Dear Ms Sheehan,

    This letter is to complain about the behavior of Matthew Gray, Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Vasconcellos.  Some people may feel Mr. Gray has done an outstanding job in this position, however, I must state for the record that my opinion of his performance is just the opposite.

    When I objected to the harmful, overly punitive and needlessly cruel treatment of prisoners at Mule Creek Prison, I found Mr. Gray to be flippant and condescending towards me.  He was indifferent about the plight of the men and considered the prisoners to be lying when they were not.  When I protested and gave him some examples, he assured me he would do what he could to help.  In reality he did little.  His idea of "help" was to side with the warden, a man who happens to have dreadful track record when it comes to the treatment of prisoners.  Mr. Gray joined in to what I believe to be an utterly shameful cover up.  He put out misleading and false information and paraded it as the truth when it was, in fact, twisted and convoluted lies.  In frustration I told Mr. Gray that I considered him to be "part of the problem rather than part of the solution."  This is a phrase commonly used by citizen activists to either persuade or propel others into action when it comes to reform.  Apparently, Mr. Gray took offense.  

    Matthew Gray appears to work well with people so long as they are willing to lavish praise upon him.  When unpleasant circumstances are brought to his attention and he is asked for help he becomes defensive stupidly telling people that helping "is not in my job description."  Sometimes it is necessary for the public to give him other feedback -- a more balanced and accurate picture of what is happening.  In my opinion, he should look at this as an opportunity to serve.  Certainly, the public should be able to expect a more mature attitude on his part when it comes to constructive feedback.  Sadly, he does not handle it well and responds as a child might.  In fact worse, as his responses are viscous to the extreme.  It is unbecoming to a man of his age and position. 

    As a tax payer I am angry with him.  As a retired teacher and former administrator I am offended by his behavior.  Years ago I worked in the Governor's Office in another state and had the opportunity to work with various legislative aides and with the Governor's staff.  I can tell you they behaved with decorum both on and off the job and would have been fired outright had they failed in bringing dignity to their jobs.  After all, their behaviors reflected on their employers.   Of course, they were entitled to personal opinions, but those expressed were done respectfully and their was a genuine effort to be honest.  Mr. Gray does not appear to be guided by those principles.

    I do not feel that Matthew Gray is fit to hold a job anywhere in state government.  Additionally, should he ever decide to run for public office, I would be first in line to actively campaign against him regardless of his political party.

Sincerely,

I believe that Matthew Gray, Ken Hurdle and Zimmerman are in gross violation of a number of these codes.  It's time to fill up their personnel files because you could be the next to suffer due to unbearable incompetency and callousness.  Your loved one could get sick, the odds are not in your favor.  Let's do something now before it's too late.  There are links there where you can read the details about violations before writing your complaints.

 http://ceres.ca.gov/elaw/gov19572.html

Guide to Causes for Discipline under Government Code Section 19572

(a) Fraud in securing appointment

(b) Incompetency 

(c) Inefficiency.

(d) Inexcusable neglect of duty 

(e) Insubordination 

(f) Dishonesty 

(g) Drunkenness on duty

(h) Intemperance 

(i) Addiction to the use of controlled substances 

(j) Inexcusable absence without leave 

(k) Conviction of a felony or conviction of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude 
(l) Immorality 

(m) Discourteous treatment of the public or other employees 

(n) Improper political activity 

(o) Willful disobedience 

(p) Misuse of state property

(q) Violation of this part or board rule 

(r) Violation of the prohibitions set forth in accordance with Section 19990 
(s) Refusal to take and subscribe any oath or affirmation which is required by law in connection with the employment 

(t) Other failure of good behavior either during or outside of duty hours which is of such a nature that it causes discredit to the appointing authority or the person's employment 

(u) Any negligence, recklessness, or intentional act which results in the death of a patient of a state hospital serving the mentally disabled or the developmentally disabled 

(v) The use during duty hours, for training or target practice, of any material which is not authorized therefore by the appointing power 

(w) Unlawful discrimination, including harassment, on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sex, or age, against the public or other employees while acting in the capacity of a state employee 

(x) Unlawful retaliation against any other state officer or employee or member of the public who in good faith reports, discloses, divulges, or otherwise brings to the attention of the Attorney General, or any other appropriate authority, any facts or information relative to actual or suspected violation of any law of this state or the United States occurring on the job or directly related.

Heidi Jones

It seems to me that you just don't get it. Maybe that's because your government job that PAYS YOU to write email all day on our tax dollars is to divide and conquer.

We never said that there may not be SOME people that Matthew Gray has helped. Some people being his friends. So to help SOME people and to allow others to become permanently disabled or to die cruel deaths is called cronyism.

Now you might not know that for the best part of a year we publicly and privately appealed to Matthew Gray, Ken Hurdle and Zimmerman in Senator Denham's office to either release Beverly Dias or to give her a transplant. We did a great deal to stand up for the bill that would officially deny all inmates transplants knowing that almost half the inmates have Hep C which 
results in transplants 90% of the time when it doesn't kill the person first.

The UNION is discreet but we are a coalition of people that no one else has because B. Cayenne Bird is a well published author and publisher. You were making issue with the UNION voting against turning over its database after we paid for the petitions and furnished the labor to help amend the three strikes campaign. Most of us do not have a striker in our family. People saw the 66,000 signatures we gathered - we made sure that happened. We gave some to that little tiny group who came to us for help when we struggle for money ourselves. We bought them petitions, not once but TWICE. They said they were completely out of money but were flying all over the state on money they raised from families while they had no petitions.

And after we generously saved the day and their embarrassment of only gathering 14,000 signatures, we get bashed for not turning over our database. The people who signed the petitions were the UNION mostly. Our groups, our congregations of several churches including Baptists, Catholics, and public defenders who would suffer retaliation if their names were given to anyone. The public defenders were TOTALLY disgusted that the families themselves would not go out and gather signatures but they are part of the UNION.

Do you think that public defenders, lawyers, doctors, journalists, college professors, clergy, social workers, teachers would join your email list? There are several reasons why not but the main one is that we do campaigns. We do not just allow people to sit on our list and not help with campaigns or projects to benefit inmates. We have made a huge difference. There is no money collected except for the expenses of these campaigns but there should be, and it is clear that you are for CDC and not for inmates when you tell people not to support our visiting and packages lawsuit which already has 735 people ready to go forward. We will file it when we reach 2600 participants. This has been underway for several months.

You have said that you are friends with guards. You have CDC posted all over your website and consider them reliable. We do not, because to us most guards and CDC and government workers LIKE YOU and MATT GRAY are the enemy.

You have criticized us for doing campaigns that benefit all inmates and for requiring everyone in the UNION to be active in writing to the media.

You have criticized us for building our picketing teams even though this is the ONLY way to get media attention to the issues that trouble us all.

Matthew Gray is a PAID, like you, a PAID government worker who might help some people but there are a number of people that he has failed to protect. This has resulted in death and  permanent disability and all these families have been listening and watching your callous and immature remarks which is a slap in all our faces.

Justice Now is two young lawyers who are officers of the court. Now we have FOUR government workers bashing our effective advocacy for inmates. Telling people not to picket, not to organize, not to raise money.

FOUR government workers, all of whom have a financial interest in helping inmates. We are UNPAID volunteers struggling along, barely making our expenses. Yes, our jobs are a little better than most of the families but this does not begin to cover the needs that enough people come together and file initiative campaigns and lawsuits.

You are lying to people telling them that one letter can achieve anything major. Maybe you are just ignorant and have never had a problem yourself. Maybe as a government worker you get special privileges that other families do not get, after all CDC is probably very good to you.

It isn't about defending your "friends" - it's about leading people to DO something about our problems. Knocking the only group who DOES something hurts everyone.

Did you gather even one signature to Amend Three STrikes? NO! If it isn't about parole you couldn't care less.

We are more diverse and the lifer families on our list DID help with that campaign.

Why aren't you ever appearing on the Senate Bills? B. Cayenne Bird is our lobbyist and a damned good one too considering that she does not have funds to write big checks and doesn't get a big salary the way that the other lobbyists do. She has been going down there and 90% of the time is the only person with enough skill and courage to stand up for inmates and their 
families on these bills since 1998.

You have never gone once. I have never seen Matthew Gray testify on behalf of inmates or this "Lucky Lil" person and the public needs to see these arguments on statewide television. So why are you never there?

Your picket to Lancaster when the legislature wasn't even in session wasn't effective. Twenty people show up to the prison in the middle of no where on a week end when the press isn't  working, and if they were wouldn't turn out for 20 people.
The war is in Sacramento. The picket that we had was during the week so the legislators could look out the window and see a properly organized voting group of professional people who were unhappy about all our bills. We had 150 sign in that day, there was coming and going. But how dare you knock that effort when you have NEVER brought 150 people IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK to stand up for inmates and their families in any way.

The television show speaks for itself. Your choice of friends and willingness to wildly attack a large group of people is evidence enough that you are not for inmates and their families. Passing email all day doesn't achieve anything and you shouldn't teach people that writing letters to 
legislators is going to change laws.

What you are doing is blocking reform and cheating people out of a chance to defend themselves. And you're trying to hurt the people who are holding callous state employees like Matthew Gray accountable for the people they've killed with their negligence.

You have no idea what has gone on here. We are a communication system. We see more, do more, and you have no way to know what we see or do. Our people wouldn't be in the movement except for the UNION. We are involved in jails, juvenile halls, we have a foster care advocate, file complaints against prison doctors, judges and lawyers and we do it all as volunteers. 
Because the newsletter is intelligently written to train people HOW THEY CAN FIGHT BACK in unison. The UNION is simply a newsletter and what we raise does not begin to cover the costs of printing and postage let alone salaries for anyone.

You need to look at what YOU are doing compared to what we are doing to realize that the UNION is much larger than anyone realizes. We are discreet because Cayenne's son and others of us suffered retribution. The reason is that what Cayenne teaches us can put an end to 70% of the prison industry. It is the formula that every other successful group in the country uses.

We are not like you, just mindlessly passing email. We are activists. We want our loved ones out of prison or as safe and disease-free as possible.

You didn't damage us because our people do not subscribe to your lists due to your failure to  properly organize and do actual campaigns (not to mention putting up with your faulty and  misguided logic).

But you did TRY to damage us and we all saw that which identifies you as a pro government, pro cdc, pro ccpoa PAID government worker.

That's what everyone sees because that is the truth shining through.

We know that the real advocate for prison reform, the shining star is B. Cayenne Bird and ALL of us who back her up.

Maybe instead of criticizing, you might consider teaching people the proper way to organize and do lawsuits and initiative campaigns. There is only 150 days to collect l.3 million signatures in an initiative campaign. The funds (at least a million dollars) and the workers (at least 6500) must be lined up in advance for any campaign to win.

Are you being responsible to bash these efforts? Or are you being paid to  be a divide and conquer as a CDC plant? Because it's really clear that you're not on the right side of the battle here. Do you know that the people in the UNION have been together for a long time and know one another really well? Do you know that our achievements are great?

Of course you do, that is why you are bashing us to keep us from growing.  But keep it up, we've picked up a lot of new people who read what you had to say and just got totally disgusted at your childish and unsubstantiated remarks.

You could never hold the attention of the professionals in the UNION, they  wouldn't be here except for a long time association with journalist B. Cayenne Bird, so what is your problem except for insane jealousy? Do you think you are coming off gracefully and believable?

Didn't you notice all the editorials about the incompetency of State  employees that were printed during all this brouhaha? Don't you realize the media depends on the UNION newsletter to know what is going on behind the walls and without it there is no reliable source of information?

Of course you realize all of this and that is why you as a friend of CDC and  Matthew Gray who is also a friend of CDC and wants to be the Director (a job which he will never achieve now that his personnel file is filling up with our letters of complaint) find it necessary to put a lot of lies and garbage on the web and kick off everyone on your list who tried to offer you some facts.

We are very unimpressed with what you tried to do but fortunately, your divide and conquer plan backfired on you.
 

Ann McNulty, RN

Your immaturity and wild remarks have revealed to the many, many professionals who subscribe to the UNION newsletter that you are not a true advocate for inmates.  I am sending letters to register complaints about your unprofessional conduct and bashing of us simply because we have kept records of your callousness that has resulted in death and suffering.

The job is way too much for your education and emotional maturity level.  There is no way that we aren't going to take action and cooperate in any and all lawsuits where you are named.

Several years ago about 15 people filed into Senator Vasconcellos' office and begged for your help.  You told them all that nothing could be done and for years, you have taken whatever CDC tells you on the phone as the truth, without ever looking more deeply into it.

As a result of this many people have been hurt.  We still have those 15 people active with us and they remember that you didn't bring remedy to even one person.

We have witnessed the websites and email addresses you have set up in a deliberate attempt to stop our UNION organizing which is much larger than you can even comprehend.  We are a coalition of other groups and they are not at all impressed with what you have done here.

We made public appeals to you in person, on the phone and in the UNION newsletter for nine months to intervene in the Dias case.  Once we caused that to happen, you come in and try to act like you were working on it all along.

But we must also remember the appeals Cayenne and others made to you that John Bolander was in danger and you did nothing.  He turned up dead.  And that Dennis Jenkins needed his heart medicine at Mule Creek last Christmas.  You did nothing and he died which terrorized all the other inmates who witnessed this neglect.  Why wasn't Hime Galindo given a compassionate release from Mule Creek instead of dying chained to his bed in ad seg of Hepatitis after we appealed to you to step in and help with that?  Have you no conscience?

I don't know how you can sleep at night.  I know that you  have a criminal record and the website threatening a "hit" could only have been created by you.  But we are filing letters of complaint on you right now.  The television station director thinks you are a raving maniac trying to stop the airing of "Cayenne Common Sense."  Whose side are you on?  You can't block the media although you did manage to intimidate and lie to a dying Beverly Dias.  The evidence against you is well documented.

You are also aiding in the torture of Cayenne's son, Eric Knapp and assisting in the violation of the American Disabilities Act. His doctors there have ordered single cell status for him for one year after you cooperated and allowed his torment and near death at the hands of Michael Knowles who is now also warden at Folsom, Represa.  The fact that you are doing nothing about this makes you a direct party to what happens to him when the doctors orders are violated.  You know of this situation and are doing nothing to stop it.  So your negligencer is ongoing, which means that you need to be removed from your present duties so that others will not die or suffer needlessly.

You and other aides will be named in lawsuits and I will be there to testify against you in at least two of these.  Count on it.

Ann McNulty, RN

Unread, and deleted. 

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ann McNulty 
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 1:40 PM 
To: Matthew.Gray@SEN.CA.GOV 
Subject: RE: Matthew Gray 
 

this unprofessional response will be going into your personnel file along with many, many complaints we are submitting to document your deliberate indifference.  You are immature and do not deserve a position of life and death authority over people's lives. You're in over your head kid. 

Ann 
 

From: "Gray, Matthew" < Matthew.Gray@SEN.CA.GOV > 
To: 'Ann McNulty' 
Subject: RE: Matthew Gray Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 09:35:24 -0800 

The level of integrity is clear -- you have none.  You intentionally misrepresent the facts of our prior conversations to pursue a devious agenda, and that speaks volumes about you as a person. 

I'll not even read your bullshit. 

Fuck off Ann McNulty.

Posted on Tue, Dec. 23, 2003 
 

Workings of department bureaucracy will always be open to public scrutiny

By Thomas Peele
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Few subjects cause state bureaucrats to dive under their desks more quickly than questions about personnel and discipline.

Ask about a state employee. Ask for a disciplinary record. Inquire why a department handled a disciplinary matter in a certain way. Ask why the State Personnel Board voted the way it did on a disciplinary appeal.

There is uniformity to the pause on the phone, the blank stare from across the counter, the nervous fidgeting on the other side of the conference table.

All you're asking is how well employees do their tax-paid jobs. The typical response: It's none of your business.

But it is the public's business, says government watchdog Terry Francke.

Because the public pays for it, employee performance "is going to be open to general public scrutiny ... in a way that it would not be in the private sector," said Francke, general counsel of the California First Amendment Coalition.

Try telling that to the people who control the paperwork.

As part of a 21-month investigation of the state disciplinary system, the Times filed written requests for State Personnel Board records.

In response, personnel board lawyer Elizabeth Stein asked in an e-mail if the intent of the petitions was to "harass the board or its employees."

When the Times asked about the pension eligibility of a fired government worker, a pension system spokeswoman said the newspaper was "picking on" state employees.

Bureaucrats routinely use such answers to ward off scrutiny and exposure, Francke said in an interview.

"The normal interaction is that someone either in the press or otherwise asks for a record and is told, 'Oh, that's confidential, it is personnel,'" he said. "The mantra is 'personnel, personnel, personnel' and 'we can't give that to you.' ... I mean 99.9 percent of the time, that is the end of the story."

The officials legally can disclose many records. They just don't want to.

State employee unions, Francke said, have created "an environment (where bureaucrats) have a genuine anxiety that if (they) just hand something out, that they will be sued on it, and it will cause a very bitter situation with labor."

The government virtually demands a lawsuit to release public records, he said. The thinking is that when a judge orders the records released, government bosses can tell employees it wasn't their doing.

PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW

On April 9, 2002, the Contra Costa Times reported that investigators found thousands of pornographic photographs, including some of children, stored in the work computer of a top California Department of Health Services supervisor, Gilbert A. Martinez.

The same day, the newspaper filed a California Public Records Act petition with the health department seeking five years of disciplinary records of its employees.

Martinez, who ran the department's East Bay office of health facilities inspections, already was under state investigation for a conflict of interest that the Times first reported in June 2001. (The department fired him in September 2002.)

If Martinez could surf pornographic Web sites at work, then the public had a legitimate right to know "what other bad apples were in the ... barrel" in a department that serves an important public function, the newspaper's lawyer, Karl Olson, later wrote in legal papers.

Health department lawyers said they would release the records but asked for several lengthy extensions, saying they needed time to gather and review the documents. During the delays, the department notified the affected employees, who promptly called their unions.

In fall 2002, five unions asked a Sacramento judge to stop the department from releasing the records. The California Association of Professional Scientists, California State Employees Association, Association of California State Supervisors, Professional Engineers in California Government and the California Union of Safety Employees all represented health department workers.

The Times joined the lawsuit on the side of the health department, arguing that the records were public and had to be released.

The newspaper cited a 1978 appellate ruling that states when disciplinary "charges are found true, or discipline is imposed ... a member of the public is entitled to the information about the complaint, the discipline and information upon which it is based."

The appellate court said its decision clarified a basic tenet of the state public records law: "Access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state."

That right clearly extends to information about the misconduct of public employees and the discipline they face because of it, Olson said.

Employee unions argued otherwise.

J.J. Jelincic, president of the California State Employees Association, said in an interview he believes the intention of discipline is to change behavior, not punish employees.

Releasing details of why discipline occurred embarrasses the employee, he said.

In at least 10 cases, the health department had entered into confidentiality agreements with employees as part of a disciplinary settlement.

The department's chief lawyer, Barbara Yonemura, refused in an interview to discuss the agreements or the decisions that went into them, other than to say that the individual merits of each case led to them.

The unions argued that the confidentiality agreements forbade the department from making the disciplinary cases public.

Judge Talmadge R. Jones disagreed.

Privacy agreements with public employees cannot trump the public's right to know about the inner workings of government, Jones ruled.

"That was huge," said Olson, the Times' lawyer. Without a clear decision on confidentiality agreements, they likely would have become commonplace in disciplinary settlements, he said.

In all, Jones ordered the release of records of more than 250 employees.

Thousands of pages of documents answered the "bad apple" question that Olson had posed in legal papers.

The records showed that just months before the department found the pornography on Martinez's computer, it had allegedly uncovered two other employees who downloaded pornography at work.

The department fired Richard Cea and suspended David E. Loftis for 15 days. It failed to take any broader action to block its workers' Internet access.

The records also show people harassing each other, damaging colleagues' property, occasionally throwing punches -- and, in one case, a chair -- at their bosses.

Over the strong objections of the unions, Jones also ordered the release of the information state investigators gather to justify discipline. Those records track investigations from the beginning, detailing accusations. They often include witness statements, salary information of the employee and investigators' notes.

Jelincic and Jim Hard, the state employee association's director of civil service, said the information sometimes includes accusations of wrongdoing for which the employee was not charged.

Jelincic said that the unions' primary goal in the lawsuit was to make sure that any records released didn't include the home address, Social Security numbers and medical information of employees. Such data are routinely redacted from public records.

Olson said it was clear to him that the unions' legal thrust was to block the release of supporting documentation. The judge agreed. He ordered the unions to pay 85 percent of the newspaper's legal bills and the state to pay to remainder.

'800-POUND GORILLA'

There was one issue on which the Times lost: The disciplinary records of the health department's law enforcement officers remain confidential, due primarily to a state law commonly known as "the Peace Officers Bill of Rights." The law blocks public access to the records of police, correctional officers and other law enforcement personnel.

The law keeps secret the records of government employees about whom people have an important interest in knowing more, Francke said.

"We're talking about the only employees who have the power of violence as part of their normal tool kit and the power of arrest," Francke said. "The employees who, if they go wrong ... are those whose potential danger to the public is the most concealed."

Lance Corcoran, executive director of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said his members and other officers need the protections.

The files, he said, can contain trivial and unsubstantiated complaints, and because of the nature of their work, officers need greater protections for their personal safety.

Any reform would run into a solid blue wall, said Tom Newton, general counsel to the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

The prison guards union is the "800-pound gorilla" of state politics and quickly would render any reforms "dead on arrival," Newton said at a First Amendment Coalition meeting last month.

Paul Curry, a retired San Bernardino County deputy sheriff who is now a Sacramento lobbyist, agreed.

He said restrictions sometimes can frustrate law enforcement managers who would like to see the misconduct of officers made public as a way of increasing credibility.

Once California gave officers the protections of the Peace Officers Bill of Rights, "every cop in the country wanted them," Curry said.

Prison unions across the country "wield a political clout that no other union in the public sector wields," said Jonathan Walters, who has written extensively about public employee discipline. "They are tough, very tightly organized and politically sophisticated."

Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Group in San Quentin, which represents inmates, said the restrictions on access to records make little sense for the public.

"They are public employees," he said. "What they are doing, they are doing with our money, so I don't understand why they are not more accountable for their actions. I don't understand why it has to be ... such a secret."
 

© 2003 Contra Costa Times and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
 http://www.bayarea.com

December 2003

Cayenne:

I hope everyone remembers that it was exactly this time last year when Dennis Jenkins died needlessly at Mule Creek because he was repeatedly denied his heart medicine, even after going to clinic and asking for it three times a day for more than a week.

This is when I lost all respect for Matthew Gray who did nothing to save this man's life.  "I tried"   and "I only help inmates to be nice, it isn't really my job"  just isn't good enough. When kids get too power happy and let people die, we need to slap them down.

Michael Welch

Where MATT GRAY screwed up with me and showed me what he's really about - was with what happened to that 12 year oold foster girl who was put in a state mental hospital - days after being RAPED and is still there to this day....AND THE COUNTY - GOT AWAY WITH IT ! Three social workers - from Riverside County lost their jobs over this case...

Its an outrage...what happened to her...Finally a Press Enterprise reporter - is writing a story about it...nearly 3 yyears after it happened...

This story is a scandal in its own right - but I remember writing Matt Gray about it - as it unfolded - and all he wrote back is 'Madelene did it ever occur to you that 'she' is where she needs to be so they can stabilize her " as IF it was a 'DUH' question that I posed in my writing to him...

This after describing to him - how awful she was being treated with heavy psychotropic drugging whereas she was ending up in beds that she didn't know how she got in...how a 'shaved headed - burly black man unit counselor - would 'lay on her - full frontal - and put his hand over her mouth and tell her to 'shut the 'F' as she 'resisted' being tied down - hands and ankles to the bed...

AND then to my amazement - the Justice Department - launched a investigation almost 5 months later - and concluded that METROPOLITAN STATE HOSPITAL was mishandling the children who were being placed in that facility - which was lending itself to despair and hopelessness.. since they discovered that more than one girl had tried to KILL HERSELF while being incarcerated inside....

And get this...the things that got the most criticizm was the 'restraining of ankles and feet' of those children and the way tooo much over medicating of them with those heavy psychotropic drugs...and the harsh and brutal way they were being handled by STAFF...(hello Matt) if its not good enough for the Justice Department - it shouldn't be FOR A LEGISLATIVE AIDE - OF A STATE SENATOR....

And there's dopey Matt - shooting off his big mouth to me "madelene did it ever occur to you - that 'she' is where she needs to be'

He is not to be believed...

If only once - he would should some EMPATHY for the plight of down trodden - people....just once...!

Let me just add - that I can attest to Matt Gray's vicious-ness and immaturity and vindictive manner...

In June of 2003 -  I wrote Matt Gray  a 'scathing' e-mail which was in support of Cayenne...and which I called him on the carpet for his callous - un-supportive - cold hearted - pathological manner and M.O. when it came to the needs of inmates...I recall that I stated to him that with his own father in prison - one would think that 'HE' would be more sensitive to the needs of others...

Within ONE DAY - I got an 'e-mail alert' from JUNO.COM (which was my e-mail account carrier at the time) accusing me of sending 'un-solicited questionable material' through Juno...

I knew and know that Matt Gray turned me in...

I had been with Juno since 1997 - and had on many occasions reported spam material - which was of pornographic content to Juno...and now they were 'threatening' me of 'removal' from their services - if I did not cease and desist from sending through the Juno - unsolicited - questionable e-mail...

I had to explain that I was a 54 year old grandmother - and that I had never - in my life - perused - opened or handled pornography material in my whole entire life...

In my heart of hearts - I know that Matt Gray - went after me...

He's immature - and mean and cruel and he needs TO GO !

Signed

Madelene Hunter
Foster Care Advocate

"I never said the tape did not exist.
Instead, I have many times encouraged its release.

Yet another fine example of the truth vs. Barbara Bird's focus.

Instead of working on the tape, she chooses to spend her time with these misleading e-mails.
THE IMPORTANT THING HERE IS to get the tape released!

Maybe someone would be kind enough to forward this onto Barbara Bird as a reminder to get the job done?"

Answer. . . .

Matthew Gray:

We are volunteers.  You are on our payroll as taxpayers.  We have no control over the  programming or the video editors on my television series who are also volunteers.  If you sincerely want to help us get this before the public faster, then put your money on the table and we'll hire it done.  I know a video editor who works for a big television station but he wants to paid. As it is, we do not have the funds to pay people to do things the right way. 

How much will you pay an editor to get it done Matthew?  Nothing I'll venture since you are totally exposed in that episode and several others.

Everyone in the world knows this show was filmed, the only person who needs to know about it is Alameida.  He knows!  He knows about the visiting and package lawsuit that you are telling everyone not to support as well.

You have a hidden agenda.  Is your hidden agenda that you dare think that you would be appointed as CDC Director?  We need a person with compassion and life experience in that job. You have neither trait and consider that saving inmates is a favor you do for people and not part of your responsibility to assure the safety of all inmates.

We'll let the judge decide. 

B. Cayenne Bird

Through her diligent efforts, under the care and guidance of her competent counsel, and due to her deserving case, I am pleased to report to you CDC has now approved Beverly Diaz's request for compassionate release.  The matter is now before a judge for resentencing prior to ordering her release.
 

FYI

Matt Gray
Deputy Chief of Staff
Senator John Vasconcellos
Dean of the Legislature
State Capitol, Room 5108
Sacramento, CA  95814
Ph. 916-445-9740      Fax 916-324-0283

Ms. Anne Sheehan
State Personnel Board
801 Capitol Mall MS#22
PO Box 94420
Sacramento, CA  94244-2010

Dear Ms. Sheehan:

    The purpose of this letter is to make a complaint against Mr. Ken Hurdle, Ombudsman for California Department of Corrections.  I would like you to place this letter in his personnel file.  I had an unfortunate encounter with him last year and did not report it then, but I'm doing so now.

    A crisis occurred at Mule Creek State Prison regarding contaminated food and it involved several prisoners who were injured or retaliated against by prison staff. Rather than solving the problem, which would have been the sensible thing to do, the warden and guards under his direction and control constructed an elaborate scheme to cover up and blame the inmate whistle blowers who were attempting to correct a serious problem.  In fact, the problem had gone on for years and all attempts to rectify the situation had always met with indifference.  The contaminated food issue at Mule Creek has been well documented.

    Ken Hurdle, as the Ombudsman in this situation took part in the dissemination of false information put out by the warden and by rogue guards which ended in highly serious consequences for some of the inmates.  And to this day, Mr. Hurdle and others are still taking part in the dissemination of false information. The whistle blowers were not trouble makers, but honest men, well respected among the other inmates. They had no enemies.  False enemies were suddenly "found" as part of the cover up process.  The reasons were to hide the truth and to frighten the other inmates so that they would make no further complaints about glass, razor blades, and urine being found in the food. 

    California Department of Corrections does not deal well with reality.  They have little understanding of the value of conflict resolution and it's purpose in the management process.  A grievance procedure is part of Title 15 and would work if allowed, but prisoners are routinely punished for using this procedure which was set up as an honest, direct and effective way to deal with prisoner issues.  Prisoners throughout the state know the 602 system is broken and cannot be fixed until truth (without retaliation) becomes part of the equation.

    When problems occurred at Mule Creek, Mr. Hurdle had the opportunity to set things right.  He had the opportunity to end a problem that had gone on for years.  He had the opportunity to step in and end inmate suffering.  He chose instead, the path of betrayal -- both to his own integrity and to the well being of the prisoners who are completely dependent on the state for their care.  Families of prisoners turned to him repeatedly for help.  What they found was a man pleasant enough but fully aware of which side his bread was buttered on.  Prisoner families did not pay his salary.  In my view, the Ombudsman position for CDC should be eliminated if the person holding this position cannot find it in himself to be truthful, fair, or objective or have the courage necessary to stand up and insist that the right thing be done. 

    Mr. Hurdle helped hide the truth.  As long as the truth remains hidden from view taxpayers will carry the burden of wrongful death, medical neglect and other kinds of lawsuits.  Until we examine the present system and make meaningful and lasting changes we will be paying out; as surely as night follows day. 

Sincerely,
 
 

CC:  Senator Gloria Romero
State Capitol Building
Room 5051
Sacramento, CA  95814