By Emerson Drake
5/30/11
It has been 11 days since Bob Aaronson the Palo Alto attorney and sometimes investigator the City of Modesto hired, turned in his report at the cost of $75,000 and still no word regarding its content. Since last week City Attorney Susana Acala Wood and Modesto Police Chief Mike Harden have been unavailable for comment. Mayor Jim Ridenour claims to be so far out of the loop that he hasn't even seen it yet.
Now we are told Aaronson will be delivering another version to the city, a sanitized version suitable for public consumption. Will we be able to believe anything it says? Are they covering up serious allegations or are the choosing straws to see who the slap on the wrist will go to?
Yes, yes we all know about the California Police Officers Bill of Rights and how they are much more protected than the average person. Well at least until Chief Harden decides to throw you under the bus like he did Anthony Trock.
This report was estimated by Acala Wood to cost $25,000 and take just a couple of months. It turned into seasonal employment (six months) for Aaronson while he drummed up more business like Riverbanks Richard Holmer. But when Aaronson billed us to the tune of $75,000 and claimed he threw in another $20,000 he could have billed us for I guess we're supposed to feel like we received a bargain.
Maybe he's working on a severance package for the Chief, for only a slight fee of course.
An Update: As of early this morning City Manager Gregg Nyhoff and Attorney Susana Acala Wood were huddled together in a private conference attempting to sort out last minute details on how to deal with the report.
