Arguing he is an independently elected official, Orange County Public Administrator John Williams threatened a court battle this week unless county supervisors relent and allow him back into his office.County supervisors have locked Williams out, arguing he effectively resigned last March when Williams offered to retire in exchange for a reprieve from recall efforts over his mismanagement of the office.
Earlier this week, Willliams' attorney [Phil Greer]* advised CEO Tom Mauk that he had simply changed his mind and no longer intended to retire. Supervisors, through their county counsel, have advised Williams that his resignation is final saying there's no turning back.
While Williams' bio is still prominently displayed on the Public Administrator's website, he's been locked out of his office and the county is mailing him his final paycheck.
. . .
By early 2011, supervisors had stripped him of his public guardian role and appointed an executive manager to take over operations for the public administrator post. Finally, Williams agreed to a deal whereby he would be able would retire on Jan. 23, 2012.
Now, Williams' lawyer, Phil Greer, is promising to go to court for injunctive relief by Friday if supervisors don't back off from their demands that he leave his job.
"It's improper and possibly illegal," said Greer, who has represented several [in fact, 4 of the 5] supervisors in recent years. "The board doesn't have the ability under the law, the California Constitution or the county charter to do what they've attempted to do. There was no retirement or resignation on the part of the Mr. Williams."
. . .
It's the third time in recent years that county supervisors are dealing with the unseating of a countywide-elected official, having witnessed the removal of Sheriff Mike Carona over a federal indictment and the stripping of investment powers from Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street.. . .
Campbell repeated numerous times in an interview that: "John Williams is an honorable man. He put it in writing to me that he intended to resign," Campbell said. "Why wouldn't we take him at his word?"….
*You'll recall that the SOCCCD paid Tom Fuentes' crony Phil Greer $25,000 to represent Raghu Mathur in his "negotiations" with the district—negotiations rendered necessary by (1) Don Wagner's desire to fire Mathur's conniving ass and (2) Fuentes and Williams' opportunity to give crony Mathur the best "deal" (i.e., fabulous cash prizes) whilst simultaneously tossing a fabulous cash prize to their Republican crony Greer, a fellow with a history of ethics issues but a nice ability to collect valuable cash prizes whilst hanging with Republicans in government (e.g., four of the five Supes of the OC Board of Supes).
19 comments:
Yeah, we sure wouldn't want follow up pieces on corruption and incompetence. Better to just mention it once and hope all will be forgotten, right, 12:37?
What a lout.
I just deleted a comment from one of our loutish trolls, not because he disagreed with DtB (he opinied that DtB must have a "hard on" for Williams) but because his comment was ugly, not just ill-informed.
Why ill-informed? Those who have paid attention to the SOCCCD saga in the last twenty or so years know that one cannot understand the politics of the SOCCCD board of trustees without understanding the larger OC GOP political machine, which was once directly controlled by trustee Tom Fuentes and like-minded Neanderthals (Schroeder, et al.), and which continues to be relatively indirectly controlled by that crowd (consider, e.g., how the Central Committee reversed its decision not to endorse Mike Carona a few years ago)--while the "stars" of that crowd, one by one, are revealed to be fraudsters, felons, and creeps (Carona, Street, Williams, Greer, Schroeder, et al.). Forteen years ago, I (and a handful of others) pursued the trustees' pattern of Brown Act violations--and Williams was the guiltiest of the lot. During the rise of Don Wagner on the Board, Williams consistently stood (with Fuentes) in supporting the corrupt, incompetent, and conniving Raghu P. Mathur. Meanwhile, Williams was made a card-carrying member of the Unprincipled and Incompetent Crowd that constitutes OC government. Thanks to our (and others) efforts, we finally revealed enough about Mr. Williams' shenanigans at the County (and in the district) to force him to concentrate on saving his job--hence his resignation from the board only a year ago.
As has been said before a million times, one cannot understand the present without understanding the past. To understand what we've got now, one must understand how we got here. The John Williams saga continues to be relevant because the corrupt politics that brought us Williams prevails in this county. Absolutely it does. (Look at the Supes.) By pursuing these cases and exposing their nature, there is the hope that we can make it more difficult for this kind of corruption to persist. There is the hope that the public will start to "get it."
BvT, the corruption is setting a major stage debut at a courthouse near you. If Williams challenges the Supes lockout, I think the dirt and illegal, behind closed door deals will soon be made public. Williams is an idiot, but the Supes have dirty hands as well. This is a no-win for the County.
What you're describing is my fondest fantasy. Let the corruption be revealed, fully. Hell, for that, I'd even let Williams skate.
A colorful character, to say the least, Sir William Skate
once defended himself against corruption claims by saying
"if I had to choose between my wife and my country I would
choose my country"
Irvine tax attorney
Bvt, what about all the ugly, corrupt democrat machines tha run all our major cities?
The fact is, Republican corruption pales in comparison to democrat corruption and you know it.
6:09, first, I focus on our own county, not counties elsewhere. Do I need to explain that?
Second, you are an ignoramus. Anyone who has paid attention to politics in the last fifteen years is familiar with phenomenon of a new and extraordinary wave of Republican, not Democratic, corruption, best illustrated by the Bush Administration and the scandals associated with Jack Abramoff, with its numerous other scandals, numerous instances of jaw-dropping incompetence, and "up is down and down is up" divergence between words and deeds (high on small government, down on deficit spending--combined with massive expansion of government and extraordinary and unprecedented spending--and on adventures that actually set us back [Iraq]). I cited a highly respected author, historian, Thomas Frank, who lays out these facts in gruesome and undeniable detail. We see a continuation of this phenomenon with the likes of Newt Gingrich, who condemns lobbyists despite being one; who attacks Washington insiders despite being about as "insider" as a person could possibly be. The Republican party has become a "Wrecking Crew." Get it?
Williams, Carona, and Mathur certainly fit the "wrecking" pattern. Williams caused a massive reconfiguration of two departments, and has left them in disarray, with profound low morale among employees. Carona pulled the OC Sheriff's office to it's lowest point ever, and he himself is now a felon in federal prison. For years, at IVC, faculty were utterly demoralized, for, in a brief period, Mathur had dissasembled and distroyed everything we had spent twenty years building. Fuentes is the perfect example: he promoted Carona, Street, Williams, et al.--fully knowing who these people were. The idea seemed to be to destroy government to illustrate that government is a bad thing.
6:09 -- the Dems were in charge here in OC (and I say this as a Dem myself) it's entirely likely the Dems would be corrupt. But that's not the case. In fact, in OC any elected Dem who doesn't keep his or her nose mighty clean is going to be incessantly hounded by the local GOP and their house organ, the OC Register.
Case in point: the Dems on the Irvine city council. Those 3 may be corrupt, but they're considerably less corrupt than Carona, Williams, and Street are/were. Yet the OC GOP and the house organ rarely complained about C/W/S, while they constantly complain about Agran et al.
The last comment should have begun "IF the Dems were in charge here..."
Bvt, you beat 6:09 down for going national, then you, yourself, go national with W.
Since we've gone national, yes, Tammany Hall styled corrupt democrat machines run all of our big cities, just about half our population, goverened by pay to play, corrupt politics. And that's been the case for well over 150 years. Call me an idiot, but that's just the facts.
I did not "beat 6:09" for going national. 6:09 asked, "What about the Democrats...?" My response is that we are in OC, and I primarily post about and write about OC. This comparison with Dems is irrelevant. But if we must make a comparison (I repeat myself), anyone who has followed politics in the last two decades is aware of a rise in corruption in federal government of a kind we have never seen before. And it's Republican, not Democratic. Some of you people need to get educated. You seem unaware of some of the most basic facts of our lives.
I tire of having to explain the obvious to morons. Fucking go away.
I have deleted the comment at 2:23. Why? Because it makes bald assertions without argument. I.e., it is composed by a moron and a troll. ONCE AGAIN: if you have a point to make, please support it. I'm tired of having to repeat myself.
I guess those nasty Republicans were really bad when they rammed through their unpopular Health Care Reform Act(s); corrupt legislation, corrupt process of patronage, threats & arm twisting behind closed doors, pay-offs & special exclusions for those who "played ball," like Ben Nelson & his state, Mc Donalds and unions. Terrible, those corrupt Republicans...
Troll, troll, troll. You never learn. You assert that certain legislation is "corrupt," but you provide no evidence. You seem to cite cases, but you don't cite reliable sources who provide details. Like all trolls, you seem not to have a category for "reasons." For you, there are only beliefs--the "good" ones (yours) and the "bad" ones (the libs'). Go learn how to think. Come back when you've done that. Or not.
I love the mantra of the "unpopular healthcare reform act," when actually folks are just fine with it. And, after all, Obama said he would be pushing for it, so it's not like a Scott Walker ploy, of hiding the ball prior to election.
I recall Walker being up front about it, that's what he ran on and was elected to do.
Then you "recollection" is flawed and you need to go and look at his campaign. Run along.
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