The Leslie Brodie Report (TLR) is carefully following a major developing story out of California relating to Eric George of Los Angeles-based Browne George Ross.
Eric George of Los Angeles-based Browne George Ross, Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi of In Re Girardi, and Former California Chief Justice Ronald George (Image:courtesy photos)
According to knowledgeable sources, Eric George - son of former California Chief Justice Ronald George - has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit.
As was previously addressed, the unsettling beneficial symbiotic relationship between Ronald George and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese vis-a-vis Eric George, coupled with Eric George's partial ownership of a bank (1st Century Bank) owned by former president of the State Bar of California Alan Rothenberg, are sources of grave concern.
Thomas Girardi and co-counsel Eric George are part of the legal team who litigated the matters of In Re Hawaiian & Guamanian Cabotage Antitrust, Toyota Unintended Acceleration, and "Honey Worth Billions” Winnie The Pooh (Image:courtesy photos)
More specifically, scrutinized are events surrounding the circumstances the matter of In Re Girardi (and related involvements of really special prosecutor Jerome Falk of Howard Rice -- former defense counsel of Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack), matter of Fogel vs. Farmers, matter of Toyota Unintended Acceleration, matter of Winnie The Pooh, Thomas Nolan of Skadden Arps, and the matter of In Re Hawaiian & Guamanian Cabotage Antitrust
TLR is gathering and analyzing data concerning the suit, and will post further updates as they become available.
Consistent with The Leslie Brodie Report commitment to integrity and adherence to the highest level of ethical journalism, and in order to report on both sides of a story; Keith Wetmore -- Chair of Morrison & Foerster -- has been publicly asked by The Leslie Brodie Report to comment on the peculiar events surrounding the abrupt departure of Morrison & Foerster partners Lori Schechter and Dian Grueneich.
Keith Wetmore is the chair of Morrison & Foerster LLP. As chair of the firm, Mr. Wetmore takes the lead in setting policy and providing strategic direction to the firm. Before becoming chair, Mr. Wetmore led the firm's 50-lawyer Finance and Infrastructure practice, bringing to his engagements 20 years' experience in debt and lease finance, both domestic and international. Mr. Wetmore has represented money center banks as agent in syndicated credit facilities, including multi-billion dollar working capital and acquisition financings, as well as smaller transactions, with particular emphasis in the technology and forest products sectors. While at the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Wetmore served as Articles Editor for the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.(image and narrative courtesy of MoFo.)
Specifically, The Leslie Brodie Report has learned recently that partners Lori Schechter and Dian Grueneich are no longer with the firm.
Schechter -- spouse of State Bar of California former president Bill Hebert -- began working for Morrison & Foerster in October 1988, and exited the firm in early 2012 after 24 years. She has been appointed Associate General Counsel at McKesson Corporation.
Ms. Dian Grueneich, former CPUC commissioner, earned a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Biology from Stanford University in 1974. She is a recipient of the Charles Percy Award for Public Servic. (image: courtesy photo)
Grueneich, a former commissioner with the California Public Utilities Commission, joined Morrison & Foerster in March 2011. During the same time period, Theresa Cho, Ms. Grueneich's longtime colleague and former Chief of Staff, also joined the firm.
Both Grueneich and Schechter were, and continue to be, the subject of intense scrutiny with respect to events relating to Morrison & Foerster partners James Brosnahan, Susan Mac Cormac, Tony West, and Raj Chatterjee, as well as circumstances surrounding sham entity CaliforniaALL, the California Bar Foundation, Thomas Girardi, Martha Escutia, Joe Dunn, Geoffrey Brown, and online publication Voice of OC.
As mentioned previously , the fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" has caused complainant (YR) to postulate that "Voice of OC" may have been a recipient, at least in part, of the $780,000 obtained unlawfully from the Foundation of the State Bar of California -- to wit: on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL and Morrison & Foertser Annette Carnegie and Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in their capacity as BOD members of California Bar Foundation; on the other hand are Morrison &Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.
Morrison & Foerster Team (L-R) Ms. Dian Grueneich — Former Commissioner with California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC”); Mr. Raj Chatterjee — current board member of the Foundation of State Bar of California (DBA California Bar Foundation, entity headed by Arnold & Porter's Douglas Winthrop formerly of Howard Rice) ; Ms. Susan Mac Cormac — part of legal team which created entity CaliforniaALL, Mac Cormac was recently awarded "Rainmaker of the Year” by James Brosnahan's alleged former mistress -- Marty Africa of Major Lindsey & Africa; Mr. Tony West; Mr. James J. Brosnahan of "Voice of OC” who represented El Paso Corp during California energy crisis opposing Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, and Thomas Girardi of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC; Ms. Annette Carnegie, formerly member of the board of California Bar Foundation during the Hush-Hush subrosa transfer of $780,000 to CaliforniaALL; Ms. Diane Pritchard who practiced extensively before the CPUC while at MoFo. (image: courtesy photo)
YR's belief that this is the case is heightened given the proximity in time of various events: Ruthe Ashley left CaliforniaALL in the same month Joe Dunn launched "Voice of OC" (as though her mission had been completed). Moreover, the recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" ( as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences), the refusal of SAL-UCI to disclose the amount it received from CaliforniaALL, the simulated RFP, and CaliforniaALL's pre-selection of the UCI Foundation as a recipient of funds only reinforce this belief. This is heightened by Mr. Thomas Girardi's lack of credibility (pursuant to findings made by a panel of federal judges in the matter of In Re Girardi), and the well-documented friendship he shares with Joe Dunn.
TLR is closely monitoring the situation and will keep readers apprised of comments, if any, by Keith Wetmore -- Chair of Morrison & Foerster -- on the peculiar events surrounding Ex- Morrison & Foerster partners Lori Schechter and Dian Grueneich.
The pace of drama from Morrison & Foerster surrounding events at the CPUC, State Bar of California, and sham entity CaliforniaALL is quickening.
Specifically, The Leslie Brodie Report has learned that partners Lori Schechter and Dian Grueneich are no longer with the firm.
Schechter -- spouse of State Bar of California former president Bill Hebert -- began working for Morrison & Foerster in October 1988, and exited the firm in early 2012 after 24 years. She has been appointed Associate General Counsel at McKesson Corporation.
Ms. Dian Grueneich, former CPUC commissioner, earned a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Biology from Stanford University in 1974. She is a recipient of the Charles Percy Award for Public Servic. (image: courtesy photo)
Grueneich, a former commissioner with the California Public Utilities Commission, joined Morrison & Foerster in March 2011. During the same time period, Theresa Cho, Ms. Grueneich's longtime colleague and former Chief of Staff, also joined the firm.
Both Grueneich and Schechter were, and continue to be, the subject of intense scrutiny with respect to events relating to Morrison & Foerster partners James Brosnahan, Susan Mac Cormac, Tony West, Annette Carnegie, and Raj Chatterjee, as well as circumstances surrounding sham entity CaliforniaALL, the California Bar Foundation, Thomas Girardi, Martha Escutia, Joe Dunn, Geoffrey Brown, and online publication Voice of OC.
As mentioned previously , the fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" has caused complainant (YR) to postulate that "Voice of OC" may have been a recipient, at least in part, of the $780,000 obtained unlawfully from the Foundation of the State Bar of California -- to wit: on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL and Morrison & Foertser Annette Carnegie and Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in their capacity as BOD members of California Bar Foundation; on the other hand are Morrison &Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.
Morrison & Foerster Team (L-R) Ms. Dian Grueneich — Former Commissioner with California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC”); Mr. Raj Chatterjee — current board member of the Foundation of State Bar of California (DBA California Bar Foundation, entity headed by Arnold & Porter's Douglas Winthrop formerly of Howard Rice) ; Ms. Susan Mac Cormac — part of legal team which created entity CaliforniaALL, Mac Cormac was recently awarded "Rainmaker of the Year” by James Brosnahan's alleged former mistress -- Marty Africa of Major Lindsey & Africa; Mr. Tony West; Mr. James J. Brosnahan of "Voice of OC” who represented El Paso Corp during California energy crisis opposing Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, and Thomas Girardi of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC; Ms. Annette Carnegie, formerly member of the board of California Bar Foundation during the Hush-Hush subrosa transfer of $780,000 to CaliforniaALL; Ms. Diane Pritchard who practiced extensively before the CPUC while at MoFo; Chris J. Young (image: courtesy photo)
YR's belief that this is the case is heightened given the proximity in time of various events: Ruthe Ashley left CaliforniaALL in the same month Joe Dunn launched "Voice of OC" (as though her mission had been completed). Moreover, the recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" ( as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences), the refusal of SAL-UCI to disclose the amount it received from CaliforniaALL, the simulated RFP, and CaliforniaALL's pre-selection of the UCI Foundation as a recipient of funds only reinforce this belief. This is heightened by Mr. Thomas Girardi's lack of credibility (pursuant to findings made by a panel of federal judges in the matter of In Re Girardi), and the well-documented friendship he shares with Joe Dunn.
BREAKING STORY....DEVELOPING..... From L - R 1- Holly Fujie, 2- Ruthe Catolico Ashley, 3- Former Crack-Addict Mike Nisperos, 4- Patricia Lee,5- Leslie Hatamiya,6- Alec Chang, 7- Madge Watai, 8- AJ Ming Chin, 9- Jayne Kim, and 10- CJ Tani Cantil-Sakauye
1. Holly Fujie, Mongoloid, primarily serves as a proxy to carry injustices 1% inflict on 99%; token APIA at Chancery Club; shines shoes (with enthusiasm) of White men such as Jerry Brown, Geoffrey Brown, Harry Chamberlain, Ronald George, Eric George, Rex Heinke, Douglas Winthrop, Thomas Girardi. Scandals: Fogel vs. Farmers- Client of Harry Chamberlain ; Sarah Granda ; California Bar > $$$ > Bet Tzedek, California Bar Foundation >$$$$ > Hush-Hush $780,000 to CaliforniaALL ; CPUC - California Bar Money Connection > $$$ > Little Tokyo Service Center ; Confederate of Stewart Kwoh ; While @ RAD inconsistent vote on matters involving Oral Sex Scandal before judge James Warren - Richard Sander v. State Bar of California. Recently Jerry Brown appointed judge @ LASC after became too controversial for Buchalter Nemer ; Enormous animosity towards DD, YR, TLR who called her bluff.
2. Ruthe Catolico Ashley, Mongoloid-Pinay, friend and confederate of CJ Tani Cantil-Sakauye. Integral part of scheme known as CaliforniaALL. Conspired with others to keep secret the transfer of $780,000 from California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL, as well as scheme known as "The Make Belief Launching of SAL."
3. Mike Nisperos, Mongoloid - Pinoy, spent 28 days at an in-patient psychiatric facility in Oakland after he, delusional, had open fire at an imaginary intruder (See Nisperos vs. Buck720 F. Supp. 1424, 1427.) Subsequent to his employment with the California Bar, Nisperos was arrested and criminally prosecuted for an attempt to board an airplane carrying a dangerous weapon. Nisperos is a former crack-addict to whom Thomas Girardi serve as "mentor" as part of an unlawful conspiracy by Democratic Party operatives / various law firms such as Girardi & Keese, Skadden Arps, Morrison & Foerster to make use of Negroids/Mongoloids to commandeer the State Bar of California -- ipso facto allowing them to operate with impunity while remaining discipline-free -- such as, for example, in matters of In Re Girardi, Fogel v. Farmers, CaliforniaALL, and the like. Allegedly, said conspiracy was in violation of, but not limited to, Cal B & P 17200 otherwise resulted in an unjust enrichment on one hand, and billions in lost to US costumers on the other hand.
Scandals: Alan Konig, 60 Days, English Only, Oral Sex - alongside Donald Steedman, Maria Oropeza, and Geoffrey Brown.
6. Alec Chang, Mongoloid, Skadden Arps' proxy at RAD Committee/Board of Governors of the State Bar of of California. Scandals: In Re Girardi (alongside Jon Streeter, Gwen Moore), Fogel vs. Farmers. May have been involved in the appointment of Jerome Falk (defense lawyer of Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi) as special prosecutor against Walter Lack and Jerome Falk.
Part of unlawful scheme by Skadden Arps/Farmers/Zurich Financial to ensure smooth settlement of Fogel vs. Farmers for "peanuts," rather than the estimated $15 Billion.
10- CJ Tani Cantil-Sakauye : Appointed as CJ of California Supreme Court by Arnold Schwarzenegger who may have been blackmailed (allegedly) by Democratic operative who obtained from JAMS copies of close to 150 sexual harassment settlements Arnold Schwarzenegger had entered into -- Per reliable sources of TLR. Good friend - Kababayan of Ruthe Catolico Ashley of sham entity CaliforniaALL. By default, now also a confederate of Joe Dunn of Voice of OC.
Keith Wetmore -- Chair of Morrison & Foerster -- has been publicly asked by The Leslie Brodie Report to opine on the peculiar events surrounding Morrison & Foerster attorneys Susan Mac Cormac, Raj Chatterjee, Dian Grueneich, Annette Carnegie, Tony West, and James Brosnahan; especially events as they relate to sham entity CaliforniaALL, Voice of OC, and the sub-rosa Hush-Hush transfer of 780,000 from California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL.
Keith Wetmore is the chair of Morrison & Foerster LLP. As chair of the firm, Mr. Wetmore takes the lead in setting policy and providing strategic direction to the firm. Before becoming chair, Mr. Wetmore led the firm's 50-lawyer Finance and Infrastructure practice, bringing to his engagements 20 years' experience in debt and lease finance, both domestic and international. Mr. Wetmore has represented money center banks as agent in syndicated credit facilities, including multi-billion dollar working capital and acquisition financings, as well as smaller transactions, with particular emphasis in the technology and forest products sectors. While at the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Wetmore served as Articles Editor for the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.(image and narrative courtesy of MoFo)
The fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" has caused complainant to entertain the thought that "Voice of OC" may have been a recipient, at least in part, of the $780,000 obtained from the Foundation of the State Bar of California. To wit: on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL; Morrison & Foertser Annette Carnegie and Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in their capacity as BOD members of California Bar Foundation. On the other hand Morrison &Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi as part of helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.
Morrison & Foerster Team (L-R) Ms. Dian Grueneich — Former Commissioner with California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC”); Mr. Raj Chatterjee — current board member of the Foundation of State Bar of California (DBA California Bar Foundation, entity headed by Arnold & Porter's Douglas Winthrop formerly of Howard Rice) ; Ms. Susan Mac Cormac — part of legal team which created entity CaliforniaALL, Mac Cormac was recently awarded "Rainmaker of the Year” by James Brosnahan's alleged former mistress -- Marty Africa of Major Lindsey & Africa; Mr. Tony West; Mr. James J. Brosnahan of "Voice of OC” who represented El Paso Corp during California energy crisis opposing Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, and Thomas Girardi of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC; Ms. Annette Carnegie, formerly member of the board of California Bar Foundation during the Hush-Hush subrosa transfer of $780,000 to CaliforniaALL; Ms. Diane Pritchard who practiced extensively before the CPUC while at MoFo. (image: courtesy photo)
The belief is heightened given various events' proximity in time -- Ruthe Ashley left CaliforniaALL in the same month Joe Dunn launched "Voice of OC" (as though her mission had been completed). Moreover, the recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" ( as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences), the refusal of SAL-UCI to disclose the amount it receive from CaliforniaALL, the simulated RFP, and CaliforniaALL's pre-selection of the UCI Foundation as a recipient of funds only reinforce this belief. This is heightened by Mr. Thomas Girardi's lack of credibility (pursuant to findings made by a panel of federal judges), and the friendship Joe Dunn shares with him.
TLR is closely monitoring the situation and will keep readers apprised of the opinion, if any, of Keith Wetmore -- Chair of Morrison & Foerster -- on the peculiar events surrounding Morrison & Foerster attorneys Susan Mac Cormac, Raj Chatterjee, Dian Grueneich, Annette Carnegie, Tony West, and James Brosnahan; especially events as they relate to sham entity CaliforniaALL, Voice of OC, and the sub-rosa Hush-Hush transfer of 780,000 from California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL.
Allegations of greed, betrayal , and breaches of trust of the most sacred kind were leveled against a California justice in conjunction with financial contributions made by various law firms and financial institutions to an entity headed by the justice's spouse.
Specifically, in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, prominent Marina Del Rey-based legal expert Dan Dydzak alleges that California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar obstructed justice by participating in a scheme to boost the financial well-being of an entity (the Institute on Aging or "IOA") headed by her husband, David Werdegar.
(L-R) Dr. David Werdegar of IOA; California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar; Matthew Werdegar of Keker & Van Nest Where Straw Man Jon Streeter Serves as the President of the State Bar of California.
The suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Dydzak alleges that he sustained legal injury due to his role in suing Charles Schwab on behalf of a client -- a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder, Hugo Quackenbush -- and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin which previously represented Charles Schwab.
According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab's financial donations to IOA, neither of which she did.
Dydzak further alleges that Werdegar's failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties, and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar, by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab because this would have exposed Charles Schwab's various alleged unlawful activities while at the same time enriching her husband David Werdegar financially -- and, by extension, enriching her as well.
Shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.
The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started as part of Mount Zion hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current format.
The overwhelming majority of IOA funding is provided by the City and County of San Francisco, which has a contractual relationship with IOA, and by donations by primarily Jewish foundations, such as Lisa and Matthew Chanoff, the Rose and Eugene Kleiner Family Foundation, the Koret Foundation, Bernard and Barbro Osher, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
UPDATE
An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered a change of venue in a case pending against David Werdegar of San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (IOA).
The suit -- adavnaced by community activist Daniel Dydzak of Marina Del Rey -- has been transfered to neighboring San Diego County Superior Court.
Werdegar, who resides in Ross, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Institute on Aging and husband of California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar (aka Kay Mickle).
Prior to the commencement of the action, David Werdegar abruptly quit his position with IOA. The resignation, which occurred earlier this year, followed media reports of alleged improprities involving himself, his wife, and his son Matthew Werdegar - a partner at the litigation botique Keker & Van Nest, headed by contreversial litigator John Keker.
Subsequent to Werdegar's departure, the IOA appointed J. Thomas Briody, MHSc as the organization’s new President and CEO.
Dydzak's suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Dydzak further alleges that he sustained legal injury based on his representation of a client against Charles Schwab — specifically, a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder Hugo Quackenbush — and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, which had previously represented Charles Schwab.
According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab’s financial donations to IOA; he claims that she did neither.
Dydzak further alleges that Justice Werdegar’s failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties (and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar), by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab, because further actions by him would have exposed Charles Schwab’s various alleged unlawful activities; at the same time, ruling against Dydzak enriched her husband, David Werdegar, financially — and, by extension, enriched her as well.
As noted above, shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.
The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started out as part of Mount Zion Hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current form.
Documents obtained from the Santa Ana Unified School District provide fresh circumstantial evidence that while University of New Hampshire School of Law professor Sarah E. Redfield was employed at McGeorge School of Law, she had conspired with Ruthe Ashley and others to create a charitable entity (CaliforniaALL) that would later serve as a vehicle to misappropriate and/or launder close to $800,000 from the Foundation of the State Bar of California.
Sarah E. Redfield of University of New Hampshire School of Law (image:courtesy photo)
According to Redfield, between 2008 and 2009 she had "launched” CaliforniaALL, participated in RFP, and "launched” the Saturday Academy of Law at U. C. Irvine.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, as most transactions involving CaliforniaALL, the California Bar Foundation and the State Bar of California, it is imbued with fraud and egregious acts dishonesty and deception as even documents obtained from the Santa Ana Unified School District make no mention of Sarah Redfield in connection with the Saturday Academy of Law at UC Irvine.
Between 2004 and 2008, Professor Redfield served as a "visiting” professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. From 2008-2009, she served as interim Executive Director of CaliforniaALL, as well as program director.
Professor Redfield was paid $157,763 for her services, while she was misclassified as an "independent contractor.” See http://tinyurl.com/Portia-Balthazar
Sarah Redfield's CV, between 2008 and 2009 she "launched” CaliforniaALL, participated in RFP, and "launched” the Saturday Academy of Law at U. C. Irvine.
Similarly, CaliforniaALL's own publication indicates that with CaliforniaALL's grant funds, U.C. Irvine developed and implemented the Saturday Academy of Law, and that by 2009 CaliforniaALL's mission was visibly at work through the program. See below.
Specifically, the Saturday Academy of Law has been in existence for many years, and is part of the University of California Irvine's Center for Educational Partnerships (CFEP), which has many programs to benefit the community, such as "UCI Saturdays with Sciences,” "Saturday Academy in Mathematics,” and the like.
For example, as part of a field trip to law firms, the photo below was taken in 2005 when the UCISAL group visited the law offices of Sheppard Mullin.
In 2007, UCISAL paid a visit to Allen Matkins. (See below.) We have intentionally blurred the photo to maintain the students' privacy. Seated on the right is Robert Hamilton. On the far right is Karina Hamilton, a former Allen Matkins associate, wife of Robert Hamilton, and Director of UCISAL.
Please double-click on the photo for full view.
In fact, UCI's own literature gives no credit to CaliforniaALL. (See below.)
Additionally, claims by Sarah E. Redfield to the effect that she was part of both the CURRICULUM COMMITTEE and OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE are also false, fraudulent, and were otherwise spun from whole cloth.
While Professor Redfield was part of the Oversight Committee, she was not part of the Curriculum Committee. In fact, the sources maintain that close examination of SAL Curriculum shows that it was similar to the curriculum in the years before CaliforniaALL was even established, with emphasis on exceptions to the First Amendment such as time, place, and manner.
See below, misleading claims by Professor Sarah E. Redfield, which falsely mention Curriculum Committee. :
In its brief existence from 2008 to 2010, CaliforniaALL collected close to $2 million from utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Verizon, Sempra), including a sub-rosa contribution of $780,000.00 from the State Bar of California Foundation (DBA California Bar Foundation.) It was abruptly dissolved in June of 2010.
To date, data collected shows that CaliforniaALL (which was supposed to forward most of those funds) transferred between $300,000 to $400,000 to the UCI Foundation (where Joe Dunn serves as trustee), spent an unknown amount to honor Gwen Moore at a lavish dinner held at a luxury hotel in Sacramento, paid for other incidental expenses such as salaries, and subsequent to moving out from the offices of DLA Piper to a more modest location , paid for a UPS Store mail box slot in Citrus Heights.
CaliforniaALL never acknowledged receipt of the approximate $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation in any of its publications, although it did acknowledge the transfer on its IRS tax returns. Likewise, California Bar Foundation never acknowledged the largest grant it ever bestowed in its newsroom, the California Bar Journal, or similar publications; it did, however, recognize the transfer on its IRS returns, and in a 2 by 2 inch blurb in its annual report.
In September 2009, Ruthe Ashley abruptly exited CaliforniaALL. In the same month and year, Joe Dunn publicly launched the online publication -- " Voice of OC" with the help of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan.
VOICE OF OC TEAM (ORIGINAL BOD) -- UCI's Henry Weinstein, Morrison & Foerster's James Brosnahan, Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi, Joe Dunn, Martha Escutia, and UCI's Erwin Chemerinsky
The fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" has caused complainant to entertain the thought that "Voice of OC" may have been a recipient, at least in part, of the $780,000 obtained from the Foundation of the State Bar of California. To wit: on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL; Morrison & Foertser Annette Carnegie and Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in their capacity as BOD members of California Bar Foundation. On the other hand Morrison &Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi as part of helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.
The belief is heightened given various events' proximity in time -- Ruthe Ashley left CaliforniaALL in the same month Joe Dunn launched "Voice of OC" (as though her mission had been completed). Moreover, the recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" ( as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences), the refusal of SAL-UCI to disclose the amount it receive from CaliforniaALL, the simulated RFP, and CaliforniaALL's pre-selection of the UCI Foundation as a recipient of funds only reinforce this belief. This is heightened by Mr. Thomas Girardi's lack of credibility (pursuant to findings made by a panel of federal judges), and the friendship Joe Dunn shares with him.
In September of 1996, executives from Sempra and El Paso corporations met in an hotel room in Phoenix, Arizona (allegedly - and as was alleged in countless legal proceedings) to create a scheme to control the flow of natural gas to and within California. After the Phoenix meeting Sempra and El Paso, allegedly, stopped competing against each other for projects that would have brought additional natural gas pipeline capacity to California. In an attempt to remedy an unprecedented situation -- consumers, businesses, municipalities, and governmental agencies filed dozens of suits, and numerous legal proceedings were had before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), as well as multiple state and federal courts.
One such suit was filed in San Diego Superior Court alleging that Sempra and two owned companies -- Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) -- colluded with Houston, Texas-based El Paso Corp to prevent competition for cheaper natural gas, unjustly enriching itself at the expense of California consumers and businesses. (Continental Forge v. Sempra Energy)
The plaintiffs consisted of 13 million California consumers (allegedly);Wave Length Hair Production; Madera Wash Depot Countrywood Laundromat; City and County of Los Angeles; San Bernardino County; the cities of Long Beach, Burbank, Glendale, Culver City, Vernon and Upland; Continental Forge Company, as well as other companies and individuals -- and mainly from Long Beach, CA to wit: United Church Retirement Homes of Long Beach, Inc., doing business as Plymouth West, Long Beach Brethren Manor, THUMS Long Beach Company.
Later, additional suits were filed -- including one by Mr. Joe Cottchett of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy. Said suits were consolidated, and are known as THE NATURAL GAS ANTI-TRUST CASES I,II, III, IV. See HERE and HERE .
The Regulars Return for the Usual
(L-R) Joe Dunn-Tom Girardi-James Brosnahan-Martha Escutia who served as original BOD members of embattled Voice of OC; Pierce O'Donnell; Lance Astrella; Jerome Falk of Howard Rice (represented PG&E in bankruptcy proceedings, Girardi-Astrella-Lack in a malpractice action by Robert Copple involving the Sempra Energy settlement, secondary representation of PG&E in Erin Brockovich matter while PG&E in bankruptcy -- a case prosecuted by Girardi/Lack, really special prosecutor in matter of In Re Girardi, part of litigation Attorney General Bill Lockyer had advanced against parent company of PG&E -- a case Jerry Brown had later dismissed under highly questionable circumstances. Sources maintain since the King can do no wrong, Jerry Brown -- for all its worth - can have his legacy barring any new developments such as late discovery of new evidence. In addition, Jerome Falk with strong ties to Howard Rice partner Douglas Winthrop who is part and parcel of California Bar Foundation which mysteriously funneled "Hush-Hush" sub-rosa $780,000 to CaliforniaALL ) ; Ex-CPUC Commissioner Geoffrey Brown (ties to CaliforniaALL, Judy Johnson's CCPF, California Bar Foundation, as well as secondary ties to the "Oral Sex Scandal" involving Donald Steedman/Robert Hawley/Castro Valley-based female attorney); Joe Cotchett; Walter Lack of In Re Girardi/Sempra Litigation; John Keker of Keker & Van Nest (KVN with strong ties to CPUC via Lynch/Cohen; Robert Van Nest/Jon Streeter represented PG&E before FERC in matter of CPUC vs. El Paso; Jon Streeter part of State Bar BOG while YR had submitted request for formal investigation. Streeter presently part of BOG, as well as California Bar Foundation BOD)
Few – but not all - of the lawyers participating in the various legal and/or official proceedings relating to the energy crisis are neither strangers to The Leslie Brodie Report nor to public controversy - to wit:
1. Pierce O'Donnell -- represented class of plaintiffs;
2. Engstrom Lipscomb & Lack's Walter Lack of Ninth Circuit matter of "In Re Girardi", and related controversy surrounding really special prosecutor Jerome Falk of Howard Rice -- represented class of plaintiffs;
3. Morrison & Foerster's James Brosnahan of Voice of OC - represented defendant El Paso Corp;
4. State Bar of California executive director Joe Dunn of Voice of OC, UCI Foundation -- who while investigating the matter managed to "crack" Enron and press criminal charges against Sempra Energy.
5. California Bar Foundation BOD member and Ex-CPUC Commissioner Geoffrey Brown;
6. Joe Cotchet and Nancy Fineman of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy -- represented various independent entities i.e. CCSF.
7. Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese -- represented class of plaintiffs;
8. Robert Cooper of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher represented defendant Sempra Energy;
9. Munger Tolles & Olson represented Southern California Edison; ( Jeffrey Bleich part of MTO)
Ms. Judy Johnson who until recently served as the Executive Director of the State Bar of California, secretly headed CCPF for the past 8-9 years. During this period, she used her "clout" as the head of the agency to arrange for "cy pres" from class action settlements, as well as fines and settlements imposed by the CPUC on utility companies, totaling close to $30 million to be funneled to CCPF, which then forwarded those funds to various other non-profits, and mostly questionable ACORN-like entities located in South Los Angeles. As mentioned previously, vexatious and strange movements of money from CCPF to Michael Shames' UCAN -- entity presently subject of grand-jury investigation in San Diego. See complaint against CCPF to IRS HERE
10. Derek Howard of Murray & Howard -- represented class of plaintiffs (highly troubling due to involvement of Gilmur R. Murray -- confederate of ex- executive director of the State Bar of California Judy Johnson and part and parcel of CCPF)
11. Lance Astrella of Astrella & Rice -
12. James Tynan Kelly -- represented class of plaintiffs in a San Diego Superior Court. At times, practiced law without being properly admitted. In 2006, Judge Ronald Prager denied motion by Pierce O'Donnell, Thomas Girardi, and Walter Lack to retroactively admit Kelly.
Liaison counsel for defendants was DLA Piper, which would later display extreme generosity by housing pro-bono sham non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.
Acting as lead counsel was Pierce O'Donnell -- who coincidentally has been recently preoccupied reallocating assets vis-a-vis the process of "legal separation" from spouse Dawn O'Donnell -- ever since this story first appeared on The Leslie Brodie Report.
Pierce and Dawn O'Donnell. Pierce (AKA POD) -- a Democratic Party operative associated with Girardi -- has been found guilty of a "serious crime" which involves misrepresentation, fraud, deceit or the use of dishonesty by funneling illegal campaign contributions to former Sen. John Edwards. He has been assigned a federal prison ID # 49097-112. It is how he will be known for as long as he is behind bars when he begins his prison sentence on May 7, 2012. Separately, Petitioner Pierce O'Donnell is asking Judge Thomas Anderle of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court for "legal separation" from Dawn O'Donnell. Respondent O'Donnel, also an attorney, obliged by filing an answer on the same day the petition was filed.
Ms. Carole Handler of O'Donnell Shaeffer & Mortimer stated: "I can't wait to depose Clark" referring to Al Clark, El Paso vice president of marketing and operations who allegedly participated in the alleged clandestine meeting in a Phoenix hotel room.
Energy Crisis Settlements
List of financial settlements to resolve claims from the California energy crisis of 2000-01 --
El Paso 3/20/03 $1.70 billion Enron 7/15/05 $1.52 billion Reliant Energy 8/15/05 $525 million Mirant 1/14/05 $495 million Williams 2/25/04 $417 million Dynegy 4/26/04 $281.5 million Duke Energy 7/13/04 $200 million
2003 - El Paso has reached an agreement in principle with the state of California to end investigations of the company's alleged manipulation of natural gas. Other parties to the settlement include private class action litigants in California, the state's governor and lieutenant governor, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Department of Water Resources, PG&E , Pacific Gas and Electric Co. u, Edison International's Southern California Edison utility. See here and here
2006 - Sempra agreed to pay $375 million in cash as well as change some business practices, give energy price discounts (O'Donnell as lead counsel) See here.
2010 — Governor Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown, and CPUC Announce $400 Million Energy Crisis Settlement With Sempra Energy. See here
Ms. Martha Escutia of Voice of OC ; served as chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee.
Mr. Joe Dunn of Voice of OC and UCI Foundation -- presently serves as the executive director of the State Bar of California. In February of 2005, Dunn called for a criminal perjury investigation of power company Sempra Energy, saying the firm had lied to the Legislature during a state Senate probe into the origins of the California energy crisis. He referred the charges to the Sacramento County district attorney for prosecution and said they were urging the Senate's Energy Committee (headed by future business partner and Voice of OC's BOD member -- Martha Escutia) to hold contempt hearings into Sempra's behavior. A spokesman for Sempra said that Dunn had misrepresented the company's responses for "political purposes.'' (sources here and here)
VOICE OF OC TEAM --
Mr. Lance Astrella
Mr. Bill Lockyer. As was reported by the media, "California Attorney General Bill Lockyer during a critical point in Sempra Energy's $23 billion antitrust trial threatened to file a separate lawsuit intended to leverage a settlement that would mean tens of millions of dollars in fees for Lockyer's longtime political ally and friend Tom Girardi ...Girardi & Keese and its employees contributed more than $260,000 to Lockyer's political campaign between 2001 and 2004 and gave him gifts, including plane trips, sports tickets and $325 in cuff links. Even as the class-action case against Sempra, which owns the Southern California Gas Co., is being tried in San Diego, Girardi is the key figure in parallel high-stakes mediation talks in which the state stands to gain long-sought concessions that could be worth about $1 billion in Sempra Energy's energy contract - a settlement that could bring $100 million or more in legal fees to Girardi and other plaintiffs' attorneys. Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge) said the attorney general should be investigated for potential conflict of interest in the Sempra matter. (source here)
Hon. Curtis L. Wagner, Jr. Chief Judge The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Mr. Frank Rich Lindh - CPUC General Counsel, formerly of PG & E. Lindh is the father of American Taliban John Walker Lindh (AKA "Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi" -- to wit - Abu Sulayman "The Irish" since when questioned by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers Johnny "Mike" Spann and Dave "Dawson" Tyson, he had lied by saying he was "Irish" ) Throughout Walker's adolescence, Frank would often leave their Marin residence for extended periods to live in San Francisco with a male lover. While abroad, John Lindh sent numerous emails to his family. In one, Frank told him about the USS Cole bombing, to which John replied that since the American ship was in the Yemen harbor, it was an act of war against Islam and therefore justified. Frank told Newsweek had taken no actions since "my days of molding him were over." In reply to a recent controversy concerning CPUC secrecy laws, Lindh had stated that the laws were put in place to prevent terrorists from obtaining information that would allow them to target utilities' infrastructure.
Mr. Derek Anthony West (AKA Tony West) Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest official at the United States Department of Justice. He joined Morrison & Foerster in 2001. While at MoFo, West represented "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh alongside partners James Brosnahan and Raj Chatterjee. West's sister-in-law -- Ms. Kamala Harris -- is the California attorney general who was part of non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.
Mr. Geoffrey Brown, professor of law at JFK School of Law. Between 2001 to 2007 served as Commissioner with the CPUC. From 2006 to 2009 Brown serve as director with the State Bar of California Foundation (DBA "California Bar Foundation"). In 2008, California Bar Foundation quietly transferred $769,247.00 to sham entity CaliforniaALL -- which also obtained additional 1.5 Million from utility companies. In reaction to complainant's request for an inquiry to the State Bar of California Board of Governors, Brown immediately, as though bitten by a snake, threatened to file legal action even though the communication with the BOG was absolutely privileged and justified, and only made mention of Brown in passing. Brown is still under extreme scrutiny in matters relating Judy Johnson's CCPF and the saga known as "Bribing Pat." (image:courtesy photo)
Morrison & Foerster Team (L-R) Ms. Dian Grueneich — Former Commissioner with California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC”); Mr. Raj Chatterjee — current board member of the Foundation of State Bar of California (DBA California Bar Foundation, entity headed by Arnold & Porter's Douglas Winthrop formerly of Howard Rice) ; Ms. Susan Mac Cormac — part of legal team which created entity CaliforniaALL, Mac Cormac was recently awarded "Rainmaker of the Year” by James Brosnahan's alleged former mistress -- Marty Africa of Major Lindsey & Africa; Mr. Tony West; Mr. James J. Brosnahan of "Voice of OC” who represented El Paso Corp during California energy crisis opposing Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, and Thomas Girardi of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC; Ms. Annette Carnegie, formerly member of the board of California Bar Foundation during the Hush-Hush subrosa transfer of $780,000 to CaliforniaALL; Ms. Diane Pritchard who practiced extensively before the CPUC while at MoFo. (image: courtesy photo)
Derek Anthony West (AKA Tony West) -- Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest official at the United States Department of Justice -- is under scrutiny in connection with non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.
Sources with knowledge, speaking on condition of anonymity, maintain a red flag has been raised over West due to the overall circumstances surrounding non-profit entity CaliforniaALL; Morrison & Foerster ("MoFo"); OBAMA FOR AMERICA; as well as Ambassadors Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson, and John Roos of Wilson Sonsini.
Mr. Derek Anthony West (AKA Tony West) Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest official at the United States Department of Justice. He joined Morrison & Foerster in 2001. While at MoFo, West represented "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh alongside partners James Brosnahan and Raj Chatterjee. His sister-in-law, Kamala Harris, is the California attorney general who was part of sham non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.
In 2007, Jeffrey Bleich was a ready-to-wage-war attorney working at Munger Tolles & Olson. Bleich was dubbed by some media outlets as Superman. He launched and co-chaired the national finance committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA.
Bleich -- while serving as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors and as director of the California Bar Foundation (alongside another attorney from Munger Tolles, Bradley Phillips) -- was a man on a mission in pushing for the urgent creation of a non-profit entity known as CaliforniaALL.
INTRODUCTION OF MAIN ACTORS:
1. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY BLEICH -- Mr. Bleich served as a director with the Foundation in approximately 2007-2008, as well as president of the State Bar of California.
In 2007, Mr. Bleich established Barack Obama's National Finance Committee and served as its Chair.
He is a personal friend of President Obama, who served as President Obama's personal attorney and subsequently was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Bleich was a partner with the San Francisco office of Munger Tolles & Olson, which represents clients Southern California Edison and Verizon Wireless.
Out of close to 230,000 lawyers in California, also serving as a director with the Foundation in approximately 2007-2008 was another attorney from Munger Tulles Olsen, Mr. Bradley Phillips.
2. DEREK ANTHONY WEST OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE -- Mr. West, who goes by the name "Tony West," presently serves as third in command within the Department of Justice below Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer.
Around 2007-2008, Mr. Tony West also served as Chair of the "California Finance Committee" of OBAMA FOR AMERICA .
Prior to joining the DOJ, Mr. West was a partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster, the law firm which assisted with the legal aspects of creating CaliforniaALL..
Along with attorneys Raj Chaterjee and Susan Mac Cormac, Mr. West was part of senior partner James Brosnahan's clique. For example, it was Brosnahan, West, and Chaterjee who defended John Walker Lindh, who is more widely known as the "American Taliban." (It should be noted that it was actually Mr. Brosnahan who initially agreed to the representation since he knows Lindh's father -- Frank Lindh -- who served as in-house Chief Legal Counsel at PG&E; Mr. Lindh is presently the Chief Legal Counsel of the CPUC.)
Mr. West is married to Maya Harris, sister of Kamala Harris, who was part of CaliforniaALL.
3. JAMES J. BROSNAHAN OF MORRISON & FOERSTER - Mr. Brosnahan is presently a senior partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster.
He considers himself to be the "mastermind behind the Democratic Party." CaliforniaALL was created by Morrison & Foerster, under the supervision of Mr. Brosnahan (known as the prosecutor of Caspar Weinberger). Specifically Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate assisted with the legal aspects of creating the entity.
4. STEVEN CHURCHWELL OF DLA PIPER - Mr. Churchwell is presently a partner at the San Sacramento office of DLA Piper.
During Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Churchwell served as Treasurer of the Draft Committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA located at DLA Piper offices in Sacramento, as was non-profit CaliforniaALL.
DLA PIPER TEAM: STEVE CHURCHWELL
For more about Churchwell's connection to Barack Obama, please see American Thinker's Patti Villacorta: "Breaking the Obama Code: The Green Money Machine." HERE
5. MARK PARNES / JOHN ROOS OF WILSON SONSINI -- Mr. Parnes is presently a partner at the Palo Also office of Wilson Sonsini. He served as a director and secretary with the California Bar Foundation in approximately 2007-2008.
In 2007-2008, the California Bar Foundation poured into CaliforniaALL the large sum of $774,247, sub-rosa.
Mr. Roos is the former CEO of Wilson Sonsini in Palo Alto. He is a personal friend of both President Obama and Jeffrey Bleich. He presently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Similar to Ambassador Bleich, Ambassador Roos acted as a "bundler" and raised over $500,000 for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI TEAM: JOHN ROOS, MARK PARNES
For more about John Roos' connection to Barack Obama, please see American Thinker's Patti Villacorta: "Breaking the Obama Code: The Green Money Machine." HERE
6. CHRISTOPHER JACOB YOUNG OF KEKER & VAN NEST -- Mr. Young, commonly known as "Chris Young," is currently listed on the State Bar of California's database as an associate with Keker & Van Nest. Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young was an associate at Morrison & Foerster.
Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young served as "Northern California Deputy Finance Director" for OBAMA FOR AMERICA.
State Bar of California records still show that Chris Young is an employee of Keker & Van Nest. However, very recently, Keker & Van Nest ( at the direction of partners John Keker and Jon Streeter, who also worked on the 2008 campaign as a "bundler" and is presently a director with the Foundation) abruptly removed Chris Young's name from its web-site.
Mr. Chris Young of Keker & Van Nest. During the 2008 election, while employed as an associate with Morrison & Foerster, Chris Young served as Barack Obama's Northern California Deputy Finance Director and as National Campaign's Northern California representative. USDOJ's Tony West (also of Morrison & Foerster) served as Co-Chair, California Finance Cmt. Recently, Keker & Van Nest abruptly removed Young's name from the roll of lawyers associated with the firm. Similar to Tony West, Young is under scrutiny in connection with events surrounding both Lance Armstrong and sham non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.
7. ANNETTE CARNEGIE -- Ms. Carnegie is presently employed at the Kaiser Foundation. Around 2007-2008, she was a partner at Morrison & Foerster and served as a director of the Foundation. In 2007-2008, the Foundation poured into CaliforniaALL the large sum of $774,247; by comparison, most other donations were around $10,000 to $20,000. As shown below, the transfer of said money appears to be imbued with fraud and secrecy, especially in connection with four utility companies (Verizon, PG&E, Edison, and AT&T).
8. KAMALA HARRIS -- In around 2007-2008, Ms. Harris served as the District Attorney in San Francisco while at the same time she was also Co-Chair of "Obama for America." Ms. Harris was part of CaliforniaALL's "Advisory Council." She is the sister of Maya Harris, who is married to Tony West. Media reports provide that parliamentarian Willie Brown served as mentor to both Tony West and Kamala Harris, and was Ms. Harris's paramour. John Keker of Keker & Van Nest (known as the prosecutor of Oliver North) is also considered to be a "mentor" of Kamala Harris. (Incidentally, State Bar of California Board of Governor member Gwen Moore -- also a "mentee" of Willie Brown -- was honored by CaliforniaALL at a lavish dinner in a Sacramento hotel. Parliamentarian Moore is no stranger to your agency, having been the target of a sting operation known as Shrimpscam.)
9. OPHELIA BASGAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ("HUD") -- In around 2007-2008 , Ms. Basgal was Vice President of Civic Partnership and Community Initiatives at PG&E, where she managed the company's $18 million charitable contributions program, and oversaw its community engagement programs and partnerships with community-based organizations. Separately, around that time she surprisingly served as "Treasurer" with the "California Supreme Court Historical Society." In that role, she presumably had contact with many judges, including those who were handling matters dealing with PG&E, such as Justice (Ret.) Joseph Grodin who acted as the mediator in a case Attorney General Bill Lockyer advanced against PG&E, which Jerry Brown (cousin of Geoffrey Brown) later dismissed in his capacity as the new Attorney General for California.
Ms. Basgal served as a director of CaliforniaALL.
10. VICTOR MIRMAONTES -- Mr. Victor Miramontes, a resident of San Antonio, TX and business partner of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros in an entity known as CityView, was the chairman of CaliforniaALL.
Mr. Miramontes has various connections to Orange County, and is otherwise familiar with its various legal circles.
11. SARAH E. REDFIELD -- Ms. Redfield is presently a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, and served as the interim director of CaliforniaALL. Events surrounding Redfield, as shown below, also appear to be imbued with fraud and deceit, and it appears her role was to create a subterfuge to justify the existence of CaliforniaALL. Since CaliforniaALL's main achievement was the purported creation of a "Saturday Academy of Law" at UC Irvine ("SALUCI"), Ms. Redfield pretended to have engaged in Requests for Proposals ("RFP"), as well as falsely claiming that she "launched" SALUCI. For her services as interim executive director and an alleged consultant of CaliforniaALL, Professor Redfield was paid approximately $160,000 as an "independent contractor." She gave very little, if anything, in return for the $160,000 she was paid. In fact, she took credit for the extremely hard work of others, especially that of Rob Vacario of Santa Ana who co-founded SALUCI several years earlier.
12. JUDY JOHNSON – Ms. Johnson is the former Executive Director of the State Bar of California. Ms. Johnson (along with Robert Hawley and Starr Babcock) is no stranger to financial schemes. For the past 8 years, she has been quietly serving as the president of an entity with a misleading name (California Consumer Protection Foundation AKA "CCPF"). This entity absorbed close to $30 million in class action cy pres awards, as well as fines and settlements imposed by the CPUC on utility companies. CCPF forwarded those funds to mostly questionable ACORN-like entities in South Los Angeles or to an entity headed by Michael Shames known as UCAN -- presently under federal grand jury investigation in San Diego.
It appears that Ms. Johnson used her position as executive director of the State Bar of California (which is supposed to supervise and discipline lawyers) as "clout" to obtain cy pres awards from the settlement of class actions prosecuted and defended by various law firms in courts and before the CPUC. In addition, while never prosecuted for the scheme, some have speculated that Johnson and cohorts Hawley (whom Johnson labeled the "Wizard of OZ") and Babcock were "in" on a financial scheme perpetrated by former State Bar employee Sharon Pearl, who was lightly prosecuted by then-attorney general Jerry Brown, cousin of Geoffrey Brown. Ms. Johnson was part of CaliforniaALL's Advisory Council and was responsible for maintaining secrecy over the project by misleading the public, including a quadriplegic law-student, litigant Sara Granda.
13. RUTHE CATOLICO ASHLEY -- Ms. Ashley is a former employee of McGeorge School of Law who later served as a "Diversity Officer" at Cal PERS. Ms. Ashley also served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors alongside Mr. Bleich, and came up with the idea to create CaliforniaALL during a meeting with Sarah Redfield and Peter Arth, Jr. (the assistant to CPUC President Michael Peevey). After CaliforniaALL came into existence, Ms. Ashley, after a simulated search, was selected to serve as CaliforniaALL's executive director.
14. SONIA GONZALES -- Ms. Gonzales presently serves as the Foundation's executive director as of earlier this year, after the former executive director (Ms. Leslie Hatamyia) suddenly quit. Ms. Gonzales is a close friend and confidante of Ms. Maya Harris, the wife of Mr. Tony West.
She presently serves the same function as current Foundation directors Mary Ann Todd of Munger Tolles & Olson, Jon Streeter of Keker & Van Nest, Douglas Winthrop of Howard Rice, and Raj Chatterjee of Morrison & Foerster.
Mr. West shares a laugh with sister-in-law Kamala Harris former paramour who is like an albatross hanging around her neck -- Willie Brown
From left, Ms. Lateefah Simon (spouse of CPUC Commissioner and Golden Gate University Professor Timothy Alan Simon); Mr Tony West; Mr. John Burris, a well-known and well-respected civil rights attorney whom TLR previously introduce to its readers in connection with former crack-addict Mike Nisperos during a trip to CNMI HERE.
CaliforniaALL
Ms. Ruth Ashley, a former member of the State bar of California Board of Governors, arranged with others the subrosa transfer of $769,247.00 from the State Bar to a chritable entity -- CaliforniaALL -- which was under her control. (Photo: courtesy)
In approximately 2007, Ruthe Catolico Ashley -- an attorney from Sacramento and a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors -- was employed by CalPERS as a "Diversity Officer." Prior to her employment with CalPERS, Ms. Ashley was employed as a diversity officer at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. While at McGeorge, Ms. Ashley met diversity expert Sarah Redfield.
In April 2007, Ashley, along with Sarah Redfield, met Peter Arth (Chief of Staff to CPUC President Michael Peevey) at a restaurant in San Francisco. During that meeting the idea to create CaliforniaALL was conceived. According to Ashley, all three arrived for the "brainstorming session" without any notepads; they quickly improvised and resorted to recording notes on a paper napkin which were the cornerstones of CaliforniaALL. See an excerpt from CaliforniaALL's now defunct website below:
Urban legend notwithstanding, Ashley's version of events is slightly inaccurate, as Sarah Redfield (a visiting professor from New Hampshire who Ashley met at McGeorge School of Law) is not a member of the California Bar, and was not representing any governmental agency. In actuality, Ruthe Ashley acted on behalf of both the State Bar California and CalPERS -- where she was at the time employed as a Diversity Officer. Pete Arth, an attorney with the CPUC, spoke on behalf of the CPUC.
On June 26, 2007, Ruth Ashley presented to the BOG the concept of California ALL, and recommnended that the State Bar support the organization.
Eventually, CalPERS, CPUC, and the State Bar of California endorsed in principle the creation of CaliforniaALL – a Section 501(c)(3) entity that would raise funds to be used to support a more diverse workforce in California.
Serving as CaliforniaALL legal counsel were two partners from Morrison & Foerster, Ms. Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate. See below:
In the meantime, with a green light to proceed with the plan and with the credibility of state agencies behind her, Ruthe Ashley marched on. Ashley, however, wanted to maintain a low profile AND make it appear that her subsequent hiring was purely coincidental. As such, she delegated the task of forming the entity to be known as CaliforniaALL to Sarah Redfield and Victor Miramontes.
Miramontes, a resident of San Antonio, Texas is associated with CityView, a Los Angeles-based entity controlled by former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros
Papers were filed with both state and federal agencies to allow CaliforniaALL to operate as a tax exempt entity. Victor Miramontes listed himself as Chairman of the Board, and Sarah E. Redfield served as CaliforniaAll's interim-executive-director for a period of 6 months. See below:
Sarah Redfield, one of the three lawyers who met at the San Francisco restaurant and who acted as CaliforniaALL's Interim Executive Director was paid $157,763 while misclassified as an "independent contractor" in tax-returns submitted to the Internal Revenue Service.
See excerpt below from 2008 CaliforniaALL's tax return.
Thus, it was now time for Ruthe Ashley to make her appearance. She did so in June of 2008. CaliforniaALL issued multiple press releases announcing that Ruthe Ashley would serve as CaliforniaALL's CEO.
Incidentally, Ashley and her attorneys represented to the IRS in returns bearing her signature that she was hired after a "nationwide search", see below:
CaliforniaALL's was housed at: 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400 Sacramento, California 95814. This adress is actually the adress of the law-offices of DLA Piper in Sacramento. In its publication, CaliforniaALL thanked DLA Piper for offering pro-bono space in the Sacramento office. Yet, in CaliforniaALL's tax-return signed by Ruthe Ashley, an expense in the amount of $16,457 for "occupancy" is listed. (See two images below)
In its brief existence from 2008 to 2010, CaliforniaALL collected close to $2 million from utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Verizon, Sempra), including a sub-rosa Hush-Hush contribution of $769,247.00 from the State Bar of California Foundation (DBA California Bar Foundation).
Once Ashley assumed the position, the Foundation of the State Bar of California (which is under the complete control of the State Bar of California Board of Governors) made a quiet transfer of approximately $780,000 from Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL.
CaliforniaALL never acknowledged receipt of the approximate $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation in any of its publications, although it did acknowledge the transfer on its IRS tax returns. Likewise, California Bar Foundation never acknowledged the largest grant it ever bestowed in its newsroom, the California Bar Journal, or similar publications; it did, however, recognize the transfer on its IRS returns, and in a 2 by 2 inch blurb in its annual report.
Below is an image which reflects State Bar of California Foundation (DBA California Bar Foundation) IRS Tax-Return showing a transfer of $774,247 to CaliforniaALL.
Below, California Bar Foundation's Newsroom, which made no mention of the "hush-hush" sub-rosa transfer to CaliforniaALL.
In 2008, serving as President of the Foundation was Mario Camara. A joint letter published and signed by Camara and Hatamiya also made no mention of the hush-hush transfer. Wasn't Mr. Camara proud of it, just like he was proud of other money which went to support "pipelines" After all, CaliforniaALL was also intended to support "pipelines". See below:
Below an image taken from CaliforniaALL own newsletter which alludes to the fact that the State Bar of California is a "Founding Partner" of CaliforniaALL. Stingy with credit and despite the transfer of close to $780,000 from the California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL, only utility companies are listed as "Founding Funders." See below:
As the purpose of CaliforniaALL was to transfer those funds forward, it did so by awarding approximately $300,000 in grants to the UCI Foundation, where State Bar of California Executive-Director Joe Dunn (future owner of Voice of OC) serves as trustee and chair of the Audit Committee.
In September 2009, Ruthe Ashley , as though her mission had been completed, abruptly exited CaliforniaALL. In the same month and year, State Bar of California Executive Director , Mr. Joe Dunn, publicly launched the online publication "The Voice of OC" with the help of Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese and James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster.
THE MAKE BELIEF LAUNCHING OF SAL
UCI Foundation allegedly used the money it obtained from CaliforniaALL to launch a "Saturday Law Academy. " According to Professor Sarah Redfield's CV, between 2008 and 2009 she "launched" CaliforniaALL, participated in RFP, and "launched" the Saturday Academy of Law at U. C. Irvine.
Similarly, CaliforniaALL's own publication indicates that with CaliforniaALL's grant funds, U.C. Irvine developed and implemented the Saturday Academy of Law, and that by 2009 CaliforniaALL's mission was visibly at work through the program. See below.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, as most transactions involving CaliforniaALL, the California Bar Foundation and the State Bar of California, it is imbued with fraud and egregious acts dishonesty and deception.
Specifically, the Saturday Academy of Law has been in existence for many years, and is part of the University of California Irvine's Center for Educational Partnerships (CFEP), which has many programs to benefit the community, such as "UCI Saturdays with Sciences," "Saturday Academy in Mathematics,” and the like.
For example, as part of a field trip to law firms, the photo below was taken in 2005 when the UCISAL group visited the law offices of Sheppard Mullin.
In 2007, UCISAL paid a visit to Allen Matkins. (See below.) We have intentionally blurred the photo to maintain the students' privacy. Seated on the right is Robert Hamilton. On the far right is Karina Hamilton, a former Allen Matkins associate, wife of Robert Hamilton, and Director of UCISAL.
Please double-click on the photo for full view.
In fact, UCI's own literature gives no credit to CaliforniaALL. (See below.)
According to the sources, while there is not even a scintilla of evidence that demonstrating that Mr. West somehow pocketed any money unlawfully or engaged in any other unlawful activities, his prior work with Brosnahan as well as the eerie coincidence that those who were involved with CaliforniaALL and Voice of OC were also in support of his conformation in 2009, requires further understanding of event, if only to examine potential conflict of interests should the DOJ ever investigate Voice of OC and/or CaliforniaALL -- both entities with very close ties to Morrison & Foerster, and especially partner James Brosnahan.
Mr. Derek Anthony West (AKA Tony West) Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest official at the United States Department of Justice. West attended Harvard University where he served as Publisher of the Harvard Political Review, graduating with honors in 1987. He received his J.D. degree in 1992 from Stanford Law School, where he was President of the Stanford Law Review. He joined Morrison & Foerster in 2001. While at MoFo, West represented clients ranging from large corporations to "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh alongside partners James Brosnahan and Raj Chatterjee. His sister-in-law, Kamala Harris, is the California attorney general.
Morrison & Foerster Team (L-R) Ms. Dian Grueneich -- Former Commissioner with California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC"); Mr. Raj Chatterjee -- current board member of the Foundation of State Bar of California (DBA California Bar Foundation, entity headed by Arnold & Porter's Douglas Winthrop formerly of Howard Rice) ; Ms. Susan Mac Cormac -- part of legal team which created entity CaliforniaALL, Mac Cormac was recently awarded "Rainmaker of the Year" by James Brosnahan's alleged former mistress Marty Africa of Major Lindsey & Africa; Mr. Tony West; Mr. James J. Brosnahan of "Voice of OC" who represented El Paso Corp during California energy crisis opposing Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, and Thomas Girardi of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC; Ms. Annette Carnegie, formerly member of the board of California Bar Foundation during the Hush-Hush subrosa transfer of $780,000 to CaliforniaALL; Ms. Diane Pritchard who practiced extensively before the CPUC while at MoFo.
Mr. West shares a laugh with sister-in-law Kamala Harris former paramour who is like an albatross hanging around her neck -- Willie Brown ( an otherwise a confederate of CPUC insider and State Bar of California Board of Governor member Gwen Moore.)
From left, Ms. Lateefah Simon (spouse of CPUC Commissioner and Golden Gate University Professor Timothy Alan Simon); Mr Tony West; Mr. John Burris, a well-known and well-respected civil rights attorney whom TLR previously introduce to its readers in connection with former crack-addict Mike Nisperos during a trip to CNMI HERE.
*THE LESLIE BRODIE REPORT STRONGLY URGES THE READERS TO EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION AND NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSION REGARDING MISCONDUCT BY ANYONE -- it should be noted that TLR possesses not even a scintilla of evidence that demonstrating that Mr. Tony West somehow pocketed any money unlawfully or engaged in any other unlawful activities, other than the convenient circumstances described below involving Morrison & Foerster, James Brosnahan, Susan Mac Cormac, State Bar of California Executive Director -- Joe Dunn of Voice of OC, Howard Miller and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese, and the California Bar Foundation which made a hush-hush sub-rosa transfer of $780,000.00 to sham entity CaliforniaALL.
As mentioned previously, YR suspects money was misappropriated and/or laundered through the California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL by James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster and others to assist State Bar of California Executive-Director Joe Dunn in the launching of his online publication Voice of OC. See more HERE and HERE and HERE .
"VOICE OF OC" TEAM -- UCI Law Professor Henry Weinstein, James Brosnahan of MoFo, Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi , Executive Director of the State Bar of California Joe Dunn, and UCI Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. In Septermber of 2009, Dunn (with the help of Girardi and Brosnahan) launched "The Voice of Orange County" -- an online publication. Additionally, Dunn is a trustee with the UCI Foundation -- an entity which absorbed most of the grants CaliforniaALL had bestowed. Incidentally, suspect is the fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000.00 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL, were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" to wit – on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL; Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in his capacity as BOD member of Cal Bar Foundation, as well as BOG members who voted to endorse CaliforniaALL and consider it to have been a partner of the State Bar of California. On the other hand Morrison &Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi as part of helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.CEO. In addition, Ruthe Ashley abruptly existed CaliforniaALL in the same month Dunn had launched "Voice of OC" (as though her mission had been completed). Moreover, the recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" is also suspect (as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences). For more unsettling details, please see HERE
A complete list of letters received in support of the nomination of Mr. Tony West of Morrison & Foerster to the position of Assistant Attorney General of the United States of America, below:
March 17, 2009 - South Asian Bar Association (Entity headed by MoFo's Raj Chatterjee -- who along with James Brosnahan and Tony West represented the American Taliban)
March 10, 2009 - Anne Eshoo, U.S. Congresswoman, California
March 9, 2009 - Timothy Alan Simon, Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission, State of California (Part of CaliforniaALL's Advisory Council along with Tony West's sister-in-law, Kamala Harris. See HERE )
March 9, 2009 - Zoe Lofgren, U.S. Congresswoman, California
March 9, 2009 - Bill Lann Lee, Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C., former Assistant Attorney General
March 9, 2009 - Jamie S. Gorelick, WilmerHale, former Deputy Attorney General
March 9, 2009 - Karen Bass, Speaker of the Assembly, State of California (Nominated Shrimpscam/ Little Hoover Commission Gwen Moore as member of State Bar of California Board of Governors)
Gwen Moore of GeM Communication who, according to confidential sources, was known in Sacramento as a "Shakedown Artist. Known to have "clout" over the CPUC and utility companies.
March 9, 2009 - Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Northern California Chapter
March 9, 2009 - Phil Angelides, former State Treasurer, California
March 8, 2009 - Drew S. Days III, Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law, Yale Law School; former Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division; former U.S. Solicitor General
March 7, 2009 - Crime Victims United of California Chapter
March 6, 2009 - National Black Police Association, Inc.
March 6, 2009 - Norman Mineta, Vice Chairman, Hill & Knowlton; former U.S. Secretary of Transportation
March 6, 2009 - Philip B. Heymann, James Barr Ames Professor of Law, Director of Center for International Criminal Justice, Harvard Law School; former Deputy Attorney General
March 6, 2009 - Equal Justice Society
March 6, 2009 - Michael Dukakis, UCLA Department of Public Policy, former Governor, State of Massachusetts
March 6, 2009 - Charles Houston Bar Association
March 6, 2009 - Sandre R. Swanson, Assemblymember, State of California
March 5, 2009 - Nell Jessup Newton, Chancellor and Dean, University of California Hastings College of Law
March 5, 2009 - National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
March 5, 2009 - National Bar Association
March 5, 2009 - Tom McEnery, former Mayor, San Jose, California
March 5, 2009 - Bill Lockyer, Treasurer, State of California; former Attorney General, State of California (A confederate of Thomas Girardi who may be involved in Indian Gambling via Howard Dickstein -- spouse of State Bar Board of Governor member Jeannine English -- Gwen Moore's confederate at Little Hoover Commission)
March 5, 2009 - John Keker, Keker & Van Nest LLP ( Mentor of Kamala Harris. Mr. Jon Streeter of Keker & Van Nest presently serves as the President of the State Bar of California)
John Keker gained fame for the prosecution of Oliver North; Likewise, James Brosnahan for proscuting Caspar Weinberger
March 5, 2009 - California Police Chiefs Association
March 5, 2009 - Edmund G. Brown Jr., Attorney General, State of California (Cousin of Ex CPUC Commissioner Geoffrey Brown who served as California Bar Foundation BOD member during the HUSH-HUSH Sub-Rosa transfer of 780,000 to CaliforniaALL)
March 5, 2009 - Barbara Allen Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, Stanford Law School; former Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division (Sister of State Bar of California Chief General Counsel Starr Babcock who has some explaining to do. See HERE)
March 5, 2009 - Christopher Arriola
March 4, 2009 - Louise Renne, Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP
March 4, 2009 - Chuck Reed, Mayor, City of San Jose, California
March 4, 2009 - Major Cities Chiefs Association
March 3, 2009 - Seth P. Waxman, WilmerHale, former Solicitor General
March 3, 2009 - John Russo, City Attorney, City of Oakland
March 3, 2009 - Janet Reno, former Attorney General
March 3, 2009 - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
March 3, 2009 - Shirley Hufstedler, Morrison & Foerster LLP; former Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; former U.S. Secretary of Education
March 3, 2009 - James Brosnahan, Morrison Foerster (Presumed mastermind behind CaliforniaALL. Alongside Thomas Girardi , part of original BOD of Joe Dunn's Voice of OC)
(L-R) Joe Dunn, Thomas Girardi, James Brosnahan, Pierce O'Donnell, Joe Cotchett, Geoffrey Brown, Jerome Falk, and Walter Lack
March 1, 2009 - David N. Kelley, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP; former U.S. Attorney
February 26, 2009 - Raymond C. Marshall, Bingham McCutchen
February 26, 2009 - Congressional Black Caucus
February 25, 2009 - Beth Brinkman, Morrison Foerster, former Assistant to the Solicitor General
February 24, 2009 - David Bayless, Convington & Burling LLP, former Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Chief
February 23, 2009 - The Honorable Edward A. Infante, United States Magistrate, Ret.
February 19, 2009 - Randy I. Bellows, Circuit Court Judge, Fairfax County, Virginia; former Assistant U.S. Attorney
February 18, 2009 - Keith Wetmore, Chair, Morrison & Foerster LLP
February 18, 2009 - Bar Association of San Francisco
The Leslie Brodie Report (TLR) is carefully following a major developing story out of California relating to San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (IOA), David Werdegar, California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar, and Matthew Werdegar of Keker & Van Nest.
According to knowledgeable sources, David Werdegar - the recently deposed President and CEO of IOA -- has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit.
On April, 2011 President and CEO Dr. David Werdegar, Board Chair Anthony Wagner, State Senator Leland Yee, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and Supervisor Eric Mar attended IOA's Senior Campus ribbon-cutting ceremony. A substantial portion of IOA's budget arrives from the City and County of San Francisco which uses IOA and its facilities to care for some its aging population.(Image:courtesy of IOA)
As was reported earlier, on March 5, 2012, IOA's Board of Directors announced that Dr. David Werdegar has retired as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named J. Thomas Briody, MHSc as the organization's new President and CEO.
TLR is gathering and analyzing data concerning the suit, and will post update as they become available.
Below ( L-R) Mr. David Werdegar of IOA; State Bar of California BOG Member Jeannine English; Mr. Thomas Girardi of embattled Voice of OC; Executive Director of State Bar of California Joe Dunn of embattled Voice of OC; California Supreme Court Associate Justice Hon. Kathryn Werdegar; really special prosecutor in matter of In Re Girardi and controversial judicial aspirant Prof. Rory Little; controversial gambling attorney Howard Dickstein (spouse of Jeannine English and a client of Keker & Van Nest), MoFo's James Brosnahan of embattled Voice of OC; Keker & Van Nest partner Matthew Werdegar - son of David and Kathryn Werdegar; Keker & Van Nest partner Jan Little (spouse of Rory Little); Keker & Van Nest partner Elliot Peters -- attorney for Howard Dickstein; California Democratic Party operative and mentor to Willie Brown's former paramour -- Mr. John Keker; Keker & Van Nest partner, attorney for Howard Dickstein, controversial judicial aspirant, and President of the State Bar of California -- Mr. Jon Streeter.
UPDATE: JUDGE ORDERS CHANGE OF VENUE IN CASE AGAINST DAVID WERDEGAR OF SAN FRANCISCO INSTITUTE ON AGING
An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered a change of venue in a case pending against David Werdegar of San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (IOA).
The suit -- adavnaced by community activist Daniel Dydzak of Marina Del Rey -- has been transfered to neighboring San Diego County Superior Court.
(L) Matt Werdegar of Keker & Van Nest and David Werdegar (R), deposed former CEO of of San Francisco-based Institute on Aging (image: courtesy photo)
Werdegar, who resides in Ross, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Institute on Aging and husband of California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar (aka Kay Mickle).
Prior to the commencement of the action, David Werdegar abruptly quit his position with IOA. The resignation, which occurred earlier this year, followed media reports of alleged improprities involving himself, his wife, and his son Matthew Werdegar - a partner at the litigation botique Keker & Van Nest, headed by contreversial litigator John Keker.
Subsequent to Werdegar's departure, the IOA appointed J. Thomas Briody, MHSc as the organization's new President and CEO.
Dydzak's suit avers that Justice Werdegar failed to inform interested parties of the fact that entities such as brokerhouse Charles Schwab and law firm Morrison & Foerster, for example, are major donors to the IOA, totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Dydzak further alleges that he sustained legal injury based on his representation of a client against Charles Schwab — specifically, a former paramour of Charles Schwab co-founder Hugo Quackenbush — and subsequent retaliation by various entities that sought to silence him (and his client), including the now-defunct law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, which had previously represented Charles Schwab.
According to Dydzak, once his allegations of retaliation by Howard Rice and others were presented for adjudication before Justice Werdegar, she had an absolute duty to either obtain a waiver from Dydzak or recuse herself because of Charles Schwab's financial donations to IOA; he claims that she did neither.
Dydzak further alleges that Justice Werdegar's failure to take these steps stemmed from a civil conspiracy entered into by the various parties (and specifically Charles Schwab and David Werdegar), by which Justice Werdegar would rule against Dydzak, ipso facto preventing him from further developing the case against Charles Schwab, because further actions by him would have exposed Charles Schwab's various alleged unlawful activities; at the same time, ruling against Dydzak enriched her husband, David Werdegar, financially — and, by extension, enriched her as well.
As noted above, shortly before Dydzak filed his lawsuit, David Werdegar abruptly resigned from his post as the CEO of IOA.
The Institute on Aging is a San Francisco-based senior care facility. It started out as part of Mount Zion Hospital (a client of Howard Rice) , and metamorphosed into its current form.
Mr. James J. Bronsnahan of Morrison & Foerster: "I was suddenly elevated from an infrequent contributor to Democratic politicians to being the mastermind behind the Democratic Party.” According to Raiders lawyer Ken Hausman Brosnahan "is definitely strong and does what he wants to do, I'd say he's very aggressive, very quick-tempered and a very determined adversary - you never count him out." Presently, Brosnahan is under extreme scrutiny in connection with non-profit entity CaliforniaALL for the alleged suspicious activities of laundering money to State Bar of California Executive-Director Joe Dunn's Voice of OC vis-a vis the California Bar Foundation, see HERE and HERE (Image:courtesy BASF-VLSP entity co-founded by Brosnahan)
(L-R) Honoring Jeffrey Bleich 2007 Dinner Chairman James Brosnahan, Mark Bostick, Honoree Jeffrey Bleich (AKA Renaissance Superman), Ninth Circuit Judge William A. Fletcher who.... Rory Little.... In Re Girardi..... Lack and Girardi have resorted to employing "the persistent use of known falsehoods".... please see HERE
*THE LESLIE BRODIE REPORT STRONGLY URGES THE READERS TO EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION AND NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSION REGARDING MISCONDUCT BY ANYONE -- it should be noted that TLR possesses not even a scintilla of evidence that demonstrating that Mr. Tony West somehow pocketed any money unlawfully or engaged in any other unlawful activities,other than the convenient circumstances described below involving Morrison & Foerster, James Brosnahan, Susan Mac Cormac, State Bar of California Executive Director -- Joe Dunn of Voice of OC, Howard Miller and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese, California Bar Foundation which made a hush-hush sub-rosa transfer of $780,000.00 to CaliforniaALL See HERE
Mr Tony West of the US Department of Justice / Ex-Litigation Partner at Morrison & Foerster. West, 46, will step into the No. 3 position in one week where he will oversee a broad range of issues, including civil rights, the environment and natural resources, tax and civil litigation. West's sister in law is Willie Brown's former paramour -- Kamala Harris who served as part of CaliforniaALL's Advisory Council -- See HERE
INTRODUCTION OF ACTORS:(Taken from complaint YR had recently submitted to the IRS)
1. Mr. Joe Dunn in his role as the creator of online publication "Voice of OC" – Orange County's Nonprofit Investigative News Agency.
2. Mr. Joe Dunn in his role as Trustee of the UCI Foundation (an entity which obtained funds from a separate charitable entity known as CaliforniaALL (FEIN Number 51-0656213).
3. Mr. Joe Dunn in his role as Executive Director of the State Bar of California – an entity which also controls and maintains a foundation known as the California Bar Foundation. The California Bar Foundation very quietly transferred close to $780,000 to CaliforniaALL.
4. Mr. Joe Dunn in his role as a politician and business partner of Martha Escutia, who was involved in matters relating to utility companies operating in California.
5. Ms. Gwen Moore – a former Assembly member in the California legislature. Ms. Moore has "clout" over the CPUC and utility companies. Ms. Moore presently serves as a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors; she has previously been the subject of an FBI sting operation.
6. Mr. Geoffrey Brown – a former commissioner with the CPUC and former board member of the California Bar Foundation. During his tenure as a board member of the California Bar Foundation, a hush-hush transfer of $780,000 was made to CaliforniaALL. Subsequent to this transfer, Mr. Brown abruptly quit his position as board member.
7. Mr. Thomas Girardi of Los Angeles-based law firm Girardi & Keese. Mr. Girardi helped Joe Dunn to establish the Voice of OC, and was a member of its board of directors. Recently, he abruptly quit that position. Mr. Girardi is a well-known donor to the Democratic Party and, in particular, to California Senator Barbara Boxer.
8. Mr. Howard Miller of Los Angeles-based law firm Girardi & Keese. Mr. Miller was a member of both the State Bar of California Board of Governors and the California Bar Foundation board of directors when the "hush-hush" transfer of $780,000 from California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL took place.
9. Mr. James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster – Mr. Brosnahan represents utility companies. He – along with Thomas Girardi – helped Mr. Joe Dunn create the Voice of OC, the subject of this complaint. Like Mr. Girardi, Mr. Brosnahan also served as member of Voice of OC's board of directors, and recently also abruptly quit his position.
10. Ms. Susan Mac Cormac of Morrison & Foerster – Ms. Mac Cormac was part of the legal team that created the legal entity known as CaliforniaALL.
11. Mr. Victor Miramontes – a resident of San Antonio, TX and business partner of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros. Mr. Miramontes was the chairman of CaliforniaALL.
12. Ms. Ruthe Catolico Ashley – a former employee of McGeorge School of Law who later served as a "Diversity Officer" at CalPERS. Ms. Ashley also served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors, and came up with the idea to create CaliforniaALL during a meeting with Sarah Redfield and Peter Arth, Jr. (the assistant to CPUC President Michael Peevey). After CaliforniaALL came into existence, Ms. Ashley, after a simulated search, was selected to serve as CaliforniaALL's executive director.
13. Ms. Sarah Redfield – a visiting professor at McGeorge School of Law and a member of the State Bar of California Committee. Ms. Redfield was chosen to serve as the "interim executive director" for CaliforniaALL, and later also allegedly served as a consultant to CaliforniaALL. For her services, Ms. Redfield was paid for the year of 2008 close to $160,000 as an "independent contractor." Even though CaliforniaALL was housed pro bono at the law offices of DLA Piper in Sacramento, there is an entry on CaliforniaALL's tax return for close to $16,000 for "occupancy."
14. Ms. Judy Johnson – the former Executive Director of the State Bar of California. For the past 8 years, she has been secretly serving as the president of an entity with a misleading name ("California Consumer Protection Foundation"). This entity absorbed close to $30 million in class action cy pres awards, as well as fines and settlements imposed by the CPUC on utility companies. This entity forwarded those funds to mostly questionable ACORN-like entities. On its website, CCPF claims that it has available information on all grantees going back 10 years. Not so. The information is scattered and extremely difficult to ascertain. In fact, a whole year is missing (2002). During that year, incidentally, CCPF awarded funds to the real ACORN as well as to Eric Moore of Educate LA, who is presumably related to Gwen Moore. Ms. Johnson used her position as executive director of the State Bar of California (which is supposed to supervise and discipline lawyers) as "clout" to obtain cy pres awards from the settlement of class actions prosecuted and defended by countless law firms.
15. Mr. Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson – presently the U.S. ambassador to Australia and a close friend of President Barack Obama. Mr. Bleich served as member of the BOG when CaliforniaALL was conceived. He is mentioned only in reference because Verizon Communications (which heavily contributed to CaliforniaALL) is a client of Munger Tules & Olson.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND:
In approximately 2007, Ruthe Catolico Ashley -- an attorney from Sacramento and a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors -- was employed by CalPERS as a "Diversity Officer." Prior to her employment with CalPERS, Ms. Ashley was employed as a diversity officer at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. While at McGeorge, Ms. Ashley met diversity expert Sarah Redfield.
In April 2007, Ashley, along with Sarah Redfield, met Peter Arth at a restaurant in San Francisco. During that meeting the idea to create CaliforniaALL was conceived. Eventually, CalPERS, CPUC, and the State Bar of California endorsed in principle the creation of CaliforniaALL – a Section 501(c)(3) entity that would raise funds to be used to support a more diverse workforce in California.
Papers were filed with both state and federal agencies to allow CaliforniaALL to operate as a tax exempt entity. Victor Miramontes listed himself as Chairman of the Board, and Sarah E. Redfield served as CaliforniaAll's interim-executive director for a period of 6 months. Serving as CaliforniaALL's legal counsel was Susan Mac Cormac of Morrison & Foerster.
California Attorney General RCT reflects that CaliforniaALL obtained its "Charity” status on March 14, 2008 (FEIN Number 510656213). The address for CaliforniaALL is listed as 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, California. This is actually the address of DLA Piper, where CaliforniaALL resided pro bono. In June 2008, after a "nationwide search" and aided by a pro bono head-hunting firm in its search for a permanent CEO, CaliforniaALL, not surprisingly, hired Ruthe Catolico Ashley as its chief executive officer.
CaliforniaALL's 990 returns for 2008 list Sarah Redfield of Orono, Maine as an "independent contractor." Her job description is listed as "Program Director." and she was paid $157,763. It is unknown to the undersigned whether Redfield paid self-employment taxes or any other applicable state income taxes, either in California or Maine. (Incidentally, Redfield falsely states on her resume that she was part of a "curriculum committee" with SAL-UCI, an entity associated with UCI and the UCI Foundation where CaliforniaALL forwarded funds. In addition, Redfield falsely stated that she "launched" SAL-UCI, an entity that was already in existence from 2005.)
In its brief existence from 2008 to 2010, CaliforniaALL collected close to $2 million from utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Verizon, Sempra), including a sub rosa "hush-hush" contribution of $769,247 from the State Bar of California Foundation.
To date, data collected by the undersigned shows that CaliforniaALL (which was supposed to forward most of those funds) transferred between $300,000 to $400,000 to the UCI Foundation (where Joe Dunn serves as trustee), spent an unknown amount to honor Gwen Moore at a lavish dinner held at a luxury hotel in Sacramento, paid for other incidental expenses such as salaries, and subsequent to moving out from the offices of DLA Piper to a more modest location , paid for a UPS Store mail box slot in Citrus Heights. (Later, CaliforniaALL relocated its base to the loft of one Larrisa Parecki in Sacramento.)
Between 2001 and 2007, Geoffrey Brown served as a Commissioner with the CPUC. From 2006 to 2009, Brown served as a director of the State Bar of California Foundation. In 2008, California Bar Foundation quietly transferred $769,247.00 to CaliforniaALL. CaliforniaALL never acknowledged receipt of the $769,247.00 from the Cal Bar Foundation in any of its publications, although it did acknowledge the transfer on its IRS tax returns. Likewise, California Bar Foundation never acknowledged the largest grant it ever bestowed in its newsroom, the California Bar Journal, or similar publications; it did, however, recognize the transfer on its IRS returns, and in a 2 by 2 inch blurb in its annual report.
Several months ago, the undersigned asked the State Bar of California Board of Governors to examine the suspicious circumstances surrounding CaliforniaALL (i.e. the hush hush transfer, etc.). While simply presenting facts similar to the above, Geoffrey Brown immediately, as though bitten by a snake, threatened to file legal action against the undersigned even though the communication with the BOG was absolutely privileged and justified, and only made mention of Brown in passing.
Specifically, the following circumstances surrounding Voice of OC have caused concerns:
1. Senator Martha Escutia, Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications (EU&C) also participated in meetings with the CPUC concerning diversity. She is a founding member of The Senators (Ret.) firm, LLP, as is Joe Dunn.
2. The fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $769,247.00 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL, were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of "Voice of OC" to wit – on one hand Morrison & Foerster's Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL; Girardi & Keese's Howard Miller in his capacity as BOD member of Cal Bar Foundation, as well as BOG members who voted to endorse CaliforniaALL and consider it to have been a partner of the State Bar of California. On the other hand Morrison & Foerster's James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese's Thomas Girardi as part of helping Joe Dunn with the establishment of Voice of OC.
3. CaliforniaALL was to transfer funds forward. It did so by awarding approximately $300,000 in grants to the UCI Foundation, where Joe Dunn serves as trustee and chair of the Audit Committee. It appears that CaliforniaALL preselected UCI Foundation, making a prior simulated request for proposal (RFP) by Sarah Redfield that led to the grant – a sham process.
4. In September 2009, Ruthe Ashley abruptly exited CaliforniaALL. That same month, Joe Dunn publicly launched his online publication, "Voice of OC." (as though Ashley's mission had been completed).
5. The recent abrupt departure of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan from 'Voice of OC" (as though they were fleeing the scene with guilty consciences).
