Best comments ever! (Discrepancy belatedly explained?)

.....The Orange Juice Blog has experienced technical snafus all day long (I will resist the temptation to offer a conspiracy theory). Not long ago, however, comments to OJB editor Vern Nelson’s piece on John Williams—Worst Public Administrator Ever!—have finally appeared:

7:13 a.m.
Kurcheon White says:
.....Geez, a sensible and fairly well-written post. You’re less of a jerk (only slightly) than I thought you were.
.....Williams’ incompetence has been known to County insiders for years, but he’s got a lot of GOP friends who like having him around.
.....Good anecdote on Moorlach — strike THREE after his support of Hutchens and Street.

8:37 a.m.
Liz says:
.....You go Kevin and Colleen! Great article Vern!
.....I was a Deputy Public Guardian for 12 years and understand the level of responsibility, pressure and committment it takes to do the job. I also understand the great satisfaction one gets from the job for helping others who cannot help themselves.
.....The times I was called away from my family in the middle of the night because someone was in crisis. My point being is that you know what the job entails Kevin from personal experience. You know what the Deputies needs are as well as the needs of the Social Workers and Administrative Assistants to continue overseeing the Persons and Estates of the People you serve.
.....This gives you the first hand experience needed to be a fully knowledgeable Public Administrator / Public Guardian.

10:56 a.m.
Royston says:
.....Wow. Such scathery!
.....How is it possible that such a person is repeatedly elected as a public servant?
.....We have reached the nadir of our democracy.

11:07 a.m.
Vern Nelson says:
.....Royston, if I didn’t know who you were, I’d think you were being sarcastic. But yes, we’ve been in a very low point of our democracy; results like last night’s in PA, KY & AR look like we’re pulling out of it though! Prop 15 is timelier than ever.
.....So is getting John Williams out.
.....(Yeah, we gotta put “scathing” on a time out when it comes to grand jury reports.)

2:32 p.m.
Run Rocco Run! says:
.....I voted for Rocco and so did the rest of my family. I don’t consider it a throw away vote. A vote for Rocco is a vote for change.

4:18 p.m.
cacityguy says:
.....Well, the temperature is rising! All this negativity – I expect Johnny to be headed out of town soon since he avoids any type of confrontation (rumor has it he has plans to attend another conference in Florida in the coming days at tax payers expense – the guy has balls!). I expect his raunchy attorney Greer to be showing up at the next Board of supes meeting to spin tall tales and such (if he hasn’t already met with his other clients Supervisors Bates and Nguyen). Vote the bum out!

5:03 p.m.
Roy Bauer says:

.....This is all about the rotten half of the local GOP. Williams’ board colleague at the South Orange County Community College District is former OC GOP chief Tom Fuentes, who has connections and knows how to work the system. Williams’ curious ascendancy to his County office occurred soon after Fuentes’ arrival on the board in 2000 (to replace Williams’ good pal Steve Frogue, who resigned under a cloud of suspicion that he was a Holocaust denier).
.....The same Fuentes, until recently, arranged to have his pal Chriss Street, disgraced OC Treasurer, regularly visit the SOCCCD for tax revenue reports. He also arranged visits (to Irvine Valley College) by Mike Carona, at least until the Mikester became a convicted felon.
.....Street’s lawyer, Phil Greer, is also (surprise!) John Williams’ lawyer; not only is he Williams’ lawyer, but when the Prez of the [SOCCCD] board (Don Wagner, now running for Assembly) gathered the board votes to unload Fuentes’ conniving toady, SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu Mathur, somehow, Greer became Mathur’s lawyer, and was paid $25K of taxpayer money to help secure Mathur a good exit deal, according to which the taxpayer will pay Mathur’s full salary for a full year after his retirement. (You’ve gotta love these fiscal conservatives.)
.....When, after two scathing Grand Jury reports, Williams faced the Supes, Greer showed up to represent him and, somehow, things worked out pretty well for the ex-bailiff. Interestingly, 3 or 4 of the 5 Supes are also represented by Greer.
.....A few days ago, at Mathur’s farewell bash at the Balboa Bay Club, MCed by Fuentes, all the usual GOP pols were there (or were represented), and so was—you guessed it—Steve Frogue, Holocaust denier. Don’t know about Dave Lang, another trustee, who is running for Treasurer with Fuentes’ support—something he got after he suddenly changed his tune and commenced supporting Toady Mathur, after 9 years of being Mathur’s enemy.
.....It’s OC Republican politics, Jake. Do you think the OC Reg will weigh in on the scandal that is John Williams? Don’t think so. Wonder why?

UPDATE: one more great comment

.....On the other hand, at about 6:00 p.m. tonight, someone who calls himself/herself “modjeskawater” commented on the recent “Voice of OC” piece (Auditor Reviewing Administrator/Public Guardian Time Sheets) about Williams—a piece that, unlike today’s OJ Blog piece, focused on the apparent discrepancy between Williams’ County timesheets and the district’s trustee travel records:

.....Elected officials and FLSA exempt executive and administrative management employees don't normally prepare hourly employee type of time cards in either the public or private sector. These documents appear to be just the county auditor/payroll dept. record of payment of a flat salary to an exempt executive manager/department head, not an hourly employee's timecards at all.
.....Quick online research at the county's HR website reveals the Personnel and Salary Resolution dated 2003, that discusses exempt vs. non-exempt, salaried vs. hourly employees. Read it. "The work period for exempt employees shall begin on a Friday and end on the 2nd Thursday thereafter. Employees in this exempt class may work more than or less than 80 hours in this two week pay period as determined by the Department Head." There is no overtime paid at this level. This document describes all exempt employees including the elected officials and the board of supervisors, administrative staff and other salaried employees.
.....The payroll documents referred to appear simply show a flat salary for an exempt employee and the private sector does the same thing. These type of records for exempt employees normally wouldn't reflect work activity on evenings or weekends referred to in a previous post by a reader because no overtime is paid.
.....The readers might consider speaking with a friend practicing labor/employment law (nobody listens to us) or the human resources field to get the straight scoop on this which will confirm my information in this post.
.....The travel information appears to be a college matter.

.....If this is correct, one wonders why, during the many weeks we have publicly referred to these apparent discrepancies, Williams never bothered to offer the above discrepancy-resolving explanation.
.....Further, if this information is correct, why, when given these records, did the County launch an investigation? Why not simply explain that the timesheets are not at all what they appear to be. If I understand him, modjeskawater is saying that these timesheets are a peculiarly misleading artifact of employment records for a certain class of employees. They are not records of the employee’s presence at the workplace.
.....And, naturally, modjeskawater’s point, if sound, does not address the other difficulties we have highlighted concerning Williams’ peculiar pattern of expenses during conference travel. Observe that the "discrepancies" issue is only one part of the case made against Williams by today's OJ Blog piece.

Orange Juice Blog goes after John Williams

This morning, Vern Nelson of the popular Orange Juice Blog posted a blistering attack on trustee/Public Administrator/Gardian John Williams:

Worst. Public Administrator. Ever. - Vote OUT John Williams!

For eight years now, the office of “Public Administrator – Public Guardian” been helmed by John Williams, who just might be Orange County’s worst “public servant” since Mike Carona was shown the prison door. Comfy as a bug in a rug in the OC’s corrupt, incestuous political machine, there’s severe danger this oft-investigated teflon Don will continue his reign of waste and incompetence another four years if he squeaks through the elections this year. Please, Republicans, independents and Democrats,before you check off, or speed past, that part of your ballot, you really need to hear about: 

• Williams’ lavish waste of taxpayer money building a top-heavy agency stuffed with cronies in unneeded six-figure “management” positions;
• the numerous citizens’ estates left languishing for years due to overworked demoralized staff, till they were eaten away by PA fees;
• the TWO scathing grand jury reports on his tenure, which have had no effect on this well-protected machine politico;
• this six-figure-salaried administrator’s latest double-dipping scandal;
• more and sundry malfeasance; and
• his TWO worthy challengers, and why it’s not a problem that there are two.

(Continued)

Pretty scathing. Read on. It only gets, um, scathinger.

Moving beyond the band-aid; high expectations (Edwards)

.....I’ve been sniffing around for info about what kind of job John Edwards is doing, and has done, as Director of Facilities. Today, I spoke with a particularly knowledgeable person who seems sympathetic (to a degree) to both sides in this conflict, but who felt strongly that some of the complaints about John that we’ve heard since Friday are very unfair, very wrong.
.....Mr. K (as I’ll call him) acknowledges that John is a “military-type” guy who isn’t into warm and fuzzies. And, yes, he does have a temper, says K, but only because he has high expectations of accomplishment.
.....K notes that Edwards works very hard, typically six days a week, and he never asks people to do anything he doesn’t do himself. There are lazy managers on our campus, but Edwards is the opposite sort.
.....K offers a big picture of the key change that the facilities/maintenance unit has undergone in recent years. For years, the directors pursued the unfortunate “band-aid” tradition: endless fixes that are half-assed and cheap. John has pursued a proactive approach, with fixes that are done right.
.....K thinks that it has been hard for the crew to get used to this fundamental change.
.....K acknowledges that John isn’t perfect, but he’s a decent and honorable man who works very hard, does things right, and expects a lot from workers. He has accomplished an amazing amount, says K, given his resources. K is very impressed.
.....K says that there are some employees who hate the very idea of being told to actually work, who complain interminably about the big and small. There does seem to be a culture of whinery, at least among some workers, says K.
.....I spoke to someone else today who suggested to me that, whatever else may be true of Edwards and his crew, it is plain that the maintenance unit is afflicted with a communication problem. One senses that there are some good people here who, somehow, aren’t listening or who aren’t being clear about their intentions and demands.

UPDATE: today (Wednesday, May 19), I spoke with a colleague who is very familiar with Edwards and also with most of the maintenance staff. She assures me that, though Edwards is demanding, he's done a remarkable job and deserves our support. She also emphasized the fine job that some maintenance workers do and have done. --BvT

Sent by a friend. Very funny:

Shyster Greer says it's "much ado about nothing"; we'll see

.....Tracy Wood of the Voice of OC just posted this:

Auditor Reviewing County Administer/Public Guardian Time Sheets

.....Orange County's Internal Auditor is reviewing payroll time sheets turned in by County Administrator/Public Guardian John Williams, who traveled to conferences for a community college district at the same time records show he was on duty, working for the county.
.....A citizen complaint to the county questioned how Williams legally could turn in time cards that said he was doing county work while he was physically at conferences in San Diego, San Francisco or out-of-state.
.....Williams is an elected trustee of the South Orange County Community College District as well as the elected county administrator. Additionally, he was appointed Public Guardian by the Board of Supervisors. He is up for re-election in June as Administrator.
.....Public record travel expenses for the community college trustees were posted on Dissent the Blog coupled with public record county payroll time sheets that showed Williams on the clock for the county while traveling for the community college district.
.....A spokesperson for Dr. Peter Hughes, director of the county's Internal Audit Department, said it was "premature" to discuss the review.
.....Williams' lawyer, Phil Greer said the situation is "much ado about nothing."
.....Said Greer: "There's nothing there -- no conflict and no contradiction."
.....Greer said Williams' county work is exempt from strict time card regulations because he is expected to work nights and weekends as well, and does that.
.....Last year the county grand jury twice castigated the operations of Williams office, according to the Orange County Register, accusing it of bloating its payroll with too many top managers while not even knowing the size of its caseload.
.....However, the board of supervisors decided to keep the administrator's office as an elected position and retain Williams as public guardian.
.....Williams said grand jurors didn't understand the technicalities of his staff's work requirements.
.....Orange County Manager of Media Relations Howard Sutter confirmed Williams' time sheets were referred to the Internal Audit Department earlier this month but added "I don't have any information to report on the status of the review by the Internal Audit."
.....Public records travel expenses also were released by South Orange County Community College District

.....So let's see. Because Williams, qua PA/PG, is exempt from strict time card regulations, he gets to turn in timesheets (upon which, presumably, his pay is based) that say he worked full days at his office in Santa Ana even though he was in fact in Orlando, Florida?
.....Don't think so.
.....Greer's the same guy who, not long ago, insisted in court that Treasurer Chriss Street is a straight arrow. That resulted in some serious Street cleaning and arrow breakage.
.....Recently, Greer was paid $25,000 to help Raghu Mathur negotiate a sweet "exit" deal re his ousting from the chancellorship of the SOCCCD. $25,000!
.....His ethics have been called into question.
.....To see the records that reveal discrepancies, see John Williams: like an electron

SEE ALSO One year of John Williams' travel on the district's dime

Gosh, thanks, Matt

.....Jason just clued me into this. The OC Weekly's Matt Coker has decided to bundle three "Una" people: the Unabomber, the Unabauer (me), and the Unarobber.
.....I really don't want to explain how I got that stupid moniker. Not again. Let's just say that John Williams is an idiot and leave it at that.
.....Matt makes clear that, unlike the other two UnaPersons, I'm not dangerous. "He wouldn't hurt a flea--honest!" says Matt.
.....Gosh, thanks, Matt.
.....But who's this "Unarobber" guy?

........The Unarobber is a 5 foot 9 white guy in his 30s who weights 180 lbs. and has short dark hair, a moustache and goatee and some kind of tattoo on the left side of his neck. An armed bank robber, the FBI gave him the nickname because he wears a hoodie and shades--just like the Unabomber.
.....(It should be noted here that it is within the realm of possibility that Bauer does not even own a hoodie.) [Right.]
.....At around 10:45 a.m. Saturday--while the Unabomber was rotting in jail and the Unabauer was likely creating one of his amazingly hilarious photo illustration mash-ups--the Unarobber walked into the Wells Fargo on Alicia Parkway in Laguna Niguel.
.....He placed a backpack on the counter, pointed a semiautomatic handgun at a pregnant teller and threatened to kill her and her baby if she did not hand over the loot, according to sheriff's deputies.
.....Wells Fargo Bank has since put up a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the Unarobber.

Asking questions (John Edwards)

.....As regular DtB readers know, there’s been considerable discussion regarding my recent post about the classified forum (or whatever it was) at Irvine Valley College last Friday. During that meeting, a maintenance worker criticized Director of Maintenance, John Edwards. He noted Edwards’ temper, claimed people were afraid of him. He (I called him “Em”) also suggested that Edwards retaliated against him (for Em's criticisms, etc.) by reassigning him to the night shift.
.....I’ve always found John to be friendly and reasonable, but that, of course, is compatible with Em’s complaints.
.....I did want to mention, in case you didn’t know, that John is widely credited with having vastly improved the state of maintenance on campus. I spoke with knowledgeable people today who were very clear on that point. Some also insisted that, prior to Edwards’ arrival (in maintenance), the maintenance staff were in desperate need of strong leadership, and, whatever his faults, John has provided that.
.....As near as I can tell, Edwards has a reputation among his colleagues as being thoughtful and even wise. He’s ex-military; he has that management “style.” Possibly, that alone creates some friction.
.....On the other hand, it is easy to hide problems where the workdays of employees are largely invisible and workers are unaccustomed to getting a spotlight shined on their woes. That’s why we feel obliged to take the complaints of a guy like Em seriously.
.....We’ll keep asking questions.

Nice try, Don

.....Got a call early this morning from an OC Reg reporter. “Want to comment on the judge’s recent action in the SOCCCD prayer case?”, he asked. “Nope,” I answered.
.....I told him that it’s a non-story.
.....“Don Wagner is running for office and he wants his name in the paper. That’s what this is about, dude,” I said.
.....“Who’ll talk to me?” asked the reporter.
.....Maybe Karla down in Saddleback College. Try her.
.....Well, the story finally appeared (online) about an hour and a half ago. Evidently, the reporter didn't get ahold of Karla. He didn't get ahold of anybody. He built his dinky story around old quotations (plus my peevishness).
.....He didn't even get ahold of the district's lawyer, John "Mad Dog" Vogt.
.....Don's gonna be pissed.

Judge: Prayer at college events can continue (OC Reg)

.... A request that would have barred religious invocations at Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges until a lawsuit on the matter could be heard has been denied by a federal judge.. . .
.....Judge R. Gary Klausner, a federal judge in the Central District of California, denied the request last week because the plaintiffs did not show that "irreparable injury" would be caused if the invocations are included as part of the program at college events, according to a news release from the district.. . .
.....[Plaintiff Karla] Westphal told the Register in November that including prayer can be offensive to both religious and non-religious people. ¶ "The prayer does not belong, period. The content doesn't matter," Westphal said….
.....District officials "consistently have maintained that the practice of including a non-sectarian ceremonial invocation ... is an important one" and that doing so "brings about dignity and solemnity"…......
.....No final ruling has been made on the lawsuit. John A. Vogt, an attorney representing the district, did not return a call for comment regarding when the case might be heard.