:00 PM PST

Antioch Realtor Bob Brooks has burst into his challenge of Contra Costa Assessor Gus Kramer with both guns blazing.
At the Concord Hilton on Thursday night, Brooks assembled a cast of endorsements from vocal Kramer critics including:
Former Assessor John Biasotti, the man who campaigned for a dead guy rather than see Kramer elected. Biasotti unsuccessfully urged voters to elect Daniel Hallisey, Kramer's first opponent in 1994, who died before the election. One of Biasotti's longtime deputies, Joe Swicegood, also signed onto Brooks' list.
Bernice Peoples, the woman who worked for Kramer for 23 years and sued him for retaliation after she filed a racial discrimination and sexual harassment complaint against him. The county settled with Peoples for $1 million.
Steve and Erica Kramer, Gus' estranged son and daughter-in-law, have offered to put Brooks' campaign signs on their lawn and business windows. Erica refers to her father-in-law as the "snake in the Garden of Eden" who raised her property tax assessment as payback when they barred him from seeing his three grandchildren.
more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/lisa-vorderbrueggen/ci_14437448?nclick_check=1
 
The city of Pittsburgh, and possibly Brentwood may be facing major scrutiny as well because of the wrongdoings and investigations by the Feds and Secret Service into the wrongdoings of developer Albert Seeno.

FBI, IRS, Secret Service raid Seeno family development offices

By John Simerman, Josh Richman, Robert Salonga and Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/18/2010 09:44:56 AM PST
Updated: 02/19/2010 09:43:40 AM PST
CONCORD — Federal agents raided the headquarters of the Seeno family development empire Thursday, hauling out stacks of documents from two office buildings at the heart of a 70-year-old home-building dynasty that has shaped much of East Bay suburbia.
About 30 agents from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service criminal investigation division and the U.S. Secret Service served search warrants about 8 a.m. at the offices of Discovery Builders and the Albert D. Seeno Construction Co., both in the 4000 block of Port Chicago Highway.
Outside, an FBI spokesman declined to discuss the nature of the probe or what type of records the agents sought, but said they made no arrests. The IRS often joins in investigations that involve possible financial crimes, said spokesman Joseph Schadler. He said he could not say why the Secret Service was involved. Secret Service officials acknowledged assisting in the raid but referred questions back to the FBI.
<snip>
The two firms are part of a development and home-building dominion founded by the late Albert D. Seeno. His sons, Thomas Seeno and Albert Seeno Jr., and grandson, Albert Seeno III, now manage a phalanx of Seeno companies. Pittsburg Mayor Sal Evola, cousin to Albert Seeno III, also works for Discovery Builders.
The Seeno family also holds major stakes in companies that own Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno and a casino resort complex in Wendover, Nev.
The California Secretary of State's office lists at least nine active business entities licensed to the family's office complex on Port Chicago Highway in Concord, while in Nevada, Albert Seeno Jr. and Thomas Seeno are listed as officers or directors in some 30 business entities.
Nevada state regulators in 2004 recommended Albert Seeno III as a suitable beneficiary of interests in corporations that owned five casinos, only after concerns about earlier associations with outlaw bikers and felons were resolved.
<snip>
The family's imprint on the East Bay &#8212; in building and politics &#8212; is centered in East Contra Costa but spreads far wider. The Seeno Homes Web site lists more than two dozen Seeno communities in Antioch, a dozen in Oakley and eight in Brentwood, along with scores more in Concord, Clayton, Fairfield, Tracy, Walnut Creek, Martinez and elsewhere.
But nowhere is its stamp bigger, and its roots deeper, than in Pittsburg, where the company has built most of the city's housing, listing 44 home communities and apartment complexes. Its development companies also own a handful of shopping centers, and the Seenos can often be spotted at local social events.
<snip>
Even so, the business empire has afforded the Seenos hefty political influence: Campaign finance records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics indicate the family has made at least $516,000 in contributions to federal candidates since 1989.
That includes sizable contributions to national and state Democratic and Republican party organs, as well as to California and Nevada politicians including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who heads the environment and public works committee; House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Martinez; former Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo; David Harmer, a Republican who sought to succeed Tauscher in last year's special election; and former House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy.
In California, the secretary of state's campaign finance database shows the company and members of the Seeno family have given at least $435,000 to various state candidates and causes over the past decade.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaigns and committees received at least $65,585 from the family and its businesses, while likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Jerry Brown's campaigns received at least $45,500. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
 
By Malaika Fraley
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 03/12/2010 05:01:50 PM PST
Updated: 03/12/2010 05:31:20 PM PST
MARTINEZ — Contra Costa County's top homicide prosecutor was placed on administrative leave this week after a punch that sent his supervisor to the hospital for stitches, sources in the District Attorney's Office say.
The fight between lead homicide prosecutor Harold Jewett and assistant district attorney Paul Sequeira erupted amid rising tensions in the office, prosecutors said, in part from political divisions over the upcoming election for a new district attorney.
Just before it turned to the blow that bloodied him, Sequeira jawed at Jewett over a letter to the editor in the Times last month in which Jewett criticized political fundraising inside the office and wrote that he had "never seen the kind of political environment that exists in this office now."
District Attorney Robert Kochly, who will retire at the year's end, would not discuss the fight, citing confidentiality for personnel matters. But he acknowledged an ongoing internal investigation. Administrators this week sent an e-mail offering counseling to any employees distressed by the incident.
Jewett, 53, said he was placed on leave until further notice. He declined to discuss the fight, citing the investigation.
"I think we'll just have to let it take its course," he said.
Sequeira, 51, also cited the investigation, declining an interview for this story. It was unclear whether he, too, was placed on administrative leave. Some prosecutors said they heard he was, and Sequeira did not return to the office later in the week. But some colleagues said he simply stayed home to recuperate.The fight, seen by several colleagues, erupted during work Monday in a third-floor office, according to attorneys who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared retribution. Sequeira, a supervisor ranked No. 3 in the office, was talking to another prosecutor and his raised voice lured Jewett out of his office, the sources said.
Jewett ignored Sequeira's orders to return to his desk and followed him to another office. As the argument escalated, Sequeira accused Jewett of harming the office with the letter to the Times, which came in response to an editorial that criticized prosecutor and district attorney candidate Mark Peterson. The candidate had asked the state to investigate his opponent Dan O'Malley and some of O'Malley's supporters in the office on accusations they broke campaign laws.
Sources said Sequeira was body-to-body, face-to-face with Jewett when Jewett hit him in the face. Sequeira never struck Jewett. Some colleagues said Jewett felt Sequeira was going to strike him and acted in self-defense. Others viewed the incident as a straightforward assault by Jewett.
After the punch, onlookers pulled the men apart. Sequeira received two stitches below an eye.
The fight shocked the local legal community. Many prosecutors and defense lawyers hold the two men as the county's most talented prosecutors. Still, some prosecutors said they weren't entirely surprised. Sources said Sequeira and Jewett had a history of butting heads — figuratively until Monday — and they now stand on opposite sides in an election with job assignments at stake.
<snip>
Sequeira has taken a more managerial role in recent years, but, like Jewett, he has litigated high-profile homicides for the county. He prosecuted the murder trial of Jimena Barreto, a nanny who was intoxicated when she ran over Danville siblings Troy, 10, and Alana Pack, 7, in 2003. He also prosecuted Susan Polk, an Orinda woman who received national media attention when she represented herself before being convicted of killing her husband.
Jewett heads the homicide team and has litigated many high-profile and death-penalty trials, such as Pittsburg police Office Larry Lasater's killers, and Concord's Helzer brothers, who were convicted of killing five people as part of a bizarre extortion scheme. He was named "Prosecutor of the Year" by the California District Attorneys Association in 2007. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
 
LinasK said:
By Malaika Fraley
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 03/12/2010 05:01:50 PM PST
Updated: 03/12/2010 05:31:20 PM PST
MARTINEZ — Contra Costa County's top homicide prosecutor was placed on administrative leave this week after a punch that sent his supervisor to the hospital for stitches, sources in the District Attorney's Office say.
The fight between lead homicide prosecutor Harold Jewett and assistant district attorney Paul Sequeira erupted amid rising tensions in the office, prosecutors said, in part from political divisions over the upcoming election for a new district attorney.
Just before it turned to the blow that bloodied him, Sequeira jawed at Jewett over a letter to the editor in the Times last month in which Jewett criticized political fundraising inside the office and wrote that he had "never seen the kind of political environment that exists in this office now."
District Attorney Robert Kochly, who will retire at the year's end, would not discuss the fight, citing confidentiality for personnel matters. But he acknowledged an ongoing internal investigation. Administrators this week sent an e-mail offering counseling to any employees distressed by the incident.
Jewett, 53, said he was placed on leave until further notice. He declined to discuss the fight, citing the investigation.
"I think we'll just have to let it take its course," he said.
Sequeira, 51, also cited the investigation, declining an interview for this story. It was unclear whether he, too, was placed on administrative leave. Some prosecutors said they heard he was, and Sequeira did not return to the office later in the week. But some colleagues said he simply stayed home to recuperate.The fight, seen by several colleagues, erupted during work Monday in a third-floor office, according to attorneys who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared retribution. Sequeira, a supervisor ranked No. 3 in the office, was talking to another prosecutor and his raised voice lured Jewett out of his office, the sources said.
Jewett ignored Sequeira's orders to return to his desk and followed him to another office. As the argument escalated, Sequeira accused Jewett of harming the office with the letter to the Times, which came in response to an editorial that criticized prosecutor and district attorney candidate Mark Peterson. The candidate had asked the state to investigate his opponent Dan O'Malley and some of O'Malley's supporters in the office on accusations they broke campaign laws.
Sources said Sequeira was body-to-body, face-to-face with Jewett when Jewett hit him in the face. Sequeira never struck Jewett. Some colleagues said Jewett felt Sequeira was going to strike him and acted in self-defense. Others viewed the incident as a straightforward assault by Jewett.
After the punch, onlookers pulled the men apart. Sequeira received two stitches below an eye.
The fight shocked the local legal community. Many prosecutors and defense lawyers hold the two men as the county's most talented prosecutors. Still, some prosecutors said they weren't entirely surprised. Sources said Sequeira and Jewett had a history of butting heads — figuratively until Monday — and they now stand on opposite sides in an election with job assignments at stake.
<snip>
Sequeira has taken a more managerial role in recent years, but, like Jewett, he has litigated high-profile homicides for the county. He prosecuted the murder trial of Jimena Barreto, a nanny who was intoxicated when she ran over Danville siblings Troy, 10, and Alana Pack, 7, in 2003. He also prosecuted Susan Polk, an Orinda woman who received national media attention when she represented herself before being convicted of killing her husband.
Jewett heads the homicide team and has litigated many high-profile and death-penalty trials, such as Pittsburg police Office Larry Lasater's killers, and Concord's Helzer brothers, who were convicted of killing five people as part of a bizarre extortion scheme. He was named "Prosecutor of the Year" by the California District Attorneys Association in 2007. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
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Well now, that's interesting! Thank you, I don't know how I missed this in the news.
 
There's some interesting comments here concerning that article Linas posted and the unsolved murders in Contra Costa County (Pittsburg/Antioch prostitute murders and Lisa Norrell - remember all of them were found within a short stretch just off the same highway). Not sure I am allowed to copy them here, but go read (towards the bottom of the page)...

http://forums.contracostatimes.com/...hing-supervisor?source=article#comment-250519
 
HAY GUYS NOT SURE YOU HAVE SEEN THIS THREAD BUT IT IS INFURIATING ME :furious::furious::furious:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97301"]California Dept. of Mental Health Illegally Releases 17 Thousand Sex Offenders - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]

17,000 sex offenders released from jail in California.

WTF is OBAMA DOING TO THE CITEZENS??? AND WHY???
 
What does Obama have to do with it? It is a state issue, not the federal government. A state with a Rebublican governor I might add.
 
well the governer and the state legislature are to blame for this.

they passed this bill like a week before jayceee was found and they started releasing the scum right around when chelsea king was murdered. they havent learned a thing.
 
kbl8201 said:
well the governer and the state legislature are to blame for this.

they passed this bill like a week before jayceee was found and they started releasing the scum right around when chelsea king was murdered. they havent learned a thing.
Click to expand...

Of course I do realize that, but who is the Chief in charge?
If I was the Chief in charge I would be making a phone call and saying "NO "F"ing WAY"
are you putting the citizens of California in danger. It wont save any money in the long run.
Because old dogs P in their old spots and they will harm people, the viscous circle of finding
them again,(with minimal police force) then arrest and trial will begin again.
Who is saving money?
AT THE EXPENSE of some poor victims this is a horrible idea.
I believe CHIF means he can override bad ideas. :waitasec:
 
songline said:
Of course I do realize that, but who is the Chief in charge?
If I was the Chief in charge I would be making a phone call and saying "NO "F"ing WAY"
are you putting the citizens of California in danger. It wont save any money in the long run.
Because old dogs P in their old spots and they will harm people, the viscous circle of finding
them again,(with minimal police force) then arrest and trial will begin again.
Who is saving money?
AT THE EXPENSE of some poor victims this is a horrible idea.
I believe CHIF means he can override bad ideas. :waitasec:
Click to expand...

The federal government has no authority over states in how they run matters under their jurisdiction.

As far as California is concerned, in case you hadn't noticed the state government is in a dire financial situation. It is all very well creating a million laws for everything under the sun, but if they are not funded they will not be enforced.
 
By Rick Radin
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 04/26/2010 05:05:41 PM PDT
Updated: 04/27/2010 06:51:47 AM PDT


This year's campaign for Contra Costa assessor promises to be a barn burner.The incumbent has three challengers vying for the job in the middle of an economic downtown that puts the assessor in the position of lowering property taxes for homeowners and others as land values fall.
Gus Kramer, 59, is running for re-election after a fourth term that was marked by a sexual harassment lawsuit and questions about his real estate deals and assertions that he used assessments to punish critics. Settlement of the sexual harassment claim in 2009 cost the county nearly $1 million.
Despite the controversies, Kramer has state backing in declaring he's doing a good job. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
 
LinasK said:
By Rick Radin
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 04/26/2010 05:05:41 PM PDT
Updated: 04/27/2010 06:51:47 AM PDT


This year's campaign for Contra Costa assessor promises to be a barn burner.The incumbent has three challengers vying for the job in the middle of an economic downtown that puts the assessor in the position of lowering property taxes for homeowners and others as land values fall.
Gus Kramer, 59, is running for re-election after a fourth term that was marked by a sexual harassment lawsuit and questions about his real estate deals and assertions that he used assessments to punish critics. Settlement of the sexual harassment claim in 2009 cost the county nearly $1 million.
Despite the controversies, Kramer has state backing in declaring he's doing a good job. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
Click to expand...

HI LinasK - He is doing a good job if you consider also that in California they released 17000, Sex offenders from prison so that they can have a revolving door, and keep some jobs. Obviously a safe state would lose a lot of jobs. based on those criterias he may be doing a good job. :sick::sick::sick:
But if they were to elevate their moral compass he would NOT be doing a good job at all.
 
By Malaika Fraley and John Simerman
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 05/02/2010 12:00:00 AM PDT
Updated: 05/02/2010 05:13:53 AM PDT
MARTINEZ — It was mid-October, autumn's first storm. Rain pounded the streets downtown, while inside 725 Court St., a secret grand jury met to hear more testimony about lurid workplace banter among Contra Costa County prosecutors.
The jurors were there to weigh an indictment against Michael Gressett, a magnetic, coarse-tongued veteran prosecutor accused of raping and sodomizing a junior colleague with an ice pick and ice cubes while holding a handgun to her head. But much of the testimony focused on graphic sex talk in the office, how rampant it was, and whether Gressett was its instigator, or just its most outlandish, nicotine-charred voice.
As another prosecutor sat in the witness chair, rainwater began to fall from the ceiling, dripping first from one spot, then another.
It was only fitting. Lately, little has remained sealed for the office of lawyers charged with fighting on behalf of crime victims in the county.
In March, word spread fast of a workplace brawl between Paul Sequeira, the No. 3 man in the office, and homicide prosecutor Harold Jewett — and the punch that left Sequeira with eye damage and Jewett losing his post as head of the homicide unit, where he handled some of the county's most high-profile cases. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_14994649?nclick_check=1
 
Thank you Linas... from your link:

The rape case against Gressett, who was fired last year, shone a light on a culture of racy, over-the-top sex talk among prosecutors that no one denies: supervisors engaging in banter about "manscaping," a slang term for trimming male pubic hair; a senior prosecutor grilling new hires about their sexual appetites; chitchat about an "anal sex club," and pointed questions about which prosecutors were members.
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Can you imagine this being part of an interview? And, by a senior prosecutor? Worse maybe, is who then is filling up these positions as it must be those who seem willing to become a part of the 'club'.

They describe a fraternity house atmosphere in which members of the right clique are favored in job assignments.

"It was kind of a cowboy culture," said one former prosecutor who left the office recently. "We had a retreat in Napa. The way people were behaving "... I was horrified."

Courtenay Bravmann, a five-year veteran who quit the office in March, said she left because of the environment. She said she was shocked when she moved from the sex unit, and started eating lunch in the main office, where she witnessed administrators participating in inappropriate banter.

"I never felt more uncomfortable. Sometimes it wasn't just the content of the conversation, but who was involved that made it so inappropriate," Bravmann said.

"The office became very divisive over the Gressett situation. It became more divisive over the election. The Sequeira-Jewett fight was over the top," Bravmann said. "It's hard to have justice as the No. 1 priority when everything else is going on."
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It really worries me when I read this (again):

Still, the office has kept a reputation for being aggressive and successful. The latest Department of Justice conviction rate statistics (2003-08) for Contra Costa County range from 88.3 to 94.3 percent, making it at times the highest in the state, and never below the top seven among California's 58 counties. Kochly estimated last year's conviction rate above 90 percent. The office prosecutes about 15,000 cases annually
Click to expand...
.

Success is based on 'conviction rate'. We often don't stop to ponder how this might not be positive. It could very well mean the different offices involved in a conviction cooperate to seal the deal - it looks good for them (or what cases are NOT prosecuted, etc.). Rereading these statistics in light of all else that is presented in this article, the statistics actually do not seem believable. There is no way they have the manpower and resources to be adequately prosecuting this many cases and be this successful in their conviction rate. Plus, if everyone goes along with what a particular verdict is 'supposed' to be ... well, that is not a just system nor a system trying to really make the community safe.

Then we have those crimes and criminals that are never prosecuted - which brings me back to those murdered prostitutes, Lisa Norrell, and to that case of child molestation connected where Duanne and Linda Shoemake were never prosecuted. Then on to why so much about Garrido was not investigated - the 1992 incident, the other chances to investigate his property and so on. It's too bad that a failure rate is not included also in these articles about 'successful' prosecutions. That failure rate would include crimes never solved as well as convictions reversed (although as many of us know, convictions almost never get reversed) and foul play/corruption within the county that effects the crimes prosecuted.
 
LinasK said:
By Rick Radin
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 04/26/2010 05:05:41 PM PDT
Updated: 04/27/2010 06:51:47 AM PDT


This year's campaign for Contra Costa assessor promises to be a barn burner.The incumbent has three challengers vying for the job in the middle of an economic downtown that puts the assessor in the position of lowering property taxes for homeowners and others as land values fall.
Gus Kramer, 59, is running for re-election after a fourth term that was marked by a sexual harassment lawsuit and questions about his real estate deals and assertions that he used assessments to punish critics. Settlement of the sexual harassment claim in 2009 cost the county nearly $1 million.
Despite the controversies, Kramer has state backing in declaring he's doing a good job. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/sea...contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
Click to expand...
By Thomas Peele
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 10/15/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT
Updated: 10/15/2010 10:01:23 AM PDT
Contra Costa Tax Assessor Gus Kramer used an arcane real estate transaction known as a gift deed to acquire millions of dollars worth of property in the county during the past decade despite an ethics law limiting gifts to a few hundred dollars a year that a public official can accept from any one person.
Public records show Kramer obtained full or partial title to seven properties from 2000 to 2010 for which no money changed hands and no real estate transfer taxes were paid. Kramer didn't list three of those properties on his annual ethics disclosure statements, as required by state law.<snip>
A Bay Area News Group review of recorded property records for the past 10 years shows that Kramer:
Acquired the title or partial title to seven properties through gift deeds.
Failed to list ownership of three properties acquired by gift deeds on his statements of economic interest.
Loaned money four times to individuals with properties used as collateral. He has not reported any interest income from those loans on his statements of economic interest.
Accepted documents related to his personal transactions mailed to the assessor's office. Copies of recorded deeds show some faxed to and from the office. State law prohibits officials from using government resources for private business.Also, Kramer:
Has bought and sold properties from companies controlled by the county's largest developer, Albert Seeno Jr., without documenting any recusal of himself from the assessment process of other Seeno properties.
Worked occasionally as a salesman for a Martinez real estate company. A public records request showed no recusals by Kramer of any properties owned by the company.
Ignored the nonbinding advice of the state Board of Equalization that all county assessors file a document, an "employee property activity report," to document and track transactions involving their personal property deals. more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_16340583?nclick_check=1
 
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