Warner Assails Biane as Unfit in Second District Challenge

Twenty-six-year-old Greg Warner said he is running for Second District supervisor because he believes the incumbent, Paul Biane, has demonstrated himself as unfit to remain in office.
“Like most voters, I am disgusted with the level of corruption bubbling to the surface,” he said. “I want to put an end to the back room deals and payoffs and restore honesty and integrity to county government.”
Warner said Biane had demonstrated that his constituents are not his first or even second priority and the  incumbent’s first focus has been to take care of himself.
“Before the end of his first term, he put a measure on the ballot under the auspices of term limits with a few fine print additions that included pay raises, taking his and the other supervisors’ salaries from $70,000 to $150,000 per year,” Warner said. “I do not understand how anybody in elected office could think they need to double what they are paid. While I was in a combat zone I was making less than $70,000 per year. Until we can reduce the salary to the 2006 levels I will divert $70,000 of my salary to underfunded county programs. That is how committed I am to reducing the corruption in county government.”
There are other examples of Biane looking out for himself at the expense of others, Warner suggested.
“I do know he has used his position to pressure local officials, Rancho Cucamonga government, to do things as minor as removing stop signs because he felt they got in his own way. He told the city they needed to remove the stop sign at Amethyst and Hillside because he didn’t want to stop there when he is going to and from his house. The residents in that area had to fight to get that stop sign put back. He is a danger to the public.”
Biane’s second priority is serving the interests of his campaign donors, Warner said.
“He is a good friend to developers,” Warner said. “He gets a lot of money from them.”
Dealing with the economic slowdown is an important issue facing the county and the Second District, Warner said.
“After living and growing up in Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County, I would still mention corruption first in identifying what the major issues are,” he said. “Creating jobs would come next and dealing with overdevelopment follows that. Although a couple of years ago Rancho Cucamonga was called the Inland Empire’s Orange County or the new Orange County, that really hasn’t continued because of the lack of responsible growth and lack of good paying local jobs. Along the 210 Freeway, a lot of development occurred but didn’t really bring jobs to the area. There hasn’t been an emphasis on 21st century jobs in the area either.”
There is a connection between the major issues facing the county, Warner said.
“The issues are corruption, job creation to match our population and in some fashion overdevelopment,” he said. “There are million dollars homes in the High Desert basically built on a fault line. I don’t understand why you would build such a large home there. I don’t understand how a responsible governmental entity could give you a permit to build a structure there. Someone or something has corrupted the process. Government officials have been taken in by money and have suspended their responsibility and obligations to the people they serve.”
Warner said not all governmental function in Southern California has been abused as it has been in San Bernardino County.
“In Baldwin Park, near where I work, they are bringing in federal dollars for stimulus projects,” he said. The city of Baldwin Park has been able to get stimulus money to rebuild the railroad track because of the accidents there. They are constructing new spurs and train offshoots for the businesses. In places like Ontario we could get stimulus money for that same type of development enhancement and could increase the efficiency and safety where all this industry and warehousing is located. It occurs to me we could be using stimulus money for light rail and other forms of transportation and increase our ability to bring in and keep good jobs locally.”
San Bernardino County should also take aggressive action to seize control of its own destiny and assets, Warner said.
“I took some flying lessons out of Cable Airport,” he said. “I like the airport and I appreciate the concept and reality of small aviation. I am also aware that we have large aviation facilities in our county. I think it is a shame that the only major international airport in the county [Ontario International Airport] is owned and operated by Los Angeles. It is ridiculous that the major airport in the region is not controlled by the county it is in.”
Warner attended West Point and served in Iraq. That service has given him a unique appreciation of local government in San Bernardino County.
“I learned a lot in the Army and my three years at West Point,” he said.  “While deployed, I had the opportunity to work in the embassy. In my last few months there I got to see local provisional and national government from a first person perspective. I got to witness government undertaking public improvement projects where they are badly needed. I was an individual entrusted to be in charge of people and entrusted with large sums of money and I remained committed to serve the country any way I was called upon. I served in Baghdad for 15 of the 17 months I was there. I was promoted to sergeant a month early. All this information has served me well in my business life and I am confident that experience and service will serve me quite well as a supervisor.”
Warner said he felt he measured up comfortably against Biane, who has held public office for 12 years and whose family has a long history in Rancho Cucamonga.
“I was raised in Rancho Cucamonga, and I believe coming into a position that has so many negative connotations due to corruption, my having no political background is actually a strong point. I am basically and definitely committed to ending the corruption in the county, having gone so far to pledging to redirect nearly half of my salary to underfunded county programs. I can be trusted to do the right thing.”
Warner was born in Newport Beach and attended Etiwanda High School. He studied psychology at West Point. He deployed to Iraq in 2004 and remained there halfway through 2005.
He currently operates a subsidiary of his family’s publishing company, Warner International Periodical Services.