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Show us the real AmCan fire report
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CommentNovember 19th, 2008
November 13th, 2008
November 11th, 2008
October 24th, 2008
October 21st, 2008
This whole situation with Keith Caldwell and the improper educational bonuses stinks to high heaven, and now the American Canyon City Council has added to the mess by failing to do their Democratic duty to the public and tell us the truth about what went on. It shows real gutlessness on the part of the American Canyon City Council, and couldn’t be a more undemocratic decision.
I encourage voters to email or call the American Canyon City Council to release the report. They are protecting the information by attorney client privilege, but they are the client! They can agree to release it at any time. Someone needs to tell them that the voters are the clients, not them.
I encourage voters to email or call the American Canyon City Council to release the report. They are protecting the information by attorney client privilege, but they are the client! They can agree to release it at any time. Someone needs to tell them that the voters are the clients, not them.
The voters paid for this and they deserve to see it. If they are claiming that they don't want to affect the election, well, they are affecting it just as much by not releasing it. This is totally unacceptable.
Caldwell authorized pay increases for firefighters that were under his supervision based on what amounts to a fake diploma. This is especially troubling because Caldwell is asking to be made a County Supervisor, the most powerful elected official in Napa County, with authority over a $250 million annual budget, and the power to decide what to grant employee unions in negotiations. This really raises huge concerns about his judgment and whether he can be trusted with the public purse.
Caldwell authorized pay increases for firefighters that were under his supervision based on what amounts to a fake diploma. This is especially troubling because Caldwell is asking to be made a County Supervisor, the most powerful elected official in Napa County, with authority over a $250 million annual budget, and the power to decide what to grant employee unions in negotiations. This really raises huge concerns about his judgment and whether he can be trusted with the public purse.
There are rumors flying everywhere about further issues contained in the second report, it seems that everyone but the voters get to know what happened. That is wrong. The voters need to know what happened in order to make the best informed decision, and to deny them that right is a mistake.
Having said that, what we do know is bad enough. Now we find out that Kurt Henke, President of the Vallejo Firefighters union, the umbrella union for the American Canyon firefighters, laid the blame for the scandal clearly at Caldwell’s feet. He went so far as to say Caldwell was actively promoting this school to the firefighters, that it was Caldwell’s idea, a school that that can only honestly be characterized as a diploma mill.
Having said that, what we do know is bad enough. Now we find out that Kurt Henke, President of the Vallejo Firefighters union, the umbrella union for the American Canyon firefighters, laid the blame for the scandal clearly at Caldwell’s feet. He went so far as to say Caldwell was actively promoting this school to the firefighters, that it was Caldwell’s idea, a school that that can only honestly be characterized as a diploma mill.
The first investigation revealed that the school in question was not an accredited school and would not meet any normal criteria as a properly accredited institution. In short, you write one essay on life experiences, send it and a check for $499 to the school, and viola, you have a diploma.
Caldwell was the Fire Chief and Training Officer, he signed the authorization for the educational pay increase, and he is the main person responsible for this.
At this point with the addition of the Henke letter it is nearly impossible to believe he did not know this school was improper, plus he has never stated that he did not know the degree requirements were so skimpy. If you really didn’t know how inadequate this school‚s requirements were, wouldn’t you say that? Of course, if he did know it is just as damning, because what in the world is he doing authorizing the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for that?
Being in a position of authority means you have to make your own independent judgment of whether something is proper or not. If you can‚t do that any better than this, you sure don‚t deserve to be in the most difficult and powerful job in county government.
Even if he really did not realize Alameda was a diploma mill, as the person responsible for training he should have known.
On KVON radio several months ago, Caldwell made the statement that the situation had been investigated and resolved, and that he was exonerated. Not true.
The situation is still not resolved, as the American Canyon attorney Bill Ross announced last Tuesday he has yet to talk to the firefighters union about paying the taxpayer money back, but plans to do so. And blaming the State Fire Marshall’s office for your own behavior is not exoneration. There is no record of any exoneration of Caldwell.
Caldwell has left the voters in a position where we cannot trust him with this kind of authority and control over millions of dollars of taxpayer money. He showed poor judgment in authorizing the payments to begin with, and further poor judgment in the way he has chosen to handle it. He has been in total denial that he has done anything wrong.
He has also tried to pass this off as a campaign tactic by the Simpson campaign. I am not campaigning for Simpson, and in fact have an issue with former heads of safety becoming Supervisors, which I have publicly stated in the past.
Sorry, Keith, this is about your behavior, nothing else.
Caldwell was the Fire Chief and Training Officer, he signed the authorization for the educational pay increase, and he is the main person responsible for this.
At this point with the addition of the Henke letter it is nearly impossible to believe he did not know this school was improper, plus he has never stated that he did not know the degree requirements were so skimpy. If you really didn’t know how inadequate this school‚s requirements were, wouldn’t you say that? Of course, if he did know it is just as damning, because what in the world is he doing authorizing the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for that?
Being in a position of authority means you have to make your own independent judgment of whether something is proper or not. If you can‚t do that any better than this, you sure don‚t deserve to be in the most difficult and powerful job in county government.
Even if he really did not realize Alameda was a diploma mill, as the person responsible for training he should have known.
On KVON radio several months ago, Caldwell made the statement that the situation had been investigated and resolved, and that he was exonerated. Not true.
The situation is still not resolved, as the American Canyon attorney Bill Ross announced last Tuesday he has yet to talk to the firefighters union about paying the taxpayer money back, but plans to do so. And blaming the State Fire Marshall’s office for your own behavior is not exoneration. There is no record of any exoneration of Caldwell.
Caldwell has left the voters in a position where we cannot trust him with this kind of authority and control over millions of dollars of taxpayer money. He showed poor judgment in authorizing the payments to begin with, and further poor judgment in the way he has chosen to handle it. He has been in total denial that he has done anything wrong.
He has also tried to pass this off as a campaign tactic by the Simpson campaign. I am not campaigning for Simpson, and in fact have an issue with former heads of safety becoming Supervisors, which I have publicly stated in the past.
Sorry, Keith, this is about your behavior, nothing else.
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freeport56 wrote on Sep 22, 2008 1:15 PM:
This type of poor judgment does not belong in elected office. It is clearly mismanagement of taxpayer funds. "
vocal-de-local wrote on Sep 22, 2008 9:09 PM:
NB, I have read your "pro growth" support of developments such as Triad/PUC and Napa Pipe. You have been throwing you pro growth weight all over the place. Please don't try and convince us that you have no candidate preference.
Caldwell is not the first manager to fall victim to the diploma mills. It was an "approved" college. Why isn't anyone focusing on WHO approved it?
Many accredited colleges are jumping on the quickie degree program, mostly for working adults. Healds, PUC, Phoenix University all have accelerated degree programs. It takes time for managers to figure out which ones are legitimate, which ones are not. And are you 100% positive that the firemen enrolled in this program did not put forth any effort? Some of these diploma mills make you work for it even though it's not accredited.
NB, off the top of your head, where were your employees educated, assuming they are.
Is anyone willing to look at all the credentials of every person who worked at the Napa Sheriff's dept. during Simpson's reign? Of course maybe his reign didn't occur at a time in our history when diploma mills existed. But it would still be interesting to see how many people hired at the sheriff's department used a diploma mill credential on their application. Did they negotiate an increased salary as a result? How about checking our government agencies just to see how prevalent this is? Is it fair to crucify one person for this type of mistake when it's such an easy mistake to make? Prior to this, how many of you were even aware of diploma mills? "
freeport56 wrote on Sep 22, 2008 9:48 PM:
yes it is fair to call a candidate out on knowingly handing out raises\bonuses for phony degrees. honestly, working for your degree from a diploma mill? Too much Kool-Aid
A valid post-secondary school issuing degrees in CA will be accredited by
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
Heald is a trade school, PUC and Phoenix University are accredited. "
vocal-de-local wrote on Sep 22, 2008 9:48 PM:
It's no secret that you are biased against unions. But don't forget, unions strengthen the middle class, something that has been eroding away here lately. I can hardly fault Caldwell for trying to preserve it, after all, government jobs are one of the few middle class jobs left in Napa County. I admire him for caring for the little guy. I suspect if you had your way, that would be gone, too.
I am assuming here that you are most annoyed with a union contract that negotiated higher pay for higher education and you want to make Caldwell the "fall guy" for it? Your true colors are being exposed and it's not nice. "
napablogger wrote on Sep 23, 2008 9:50 AM:
I think it started with the Simpson campaign, that is how everyone found out. Some guy who knew told Simpson and then he told other people. As far as I know Simpson hasn't said a word about it since.
This is being driven by me and Jeff Schectman. And a whole lot of mad people who are sick of government corruption.
I am not biased against Firefighters but I am aware that there is a lot of financial fudging going on with safety employees and I am fed up with it. It is so big I think it is a major contributor to the state budget woes.
When I saw the salaries of the firefighters in Napa I couldn't believe it. They are making way too much money.
Then when you hear about something like this on top of what they all make, it made me sick. That is my motivation.
I think it is ok that they have an educational benefit, I just think they actually ought to get an education to be paid for it.
You are doing one of the same things the Caldwell campaign is doing to try to cloud the issue, act like it is about whether or not educational benefits are ok. That is not nor ever has been the issue.
Whose campaign are you on? "
Raven wrote on Sep 23, 2008 5:30 PM:
and if the raises were based on phony degrees and he approved them he needs to be called on it....
and it does appear that he is trying to dodge responsibility for his part in all this...tho the firefighters who went ahead and got the degrees bear their share of blame in this as well...
I am and always have been a staunch union supporter but this is not a matter of attacking a union, it is a matter of trust and honesty and openness in our county government.... "
vocal-de-local wrote on Sep 24, 2008 12:03 AM:
Simpson, on the other hand, has allowed the diploma mill issue to take control of his campaign. He's letting the issue do ALL the work. It would be nice for Simpson to still take an active role in campaigning by discussing the important issues rather than sitting back and watching this unfold.
I am also troubled by the amount of posters here who were vocally supportive of Napa Pipe who are now bashing Caldwell. I doubt that they have any true animosity toward Caldwell as much as they would rather have Simpson in office. People need to ask WHY?
And it's YOUR opinion that firefighters are making too much money. Not everyone shares that opinion.
Firefighting is a dangerous job. I'd like to see you out there fighting fires and endangering your life on a 100 degree day with winds driving fire dangerously close. These are middle class, hard working people who RISK their lives NB. Maybe you don't appreciate them but I do. And if a living wage is a necessity to keep them living within the communities they fight fires in, so be it.
I'm glad to know, NB, that you and your buddies are responsible for stirring this issue up btw. You strike me as being pro development and anti middle class. "
napablogger wrote on Sep 24, 2008 2:30 PM:
Caldwell taking the high road? That's a good one. "
vocal-de-local wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:50 PM:
I have a feeling that if you were able to wave a magic wand, you would strip the area of middle class workers and replace them all with low wage, non union workers. What you don't realize NB is that there are only so many wealthy people available to buy expensive wine. Middle income folk made some contribution to the financial health of the wine industry before they began feeling the instability of the economy.
We lose our middle class, we lose everything that makes this country strong and healthy. Trust me, we don't want to return to a society of nobility and peasants with very little in between. "
Raven wrote on Sep 25, 2008 7:37 AM:
napablogger wrote on Sep 25, 2008 8:29 AM:
Its absurd and I think you ought to stick to the subject.
It is interesting because you are repeating the Caldwell campaigns talking points, and maybe a lot of people believe them. It does matter what he did, and it is an indication of his character. This is how we end up with a dysfunctional government, because the voters won't make officials accountable. Some people blame the government, I blame the voters and this is a perfect example of how someone with less than acceptable character gets into office.
I'm with Raven. "
vocal-de-local wrote on Sep 25, 2008 6:11 PM:
And NB, I don't care whether you respond or not. It seems that you often end conversations with "I'm not talking about this anymore. I don't have time." I do not need you to be part of the conversation in order for it to have validity btw. I could take it or leave it.
I do know that you support the Triad/PUC development and that you even made a speech at Lincoln Center to support it. You are also clearly supportive of Napa Pipe. You do not live in these areas and unless you are planning to invest there, the only other reason to make a supportive argument is to gain some type of clout with the elite developers in and outside of town. That's my best guess about what you're up to which leads me to suspect that you would like Simpson elected. Maybe there is stuff about Caldwell I need to know about but I feel that you have lost your credibility. You're motives with the Caldwell issues are suspect.
I will admit, however, that I tend to trust Raven's opinions. "
Bill wrote on Sep 26, 2008 11:14 AM:
No Martin/Luce or Caldwell/Simpson Doodd/Free ride or anybody vs. who ever. It is evident that one person is able to promulgate a very narrow point of view and if there are other sections devoted to local or national opinion or concern they are cumbersome to find and not well organized.
It could be that people don’t want to participate and that is understandable. This process appears cumbersome and lacks any sense of balance. Accusations have been made here about local candidates ethics and moral turpitude and it appears that the NVR supports that tactic.
Silence on the issue implies consent; be it Napa Pipe, Unions or Caldwell/Simpson. Some one has pulpit in which to invest time and money to further specific agendas with little challenge. "
jonqcitizen wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:40 PM:
Once again using a topic to bash public safety, stating opinions as facts.
However, I do agree that based upon what has come out, Caldwell knew these degrees were bogus and allowed the payments to be initiated. In addition, this gives everyone who plays by the rules a bad name and devalues the degrees that people really earn with their sweat and money. I also find it amusing that someone would say this is a campaign tactic. Since when is telling the truth a tactic? If that is the case, I wish all political races were required to abide only by that tactc. "