Pick up The Arcata Eye and McKinleyville Press

Gallegos, in an interview with Daniel Mintz, says that he's withdrawing his Grand Jury response regarding grants. Developing. Some things in this article are not clear. Not adding up. Not making sense.

And WHERE WAS PAUL GALLEGOS THIS TIME?

And where was District Attorney Paul Gallegos today? While the Board was looking at budget items that affect "his" office? The office he so covets? THAT "DISALLOCATES" 1.8 POSITIONS IN THE VICTIM WITNESS PROGRAM

Answer - nowhere to be found.

But - Jill Duffy made a motion that CAO work with the DA or his designee - drafting a strong letter of protest to the Victim Compensation and Govt. Claims board detailing the importance of the services. Copies are to go to Chesbro and Wiggins.

◼ http://co.humboldt.ca.us/board/agenda/questys/ click on June 1, 2010 Meeting agenda, go to item G-1.
G. DEPARTMENT REPORTSCounty Administrative Office
1. Proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2010-11 Budget.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors receive and review Humboldt County's Proposed FY 2010-11 Budget; Approve the deferment of Motor Pool depreciation charges for half a year in the amount of $550,095 for all funds ($225,000 savings for the General Fund) for FY 2010-11; Authorize the Auditor-controller to close funds 3717 Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA)-Projects-County Counsel, 4482 Gravel Trust, 4484 CHERT Surface Mining and 4004 Donations-Elections Initiative upon the transfer of the reamining balances to the General Fund; Authorize a voluntary unpaid furlough for the County Administrative Officer of up to five percent of his time for FY 2010-11; Re-allocate a 1.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Legal Secretary (Class 144) in budget unit 219, effective at the beginning of FY 2010-11; disallocate 1.8 FTE Victim Witness Specialists (class 689) in budget unit 220, effective July 11, 2010; Continue budget discussion to the public hearings scheduled for Monday, June 7, 2010 (1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.); Direct the County Administration Officer to return to the Board on June 22, 2010, to consider adoption of the final budget for FY 2010-11; and take other action as appropriate.



Last time Jill tried to save the Victim Witness Program was when Paul Gallegos lost the grant funding and cost our Program FOUR positions. And she was attacked for "making the DA look bad."

Remember? ◼ I DO.

The first the public heard of it, Paul was laying off almost the entire Victim/Witness Unit, what was left of it. That's a total of four people. That unit had been in the D.A.'s office for at least 20 years and losing four more people was going to do a great deal of damage to their efforts. (he had already laid off two positions.)

It was to be quietly passed through on the Board of Supervisor's Consent Calendar, without explanation, without discussion, without notice. Only when the item was pulled from the Consent Calendar did the public learn what was happening.
Even then, very little attention was given to it. Gallegos claimed it was political maneuvering, and the reporters seemed happy with that explanation

This saved him from explaining not only why this was happening, but why he hadn't alerted the Board sooner, asked for help, or sought alternate sources of funding.

Pull down the Board agenda (for 5/10/05 (co.humboldt.ca.us/board/agenda/questys/ ). Look in the Consent Calendar for the item asking the Board for permission to De-allocate the positions for Victim Witness and to begin the lay-off process. (Note: FTE means Full Time Employee)

District Attorney
7. Request for the Disallocation of a 1.0 FTE Program Coordinator Position and 3.0 FTE Victim Witness Program Specialist Positions in Budget Unit 252 Effective July 30, 2005

RECOMMENDATION: Approve request, and authorize the Personnel Department to begin the layoff process for the disallocated positions.

Next, you need to pull down the Agenda Item. You should get the Memo pages for the Item directed to the Board.

Victim Witness Positions Deallocated--2005 05 10

Jill Duffy and Phil Crandall saved the day. Or a couple of positons anyway.

The value of the Victim Witness Program

◼ A survivor, not a victim
...Ultimately, Brannon-Stanley credits the District Attorney's Victim Witness program for getting her through this time -- from finding her a new home to providing support during the court proceedings.

Detective Ron Harpham and Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin were critical in ensuring justice was carried out, she said. It's her own resilience that keeps her going.

”I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor,” she said....

Today's Tomorrow's Consent Calendar

Item D-7 and D-8
District Attorney
7. Amendment of Lease at 712 Fourth Street for the Victim Witness Office (State Grant Funds).
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors approve and authorize the chairperson to execute the Second Amendment to Lease for property at 712 Fourth Street; Direct the Clerk of the Board to return one executed amendment to Real Property for transmittal to Lessor.

8. Grant Application for Vertical Prosecution Block Program - FY 2008-09, State of California, Office of Emergency Services, in the amount of $146,981 (State OES Funds - VPBP)
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors 1) allow the District Attorney to submit application; and 2) authorize the Chair to execute continuation application for Vertical Prosecution funding, Grant Award Face Sheet (OES A301) and Certificate of Assurance of Compliance. (No impact to the General Fund).
***

At least he is applying for it. But, does he really have a "Vertical Child Abuse Prosecutor?" And if so, who is it? He claims Maggie Fleming has been the designee since 1994.

So-o-o-o, what happened to Jeffrey "You'Go'Free.com: Schwartz? The One who got a BIG FAT RAISEbecause he had assumed that position?

Sources say - There was no 'Vertical Prosecutor" until October of 1996. there were people assigned to the unit, it was shared by Felony Prosecutors like Rob Wade, Allison Jackson and Maggie Flemming back then, but everyone in the office shared in the duties.
Between October of 96 and February 97 Jeannie Tunnison-Campbell became the Vertical Prosecutor.
Then it was Allison Jackson and Peter Martin.
Then Peter Martin left and it was Allison Jackson and Andrew Isaac.
Then Gallegos fired Allison Jackson and it was Andrew Isaac, alone.
Then Gallegos threw Maggie Flemming into that position.
Then he handed it over to "Yougofree.com" - who as far as anyone can tell never took a case to trial.
Now apparently, he has put newcomer Kelly Neel into that position, within a year of when she was hired.

What is a "Vertical Prosecutor" you ask? It is simply, one prosecutor assigned to see the case all the way through, from start to finish, so it isn't handed off from one person to another, so they don't have to start from scratch and wing it through a prosecution. It is supposed to provide for a higher grade of prosecution, it gives the victims one person to have to deal with, to learn to trust, and to count on to know the ins and outs of the case.

It is important enough that grants are provided to ensure that that person has adequate time to prepare and concentrate on that case, it is supposed to eliminate or lighten the other cases they are assigned to. That means they are NOT assigned to other cases such as Asset Forfeiture, Murders, Drug cases, or 'buckets' the random assignments necessitated by low staffing.

The DA's Office gets grants to provide for Vertical Domestic Violence Prosecutors and Vertical Child Abuse Prosecutors. When Gallegos signs his name to these grant applications he is saying that he has a qualified dedicated person assigned to these positions. And the CAST stats and records of cases taken to trail should match up.

Read the Grant App - And look at those numbers! WOW! They don't add up, however. Not to the numbers that have already been released, (things like the number of referrals, interviews and cases filed - without the CAST stats it is impossible to gauge the accuracy of this application) - and not to the numbers Gallegos himself has stated on the record (things like the number of cases each prosecutor is carrying as a load, is assigned to each year.) For example he says here that the average caseload for a non-vertical prosecutor in 2007 was 85 per felony attorney.... Yet Gallegos has told the media that the prosecutors handle some 550 cases a year. And that was BEFORE he "lost" a bunch more prosecutors.

What is the penalty to the County if Gallegos isn't giving accurate information on his grant apps, especially with regards to the names and actuality of the Vertical Prosecutors, of a Vertical Prosecution Program, both in this and the Domestic Violence Program grants? Does the County have to pay back the funds?

And does anyone care?

PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST re: CAST

Tuesday's BOS meeting w/UPDATE

District Attorney
7. Extension of Extra Help Hours Past the 960 Hour Limit.
d. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors approves the extension of extra help hours for Jessica Watson, Office Assistant I, pursuant to section 7 of Humboldt County Resolution, effective immediately to 1960 hour.
No impact on the General Fund.

The DA wants the Board to approve the extension of extra help hours for an Office Assistant who "provides office assistance to both (the DA's) staff and the general public in a critical position (Receptionist). This position handles all telephone traffic and direct contact with the public. (The DA's Office) and the general public cannot be serviced without this position especially while this department has TWO OFFICE ASSISTANT UNFILLED VACANCIES.
8. District Attorney Victim Witness Assistance Program Grant Application for FY 2008-09 (State General Funds - State Office of Emergency Services Funds).

RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors authorizes the Chair to execute the original Grant Proposal/Award Face Sheet and Certificate of Assurance of Compliance. There will be no County General Fund Impact.

The grant app

Does this mean the DA is actually going to step foot in the Supervisor's Chambers? Make an appearance? It's almost a first.

Haven't we seen this one before?
Personnel
15. Adoption of Senior Deputy County Counsel Classification.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors:
1) Adopts the class of Senior Deputy County Counsel (salary range 504, class 0598, unit 8) into the classification plan;
2) Approves the revised salary range for Assistant County Counsel (from range 508 to salary range 530, class 0603); and
3) Approves the allocation of one full-time Senior Deputy County Counsel (salary range 504, class 0598) in budget unit 121, effective the beginning of the bi-weekly pay period following approval; and
4) Approves the disallocation of one Deputy County Counsel I-IV (salary range 489, class 0600) effective on the date the Senior Deputy County Counsel position is filled.
The impact to the General Fund for this incremental cost increase for
Fiscal Year 2007-08 is approximately $1,958 for Senior Deputy County Counsel and $3,214 for Assistant County Counsel.
For Fiscal Year 2008-09 the annual cost increase for (newly created?) Senior Deputy County Counsel is approximately $12, 727 and $20, 889 for Assistant County Counsel.

The item

Fascinating. Isn't this a new position that does nothing new? And with so much of the County's legal work farmed out, what are we really talking about here?

UPDATE: The County Counsel item was apparently pulled entirely, not just pulled out for discussion. This makes the SECOND TIME this item has been pulled.

Been about a year.

Supes mull grant application

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider a recommendation Tuesday to authorize the chairperson to execute a grant application for 2007-08 for the Victim Witness Assistance Program.

According to board documents, the Victim Witness Division of the District Attorney’s Office has been receiving funding from the state and federal government to provide services to victims of crimes since 1982.

The funding will allow for the continuation of services for an additional fiscal year. The Victim Witness Assistance Program provides support and crisis intervention to more than 2,000 residents per year, according to board documents.

It's a good thing someone cares about this important program.

ER - Interview Process Cuts Down On Trauma Of Children 5/6/04
Losing the Victim Witness Grant
ER - Board of Supervisors talks over grant denial for program 5/11/2005
NCJ - VICTIM PROGRAM THREATENED: 5/12/05
ER - Gallegos says program is safe 5/15/2005
ER - Victim witness program funds sought by county 5/18/2005
TS - Proposed cuts to victims program delayed May 18, 2005
TS - My Word - DA leadership: The 8-step program May 24, 2005
County to fund Victim Witness Program The Eureka Reporter 6/8/2005

Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Meeting:
May 15 item c-5 (consent calendar)
District Attorney
5.  Grant Application for 2007-2008 - Grant Victim Witness Assistance Program
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Supervisors authorize the Chair to execute the Original Grant Proposal / Award Face Sheet and Certificate of Assurance of Compliance.

Losing the Victim Witness Grant

Some of the clearest examples of Paul Gallegos' mismanagement of the District Attorney's office relate to the grants that provide approximately 60% of his office's funding. The spin that he employs to hide his failures is both fascinating and tragic. But before we discuss the spin, let's examine what happened with the Victim Witness Grant

The first the public heard of it, Paul was laying off almost the entire Victim/Witness Unit, what was left of it. That's a total of four people. That unit had been in the D.A.'s office for at least 20 years and losing four more people was going to do a great deal of damage to their efforts. (he had already laid off two positions.)

It was to be quietly passed through on the Board of Supervisor's Consent Calendar, without explanation, without discussion, without notice. Only when the item was pulled from the Consent Calendar did the public learn what was happening.
Even then, very little attention was given to it. Gallegos claimed it was political maneuvering, and the reporters seemed happy with that explanation

This saved him from explaining not only why this was happening, but why he hadn't alerted the Board sooner, asked for help, or sought alternate sources of funding.

Gallegos' muffed the federal grant application.

Take a look at the County's website. There are clues which suggest what happened:

Pull down the Board agenda (for 5/10/05 (co.humboldt.ca.us/board/agenda/questys/ ).  Look in the Consent Calendar for the item asking the Board for permission to De-allocate the positions for Victim Witness and to begin the lay-off process. (Note: FTE means Full Time Employee)

District Attorney
7.   Request for the Disallocation of a 1.0 FTE Program Coordinator Position and 3.0 FTE Victim Witness Program Specialist Positions in Budget Unit 252 Effective July 30, 2005
RECOMMENDATION: Approve request, and authorize the Personnel Department to begin the layoff process for the disallocated positions.

Next, you need to pull down the Agenda Item. You should get the Memo pages for the Item directed to the Board.
Documents
Victim Witness Positions Deallocated--2005 05 10

Attached to that is a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice and a one-page attachment to that letter explaining the reasons for the denial. Read that last page and it all becomes clear.

(co.humboldt.ca.us/board/agenda/questys/MG16273/AS16276/AS16290/AI41777/DO42894/BOSAgendaItem.pdf)

(co.humboldt.ca.us/board/agenda/questys/MG16273/AS16276/AS16290/AI41777/DO42894/6.TXT)

This is an example of Paul failing to do his job.

Looking at this Board Item, several things tell the story.

First, Paul tried to not attach the letter. You can see the handwritten asterisk adding the attachments.

The staff in the D.A.s office had been told that their failure to get the grant was Governor Schwarzenegger's fault and nothing more. Clearly that is what Paul wanted the Board to think.

Then what happens is that someone at the CAO's office asked for more as to what the factors were for the denial. That is when the letter gets added.

As you can also see the denial took place months prior, in a letter dated September 24, 2004, received by the Board September 27, 2004, yet the FAX indicator on the top of the DOJ letter is dated May 5, 2005, indicating that they couldn't even find their copy of that denial.

It looks like they didn't spend enough time working on it and hurried it at the last minute to meet a grant deadline.

The best evidence of that is that they did not tailor the grant to what the federal government wanted, they didn't provide enough detail on what was to be done with the grant, they didn't develop any new products, they didn't describe the partners role nor did they get the partners to sign on to the grant. 

That last detail is the key. You can rush something out the door when you realize you have waited too long, but what you can't do is to get your partners to rush along with you.

Related:
ER - Interview Process Cuts Down On Trauma Of Children 5/6/04
Losing the Victim Witness Grant
ER - Board of Supervisors talks over grant denial for program 5/11/2005
NCJ - VICTIM PROGRAM THREATENED: 5/12/05
ER - Gallegos says program is safe 5/15/2005
ER - Victim witness program funds sought by county 5/18/2005
TS - Proposed cuts to victims program delayed May 18, 2005
TS - My Word - DA leadership: The 8-step program May 24, 2005
County to fund Victim Witness Program The Eureka Reporter 6/8/2005
Supes mull grant application 5/14/07