Now do you believe me that Ernie Dronenburg has no respect for the law?

As County Clerk, just as he did previously at the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), Ernie Dronenburg disrespects the law. As the second article below shows, he is also a fan of channeling non-profit money to his high-pay pals at related for-profit entities.

Now a San Diego group says he's using the his public office to promote his own personal agenda.

See 10 NEWS VIDEO with Ernie Dronenburg speaking.
Group blasts San Diego County clerk Ernie Dronenburg for questioning same-sex marriage
10newsvideos
Jul 23, 2013
Three weeks after the nation's highest court made a ruling on Proposition 8, which overturned the ban on same sex marriages, tying the knot in San Diego may be tangled up in tension again.


Et tu, Ernie Dronenburg?
San Diego County Clerk seeks to halt gay marriages
By Kelly Davis
CityBeat
Jul 19, 2013

CityBeat's occasionally endorsed Republicans for elected office, usually after getting assurance from the candidate that he won't, well, act like a Republican. In 2010, we gave Ernie Dronenburg our thumb's up over Democrat David Butler for San Diego County assessor / recorder / clerk, largely because Dronenburg promised us that he wouldn't meddle if Prop. 8 were overturned:

Dronenburg’s a Republican and conservative activist, and that makes us worry, sure, but he’s promised us that if Prop. 8 is ultimately negated, his office will treat same-sex couples with respect and dignity.

But today came news that Dronenburg filed a petition with the California Supreme Court, asking that his office be allowed, at least temporarily, to stop performing same-sex marriages. Dronenburg explained to the conservative website San Diego Rostra that he was merely seeking clarification on whether Prop. 8 needs to go back to the Ninth Circuit Court for a ruling.

It's tough to buy the argument that Dronenburg's simply doing his due diligence. Why? Because it wasn't the county's lawyers who who filed the petition on Dronenburg's behalf, but attorney Charles LiMandri. If that name's not familiar, here's a LiMandri primer: Charles LiMandri, a Catholic lawyer best known for his pro-life, anti-gay legal crusades. LiMandri considers himself an expert on "countering the gay agenda," having served as an attorney for the National Organization of Marriage in the Prop. 8 battles and for the San Diego firefighters who sued the city after being required to march in a Pride parade. More recently, LiMandri launched an attack on University of San Diego for hosting a drag show; he's currently demanding that the Catholic university forbid its students from doing internships at organizations that support same-sex marriage.

In 2012, in backing gay Republican Carl DeMaio for mayor, LiMandri said he would "pray for him" (not to get elected, but to change his sinful ways) and that his endorsement wasn't to be considered an endorsement of DeMaio's "lifestyle."

California Attorney General Kamala Harris quickly issued a statement on Dronenburg's petition: "The filing offers no new arguments that could deny same-sex couples their constitutionally protected civil rights. The federal injunction is still in effect, and it requires all 58 counties to perform same-sex marriages. No exceptions."

Tim McClain, spokeperson for county Supervisor Ron Roberts, said Roberts knew nothing about this in advance. McClain offered this statement from Roberts:

"This petition was filed without my consent, consultation or support. I am disappointed and had thought we had moved past such divisiveness after the U.S. Supreme Court's declarative ruling."



County tax assessor Ernie Dronenburg forced the nonprofit NTC Foundation to pay taxes owed by its “for-profit” subsidiary.
NTC Foundation's High-Paying Jobs
By Matt Potter
San Diego Reader
April 6, 2011

Officers have been raking in fat salaries at the nonprofit NTC Foundation, which San Diego city taxpayers bailed out last week to the tune of $1.1 million after county tax assessor Ernie Dronenburg forced the group to pay property taxes owed by its “for-profit” subsidiary. According to the foundation’s latest report to the Internal Revenue Service, filed November 16 of last year and covering 2009, chief financial officer Larry Eyler was paid $148,269; executive director Alan Ziter got $123,558; and operations director Lew Witherspoon received $103,788. Construction manager Neal Singer, listed as an independent contractor, was paid $147,100. Pam Hamilton-Lester, onetime executive director of the City’s Centre City Development Corporation and now the NTC Foundation’s president and chief executive, got $75,886 for a 30-hour week, according to the document.

"He goes along, pretends to be a gentleman, pretends to be accommodative, pretends to be seriously committed to the law..."

"He goes along, pretends to be a gentleman, pretends to be accommodative, pretends to be seriously committed to the law, and turns around, sending people, beating up people, using violence to coerce and to literally defend power for the sake of defending power."
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, prime minister of Zimbabwe, on President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking new elections.

Fears Growing of Mugabe’s Iron Grip Over Zimbabwe
New York Times
By CELIA W. DUGGER
December 25, 2010

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The warning signs are proliferating. Journalists have been harassed and jailed. Threats of violence are swirling in the countryside. The president’s supposed partner in the government has been virulently attacked in the state-controlled media as a quisling for the West. And the president himself has likened his party to a fast-moving train that will crush anything in its way...

Some people are too important to expect them to follow the law

Driver kills boy on bike, sues boy’s parents
by Sarah Goodyear
Grist.org
15 Nov 2010

[Story #1]

Woke up this morning to a truly depressing story in my Twitter feed. It's about a man serving a 10-year sentence for killing a 14-year-old boy with his car in Prospect, Conn. The boy, Matthew Kenney, was riding his bike in the road when, according to prosecutors, David Weaving tried to overtake another vehicle at 83 miles per hour in a 45-hour zone. He was convicted of manslaughter in the case.

Now Weaving is suing the boy's family for not making their son wear a helmet (bike helmets are mandatory for kids under the age of 15 in Connecticut, but not wearing one does not constitute a violation under state law).

That's right. The man is suing the parents of the boy he was convicted of killing for "contributory negligence."

Before killing Kenney with his car, Weaving was convicted four times for driving drunk. He got his license back every time...


[Story #2]

...[A] high-end financial manager named Martin Joel Erzinger... allegedly hit a man on a bicycle with his car and then fled the scene. Erzinger was allowed by the Eagle County District Attorney to avoid a felony charge in the case:

"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it," Hurlbert said. "When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay."

This despite the fact that the man allegedly hit by Erzinger, Dr. Steven Milo, had let the DA know that money wasn't an issue as far as he was concerned:

Milo wrote in a letter to District Attorney Mark Hurlbert that the case "has always been about responsibility, not money."

"Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway," Milo wrote. "Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case."

Milo was left with spinal cord injuries, bleeding on the brain, and damage to his knee. Erzinger was left facing misdemeanor charges...

Sunshine is good: Lawsuit demands Vatican name priests accused of sex abuse

Lawsuit demands Vatican name priests accused of sex abuse
By Alan Duke
CNN
April 22, 2010

An Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by a priest at a Catholic school in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit demands the Vatican release the names of thousands of Catholic priests that the suit says have "credible allegations of sexual misconduct" against them...

Court says schools have no duty of care when first-grader molested by substitute teacher

EDUCATION LAW, INJURY AND TORT LAW
P.S. v. San Bernardino City Unified Sch. Dist.
California Fourth Appellate

In a negligence action brought by first-grade student victims of molestation by a substitute teacher, trial court action sustaining defendant's demurrer as to all causes of action against it is affirmed where: 1) defendant did not have a duty of care toward the plaintiff, as plaintiffs were not in the class of persons protected by the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act; and 2) the amendment to the Act did not extend a duty or to create liability to all future children who might be harmed by a suspected abuser.

This case is part of a steady flow of cases that protect school districts from responsibility for just about everything; in this case, the molestation of a first grader by a substitute teacher.

The molestation, of course, was not an intentional act by the school, but the court also protects schools from responsibility for intentional wrongdoing, such as the Coach James "Ted" Carter case. Carter was fired because he reported another coach for recommending that a student take a substance that caused the student's kidney to fail. See Daniel Shinoff cases.

Who on earth would support such a policy? Public entity lawyers!

Daniel Shinoff's partner and former city attorney candidate Leslie Devaney, for one. She is past president of San Diego CALA (Californians Against Lawsuit Abuse), which works to change public opinion so that jurors won't demand that public entities pay their victims. Of course, CALA thinks its fine to give lots of tax money to the the lawyers who help public entities avoid responsibility for harming citizens.

Ms. Devaney used to give radio talks to convince the public that public entities shouldn't have to pay people they harm.

At least she's not a hypocrite, right? She truly believes public entities should not pay people whom they've harmed?

I'm afraid not. It seems that Ms. Devaney has taken on a nice little side line in addition to her public entity work. Lately she's been using her legal skills to force cities and hospitals to pay through the nose for such things as:

(1) The City of Chula Vista's firing of developer's wife Laurie Madigan for taking extended sick leave BECAUSE SHE WAS AFRAID SHE MIGHT GET SICK. Why was Madigan afraid she might get sick? BECAUSE SHE WAS BEING INVESTIGATED!

(2) Tri-City Healthcare's placing CEO Art Gonzalez on administrative leave while a forensic audit was conducted. Ms. Devaney thought he should have one more million-dollar bonus before he went away.

But if you are an ordinary employee or student who has been illegally damaged, I'm not sure she'd take your case. But she might. You could always ask.

So who's responsible when your kid is at school? They're on their own, basically.

I think CALA can declare victory in this case. Is there a celebration going on at Leslie Devaney's law firm, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz?

Federal judge says George Bush must obey even though he disagrees

Judge Reinstates Rules on Sonar, Criticizing Bush’s Waiver for Navy


Click HERE for original article.

By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: February 5, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Monday reinstated a series of provisions meant to protect whales from high-powered sonar during military exercises in the Pacific Ocean.

The decision was a rebuke to an effort by the Bush administration to exempt the Navy from those rules and from federal law.

The decision, by Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of Federal District Court, found that the administration’s Council on Environmental Quality had overreached on Jan. 15 when it cited “urgent national security reasons” to approve weaker rules for the exercises.

In early January, Judge Cooper issued an injunction on naval exercises in the Pacific, requiring a series of mitigation efforts including shipboard and aerial monitors to watch for whales and a mandatory shutdown of midfrequency sonar whenever whales were spotted within 2,200 yards of ships.

But the council’s move coincided with the president’s waiver exempting the Navy from the Coastal Zone Management Act, which environmental groups had used as a legal basis for their arguments against the Navy’s use of midfrequency sonar. The groups say the sonar can injure, disorient and even kill certain species of whales. The Navy then appealed Judge Cooper’s injunction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which sent the case back to the district court.

On Monday, however, Judge Cooper rejected the administration’s arguments and raised serious questions on the constitutionality of the president’s waiver.

“We disagree with the judge’s decision,” The Associated Press quoted Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, as saying.

Joel Reynolds, a senior lawyer and head of marine mammal protection for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the judge’s decision was welcome news.