[NEWS] Santana: Can Orange County Supervisors Confront Corruption Legacy?

[H O L D F I R E 流]

Orange County Supervisors continue grappling with how to examine themselves and the bureaucrats that failed taxpayers on the heels of an FBI raid on former Supervisor Andrew Do’s house and his ensuing guilty plea on bribery charges. It all stems from relaxed contract oversight in a county government that manages a $9.5 billion budget for roughly 3.2 million residents. Ironically, this Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 OC bankruptcy – a similar oversight failure that shocked the nation and spurred a host of thoughtful reform proposals at the time – all eventually thwarted by politicians, bureaucrats and special interests. Today, much like the wake of the 1994 bankruptcy, it’s no easy task facing county supervisors. How do these apex politicians check themselves? Especially since they keep asking the same executive team that was dominated by Do and remains under fire for shoddy oversight on a mounting list of contracts and vendors. Over the past decade, again under Do’s leadership, county officials became adept at instituting the veneer of transparency. Independent agencies, like Performance Audit and the Auditor Controller were gutted while others – the Office of Independent Review – were given mandates that run counter to their public billing. Can Government Agencies Investigate Themselves? For more immediate proof of how county bureaucrats avoid finding things, consider the directives from a few months back and how one key review already got trimmed back. On the heels of Do’s admission of corruption in his public plea, Supervisors authorized a series of actions to flesh out how lax contract oversight triggered millions in losses on COVID contracts – losses now tied up in local courts. [Read: Santana: Are Reforms and Transparency Coming to Orange County?] Yet at a recent public meeting in late November, county supervisors found out their internal auditors didn’t plan to look over every one of $200 million in COVID contracts – a review supervisors publicly ordered in September to much fanfare. Supervisor Katrina Foley speaks at the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 27, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC Instead, the county’s internal auditors announced under questioning they were only looking at a sampling of contracts. That’s not what Supervisor Katrina Foley called for back in September – something she called out county executives about during the public meeting. The episode calls into question whether government bodies can investigate themselves. Independent Reviews Flesh Out Pathways to Reform Look what Anaheim city leaders found – and Irvine city leaders avoided – when they authorized an investigation into themselves in the wake of FBI affidavits: A review that painted a very ugly picture of influence peddling at city hall. [Read: What Does Another Corruption Scandal Mean for Orange County?] While Anaheim leaders didn’t like the investigation results going public, the experience did drive the most far-reaching transparency reforms ever at that city hall. It led to what city leaders now say is Orange County’s most transparent city – mainly because of more public gift disclosures, expanded lobbyist registration, publishing calendars online and the appointment of an ethics officer who oversees compliance with transparency laws, like campaign finance disclosures. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento has become the loudest proponent of an outside investigation into the county Hall of Administration, saying the only bright side of the current scandal is that it offers taxpayers a unique opportunity for reform. “There is this moment in time, to be able to ask some very profound questions about whether these abuses were isolated or a systemic problem,” Sarmiento told me in a recent interview. “That’s my question,” Sarmiento said, adding, “We have to ask that now.” Just like the fleeting window of reform during the bankruptcy decades ago, Sarmiento warns, “This moment will pass.” County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, left, at the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 27, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC Sarmiento – who also recently led board authorization of an outside review at the county’s health plan for the poor and elderly, CalOptima – sees more of a process like what Anaheim experienced rather than just internal audit reviews. [Read: Anaheim’s Own Look at City Hall Finds Disneyland Resort Businesses Improperly Steer Policymaking] Yet not everyone sees value in an outside investigation. Supervisor Katrina Foley bristles at the comparison to Anaheim, saying the city had to go with independent investigators because it doesn’t have its own audit departments like the county does. Yet Anaheim does have an Audit Division, which sits in the City Manager’s office – a chief executive who was also detailed in the 353-page corruption probe conducted by independent investigators. [Read: Fear and Loathing at Anaheim City Hall: Working Under the Gun of Retribution] “I think it’s appropriate to have an external review of the audit that we have done,” Foley said, adding she values an outside look but is concerned about timing. “I don’t want to impede our litigation,” Foley said, referring to county lawsuits against two nonprofits implicated in the FBI probe. [Read: Orange County Sues County Supervisor’s Daughter and Nonprofit Over Missing COVID Money] “It’s important because we have to get the money back,” Foley said referring to about $10 million in contract funds misspent. Supervisor Don Wagner argues against overreacting and establishing a bunch of new agencies and initiatives that don’t actually target the problem.