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DEDICATED TO FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD |
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DEDICATED TO FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD |
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Dear Lake County Grand Jurors,
Last summer I was told by XXXXXXXXXXX that all the supervisors had received copies of their cellphone bills from the county administration office with a reminder that the supervisors were responsible for all costs incurred by personal use of their county supplied cellphones. I believe that this action was taken due primarily to the excessive personal use of a county cellphone by supervisor Gary Lewis, who has made an extraordinary number of personal calls at the taxpayers expense.
After giving Supervisor Lewis a full six months to make restitution of his own accord, I found he had not done so, and brought the matter to the board of supervisors attention during the public input session at a weekly meeting. At that time supervisor Lewis made the claim that I was misinformed as to the nature of the phone calls in question, in spite of the fact that I was holding three months of his cellphone bills in my hand at the time which contained indisputable evidence supporting my claim.
Three days after supervisor Lewis was publicly reminded of his debt/abuse, he paid $57, a figure far short of the actual costs involved. After giving board chairman Anthony Farrington a chance to review the matter he felt it was best that I take the issue to the Grand Jury in order to find a just resolution, which in my mind would be the filing of criminal charges regarding theft of government property (a violation of state statutes).
Supervisor Lewis has had ample opportunities to make things right but has continued to avoid paying for what he has knowingly and willfully stolen from the taxpayers of Lake County and he deserves to be treated just like any other county employee caught stealing from the county government.
Sincerely, Philip Murphy
THE EVIDENCE:
Bill from January 2005:
89 total calls. 3 calls to his home 50 to check messages 21 calls to 349-19XX
February 2005:
400 total calls. 13 calls to his home 211 to check messages 128 calls to 349-19XX
March 2005:
200 total calls. 15 calls to his home 87 to check messages 55 calls to 349-19XX
April 2005:
84 total calls 9 calls to his home 44 to check messages 20 calls to 349-19XX
January 2005 $69.87
February 2005 $91.44
March 2005 $58.47
April 2005 $36.45
Total:$256.23
The number 349-19XX is an Upper Lake based cellphone number of a female constituent (who‚s name can be supplied if needed) of supervisor Lewis. It is clear that many if not most of the calls placed to check messages are to see if the 349-19XX caller had left a message, since the number of message checks rises and falls with the number of 349-19XX calls made. Between the calls to home, calls to 349-19XX and the calls to see if that number had called, it is obvious that the primary use of this cellphone was to make personal calls.
This can be confirmed by observing the number of calls made not to check messages, call home or 349-19XX, there are very few legitimate calls that were made. It is also important to remember that even some of those "legitimate" calls are suspect, and that this only represents a VERY brief period of time, the abuses likely took place over a much longer time frame and certainly add to the debt incurred. It should also be obvious that the $57 paid so far is a small portion of the total, and far from sufficient.
I would like the Grand Jury to review ALL of supervisor Lewis‚s cellphone records and determine the total amount due to the county, and to refer the case to the District Attorney‚s Office to see if filing criminal charges are warranted. Supervisor Lewis knew it was wrong to make the calls in the first place, he knew it was wrong not to pay for them when asked by the county, and only made a token payment when publicly confronted with the facts. These are not "mistakes" or "oversights", these are a series of conscious, deliberate actions that show a clear criminal intent. In the 1980‚s the speaker of the house (Tip O‚Neil) was removed from office and jailed for stealing postage stamps, no lower standard should be applied to this example of minor yet unconscionable criminality.
# 01190 hits since July 19 2006