I got this note from Chico SOL editor Dave Waddell regarding his efforts to find out how much money the city of Chico is spending on attorneys to keep the public “from finding out about city abuses,” like out-of-line police actions that have landed the city in court.
“This City Council wastes countless sums on attorney’s fees trying to prevent the public from finding out about city abuses. In 2022, after trying for many months to get the City to follow the law, I was forced to sue the City for records that were clearly public related to a string of police killings in Chico (mostly on Mike O’Brien’s deadly watch as police chief). Once sued, the City almost immediately started forking over records (slowly) and agreed to pay my attorney’s fees, which were about $43,600. Recently, I submitted a Public Records Act request to determine how much the City wasted on its OWN attorneys in defending against my lawsuit. They’ve slow-walked giving me those records, and I still don’t have them all. But from what they have sent me to date, I know the “conservative” City Council crapped away at least $45,575 in fees to their L.A.-based legal conglomerate. That means they wasted a total of about $90,000 to try unsuccessfully to cover up how the Police Department killed on several occasions. As I said, that figure could go higher once they finally relinquish all the records I’ve requested. Why not just follow THE LAW on public records and save the poor taxpayers $90,000 (probably more). Yep, they definitely need tax increases if they’re going to keep this up (and they are!)“
You think you live in a nice little town, and then you find out it’s just because you go to bed early. And all the money – you know, there are plenty of people who live on $45,000/year or less, like my husband and I. They made Waddell sue, which is just outrageous to me. I’m hearing what Sean Morgan said, ringing in my ears – “$100,000 is nothing…” Yes, I took that out of the context of his full comment… “to secure Measure H.” But he meant what he said – it’s tax money, it’s nothing to him to spend 10’s of thousands covering up mistakes he’s made. And I believe the rest of council feels same, given the way they spend money.
Waddell came back with an update – he has the final total amount the city spend on attorneys to keep the public out of public business.
“I wanted to provide an update about my post on City spending to thwart releasing public records the PD and the City Council find embarrassing. In 2020, I sought public records on an epidemic of Chico police killings. After the Police Department withheld, destroyed and unlawfully blacked out some records, I finally and reluctantly sued in 2022. The City quickly caved and paid my attorney’s fees of $43,637 and provided the requested records (most of them anyway). Now, I’ve been able to fully document through heavily redacted records how much the City squandered on its own attorneys trying to keep those records secret: $52,090. That’s a grand total of more than $95,700 in tax revenue down the drain. What angers me most is that amount of tax money is apparently like loose change to them. I’ll keep you updated on future obstruction because, as you know, these folks ain’t a changin’ when it comes to expensive and unlawful cover-ups.“
Thanks Dave, I don’t know how you do it, but we’re glad to have you.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Thank you, Juanita. Without you and ChicoSol, there wouldn’t be any local government watchdogs in Chico. In my lawsuit, I was mildly surprised the City’s legal costs were more than mine because the City never even submitted any formal response to my lawsuit. Their pricey L.A. lawyers just spent hour after billable hour “reviewing records,” lol. It does cause one to wonder whether the City spent more on lawyers than the $650,000 the City was required to pay to the plaintiffs in Warren v. Chico. Since the City is being supervised in that case by a federal court for five years, this City Council will certainly hide its own legal costs for at least that long. Long enough to try to pass another Measure H, if it comes to that. BTW, I was a newspaper reporter and editor for 20 years in another life, and I was ChicoSol’s news director for a time, but now I’m just a ChicoSol contributor. Leslie Layton is ChicoSol’s founding editor. Finally, did you know Chico City Hall is closed today (12/22) for a “Winter Recess” that will not end until Jan. 2, 2024? Your Measure H tax dollars at work!
Well thanks Dave, I never knew any of that. And thanks for your efforts. I’m not a government watchdog, if I was, I would have probably had a lot more legal costs. I’m just a bitch.
Hey, you know Dave, what I’d really like from folks who think the cops are out of control, is a little bit of back-up. When I read the cop contract and write a letter about the ridiculous perks and benies, all I get in response is the president of the CPOA calling me a liar. Same with the director of Behavioral Health. I do my homework, I quote contracts and agendas, and all these people have to do is yell “liar” in a response and that’s it. You people never come to my aid. I realize, people want to read about cop beatings and deaths, that makes people mad. But if you really want to “defund” the cops, you need to look at the contracts. If you really want to help the mentally ill that are roaming our streets, you have to look at how BH is funded. You spend time and money demanding records – the agendas and minutes are all available on the websites, so are the contracts.
Hi Juanita, Your point is well taken, but I don’t want to “defund” the police. That’s certainly not anything I’ve written or ever said. Nor do I think Chico PD is necessarily “out of control.” But there is a long history of weak, promote-the-next-ol’-boy-in-line leadership and a lack of accountability that’s led inevitably to unnecessary killing. I would like to see an end to the “good ol’ boy culture” at Chico PD – so named not by me, but by two-time Chico Police Chief Mike Dunbaugh — where they have not had a female above the rank of police officer in almost a decade. And I want the PD and the City Council to stop squandering six-figure sums trying to hide public records. As for the contracts and agendas, I definitely could be spending more time with them, but you’re gonna need records to see if the provisions in the contracts are being abused. Take, for example, the city’s contract with the powerful police union that provides a “uniform” allowance to officers. It’s $900 a year, unless it’s gone up (I’m confident it hasn’t gone down!) Whatever is purchased with these funds must be a part of the officer’s contractually described uniform. And whatever is purchased is owned, not by the city, but by the officers individually. Guns are part of the official uniform. And an assault rifle is the PD’s official long gun. A few years ago, cops increasingly began buying guns with their uniform allowances from the Down Range gun store, which is owned by two cops (sweetheart deals and high volume, anyone?). When I tried to find out several years ago what specific weapons (and for how much) they were purchasing with public money, for their personal ownership, I was blown off, as usual[https://chicosol.org/2017/08/06/chico-buys-guns-cops/]. That was before I had a lawyer who, among other things, has taught me a lot about the laws of public records. Your post has inspired me to submit a new Public Records Act request because the invoices for those contractually provided gun buys are clearly public information. Not that they won’t try to illegally “black out” the specifics. Because a lack of transparency and honesty are deeply engrained in the “good ol’ boy culture.”
I’m sorry I used the word “you” – I meant ” a person”. I just get sick of trying to post this stuff, and the cops and other publicly employed hangers-on just call me a liar and there it sits – I get no support from the cop defunders. It’s frustrating. I think most people just want to show up for the protests and then go to the bar. I hope you get somewhere with this next inquiry. Me personally, I think there’s enough outrageous stuff in the agendas and minutes.
I just had a little catharsis – I think you’d get more support with the public if you just showed the ridiculous perks and benies – being paid to shower, go to the gym on a paid membership? People don’t have sympathy for those killed by cops because a lot of people are angry about the level of crime in town. People are getting sick and tired of hearing about the rights of the transients when their cars are being stolen, vandalized, their homes are being broken into and their lives threatened. Their kids watching a grown man masturbate – that’s for real Dave. We need to show the public that the cops are bums too.
I’m not a big proponent of public masturbation, but the last time I checked it wasn’t a death-penalty offense. In other news, I finally got around this morn to submitting this Public Records Act request: “This PRA request is seeking all invoices for purchases by Chico police using their annual ‘uniform allowance’ from the Down Range shooting range and gun store for the five-year period from 2019-2023, inclusive.” I’m sure they’ll slow-walk this one, so be patient. I predict, given the folks we’re dealing with, the response will come back heavily redacted. But since all I’m asking for is public information — and the police are supposedly not above the law — that won’t stand. Stay tuned.
ha ha Dave, no, it’s not a death penalty offense, but it’s on purpose and it’s aggression toward others. When, by the way, was anybody killed in Chico for beating off in the bushes? I’m just trying to be honest – we found a guy in our yard – wiped out wasted, climbed over a 6 foot cedar fence – when my husband and I were in our hot tub. Oh gee, what bourgeoisie pigs, eh, having a private back yard with a hot tub? When he approached us and wouldn’t leave, that was aggressive. He wouldn’t leave, I felt threatened. I went after him with my broom stick, my husband had to pull me off. I’m just being honest, let’s just be honest here okay? You expect the public to feel for these people – look at what they’ve done to Bidwell Park and other public places. They do it on purpose, they hate us because – oh no! – we work for our living and have a house we pay for to live in. Asking the public to “have compassion” for a guy who beats off in front of their children is too much, sorry. Or the woman who threatened me at a local taco wagon because I walked up to throw away my trash. Or the woman who took up residence on top of the sprinkler boxes my son was charged with maintaining at a local apartment house, threatening him with an old knife for trying to do his job? They have no compassion for us, or our children. Our compassion needs to be in the form of better institutions and better people working those institutions. At present we just have people who take salaries to sit and say they can’t do anything. I’d like to hear more from Scott Kennelly, but he won’t come back to my blog since I questioned his salary and what he’d been doing.
Meanwhile, yeah, looks like you’re on to something, but I’ll guess they’ll say those purchases were made with their own money and you can’t get the records. Let’s wait and see.
Here’s another question – how many of those cops are on prescriptions drugs? Do they have to tell us?
I don’t know about the prescription drugs, but I do know that in Butte County, when police officers kill, they’re not tested for drugs and alcohol. When John Doe kills, I guarantee he gets tested. Another example of lower standards for the police, who should be held to high standards. Regarding the gun buys by Chico police, the invoices come from Down Range (which is owned by two Chico cops, making this all the more incestuous) and are paid at City Hall with your tax dollars and mine. So I don’t think they’ll say the Glocks or assault rifles were purchased “with their own money.” Instead, they are likely to argue that it would somehow threaten “officer safety” for the public to find out which officers are buying what type of guns with $900 in public money for their personal ownership. Time will tell what phony excuse they come up with this time. They don’t think the public has the right to know what Chico PD does.
Thanks Dave – just wondering – is there a specific staffer who is responsible for responding to requests for police info? I got into a pretty nasty snit fight with the clerk once over questions regarding CPOA campaign reports, but I don’t know if her office is who you’re dealing with here
Sometimes the L.A. lawyers provide the reply to PRA requests; sometimes it’s the clerk’s office. Given the quality of the reply seeking public information on the $50,000 Delta Force helmets, that one had to come from the Chico Police Department.
I wanted to give you yet another example of the cultural dishonesty, waste, and lawlessness I’m dealing with in trying to get public information from the Chico Police Department. I heard a rumor from an always-reliable source that the City spent $50,000 on helmets for their SWAT team so they’d look like the Delta Force. The helmets are high cut over the ears and look super cool. (Here’s a link to a fairly recent photo: https://www.chicoer.com/2023/11/17/police-attempt-negotiations-with-at-least-1-person-barricaded-in-chico-home/.) Delta Force members are called “operators,” and members of Chico’s SWAT team, which is NOT highly regarded in local law enforcement circles, call themselves “operators” as well, I’m told. (All of this may be of concern to folks who worry about the militarization of the police.) I submitted the following quite straightforward Public Records Act request: “This PRA seeks all invoices for the purchase of helmets for Chico PD’s ‘SWAT team’ during the last 10 years.” The City is required by LAW to tell me whether it possesses any documents “responsive” to my request. And, if it does possess responsive documents, it’s required by LAW to make them available to me or cite some law regarding why it’s withholding them (bad PR isn’t a law). Did the City do any of that? Of course not. Instead, they nonsensically sent me their use-of-force statistics from 2022, which are obviously irrelevant to what I’m asking for. I’ve pointed that out, and I got a call in to my attorney. Will keep you posted.
Well, thanks Dave, keep us posted. Meanwhile, I’m working the Behavioral Health Dept end of the conversation. Stay in touch.
Well, this might be progress. I got this updated response from the City this morning re: my PRA for the helmet invoices: “This request was improperly responded to and immediately reopened to provide an appropriate response. The City will be in touch with a determination of your request tomorrow.”
Thanks for the update, I know how weird it is dealing with these people.
I want to return to my theme about the lying liars at Chico PD and City Hall. Recall the City’s nonsensical response (posted above) in initially denying my request for invoices for the purchase of the Chico PD SWAT team’s very cool Delta Force military helmets. After I challenged that initial response as utterly irrelevant, they reopened the PRA and came up with a new excuse, so authoritative sounding, for denying me these public records:
The records you seek are exempt from disclosure. Helmets are part of a CPD officer’s uniform. A police officer’s uniform allowance has been held to not be include in the calculation of a salary of an employee. (Frazier v. City of Richmond (1986) 184 Cal.App.3d 1491, 1494.) Although salary information may be subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (CPRA), this uniform allowance is not. Additionally, the items the City purchases on behalf of employees become the employees’ personal property. As such, the City has determined that these records, i.e., invoices for SWAT Team helmets, are not subject to disclosure under the CPRA. As these items become the private property of the employee, this invokes an individual’s privacy interests pursuant to California Constitution, Article 1, Section 1. The documents are also determined to be exempt pursuant to the Government Code section 6255, that the public interest served by not making such records public clearly outweighs the public interest in their disclosure. Accordingly, this request is now closed.
I know that most everything in that response was a big fat lie, so I posed the following question in an effort to smoke them out: “To clarify, are you telling me that the SWAT team helmets (such as those picture here: https://www.chicoer.com/2023/11/17/police-attempt-negotiations-with-at-least-1-person-barricaded-in-chico-home/) were ALL purchased with the police officers’ annual uniform allowances?”
The City never answered that question. Instead, today, without comment, it re-opened my PRA request for a second time and sent me an invoice dated December 2022 for $18,000 for the purchase of 19 SWAT helmets. They were purchased (surprise, surprise) from the Down Range gun store, which is owned by two Chico police officers.
I’m sorry if I continue to not trust these folks because, as it happened, a Chico PD insider, who has heretofore given me only accurate info, told me the City had previously spent $50,000 on Delta Force helmets. And the insider told me this months BEFORE the City bought the helmets from Down Range.
Since the City never answered my first question (how could it w/o lying more?), I posed another this morn: “So, you’re telling me this was the ONLY purchase of SWAT team helmets in the 10-year period ending with the date this PRA was originally submitted? You’ve twice given me outrageously false information, so excuse me if I’m a wee bit skeptical about the veracity of your latest information.”
When the lying liars get back to me with their latest lying lies, I’ll report back!
thanks Dave. I wish I knew what I know now when I was younger.
Petition for Transparency and Accountability in the Use of Taxpayer Money
To: The Honorable City and County Officials of Chico, Butte County
Subject: Demand for Transparency and Accountability in the Allocation and Utilization of Taxpayer Funds
Dear Fellow Citizens,
In a democratic society, transparency and accountability are the cornerstones of good governance. As taxpayers, it is our right and duty to ensure that our hard-earned money is being used effectively and responsibly to benefit our community. Over the past five years, we have seen various initiatives and expenditures by our city and county governments. However, there has been a growing concern among residents about the lack of transparency regarding how these funds have been allocated and utilized.
We, the undersigned, call upon our city and county officials to:
We must recognize that as citizens, we hold significant power and influence. However, we have not been fully utilizing this power to come together and enact meaningful change. It is time for us to draw a line in the sand and say, “That’s enough!” We need to unite and demand the accountability and transparency that we rightfully deserve.
We want to clarify that our request is not meant to convey any hostility. We simply seek proof of where the money has been spent. This is a reasonable request and not in any way a threat. It is about ensuring that our community’s resources are managed with integrity and transparency.
By signing this petition, we are expressing our collective demand for greater transparency and accountability in the management of our city and county finances, as well as the finances of non-profit organizations that rely on public funds. It is imperative that we, as a community, have confidence in the integrity and efficiency of our local government and the non-profits serving our interests. Transparency is not just a buzzword; it is a fundamental principle that ensures our democratic system functions effectively and fairly.
Conclusion:
We believe that transparency and accountability in government and non-profit spending are not only necessary but non-negotiable. Our city and county officials, along with the non-profits that receive public funding, must act with integrity and openness, providing clear and comprehensive records of how taxpayer money is used. This petition represents our unified call for action, demanding that our elected representatives and non-profit leaders honor their commitment to serve the public interest with honesty and transparency.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. Together, we can ensure that our community remains a place of trust, integrity, and mutual respect. By demanding comprehensive audits and full transparency, including actual receipts, we are taking an essential step toward ensuring that our community’s resources are managed wisely and ethically. Let us come together to uphold the principles of good governance and protect the interests of all citizens. The power to enact change lies in our unity and collective voice—let’s use it to make a difference. It’s time for us to draw a line in the sand and say, “That’s enough!”
Sincerely,
Lisa Hilliard
Long Shot Farm LLC
longshotfarmllc@mail.com
(530)4873912
There they go again, crapping away a big pile of tax dollars, in trying to keep public records secret and their Police Department’s deadly ineptitude hidden. Except that it’s more this time: The City Council just peeled off $92,500 in tax revenues in reimbursing Scott Rushing’s attorney’s fees. Rushing requested a PowerPoint review prepared by the PD slamming its own handling of the killing and tasing of his son Tyler. It was clearly a public record, but the City Council took it to court, and got its ass handed to it (way overmatched legally). (The Rushings’ separate federal civil rights suit goes to trial Oct. 7.) I’ve submitted my own PRA aimed at determining how much Council got soaked by their own attorneys in obstructing and taking the losing records case to court. Here’s my story on what’s inside the recently released PowerPoint for ChicoSol: https://chicosol.org/2024/09/12/chico-pd-shooting-review-slams-sergeant/
Yes, it’s outrageous. I think the residents of Chico have been boiled out of caring, I just don’t know how to get people to give a shit anymore. I admire you for going on – my family is sick of it. I’m getting sick of it – waking up in the middle of the night thinking about a guy being tased, bit, and shot by a group of people who never progressed beyond about age 12.
When we dealt with Chico PD regarding an drug addled friend of ours, we were shocked at what morons the officers were. I’ll say a word we used in Glenn County – “trash”. Two of the officers were in complete disagreement over what to do with the man and kept losing their attention span. Finally the third officer said exactly this – “I don’t care.” We showed them half empty booze bottles and bindles that had held drugs, scattered all over the ground. Our friend was so high he almost walked in front of a passing car as they were discussing how they could get out of the call. An EMT told the officers our friend was probably on a mixture of booze and psychedelics and should get treatment, but the cops still didn’t want to detain him and kept telling us we could not detain him either. In the end they were spitting mad because we pressed charges, and there would be paperwork – it was like some ridiculous cop show. Two left, and the third was left to deal with our friend and fill out the report. As we watched the officer struggle with the reports, we realized, they aren’t that complicated, we did most of the writing, what was the fuss? He was making a big deal about checking boxes? And he was acting like a spoiled child. I felt genuine fear when he took our friend, and we sat waiting until 4 am for the call that our friend had made it to jail and been processed, and was standing outside the jail waiting for a ride home. Of course he was very apologetic but we felt like we’d sent him on a ride to hell with Satan. The cop was that bad.
Yes, our cops are awful, we’ve had one after another bad chief (I liked Dunbaugh), and it’s because our council is not qualified to do their job – which includes hiring these people.
So we hire council. I’d say most people are not educated enough to vote – it’s just a popularity contest. And with these districts, it’s even easier to get elected.
Our bureaucracy is indemnified so there’s no accountability. Scott spoke of being threatened when he asked city officials for information – our city clerk tried to have me “censured” by council because I kept writing in my blog about her about not posting the CPOA campaign contribution reports. She wanted city council to use staff time “to express severe disapproval of (someone or something), especially in a formal statement.” I don’t even know if that’s legal – she’s supposed to be an officer of the city? Responsible for making sure the public can access public information? I know she’s qualified for her job, so doesn’t that make her INSUBORDINATE? I’ll say, she’s a real cunt.
Public officials and staff have tried to undermine my integrity by accusing me of spreading mis-information, when I’ve just shared documents, or what they talk about in their meetings. A CARD board member tried to get me in a physical fight at a meeting because she didn’t like what she was reading in my blog – my husband had to step between us, while staff did nothing.
So I been there, what do we do about it? Get an uneducated, over prescribed over stressed populace to care? How?