(*The article has been updated: "Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street will not seek reelection and has recommended that supervisors “temporarily suspend” his investment authority while he weighs his legal options." Among other things, this means that the deadline for pulling papers to run for Treasurer has now moved to the 17th [Wednesday].)
Orange County supervisors are moving forward with a plan to suspend embattled Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street’s authority to invest county funds, Supervisor Bill Campbell said late Thursday.*Recently, Greer has represented Trustee John Williams and Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur.
The move comes a week after a federal judge ruled that Street breached his fiduciary duty when he attempted to build an empire instead of protecting the assets of a trust he was hired to liquidate. He was ordered to pay more than $7 million in damages to the End of the Road Trust.
Campbell and board Chairwoman Janet Nguyen are sponsoring an emergency agenda item that calls for transferring Street’s investment authority to county Chief Financial Officer Bob Franz.
“We just don’t believe it’s proper to have someone found guilty in court of breaching his fiduciary duty to be responsible for managing the county’s investment funds,” Campbell said. “It’s our obligation to protect the assets and reputation of the county’s investment pool.”
All four county supervisors would have to approve the emergency action, which would remove Street’s authority 15 days after they vote.
Meanwhile, Street has not responded to calls for his resignation. Supervisor John Moorlach, his predecessor as Orange County treasurer who endorsed his election bid in 2006 but who later became one of his most vocal critics, reiterated earlier calls for his resignation the day U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard M. Neiter handed down his decision last week.
Campbell said he met with Street Monday and asked for his resignation. On Tuesday, Street’s lawyer Phil Greer* called Campbell to say that Street would propose suspending his investment authority instead. Campbell was expecting a memo from Street memorializing that position, but still hadn’t seen it late Thursday.
. . .
It’s still unclear whether Street will run for reelection. The filing deadline is today, and while he paid his $1,730.98 filing fee the same day Neiter handed down his judgement in the civil case, Street still hasn’t completed the paperwork required to run. The political blog Red County published an unattributed report this week that Street doesn’t intend to stay in the race, but so far he’s been silent on the issue.
It’s also unclear whether Street will appeal the ruling. On Thursday, Greer said they were “looking at the options” and would likely have an announcement today or Monday….
6 comments:
How much do you suppose Greer is billing the taxpayers for his involvement in this? He's probably up to $10k so far, based on a couple of phone calls.
Is there going to be any request for Greer's billing statements for all of his little involvements with these people?
I do believe we've already learned of Greer's payment for services rendered to the "district." As I recall, it was $25,000. Greer appears to be the go-to defense attorney for the rat bastards in Fuentes' crowd. Each of the OC Supes (save Moorloch) has been represented by Greer. Williams and Mathur have been represented by Greer. Greer has a history of ethics violations, so he fits in perfectly with this crowd. He's a creep.
OC Reg Update: Street drops out of Treasurer's race
Street's letter: here
Maybe they diverted money from the sholarship prgam to pay Greer's big bills...
That's exactly what they did. they cancelled the scholarship program becsude of all the misspellings and grammar errors in the student satisfaction survey. Then they diverted the big red thermometer money to the likes of Greer. Makes sense of me.
Why or how would an institution give out scholarship money without independent confirmation of students' success and potential via letters from instructors?
Post a Comment