There’s No Building Behind the Facade

submitted by contributing author, Sempervirens

I did a little checking on my own after reading the post about Rich Robinson and his association to the Public Safety Alliance PAC because, after all, Casey is so busy investigating and sharing all of the nefarious happenings around Laurie Smith, how can one man do it all?

About ten years ago, Chris Schumb was paid a $25,000/year retainer by the taxpayers of this County to provide legal services to Sheriff Laurie Smith. For all that I know, he may still receive that generous sum. I have no idea why she needs the services of an outside lawyer when anytime there is a legal matter regarding her duties as the Sheriff, County Counsel provides those services. After reading the documents today, it looks like the County pays Schumb who then uses some of that money to control the outcome of the election of County officials.

In my travels today I stopped by 1155 Meridian Ave to see who leases Suite #214, the official address of the PAC, although on some documents that suite number is lined out and replaced by Suite #100. There is no suite #214 but as I walked around the building, a nice lady from one of the other suites asked if she could help. She told me there is no Suite #214 and she had never heard of the Public Safety Alliance even though she has worked in this building for 19 years. I asked her if she knew who owned the building. She couldn’t remember the name but suggested I check in Suite #100 which is Plaza Loans. That name seemed familiar from some of the documents and a quick search shows that it is owned by Jim Campagna. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather! I later saw that the first document listed by Casey was faxed from Plaza Loans.

Every one of those documents is signed under penalty of perjury yet they all have a false address.

By the way if you are interested in renting space in this office building, there is a For Lease sign out front. The leasing agent is Steve Hunt, AKA the Vice President of the Executive Board of the Sheriff’s Advisory Board.

The Law Firm of Corsiglia, McMahon and Allard is a contributor to this PAC, as well as to her campaign last June ($1000). It may mean nothing but Robert Allard represents the parents of Audrie Pott in their civil lawsuit.

I also wondered about the Pirayou Law Office, a firm to which the PAC pays professional fees on almost every filing, even when no other activity seems to be taking place. The listed address, 6950 Almaden Expressway #125 is not an office building but rather a PostNet store, AKA a mail drop. A search for the Pirayou Law Office has a few hits for an office in downtown San Jose but also a link to Ash Pirayou, an attorney for Rutan & Tucker in Palo Alto. Mr. Pirayou has a practice specializing in political law so it is quite possible the PAC does use his legal services. Unfortunately as a cop my suspicions are aroused when payments are made to a mail drop rather than a legitimate law office. On his bio page, Mr Pirayou writes that he opened the Pirayou Law Office in 1997 but has been with Rutan since 2008. Maybe he is moonlighting. His bio also lists that in 1997, he served as, “Special Counsel to the Sheriff of Santa Clara County.” Historical point; Chuck Gillingham was the Sheriff at that time but WTF? How many “coincidences” are there?

Around 2004 I came to realize that the Sheriff’s Advisory Board was hijacked from it’s intended purpose. Sheriff Winter started it in 1980 when the department was trying to deal with the effects of Proposition 13. Sheriff Winter is a good man and was looking for ways to provide the necessary equipment for deputies to get their jobs done. (BTW for those of you who don’t know, Bob Winter’s election was the last time that the DSA was highly involved in an election and worked to unseat an entrenched incumbent.) The SAB continued those good deeds over many years until about ten years ago. At that time, Jose Salcido, the President of the DSA, was told that the DSA was no longer welcome at the meeting of the SAB. Hard to fathom that when they are working in behalf of the DSA. I believe at that time, the SAB became more of a political arm of Laurie Smith than a benevolent organization for the members of the department. I have seen little since that time to change my opinion and the Fiasco at the Range last June is the most recent example. A secret event where no pictures are allowed and staff is ordered not to talk about it. I find no record of it on the SAB web site, which has not been updated since 2012. It is but one more example of how Laurie Smith has hijacked this department.

One more matter has come to my attention. Apparently the Annual Retirement Dinner which is usually held in April has been “scheduled for a later date.” Why? Who is among the 2013 retirees? Oh wait, Kevin Jensen. Another startling coincidence! Will they never stop?

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