San Bernardino finance director says she was fired for raising concerns
Barbara Whitehorn was fired Wednesday morning as San Bernardino’s director of finance and management services. That evening, she spoke before the City Council, saying her ouster came after she rang the alarm bell over the cost of renovating City Hall. It was a remarkable, if low-key, moment. Whitehorn was among those who had turned in a card to speak during the public comment period. I was in the audience. When her name was called, I wondered why the finance director was speaking. It quickly became clear why. “I am no longer in the employ of the city of San Bernardino,” Whitehorn said from the public lectern, explaining that earlier that day, City Manager Charles Montoya had “threatened” her and then terminated her without cause. “So I was fired today as your finance director,” Whitehorn said. Now she was speaking “as a whistleblower,” she said, to make sure the council and the public had the correct information about the City Hall renovation. Those potential expenses, she said, were not included in the proposed budget that was on that night’s agenda for discussion. Renovation “has expanded from