Sunday, September 22, 2013

Street, Bryson, Wagner, Fuentes, Williams--four years ago



     A typical scene, really, in OC politics: GOP candidates (and hopefuls) promoting GOP candidates (and hopefuls).
     As you can see, Anna Bryson, now running for 73rd Assembly District (against Wendy Gabriella, among others), was fraudster Chriss Street’s right-hand woman. But why is she here, with Street, at this board meeting? She doesn't actually say anything beyond her name and office.
     TV exposure. Bryson sought higher office (she was already an elected CAPO trustee and she remains so). And Street/Wagner/Fuentes were happy to oblige.
     Also on hand: John Williams, who soon went down in flames as among the most incompetent and sleazy elected officials in county history.

     Speaking of corruption and sleaze, check out this old chestnut from the OC Register, July 19, 2010:

     Chriss Street's travel bill: $60,000
     As trustee of a bankrupt company, Chriss Street got in trouble for using his client's money for his own self interests, including expensive dinners and resort hotels.
     As Orange County's treasurer-tax collector, Street and his top managers have spent more than $60,000 during the last two years attending conferences in such far-flung places as New York, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. -- with stays at the Waldorf Astoria and Venetian hotels.
. . .
     … Street was stripped of his investment duties by county supervisors in March. The action followed a U.S. bankruptcy court ruling that he wasted millions of his client's money in his former job as a bankruptcy trustee.
     Barred from investing, Street and his staff continue to travel and spend, with about six months left on his term as treasurer-tax collector.
     Expense documents reviewed by the Orange County Register show that Street and his human resources chief went to San Francisco for a "business process management" class in June at a cost of $11,462. Street's executive aide Anna Bryson is scheduled to go to South Carolina for a treasurer's conference later this month.
. . .
     [Street] Routinely made last minute flight arrangements and changes that boosted the cost of travel. In April 2008, Street and Bryson made so many changes that it pushed the cost of airfare for a San Francisco trip from $1,620 to $2,300….

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