By Mark Gutglueck
Political corruption figure Bill Postmus has reemerged as a participant in San Bernardino County government’s land use and decision-making processes that bear upon the provision of taxpayer subsidizations to investors and sponsors of development proposals at various locations throughout the county.
The lack of transparency of the competitive process for the assistance programs, the nature of Postmus’s criminal convictions which included bribery, the business model of Postmus’s current operation, Postmus previous success in obtaining questionable favorable decisions for himself and his clients and the casual manner in which the county’s highest-ranking administrative and political figures have welcomed him into the application process involving decisions upon which millions of dollars are riding has created concern about the integrity of those public officials.
In the mid-1990s, Postmus, having grown up in the Victor Valley and graduated from Redlands University with a business degree, surveyed the social landscape of the High Desert, concluding that the region’s predominant political conservatism presented him with a magnificent career opportunity. Reinventing himself as an earnest advocate for Christian family values and a rock-ribbed Republican, he went to work for then-Assemblywoman Kathleen Honeycutt, and together with Keith Olberg, his Redlands University acquaintance Brad Mitzelfelt and Honeycutt’s son, Tad, founded the High Desert Young Republicans. After Olberg acceded to a position in the Assembly, the Young Republicans’ focus next turned to preparing Postmus for political office. After he achieved an appointment to the Victorville Planning Commission and wangled being selected as that panel’s chairman, he vied successfully in 2000 for First District County supervisor. As the fifth youngest supervisor in county history, Postmus intensified his activism on the part of the Republican Party, ensuring again and again that those political donors who showed generosity toward him and his fellow Republican officeholders. In 2004, he had consolidated his political hold by being selected as the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, the third-youngest in county history, while simultaneously being made chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee. That year he was handily reelected to the board of supervisors.
Thereafter, Postmus’s exploitation of his political authority expanded geometrically, at which point he began shaking virtually everyone who had any type of business before the board of supervisors for “donations,” which were tantamount to bribes, to his electioneering fund or those of his allies. By 2005, he recognized that the role of county assessor – the highest taxing authority in the county in which he had the discretion to increase the tax levied on property, machinery, factories and business operations throughout the county or lower it at will – would empower him to collect ever more money in political donations. In 2006, he ran what to this day remains the most expensive campaign for a county elected position in San Benardino County history, involving the raising and spending of more than $3 million, to defeat the incumbent assessor, Don Williamson. Upon becoming assessor, he filled 11 of the assessor’s offices 13 highest ranking-and-paying staff positions with his own supporters or Republican Party political operatives who had no experience, expertise or training in assessing the value of property, buildings, machinery or assets. By 2008, the degree to which Postmus was not only corrupting the function of the assessor’s office but had been a corrosive influence on county government when he was on the board of supervisors had become ever more apparent. By 2009 the San Bernardino County Grand Jury, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office and the California Attorney General’s Office were on to what Postmus was up to. He was forced to resign as assessor and in June 2009 and then again in February 2010 he was charged with a series of political corruption charges. In March 2011, he entered guilty pleas on 14 political corruption charges, including bribery, solicitation of a bribe, acceptance of a bribe, conspiracy to receive a bribe, misappropriation of public funds, conflict of interest by a public official and perjury. His conviction on the conflict of interest by a public official charge carried with it a prohibition on him ever holding public elected office in California.
In 2013, desperate to get back into the political game but faced with the reality that he could never again serve in a publicly elected capacity, Postmus sojourned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he set up a business, Mountain States Consulting Group LLC. He then registered Mountain States Consulting Group as a Wyoming domestic limited liability company with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s corporate division.
Having been involved in bribetaking and other forms of graft and corruption, Postmus was acutely conscious of the potential pitfalls in such activity and precisely how it was that he had been caught. Through his time in office, his arrests and ensuing prosecution and conviction, Postmus gained an implicit and explicit understanding of how the political and justice systems work and mesh, as well as both the reach and limitations of the prosecutorial arm of the government in making politicians adhere to the law. He had attained a flawless feel for the circular pay-to-play element of control and governance where politicians take in money from those with an interest in the governmental decision-making process, use that money to get into office or stay in office and vote to approve the development projects or the contracts or the franchises of those who have donated that money.
With Mountain States Consulting Group, Postmus created a political money laundering operation, a device by which politicians can engage in pay-to-play trade-offs without getting caught and being stigmatized with criminal convictions as he had been. Mountain States Consulting Group takes money originating with individuals or companies with a stake in governmental decisions, launders that money through his company and then provides that cash, either as political donations or payments in some other form to the politicians making those decisions. Postmus employs Mountain States Consulting Group and several other entities and political action committees he has direct or indirect control over, such as the Inland Empire Political Action Committee, the Conservatives for A Republican Majority Political Action Committee and the Citizens Against Wasteful Spending Political Action Committee, as cutouts, insulating the recipients of the money – the politicians – from those who are providing the money. When Postmus properly executes on this mission, it protects the politicians from the perception that their votes are being purchased, which has political benefits, while serving to lessen to a considerable extent the possibility that the politicians he is funneling money to will be subject to law enforcement action for engaging in what in the final analysis are quid pro quos, out-and-out bribes or kickbacks. Postmus also utilizes Mountain States Consulting Group to employ politicians or those considered to be up-and-coming in politics with phantom assignments, providing them with revenue without actually having to work, freeing them up to engage in campaigning or other electioneering activity to advance their political prospects, standing or careers.
Using such entities at his disposal to launder political donations to elected officeholders and by sponsoring fundraisers for current officeholders, Postmus has created and continues to create the opportunity for individuals to provide money to politicians in a way that the individuals or companies from whom or from which the money originated could not and cannot be traced.
Having been an intrinsic part of the pay-to-play ethos in San Bernardino County, Postmus has cultivated a host of clients such as landowners, investors and developers looking to get their project’s approved, service providers or equipment/material vendors seeking contracts with local governments or those seeking to be granted franchises for service provision to the public governments. Another set of clients Postmus has cultivated are those who are seeking subsidies provided or loans guaranteed by governmental entities.
At two points, in 2016 and 2021, Postmus demonstrated his skill in the latter regard by guiding Wyn Holmes and Randall Friend, the principals in a Newport Beach-based company known as Eagle 55 in obtaining from the Hesperia City Council and the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approval of virtually interest-free loans totaling $9.3 million to be used toward completing the $13 million “The Villas” project. Starting in 2015, Holmes and Friend were intent on securing the government loan earmarked for senior citizen housing developments to allow them to finance the project. They needed, however, to compete against other similar senior citizen housing proposals to qualify for the loan. Holmes and Friend obtained Postmus’s assistance in wiring the approval of the loan by bringing Postmus and his longtime associate and business partner, John “Dino” DeFazio in as minority owners in Eagle 55.
Postmus had Holmes and Friend check the first box by having them commit to reserving a specified number of the units in the apartment complex they were proposing for low-to-moderate-income, low-income and very low-income senior citizen residents. Two years previously, Postmus had managed Paul Russ’s successful election to the Hesperia City Council in the 2014 election. That year, Postmus was aiding Rebekah Swanson, a political associate from his past, in her ultimately successful run for the Hesperia City Council in November 2016. Simultaneously, Russ and another member of the Hesperia City Council, Bill Holland, were challenging then-incumbent First District San Bernardino County Supervisor Robert Lovingood in his bid for reelection in the 2016 election cycle. At Postmus’s suggestion, during the course of the campaign, Russ and Holland were provided with $19,000 and $16,000, respectively, by Eagle 55.
While Lovingood successfully turned back the effort by Russ and Holland during that year’s primary election to drive him from office and he ultimately was returned to office by the voters that November, Holmes and Friend succeeded in ingratiating themselves with Holland and Russ. Accordingly, the Hesperia City Council voted to give The Villas project go-ahead and provide Holmes and Friend with an initial $3.8 million loan.
Subsequently, the California Fair Political Practices Commission looked into the matter, initially on the basis that the $19,000 and $16,000 donations were violations of the county’s then-$4,200 per donor campaign contribution cap. Ultimately, the California Fair Political Practices Commission took action against Holmes and Friend, imposing fines on them, which both deemed to be part of the price of doing business in San Bernardino County. The Fair Political Practices Commission action did not overturn the approval of the first phase of The Villas project, and it was completed.
In 2021, Holmes and Friend had completed phase 1 of their project and were again looking for a no-interest of low-interest loan to assist them in financing that undertaking in order to boost their profit margin. Hesperia, at that point was wary of further damage to its reputation if state agencies such as the Fair Political Practices Commission continued to scrutinize the action of its city council members who were monetarily connected to Holmes, Friend and Postmus. Hesperia officials let Holmes and Friend know the city would no longer be willing to associate itself with Eagle 55 in connection to taxpayer-subsidized construction efforts at The Villas complex.
On April 1, Postmus hosted a blow-out fundraiser for San Bernardino County’s Republican candidates at the Tartan restaurant in Redlands which involved more than 50 deep-pocketed donors and brought in more than $150,000, all told, in donations and pledges. Among those present at the soiree were Postmus, DeFazio, Brad Chapman, Fourth District County Supervisor Curt Hagman, First District Supervisor Paul Cook, Third District County Supervisor Dawn Rowe, San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee Chairman Phil Cothran, Sr., Fontana City Councilman Phil Cothran, Jr., Adelanto Mayor Gabriel Reyes, Adelanto City Manager Jesse Flores, then-Former Fontana City Councilman and Future Second District Supervisor Jesse Armendarez, Developer Bruno Mancinelli, along with Cook’s chief of staff Tim Itnyre and Rowe’s chief of staff Matt Knox.
Postmus thereupon approached Supervisor Cook, who in 2020 had succeeded Lovingood as First District county supervisor as well as Cook’s chief of staff, Itnyre, and his assistant chief-of-staff, Dakota Higgins, importuning them to work with Holmes and Friend in undertaking and completing phase 2 of The Villas 55+ Senior Community project. Cook, Itnyre and Higgins prevailed upon then San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Leonard Hernandez to explore the possibility of the project being carried out under the auspices of county government, despite the consideration that it is located not within the county’s unincorporated area but within the City of Hesperia. Hernandez handed the assignment of dealing with the project off to then-San Bernardino County Chief Operating Officer Leonard Snoke.
Based upon Postmus’s relationship with him as a fundraiser, confident, advisor, predecessor in the office of First District supervisor and “friend,” Supervisor Cook assented to use money from the county’s special discretionary fund for specific priorities in the First District to initiate the second phase of Eagle 55’s The Villas project. On December 14, 2021, Hernandez and Snoke, utilizing a staff report authored by Snoke which was presented by Hernandez to the board of supervisors, facilitated the board of supervisors’ consideration and passage of action approving a $5.5 million affordable housing loan to Eagle Hesperia 55 II, L.P. for the construction of the second phase of The Villas. Both Hernandez and Snoke recommended that the loan be made. The action taken in accordance with their recommendation made it so that no bidding on the project took place and the requirement that Eagle 55 pay prevailing wage or union scale wages to the construction workers on the project was waived.
Given that Postmus and DeFazio are minority owners in Eagle 55, Bill Postmus’s fundraising activity in raising money to assist Supervisor Hagman, Supervisor Rowe and Supervisor Cook in their election campaigns suggests a quid pro quo arrangement.
The Sentinel is informed that both Hernandez and Snoke were aware during the county’s dealings with Eagle 55 with regard to the $5.5 million affordable housing loan for The Villas project that Postmus and DeFazio had a financial interest in the Eagle 55 ventures.
San Bernardino County Chief Deputy Controller Vanessa Doyle signed off on the county providing the loan to Eagle 55. The Sentinel initiated several inquiries with Doyle, both in the form of an electronically carbon copied email exploring the subject sent to other high-ranking county officials and phone messages for her left directly at her office. Among the questions Doyle did not respond to was whether it was made clear to her that Postmus and DeFazio had a financial stake in the Eagle 55 project and whether she independently had developed precise knowledge as to the fundraising and political money laundering activity Postmus had engaged in on behalf of Hagman, Cook and Rowe before she affixed her imprimatur and that of the county auditor-controller’s office on the $5.5 million affordable housing loan for The Villas project. Doyle did not respond to the Sentinel.
Doyle’s ultimate boss, Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector Ensen Mason indicated that Doyle had not interested herself in the tangle of relationships involving Hagman, Cook, Rowe, Postmus, DeFazio, Holmes and Friend prior to her certification of the loan, stating, “All she did was review the financing numbers to say they were correct.”
It does not appear that any agencies with prosecutorial authority, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the California Attorney’s Office or the San Berardino County District Attorney’s Office took up an investigation into the provision of loans to Eagle 55.
This appears to have emboldened Postmus, who is now lobbying on behalf of another entity seeking the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors’ approval for providing it with low-interest or no-interest loans.
On August 7, Sam Boersma, a senior analyst with UCR Group sent an email to Snoke, who in 2024 replaced Hernandez as the county’s chief executive officer. Boersma wrote, “I am writing to formally introduce the Park Avenue 55+ Apartments, a 213-unit market-rate senior housing community with 4,200 square feet of retail space, to be developed within the Groves at Loma Linda Specific Plan. The project is fully entitled and will provide high-quality housing tailored to active 55+ seniors. Located in close proximity to major medical providers including Loma Linda University Health and the VA Medical Center, Park Avenue is designed to meet the growing demand for age-targeted housing in a walkable, service-rich environment.”
Boersma continued, “The total development budget is estimated at $100 million, with an $80 million loan sought to support project financing. We respectfully request the county’s partnership in providing this loan either through a taxable bond issuance via an appropriate conduit issuer or, alternatively, through a direct investment from the county’s general fund. The anticipated loan structure includes a 40-year amortization with a fixed interest rate of approximately 4.50% with a term not to exceed 5 years. First-year projected effective gross income is $7.8 million, with net operating income estimated at $5.5 million after expenses and reserves. We welcome the county’s guidance on financing strategy and are open to any structure that best aligns with county policy and resources.”
Electronically carbon copied on the email from Boersma to Snoke was Denise Shelton of the UCR Group, Bill Postmus and Tom Stoddard of the UCR Group.
It appears that Postmus is serving as some order of an advisor or consultant to the UCR Group relating to the company’s effort to obtain the loan.
On October 27, 2022, the UCR Group provided $4,000 to Second District Supervisor Jesse Armendarez’s electioneering campaign.
On December 30, 2022, the UCR Group provided $3,900 to Supervisor Paul Cook’s reelection fund.
On December 31, 2022, the UCR Group, through Jim Mauge, provided $4,900 to Supervisor Curt Hagman’s reelection fund.
On May 31, 2024, the UCR Group, through one of its associates, Jim Mauge, provided a $4,900 donation to Supervisor Dawn Rowe for her reelection campaign.
On 06/30/2025 Stephen Reeder of the UCR Group provided Supervisor Curt Hagman’s political war chest with $499.
The UCR Group is a private development and management firm specializing in multi-family developments in Southern California, with experience in consulting on the acquisition, entitlement, and development of residential and commercial projects. According to the company’s website, since the 1960s, it has participated in the development of over two million square feet of retail and approximately 10,000 multi-family residential units. According to the company, it prides itself on its “strong relationships with local and regional governmental agencies,” which, according to the company’s website, advances its “ability to successfully manage and execute projects.”
Some 43 minutes after Boersma sent the email to Snoke, he followed up by sending an email containing a copy of his email to Snoke to San Bernardino County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Lynna Monell. Thereafter Monell’s executive secretary, Julie Arentz forwarded the email to Chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors Dawn Rowe, the secretaries for th other four members of the board of supervisors, County Counsel Tom Bunton, Deputy County Executive Officedr Stephanie Shea, Executive Administrative Assistant Abi Martin, Executive Secretary Josie Anglin, Chief Executive Officer’s Executive Secretary Kristina King, another of the county’s executive secretaries, Raquel Ramos, along with copies to Snoke and Monell.
At present, the typical interest rate on a construction loan ranges from 6.5 percent to 9 percent.
According to a county employee knowledgeable about Postmus’s activities, the county’s top administrative echelon expects the county’s staff at lower levels who are answerable to them and who will process the loan applications to facilitate Postmus’s requests without question.
Another county employee asked, “Why would a developer and Bill Postmus be requesting an $80 million loan from the county?”
The atmosphere at the county is such, the employee said, that “I cannot ask my department these questions.”
County officials were unable to process the Sentinel’s pass through of that inquiry by press time.