Ousted Ex-Mayor Don Robinson may have a lot of explaining to do

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12/15/12 –  Banning voters have finally kicked out Banning’s self absorbed Mayor, Don Robinson – he has lost the election.

But his cronies, the Banning good-old-boys, were right there to catch his fall : they selected Robinson – who is a confirmed check bouncer (story) – to take over as paid Executive Director of the Banning Chamber of Commerce (which is independent and not affiliated with City government). And – no surprise – the Chamber  refuses to disclose his salary. Who says we need transparency and accountability ? After all, this is Banning !

As we have documented on this website over and over again, Don Robinson is by far the greatest con-artist the City of Banning has ever seen. He has lied under oath about his military record, has written several bad checks to the City of Banning, failed to pay his property taxes for years and gave away hundreds of thousands to his cronies at the Banning Cultural Alliance. But wait, there is more….

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“GUIDE DOGS OF THE DESERT”

Don Robinson has an ego that is so huge, it does not fit on just one Facebook page. So far, he has created 4 different such pages about himself, the most recent one named  “Don Robinson Banning Chamber of Commerce”. In one of his first posts on this new page Robinson writes :

“Please help me welcome Guide Dogs of the Desert – a new Banning Chamber of Commerce member!
Guide Dogs of the Desert improves the lives of the blind by creating opportunities for life-changing independence, and by conducting community out reach and education programs.”

So far, so good. Robinson himself was once employed as Executive Director of Guide Dogs of the Desert – about 12 years ago. But strangely, he makes no mention whatsoever of this fact on Facebook.

The following will explain why Don Robinson may indeed have very good reasons not to address his former employment at Guide Dogs. So let’s help Don Robinson “welcome Guide Dogs of the Desert”.  Let’s do so by revealing what he does not want the public to know about this matter.

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L.A. TIMES : ROBINSON ACCUSED OF FINANCIAL IMPROPRIETIES AT GUIDE DOGS

In a 2000 feature article entitled “Turmoil Rocks Guide-Dog School”, Los Angeles Times investigative journalist Diana Marcum reported that Guide Dog board members accused Don Robinson of serious “financial improprieties”. According to the article, those improprieties included “asking the treasurer to sign blank checks” and keeping “endowments off the books”. ( for the complete L.A. Times article click here)

Why would Robinson feel the need to have blank checks in his possession ? And why would he, as Executive Director, keep donations “off the books’ and presumably deposit them in accounts nobody knew about ? Was it really to “encourage donations” ? Or was Robinson getting ready to embezzle the very donations he  allegedly kept off the books ?

While we cannot be certain of Robinson’s true intentions, we do know that eventually the State of California launched an investigation into the matter and found that no monies had been stolen. However, according to the article, State investigators found that the organization, lead by Robinson, was engaged in “sloppy management, compounded by infighting”, which ended up alienating the charity’s high dollar donors and cost the charity hundreds of thousands in donations.

The same L.A. Times article also indicates that due to the turmoil caused by Don Robinson, several board members resigned in protest.

But it gets much worse….

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TWO GUIDE DOG EMPLOYEES ACCUSE DON ROBINSON OF SEXUAL HARRASSMENT

When he was employed at Guide Dogs, Don Robinson was married to his wife at the time, Helen. This, however, did not keep Robinson from engaging in consensual sex with Guide Dog employee Lynn Euler, according to a 2001 lawsuit filed in Riverside Superior Court (Case # INC020234 – view document).

Euler alleged that when she broke off her sexual relationship with Robinson, he began to harass her, making creepy comments in the work environment, dumb blonde jokes, comments about the breast size of female employees and the clothes they were wearing and circulating dirty jokes he downloaded from the internet.

The lawsuit also accuses Robinson, who was Euler’s direct supervisor, of using his position to harass and intimidate her by giving her the silent treatment, throwing documents onto her desk without comment and excluding her from meetings she would normally attend. When everyone received a raise at Guide Dogs, Euler said Robinson made sure that she did not get one.

Similar allegations were made against Robinson by another Guide Dog employee who said Robinson was making her “uncomfortable”. The lawsuit alleges that when the employee took off her sweatshirt, Robinson said: “I can’t handle young girls taking their clothes off in front of me”. The same employee also stated that it made her uncomfortable when Robinson told her that her husband wouldn’t like it if he saw him (Robinson) staring at her.

The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court. Don Robinson denied the allegations, however, he has refused to release the terms of the settlement. Why would Robinson agree to settle the case if he did nothing wrong ? How much money Robinson and/or Guide Dogs paid employee Lynn Euler to settle the case is anyone’s guess.

So much for that. Welcome to the Banning Chamber of Commerce, “Guide Dogs of the Desert” !

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ACCUSATION  OF FALSE IMPRISONMENT BY ROBINSON EMPLOYEE

Don Robinson owns and operates Renaissance Pet Resort located at 1346 E. Ramsey Street in Banning. Only a few months ago, his on-site kennel manager, Monica Anaya, alleged that on September 20, 2012, Robinson initiated an altercation.

It appears Don Robinson accused Anaya of over-using the air conditioning in her on-site apartment, in which she said she lived full time.

According to a police report by Banning PD (click here to view full police report), Monica Anaya stated that Robinson tried to intimidate her by walking up closely to her. She said that he blocked the door to prevent her from getting out of the 10×16’ room they were both in.

Anaya also said that when she asked him to stop and let her out,  Robinson told her to “shut the fuck up” and prevented her from leaving. When Robinson refused to move, Anaya said she cried for help. Ashley Macleod, the facility’s grooming manager, confirmed hearing Anaya screaming for help. Anaya’s screams were also heard by Jerika Gutierrez, the facility’s receptionist.

According to the police report, Robinson admits telling his employee to “shut up” but otherwise denies the allegations. He said that he was just changing door locks. His wife Katryn also denies that any wrongdoing occurred during the incident.

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CONCLUSION

The voters of Banning have already decided that they have had enough of Don Robinson on the Banning City Council.

Given what we now know about him, why would anyone think Don Robinson is the right person to now represent the Chamber of Commerce ?  Hasn’t Don Robinson already shown that wherever he goes, turmoil, accusations and lawsuits soon follow ? It certainly looks like Don Robinson has a lot of explaining to do.

What more needs to happen before Banning residents are finally fed up with this creep and chase him out of town ?

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