Posted on 02/10/2005 1:38:21 PM PST by NormsRevenge
In the latest public flaring of labor-management tensions at state prisons, the head of the California Department of Corrections on Wednesday called for Assemblyman Rudy Bermúdez, D-Norwalk, to step down from a position overseeing the department's budget.
In a letter to Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, Corrections Director Jeannie Woodford charged that Bermúdez has a conflict of interest because he is on leave from a job as a state parole officer.
At a hearing Tuesday, Bermúdez, who chairs the Assembly's budget subcommittee on prisons, complained about the department's investigation into the slaying of a correctional officer by an inmate last month and criticized the pace at which corrections officials have distributed protective equipment to officers.
To Woodford's dismay, Bermúdez also invited leaders of the prison officers' union to testify. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association has said the fatal stabbing could have been prevented if the officer had been issued a stab-proof vest the union was trying to obtain for its members through the grievance process.
In her letter to Núñez, Woodford asked that Bermúdez recuse himself from making decisions on the corrections budget or resign from his position as a parole officer. Bermúdez has been on an extended leave of absence from the Department of Corrections since he took office in 2002.
"I was specifically outraged at his unconscionable conduct yesterday, when in the course of budget hearings, he veered those issues to existing and future policy of the CDC," Woodford wrote. Tuesday, she added, "was a dark day for representative democracy in the august halls of the Assembly."
Bermúdez said he had no intention of stepping down.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Legislator Attacked Over Ties to Guards Union
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-bermudez10feb10,1,4123368.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california
Corrections officials say assemblyman in charge of state prisons budget should be removed
Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
The administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger demanded Wednesday that the lawmaker who oversees the state's prisons budget be removed from the post. Department of Corrections officials say Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), a parole officer on leave from his job while in the Legislature, is a shill for the powerful state prison guards union, of which he is a member. The officials said they were moved to act after a hearing Tuesday, during which Bermudez assailed administration officials for the recent slaying of a prison guard, allegedly by an inmate. They said Bermudez used the occasion to politicize the death, then raised a laundry list of grievances the union has with the administration — none related to finances.
This dude is a total waste of space.
Right.
Can I get your permission to post that on the FRiday Silliness thread. That's a doozie!!! lol
No problem! Of course, if they know who Nunez is, they'll die of laughter.
The guy should be deported. Instead, he's making laws for us.
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