The Machine

Tom has labored over the machine for decades.

     The blogosphere is abuzz with talk of John Williams’ impending resignation and speculation about the kind of “deal” he’ll get from his clueless and hinky bosses, the OC Supes--who heedlessly built Williams up and who refused to fire him when his incompetence became plain.
     The yammering was set off by an OC Reg “Total Buzz” piece earlier today (we posted excerpts).
     Not long ago, Todd Spitzer posted a lengthy comment to that Reg piece. Unsurprisingly, Spitzer thinks that Williams should be fired and that he should not continue to receive any sort of County salary.
     —And get this. Two prominent flacks for the Fuentean cronyistic corruption that is OC political leadership—John Fleischman and Matt Cunningham—have decided to post Spitzer’s remarks, sans commentary:

• Todd Spitzer Weighs In On News Of Public Administrator Williams' Possible Resignation (in Red County [operated by Cunningham])
• Todd Spitzer: OC Supervisors Should Not Cut Any Deals With Public Administrator John Williams (in Flashreport [operated by Fleischman])

     Check out Spitzer’s comment (I've trimmed it a bit):

   Some believe that Williams … is trying to coerce Supervisors into believing that he is owed his entire four year salary irrespective of the stripping of his duties as Public Guardian at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting…. I simply ask: “Where else, but in big government, can an elected official be deemed incompetent on a 5-0 vote and still expect to receive his entire four year salary?
   This is a long, complicated story, about how Williams’ went from being elected Public Administrator to also becoming the appointed Public Guardian. But what is clear: after two Grand Jury investigations against him and his administration, his hiring of politically connected insiders who he thought could shield against his incompetence and his arrogance of power for going after personal estates of those who died without a will … so that Williams could generate enough estate administrative fees to offset his inappropriate personnel promotions and pension spiking, he now wants out—but on his terms of course. That … means more money and/or pension credits.
   There are three strong reasons that the Supervisors do not need to pay Williams one more dime as Public Guardian. First, the County Ordinance that merged the elected Public Adminstrator with the appointed Public Guardian clearly allows for the separation of those offices by the Supervisors at any time….
   Second, at the time he filed for re-election for Public Administrator, he had just escaped a 3-2 vote allowing him to remain as Public Guardian on December 5, 2009. …[H]e had absolutely no expectation that he would be guaranteed the Public Guardian position….
   Lastly, he is one of the only department heads that has retained outside legal counsel to advise him and speak on his behalf. …[U]nmerging an elected and appointed position does not impact the electorate’s decision. In addition, a 1953 Attorney General opinion allows a governing board that appoints an elected official to additional duties … to be stripped of those appointed duties at any time during the elected four year term.
   Right now someone thinks that John Williams has leverage to strong arm the Supervisors into a settlement. I can understand why the Board needs him out [of the] Public Guardian/Public Administrator’s office. The place has to function. To accomplish the same goal, he should be placed on administrative leave for his role as the Public Guardian until the ordinance is in effect on March 15. The Public Administrator’s office should immediately be segregated from all operations of the Public Guardian. At the same time, the Board should refers its confidential investigation of Williams to the Grand Jury who has the ability to remove an elected official from office, in this case, Williams as the Public Administrator. The Grand Jury should immediately commence a review of all the investigative work that has been done to date and make a decision about Williams’ fate.
   There is no doubt now that John Williams has been an ineffective and incompetent administrator. It has cost him his job. At the same time, why should the taxpayer suffer and have to pay Williams another bloated salary and/or pension pay-off?
   This would not be tolerated in the private sector. We hear all the time how we need to make government work like the private sector. This case needs to be the stake in the ground. There can be no clearer example of why the Board should show Williams the door. Not only the door of the Public Guardian’s office but also the door of the courthouse. Because that’s where Williams should have to go to explain why his incompetence should be rewarded with taxpayer’s hard earned money.

     Well, I guess we’ll see what happens—tomorrow.
     It's starting to look bad for the Machine. My oh my.

See also John Williams Offers to Resign as Orange County Public Administrator/Public Guardian (OC Weekly)