"Brave citizens"? Try "corrupt creeps."
Trump's referring to members of the City Council in Los Alamitos and especially the OC Board of Supes, both of whom voted to join Sessions' lawsuit against California's sanctuary law.
To get a sense of the longstanding love of corruption in OC—something we've written about for years—consider the saga of the OC "Ethics Commission" and the Supes' never-ending efforts to prevent or undermine such oversight.
(They're all Republicans.)
It's enough to gag a maggot!
(Voice of OC, June 24, 2015)
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| Shirley Grindle |
Orange County is the only major metropolitan jurisdiction in California that does not have an Ethics Commission….
These oversight groups were established because of the need to properly enforce local campaign contribution limits. They also oversee conflicts of interest, lobbyist activities and gifting of public officials.
The Orange County Grand Jury and private individuals have repeatedly asked the Orange County Board of Supervisors to set up an Ethics Commission but the Supervisors have steadfastly refused.
The need for an Ethics Commission is vividly illustrated by the felony conviction of former Sheriff Mike Carona, which took federal authorities to bring about, and the sexual harassment charges against Carlos Bustamante, the former head of the Public Works Department and former Santa Ana City Councilman. These charges festered for years because the victims, who were county employees, were reluctant to report the offenses because they feared retaliation.
Recently, the entire District Attorney’s office was disqualified from prosecuting an admitted mass murderer by a Superior Court Judge because it illegally used jailhouse informants and hid information from the defense.
A scandal is presently brewing in the OCParks department in which top officials are accused of awarding contracts to friends. Independent auditors have said the county’s in-house investigation will be disqualified because it is “riddled with serious conflicts of interest.”
Also, there is currently little enforcement of the county’s Campaign Reform Ordinance (TINCUP) by the District Attorney.
Nor is there any oversight of either the Gift Ban or the Lobbyist Registration Ordinances.
And there is no recourse available, other than the District Attorney’s office, to file any complaint of ethics violations.
For these reasons, a group of citizens have written an ordinance to establish an independent, non-partisan Ethics Commission tasked with overseeing ethics and campaign law violations by county elected and appointed officials and county employees.
. . .
This group will request the Board of Supervisors to place this ordinance on the November 2016 ballot.
(Voice of OC, October 21, 2015)
With a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors put a proposal for an ethics commission on the June ballot, and in doing so gave local voters a chance to make OC the largest county in California with an added layer of political accountability.
It was a major win for political watchdog Shirley Grindle, who – with her tens of thousands of index cards documenting political contributions – has for over 15 years single-handedly enforced the campaign finance law she authored in the late 1970s.
. . .
When the item was approved, Grindle became overwhelmed with emotion, her eyes tearing up as she placed her face into her hands.
. . .
Beyond [Supervisor Michelle] Steel, opposition also came from Steve Rocco, an eccentric figure in local politics who served as a board member at the Orange Unified School District.
. . .
If approved by voters in June, the five-member commission would be tasked with enforcing campaign contribution limits on countywide elected officials, as well as the county’s gift ban, lobbyist registry, and certain parts of the county’s ethics code.
(Voice of OC, June 7, 2016)
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| John "Corruption AND Stupidity" Williams |
Three years after a county grand jury recommended creation of an ethics commission to increase public confidence in local government, Orange County voters approved it overwhelmingly.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, 70 percent of voters were in favor of the proposal.
. . .
In April, 2013, the grand jury reported … “It is evident to the Grand Jury that some employees at all levels of county government are unable or unwilling to learn from the mistakes of the past.”
Decade after decade since the early 1970s, Orange County has been rocked by one political scandal after another that sent to prison members of the Board of Supervisors, the sheriff, a member of Congress, some of the state’s biggest political donors and dozens of others.
In addition, the county declared bankruptcy in 1994, which at the time was the largest in the nation by a government body.
“Sadly,” the grand jury reported, “it is the Grand Jury’s hypothesis that untoward behavior continues and is actively festering in today’s political environment. In point of fact, this and several other studies conducted by the 2012-2013 Grand Jury address the fact that corruption has permeated all levels of the organization, and does not apply only to elected officials positioned visibly in the public eye.”
(Voice of OC, March 10, 2017)
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| Steel |
Nine months after Orange County voters overwhelmingly approved an ethics commission to enforce county-level campaign finance and lobbying laws, the Board of Supervisors has taken the first step toward its creation: picking an executive director.
A county staff report quietly posted online Wednesday shows they chose Denah Hoard, the senior assistant city attorney for Orange.
. . .
For years, ethics advocates have complained about lax enforcement of the campaign finance rules by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ office.
"The District Attorney’s office has shown little interest in enforcing voter-approved campaign finance violations," the county grand jury declared in a report. Rackauckas' office has disputed the allegation.
Supervisors were pressured into putting the commission before voters by [corruption watchdog Shirley] Grindle and other activists, who had threatened to collect enough signatures to put their own ethics commission proposal on the ballot.
. . .
…Grindle has been frustrated at how long it’s taking supervisors to set up the commission.
Voters approved it nine months ago at the June primary election, with the commission gaining the support of nearly 70 percent of the vote. Then, the November election campaign came and went without a commission to monitor campaign finance limits.
. . .
“I think they’re dragging their feet, big time,” Grindle said. “The voters voted on this, the first part of June last year. And here we are…nine months to get an executive director.”
“We’ll see if it takes 'em another nine months to appoint the commissioners.”
The supervisors’ chairwoman, Michelle Steel [who opposed the ethics commission], didn’t return a message through a spokeswoman asking when the commission will be established.
. . .
For years, Grindle has nearly single-handedly tracked campaign contributions to county candidates and called out violations of the county’s campaign finance limit law, known as TIN CUP, which she co-authored in the 1970s. The name stands for Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics.
(Voice of OC, July 10, 2017)
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| Do |
Orange County supervisors are preparing to change the law voters approved for a county ethics commission, in an effort to expand their influence over the panel tasked with enforcing campaign money violations by supervisors, their election opponents, and other county-level candidates.
. . .
Supervisor Andrew Do, who supports the effort, has suggested to his colleagues that they make it so the ethics commissioners "serve at the pleasure of the supervisor" who appointed them.
. . .
That's concerning to Shirley Grindle, who co-authored the county's campaign finance law and supported the ethics commission ballot measure.
“If they keep trying to emphasize 'serving at the pleasure' of the board, all they’re doing is telling the public that if their commissioner voted against them on a campaign finance issue or a gift ban issue, [then] that supervisor could get rid of them," Grindle said in an interview.
. . .
So far, three of the five supervisors – Do, Shawn Nelson and Michelle Steel – have publicly supported changing the term rules. If a fourth agrees to changes, the supervisors can make the changes without going to voters, according to their top attorney.
. . .
While it's been more than a year since voters ordered its creation, the supervisors still haven't established the ethics commission, even as the campaign season for next year's elections is already underway.
. . .
“The whole idea was to make this as independent of political influence as possible. And that is not what they’re doing,” she said. By increasing their influence, she said, "that is not furthering the purposes of this commission.”
. . .
The supervisors directed [County Counsel Leon] Page to come back with action they can take to change the rules for ethics commissioners' terms….
(Voice of OC, July 31, 2017)
The League of Women Voters is “disappointed and dismayed” by the Board of Supervisors’ plan to give supervisors more power over the ethics commission that was approved last year by county voters and called for supervisors to back off.
The supervisors’ plan “jeopardizes the independence of the commissioners,” Michelle Musacchio, member of an Orange County chapter of the League of Women Voters, told the Supervisors Tuesday, reading from a letter on behalf of Susan Guilford, president of both the Orange County-wide and Central Orange County chapters of the League of Women Voters….
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| Ethics! That's the ticket! |
(Voice of OC, August 23, 2017)
Orange County supervisors, without discussion, on Tuesday appointed the second member of the still-unformed countywide ethics commission.
H. Josh Ji, an attorney with Greenberg Gross LLP, was appointed unanimously after he was nominated by Supervisor Michelle Steel to serve on the Campaign Finance and Ethics Commission.
. . .
Voters in June 2016 overwhelmingly ordered the panel created. But more than a year later, the county supervisors – who would be subject to possible enforcement penalties by the commission – have yet to form it.
The only other commissioner appointed so far is Peter Agarwal, who inaccurately claimed in his ethics commission application that he is on the governing board of a national association, and repeatedly defended his description as accurate, despite acknowledging he doesn’t serve on the governing board but instead is one of the group’s 17,000 members.
. . .
Voters approved specific rules for the commission’s terms of office, which require initial terms of one, two, and three years – chosen at random – in order to set up staggered three-year terms later on.
But supervisors have wanted to change that, to potentially grant each supervisor the power to choose how long their appointee serves. This would make it so the commissioners “serve at the pleasure of the supervisor” who appointed them, Supervisor Andrew Do, who supports the changes, said last month.
. . .
They refuse to say who has applied to serve on the ethics commission, and haven’t conducted public interviews of applicants.
Instead, the public first learns who is up for appointment at the absolute last time that supervisors can legally wait to disclose it – the Friday afternoon before a Tuesday supervisors’ meeting….
(OC Reg, September 20, 2017)
More than 15 months on, and we finally have a county Ethics Commission — sort of.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved the third member, Todd Spitzer’s nominee, retired Superior Court Judge Barbara Tam Nomoto-Schumann. The five-person commission now has the quorum required to hold its first meeting, as reported by Voice of OC. But it has been a bumpy road to get this far, and now we worry that much of what we warned about when cautioning a vote against the proposal seems to be coming true.
While we sympathize with the idea, we were skeptical that any such body ultimately could avoid all improper influence. We feared that, despite its proponents’ best efforts and claims to the contrary, it could become something of a paper tiger that stifles other, perhaps more meaningful, reforms, or even serve as a political weapon.
And while Nomoto-Schumann’s qualifications seem above reproach, others appointed have raised some eyebrows.
“[Supervisor Shawn] Nelson appointed Peter Agarwal, a bank branch manager who falsely claimed in his ethics commission application he was on the governing board of a national association, and then defended his representation,” the Voice of OC reported. “Supervisor Michelle Steel appointed H. Josh Ji, who graduated from law school last year and was admitted to the state bar in December.”
. . .
The better solution still seems to be demanding greater transparency from our government: empowering media watchdogs, and the Shirley Grindles of the world, to better watch over their government by improving on decades-old public record acts and disclosure requirements.
But now that the Ethics Commission can actually get to work, there is an opportunity for its new members to prove us wrong.
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