By Emerson Drake
5/26/11
Palo Alto Attorney Bob Aaronson said he turned in the report last week but Mayor Ridenour played Sargent Shultz from Hogans Heroes and says I know nothing by claiming he "hadn't seen it yet". Tomorrow it will be a week since city officials received the report but no one can be located who is willing to say/admit they read the report. Modesto City Attorney Susana Acala Wood and Police Chief Mike Harden couldn't be located on Thursday.
Aaronson says he voluntarily stopped billing the city at $75,000 and that he ate $20,000 of charges he could have made above the self imposed cap of $75,000.
It all started when local attorney Frank Carson asked Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Marie Silveira to allow him access to the entire Craig Plante email, but the Judge refused and only released a portion. The Voice of Modesto and the Morning Mayor show brought you copies of anonymous letter that was sent to Chief Harden and City Manager Gregg Nyhoff and to the Modesto Bee.
A letter which all three, Chief Harden, City manager Nyhoff and the Modesto Bee News Department kept hidden from the public. Here on the Voice we made it and subsequent letters available to the public.
Unfortunately the California Police Officer's Bill of Rights doesn't allow the public to know what does or doesn't go on behind closed doors at police and sheriff departments thereby allowing favored officers to go unpunished. It was Aaronson who made a point of advertising his defense of over 500 police chiefs when he was hired by the suspended Riverbank City manager.
It has already been a week since the city received their copies and still no word. Are they waiting for Friday when after a minor release of acknowledgement they will head into the weekend still trying to figure out the spin they will use without having to make further comment until next week?
Feel free to do a search on this site to read the letters of a long time MPD employee for yourself.
