Nepotism in Alameda County

Recent articles in the local press indicate Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer appointed his son, Larry, to an "anti-terrorism coordinator" position for the East Bay Area.

Although Sheriff Plummer claims no special treatment was given his son, it was reported the opening was not advertised, but that Plummer had told his son to apply for it.

The deputy in charge of evaluating candidates for the job admitted he expected, if Larry Plummer applied, he was getting the job, and in fact, no one did apply, even after the opening was made known by newspaper articles.

In response to questions from reporters, Alameda County Human Resources Director Denise Eaton-May said she was beginning to draw up a nepotism policy.

This reporter has personal experience with Denise Eaton-May.

Although Eaton-May is a lawyer, and California has a Freedom of Information law, called the Public Records Act, when the Contra Costa Times newspaper asked Eaton-May for information on county employees paid over $100,000 per year, Eaton-May would not produce it.

Only after the county lost in court was the list turned over. (thanks to the Contra Costa Times, and reporter Guy Ashley, for protecting the public's right to know)

This reporter published a short, incomplete list, of Alameda County prosecutors related to local judges from Eaton-May, and she did not comply, instead claiming the list might be misused to harass those people who seem to have been hired because of who they were related to.

Under the California Public Records Act case law, all requestors of information are equal. If one party is denied information, all must be. Therefore, Eaton-May's refusal to provide this reporter with information is equivalent to claiming the right to permanently keep all the names of employees secret, thus making any investigation of nepotism impossible, because one person MIGHT misuse the info.

In California, under recent governors, nearly all judicial appointments were from the ranks of prosecutors.

By getting their children jobs in the DA's office, the judges in Alameda County have paved the way for them to become judges some day.

This is no small favor. Although Judges are forbidden from seeking favors for their immediate families, there is no serious enforcement of that rule.

Alameda District Attorney Tom Orloff claims all the hires of Judge's kids were justified, and claims there were many other Judge's kids he refused to hire, but he releases no documents to back that claim up.

The complete list of VIP's kids working in the District Attorney's Office is on a sub page of my website.

The address is http://www.alamedacountyda.com/Nepotism.html

It includes two congressman's sons, the son of the previous DA, the son of a California Supreme Court Justice, and the sons and daughters of at least five sitting judges.

This list only includes lawyers, yet there are about three non-lawyers on DA staff for every lawyer -- so there are probably many more nepotism hires.