Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas during a news conference on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.

By Tony Saavedra | tsaavedra@scng.com and Jordan Graham | jgraham@scng.com | Orange County Register
Published: May 26, 2017 at 4:57 pm
Updated: May 26, 2017 at 5:49 pm

Two investigators for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office say their top boss, Tony Rackauckas, as well as other county prosecutors and office supervisors, covered up criminal conduct by police and hid evidence in several high-profile cases.

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On Sept. 2, 2015, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Todd Spitzer was emotional while reflecting on an incident more than five months previously at Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Lake Forest. He handcuffed Jeobay Castellano and called police when the man would not stop trying to proselytize even when Spitzer told him he was a Christian. (File photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

By Tony Saavedra | tsaavedra@scng.com | Orange County Register
Published:  May 22, 2017 at 5:06 pm
Updated:    May 23, 2017 at 7:30 am

The day after the news show “60 Minutes” turned a national spotlight on local prosecutors’ misuse of jailhouse informants, an Orange County supervisor formally asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over the district attorney’s office.

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The U.S. Department of Justice is carrying out a new probe into the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Seen are DA Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. (File photos by Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Jan. 6, 2017 – Updated 9:18 p.m.

Community forums. Face-to-face meetings with leaders of the local deputies union and with local defense attorneys. Twitter.

Is this any way to conduct a civil-rights investigation?

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Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens speaks in August. (Sam Gangwer/Staff Photographer)

By Kelly Puente and Tony Saavedra / Staff Writers
Published:  Dec. 16, 2016
Updated:     Dec. 17, 2016 – 8:57 a.m.

A judge said Friday that he might find Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in contempt of court because of her department’s reaction to an order to produce documents in the trial of admitted killer Scott Dekraai.

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The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a civil rights investigation into the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department over allegations that prosecutors and police routinely withhold evidence and use jailhouse informants to illegally obtain confessions. From left, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. (Photos by Orange County Register/SCNG)

By Kelly Puente / Staff Writer
Published: Dec. 15, 2016
Updated:   Dec. 16, 2016 – 7:12 a.m.

The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department on Thursday over allegations that prosecutors and deputies withhold evidence and use jailhouse informants to illegally obtain confessions.

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Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, shown in October, is hearing the challenge in the Cole Wilkins case. Goethals is also the judge in the Scott Dekraai mass murder case. (Ken Steinhardt/File Photo)

By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Published: Dec. 3, 2016
Updated:   Dec. 4, 2016 – 8:49 p.m.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office, harshly criticized in a recent appellate court ruling for a systemic failure to protect defendants’ rights and under investigation by the state attorney general and the county grand jury, is facing a new legal challenge that could remove it from a second high-profile murder case in less than two years.

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A committee of legal experts hand-picked by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in January issued a report declaring his office a “rudderless ship” and calling for a deeper investigation into the use of jailhouse informants. The five-member panel called for the Orange County Grand Jury, the state Attorney General or the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate allegations that prosecutors and police misused a covert network of jailhouse informants and withheld evidence from defense attorneys. (Photo by Joshua Sudock, Orange County Register/SCNG)

By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
Oct. 25, 2016 – Updated 11:21 p.m.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will not reinstate a top oversight position that his handpicked investigatory committee said last year could help steer the “rudderless” ship his office had become and that might have helped to prevent its ongoing jailhouse informant controversy.

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By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Oct. 8, 2016 – Updated 10:56 a.m.

Local public defenders, frustrated by the District Attorney’s practice of barring certain judges from key homicide cases, have taken their argument to the California Supreme Court.

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Judge Thomas M. Goethals during a 2014 case. (Ken Steinhardt / Staff Photographer)

By Sean Emery / Staff Writer
Aug. 17, 2016 – Updated 10:08 p.m.

SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge offered to remove himself from a murder trial Wednesday, only to learn that attorneys on both sides want him to stay on a case that involves allegations of prosecutors falsifying evidence.

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Former San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Mary Izadi has been hired by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department as an adviser on constitutional issues. (Leonard Ortiz / Staff Photographer)

Published: Aug. 16, 2016
Updated:   Aug. 17, 2016 – 7:50 a.m.

Amid an ongoing jailhouse informants scandal that suggests Orange County sheriff’s deputies may have violated defendants’ civil liberties, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has hired a full-time adviser to review her department’s practices to ensure they are constitutionally sound.

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Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has cracked down on misuse of jailhouse informants. He threw a curve Monday to lawyers seeking removal of the District Attorney’s Office from a murder case following allegations of falsifying and withholding evidence. As he postponed the hearing until Wednesday, Goethals urged attorneys on both sides to consider an argument as to why he should or shouldn’t be removed from the case. (Joshua Sudock / File)

By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Aug. 15, 2016
Updated Aug. 16, 2016 – 7:25 a.m.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals threw a curve Monday to lawyers seeking removal of the District Attorney’s Office from a murder case following allegations of falsifying and withholding evidence.

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By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
Updated Aug. 6, 2016 – 8:25 a.m.

The state’s political watchdog has launched an investigation into whether Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas violated the Political Reform Act by failing to report charitable donations he used his influence to solicit, and by approving public funds to be spent promoting his chief of staff’s business partner.

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By Alma Fausto / Staff Writer
Updated Aug. 6, 2016 8:25 a.m.

The 4th District Court of Appeal rejected a request Friday by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for a rehearing on a ruling that was mainly in the office’s favor.

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By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
Updated July 26, 2016 – 7:39 a.m.

Orange County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to add a countywide initiative to the November ballot asking voters to change their office’s term limits.

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By Tony Saavedras, Staff Writer
July 22, 2016

The American Civil Liberties Union sent volunteer watchers into local courtrooms Friday, a move aimed at bringing attention to what the civil rights group describes as routine cheating by prosecutors in Orange County.

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By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
published: July 7, 2016
Updated: July 8, 2016 – 6:29 a.m.

An Orange County supervisor has proposed a countywide initiative for the November ballot that would change term limits for him, his colleagues and future board members.

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Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Published: June 30, 2016
Updated: July 1, 2016 – 7:38 a.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the latest salvo in the group’s onging investigation into the county’s use of jailhouse informants.

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Joe Nelson, The Sun
Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Stephen Wall, The Press-Enterprise
Posted: 06/21/16 – 10:09 PM PDT |

Inland public employees aren’t just earning a paycheck, but collecting hefty compensation packages that often dwarf their base salaries, an open-records advocacy group announced Tuesday.

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Associated Press
Posted:     06/11/2016 – 11:47:28 PM PDT
Updated: 06/11/2016 – 11:48:01 PM PDT

SANTA ANA — Authorities in Orange County have acknowledged an extensive log detailing the handling of jailhouse informants was kept by sheriff’s deputies but never released despite court hearings last year over the use of snitches in the high-profile case of a mass killer.

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Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
June 9, 2016 – Updated 10:49 p.m.

Secret notes kept by Orange County sheriff’s deputies on jailhouse informants appear to contradict testimony given by deputies during legal hearings for confessed Seal Beach mass murderer Scott Dekraai, prosecutors said late Thursday.

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Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas held a press conference inside where he accused Supervisor Todd Spitzer of impersonating an OCDA assistant district attorney. Rackauckas said Spitzer failed to identify himself as a ‘former’ assistant district attorney in an automated call supporting Measure A that went out to voters last week. (Jeff Gritchen / Staff Photographer)

By Sean Emery / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016 – Updated 11:03 p.m.

SANTA ANA – A dispute over a robocall urging voters to support a local ethics commission had Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and an Orange County supervisor on Tuesday accusing each other of wrongdoing.

The insults continued a yearslong feud between the two.

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By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Published: May 9, 2016
Updated:   May 10, 2016 7:39 a.m.

Convicted double murderer Henry Rodriguez was released on bail Monday after 18 years in prison, another felony case upended because of questions related to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office’s use of jailhouse informants.

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Three inmates escaped from the Orange County Central Men’s Jail on January 22, 2016. The facility was built in 1968. Erika Aguilar/KPCC

Erika Aguilar
May 05, 2016 – 09:36 PM

Orange County sheriff’s officials have assigned an investigative sergeant to monitor how and if jailhouse informants will be used with the Sheriff’s consultation after deputies failed to disclose records to the court on the department’s inmate informant program.

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Attorney James Crawford was injured in a fight with an Orange County district attorney’s investigator at a Santa Ana courthouse. (Courtesy of Jerry Steering)

Christopher Goffard
March 15, 2016

Attorneys for a man accused in a Lake Forest assault have asked that the Orange County district attorney’s office be thrown off the case, citing “a pattern of intimidation” against defense witnesses — most recently when one of the district attorney’s investigators bloodied an attorney in a courthouse hallway.

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Defense attorney James Crawford, who recently won a victory in a court case connected to the ongoing informant scandal, said he was attacked by a District Attorney’s investigator on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Jerry Steering)

By Sean Emery, Tony Saavedra and Scott Schwebke / Staff Writers
March 11, 2016 – Updated 8:04 a.m.

SANTA ANA – An Orange County defense attorney on Thursday launched an online petition calling for the arrest of a district attorney’s investigator involved in a courthouse altercation with Orange lawyer James Crawford.

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Attorney James Crawford shown after an alleged fight Wednesday involving an Orange County district attorney’s investigator at a Santa Ana courthouse. (Courtesy of Jerry Steering)

Richard Winton
March 9, 2016

The 10th floor of a Santa Ana courthouse was the site of a bloody brawl Wednesday between a defense attorney and an investigator from the Orange County district attorney’s office, authorities said.

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By Tony Saavedra and Scott Schwebke / Staff writers
March 4, 2016 – Updated 6:08 p.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California jumped into the Orange County fight over jailhouse informants on Friday, filing a public records request seeking access to internal law enforcement files dating back to 1985.

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Surrounded by staff, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, center, listens as The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets with Robert Gerard and other authors of the Orange County District Attorney Informant Policies & Practices Evaluation Committee Report at The Orange County Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday. Joshua Sudock ?Staff Photographer)

By Meghann M. Cuniff / Staff Writer
Updated Jan. 13, 2016 8:34 a.m.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday told the district attorney and sheriff to estimate how much it will cost to implement an outside legal committee’s reform recommendations in the wake of the county’s jailhouse informant controversy.

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Orange County Dist. Atty Tony Rackauckas created a special committee in July amid mounting criticism about the use of jailhouse informants by his office. (Los Angeles Times)

Matt Hamilton and James Queally
December 4, 2015

A “failure of leadership” at the Orange County district attorney’s office led to repeated problems with the handling of jailhouse informants and helped erode confidence in criminal cases that rely on their testimony, according to a report made public Monday.

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Dec. 31, 2015 – Updated 8:59 a.m.

About this story: This report was written by Edward Humes, the author of 13 nonfiction books and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Orange County Register coverage of the military. The story is based on extensive reporting by the Register’s staff, including Tony Saavedra, David Ferrell, Kelly Puente, Tom Berg and Ian Wheeler, previously published stories and legal documents obtained by the newspaper since the arrest of Scott Dekraai after the worst mass shooting in Orange County history. Illustrations were drawn by Jeff Goertzen.

Read more at the Register’s ‘Inside the Snitch Tank’ site

Prologue

On his last day of freedom, Scott Dekraai spoke on the phone with his ex-wife. Let’s meet for coffee, he suggested.

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During his opening statements in the People v. Ramos and Cicinelli, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas wielded a police baton to demonstrate how he believed Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos threatened Kelly Thomas in 2011. (Bruce Chambers / File)

By David Ferrell and Tony Saavedra
December 27, 2015 – Updated 12:33 p.m.

Tough, street-smart Tony Rackauckas, who left gang-marred East Los Angeles to jump from the sky as a U.S. Army paratrooper, has spent the better part of his legal career in one battle or another.

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By Jessica Kwong / Staff Writer
Dec. 24, 2015 – Updated 9:25 a.m.

SANTA ANA – Employees with Orange County’s largest union are heading into the holidays assured of their biggest salary raise since the recession, under a three-year contract the Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday morning.

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In the latest milestone of Orange County’s shifting political milieu, Republicans’ share of voter registration has fallen below 40 percent for the first time in the county’s history.(Register Photo)

By Martin Wisckol / Staff Writer
Dec. 9, 2015
Updated Dec. 10, 2015 – 7:54 a.m.

In the latest milestone of Orange County’s shifting political milieu, Republicans’ share of voter registration has fallen below 40 percent for the first time in the county’s history.

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By Kelly Puente and Tony Saavedra / Staff Writers
Nov. 19, 2015
Updated Nov. 20, 2015 – 12:36 p.m.

After four sheriff’s deputies refused to testify in court on grounds of self-incrimination, an Orange County judge on Wednesday granted a new trial for a gang member convicted of murder.

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By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Nov. 19, 2015
Updated Nov. 22, 2015 – 3:56 a.m.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday blasted a letter by more than three dozen former prosecutors and legal heavy-hitters calling for a federal investigation into the use of jailhouse informants as ill-timed and ill informed.

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By Rex Dalton
November 18, 2015 at 2:00 PM

A coalition of national legal authorities is calling for a federal investigation of the Orange County District Attorney and Sheriff’s Department for alleged systemic violations of defendants’ rights involving jail informants.

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Sept. 30, 2015 – Updated 11:18 p.m.

ORANGE – A top official for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office had a one-word response Wednesday to widespread accusations that local prosecutors illegally use jailhouse informants and withhold evidence beneficial to the defense: “baloney.”

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By Jonathan Lansner / Staff Columnist
Sept. 28, 2015 – Updated 12:00 a.m.

The start of the year was very good for Orange County paychecks.

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Deputy David Tilstra sits in the helicopter he was piloting when he was shot in 2004 over Baker Canyon. (File: H. Lorren Au, Jr. / Staff Photographer)

By Scott Schwebke / Staff Writer
Updated: Sept. 22, 2015 7:36 a.m.

Police shootings from helicopters, like what happened Friday when San Bernardino deputies opened fire during a freeway chase, are unusual but not unheard of in Orange County.

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Judge Thomas Goethals handed the case to the California Attorney General’s Office, which is appealing on the grounds that the sheriff’s department — which oversees the jails and snitches — committed misconduct, not the district attorney’s office. (Mark Rightmire / File Photo)

By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
July 22, 2015
Updated July 23, 2015 10:32 a.m.

Related stories

• Watchdog: Is panel reviewing use of O.C. jailhouse informants really independent?
• Gang member once facing life will instead go free, as jailhouse informant battles derail another case
• Killer gets life sentence cut to 15 years after O.C. authorities misuse jail informants
• Defense: Misuse of jailhouse informant should block death penalty in man’s double-murder case
• O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens: Poor organization, training led to mistakes with jailhouse informants

The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at the jailhouse informant scandal in Orange County, a move that could lead to a federal takeover of the District Attorney’s Office.

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By Margot Roosevelt / Staff Writer
June 24, 2015 – Updated 11:29 p.m.

Orange County will add more jobs this year than at any time in the past 15 years, buoyed in part by a reviving national economy, Chapman University economists predict.

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By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Updated: June 19, 2015 – 8:50 p.m.

A single missing document in a DUI case, noticed three months ago by a courtroom clerk, set off a probe by the FBI and local prosecutors that has grown to more than 1,000 cases of suspected record fixing.

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The probe allegedly centers on a court employee suspected of falsifying records to benefit defendants, recording dismissals where there were none, reducing charges and, in at least one case, making it appear a defendant served jail time.

By Tony Saavedra and Kelly Puente / Staff Writers
June 12, 2015
Updated June 13, 2015 – 8:16 a.m.

The FBI and county prosecutors are investigating fake plea deals and forgeries recorded in hundreds of DUI and misdemeanor traffic cases at Orange County Superior Court.

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Monday, June 1, 2015 – 8:45 a.m.

In America, politics can and does infiltrate the justice system. It happens more than people realize.

Right now Orange County, California is front and center.

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DA Tony Rackuackas flanked by staffers Susan Kang Schroeder and Scott Simmons

By R. Scott Moxley
Mon. Jun. 1 2015 at 3:00 AM

All prayers inside the Orange County district attorney’s office (OCDA) that their 16-month jailhouse informant scandal would quietly disappear as just another empty, partisan controversy likely ended on May 31 thanks to veteran journalist Kevin D. Williamson, a frequent guest on Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC and NPR.

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by Kevin D. Williamson
May 31, 2015 4:00 AM
@kevinNR

The GOP should turn its attention to prosecutorial misconduct.

As the old Vulcan proverb has it, “Only Nixon can go to China.” And only Nixon’s political heirs can fix the persistent — and terrifying — problems that continue to plague this country’s law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices.

Exhibit A: Orange County, California.

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By Shaun King
Friday, May 29, 2015 at 11:26 AM PDT

Between San Diego and Los Angeles is Orange County, California. With more than 3 million residents, it’s larger than 21 states. If Orange County were a separate country, its economy would be the 45th largest in the world. Now known for Disneyland, the county may soon be known for having one of the most corrupt justice systems in the world. The width and depth and duration of the corruption truly boggles the mind. A case that should’ve been open and shut has blown the lid off some deep secrets.

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Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly. (Los Angeles Times)

By Emily Foxhall
May 13, 2015

An Orange County judge who is being threatened with recall for giving a child molester a lenient prison sentence contends he is a respected jurist who is the victim of a “misleading” campaign.

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Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido (Right) and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

By Adam Elmahrek
May 11, 2015 at 2:53 PM

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido has agreed to pay $13,000 in fines to the state’s political watchdog for several violations of state law related to a real estate deal he conducted with a city contractor.

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By Emily Foxhall
May 4, 2015

A group behind the effort to recall an Orange County Superior Court judge filed the necessary paperwork Monday with the county’s Registrar of Voters to get the process underway.

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April 22, 2015
Updated April 21, 2015 – 7:36 p.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally called for Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly to resign because of his decision to sentence a child rapist to 10 years instead of the mandatory minimum of 25 years.

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District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Mayor Pulido sit together at the mayor’s table at the state of the city address in June. (Photo by: Adam Elmahrek/Voice of OC).

By Adam Elmahrek
April 15, 2015 at 7:28 AM

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will be clearing Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido of any criminal wrongdoing related to a property swap between the mayor and a city contractor, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.

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Orange County officials Thursday called for the resignation of a superior court judge who cut 15 years off the minimum 25 year sentence of a man convicted of sodomizing a 3-year-old girl.

By Emily Foxhall
April 9, 2015

In more than 15 years on the bench, Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly said, he had never run into a case like the 19-year-old child molester facing a minimum 25-year prison term.

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By Abby Phillip
April 7, 2015 at 4:48 PM

In December, a jury convicted 20-year-old Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl. In California, that charge comes with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life.

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By Emily Foxhall, Doug Smith and Anh Do
March 27, 2015

On paper, the race for Orange County supervisor seemed to be Lou Correa’s to win.

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By Keegan Kyle / Staff Writer
March 27, 2015 – Updated 9:47 p.m.

Orange County’s population growth is little more than a trickle these days, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

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By REX DALTON
March 20, 2015 at 5:41 PM

The state Attorney General’s Office announced today it will conduct “an independent investigation” of alleged misconduct by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackaukas’ office in the prosecution of mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai.

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O.C. Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas’ office has been removed from the Seal Beach murder case. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By Christopher Goffard
March 20, 2015

For 3 1/2 years, Paul Wilson has waited for his wife’s killer to face trial, a wait protracted by lengthy evidentiary hearings probing the mishandling of the case by authorities.

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State Sen.-elect John Moorlach, the former county supervisor, took 50.3 percent of the vote, winning the majority needed to avoid a runoff in the four-person race. He had 4,600 more votes than Assemblyman Don Wagner, who had 44.1 percent. (File: Mindy Schauer – Staff Photographer)

By MARTIN WISCKOL / STAFF WRITER
March 19, 2015 – Updated 9:29 p.m.

John Moorlach’s successful bid to fill Orange County’s vacant state Senate seat became a mathematical certainty Thursday evening, with all ballots on hand tallied by election workers and only a smattering of late mail ballots expected to arrive today.

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District Attorney Tony Rackauckas interviews a witness during the preliminary hearing into Kelly Thomas’ death in 2012. (FILE: Joshua Sudock, Staff Photographer)

March 16, 2015
Updated March 17, 2015 8:23 a.m.
By Tony Saavedra, Kelly Puente and Tom Berg / Staff Writers

One thing about District Attorney Tony Rackauckas: He’s a street fighter who can take a punch.

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Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said it’s clear that deputies’ testimony was “inconsistent” with statements they made in previous hearings. (SAM GANGWER, FILE PHOTO)

March 14, 2015
Updated March 15, 2015 – 8:22 a.m.
BY KELLY PUENTE / STAFF WRITER

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas conceded Saturday his office made mistakes prosecuting the county’s deadliest killer, but disagrees with a judge’s decision to remove the agency from the case.

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Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has been the focus of 57 disqualification requests from prosecutors since February 2014. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By Christopher Goffard
March 13, 2015

For years, Thomas Goethals has weighed the fates of some of Orange County’s most violent criminals. But since the judge began presiding over heated hearings probing the misuse of jailhouse informants, dozens of prosecutors have steered criminal cases away from his courtroom.

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By Christopher Goffard
March 12, 2015

In a stinging rebuke, a criminal court judge removed the Orange County district attorney’s office from one of its highest-profile murder cases, saying prosecutors had violated mass shooter Scott Dekraai’s rights by repeatedly failing to turn over important evidence.

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Feb. 22, 2015 – 4:25 p.m.
By CITY NEWS SERVICE

SANTA ANA — Former state Sen. Lou Correa raised multiple questions about mistakes and possible fraud in his narrow loss to Andrew Do for Orange County supervisor, but he said it would be too costly to try to overturn the results in a court.

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Andrew Do on his first day on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Do will keep his seat, now that a vote recount has ended in his favor. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

By Anh Do
February 13, 2015

A recount for Orange County’s first district supervisor race ended Friday night, with no change after a review of nearly 6,250 vote-by-mail ballots, officials said.

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Feb. 9, 2015
Updated 8:38 p.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER

The first day of the recount in the 1st District Board of Supervisors election will be the last after Monday ended with no changes to Republican Andrew Do’s 43-vote victory.

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Andrew Do on his first day on the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Do beat former state Sen. Lou Correa for the seat by a 43-vote margin; an official recount is underway. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

By Anh Do and Matt Hamilton
February 4, 2015

A former state senator who lost a special election for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors said he has asked for a recount because of concerns over “voting irregularities.”

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Republican Andrew Do defeated well-known Democrat Lou Correa by a razor-thin margin in Tuesday’s special election for the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

By Christopher Goffard and Anh Do
January 31, 2015

Few Orange County politicians command the name recognition of Lou Correa, who has held seats in both houses of the California Legislature and on the county’s Board of Supervisors.

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Updated – Jan. 31, 2015 9:16 a.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER

Andrew Do was elected to the 1st District Board of Supervisors seat by 43 votes after the vote-counting wrapped up Friday, leaving Lou Correa, one of Orange County’s longest-standing politicians, jobless for the moment.

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Monday, December 29, 2014 – 12:30 p.m.

Our friends at The Orange Juice Blog have penned their final compelling summation of the events surrounding two go-nowhere District Attorney investigations into a coordinated effort to engineer the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds to developers.

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The county has hired an outside law firm to suggest what discipline, if any, should be handed out to officials who approved the contracts.

BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 16, 2014 Updated: 11:00 p.m.

A longtime county administrator set to become Orange County’s temporary chief executive faces a legal review related to nearly $1 million worth of no-bid contracts issued by the county over the past five years.

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Union law firm’s ‘candidate researchers’ face felony charges for Costa Mesa incident

By Steven Greenhut
Dec. 12, 2014

The arrest this week of two ex-cop private investigators — charged with felonies related to their alleged attempt to frame a Costa Mesa city councilman for a false DUI — is about more than the disturbing tactics of two hired guns. It offers insight into the way some police unions across California intimidate political opponents into silence.

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Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2014 1:11 pm | Updated: 7:59 pm, Thu Dec 11, 2014.
By ADAM ELMAHREK

The Orange County District Attorney’s office Thursday charged two private investigators with multiple felonies related to their alleged efforts to trap two Costa Mesa City Council members in embarrassing or illegal acts, according to a DA news release.

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Union critiques of superiors at Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office will be anonymous and public. Not everyone is thrilled.

BY SALVADOR HERNANDEZ / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 8, 2014 Updated: 9:49 p.m.

Hundreds of Orange County deputies and investigators will grade their bosses at the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Offices, then publicly share those opinions in the union’s monthly newsletter.

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Related Documents: DA 2011 Report on Fairgrounds

By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 6:00 am | Updated: 9:38 am, Thu Dec 4, 2014.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has once again cleared the Orange County Fair Board’s former Republican majority of any criminal wrongdoing relating to their efforts in 2009 to privatize the 163-acre fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

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O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens

BY TONY SAAVEDRA / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 5, 2014 Updated: 8:44 p.m.

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens this week joined the county’s top prosecutor in defending the use of jailhouse informants placed in cells wired to capture recorded confessions.

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The Orange County Board of Supervisors. (Nick Gerda / Voice of OC)

Posted: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 6:00 am | Updated: 10:06 am, Wed Dec 3, 2014.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.

As the 20th anniversary of Orange County’s municipal bankruptcy approaches, county supervisors are on the verge of reversing the centerpiece reform that emerged from the $1.5-billion financial disaster.

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Republicans had a good mid-term election nationwide and in Orange County wrested two state legislative seats from Democrats. But a Register analysis of Prop. 47 found a broader ongoing shift of county voters. We’re less Republican than we used to be.

BY MARTIN WISCKOL AND KEEGAN KYLE / STAFF WRITERS
Published: Nov. 17, 2014 Updated: Nov. 18, 2014 6:55 a.m.

Orange County continued its trend toward an electorate that looks more like the rest of the Democratic state when it supported Proposition 47 – which reduces some non-violent felonies to misdemeanors – with 53 percent of the vote.

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BY KELLIE MEJDRICH / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 30, 2014 Updated: Oct. 1, 2014 6:40 a.m.

Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved increasing the number of passengers allowed at John Wayne Airport by 9.2 percent within six years and permitting 10 more flights a day.

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Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 8:35 pm | Updated: 8:02 am, Wed Sep 17, 2014.
By NICK GERDA

The County Board of Supervisors Tuesday rejected, for the second time since last year, a grand jury proposal for stronger ethics oversight of county government.

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Official didn’t personally witness signatures being collected, though he signed the form saying he did, according to the DA.

BY SEAN EMERY and TONY SAAVEDRA / STAFF WRITERS
Published: Sept. 9, 2014 Updated: 10:05 p.m.

Prosecutors charged Orange County Assessor Webster J. Guillory on Tuesday with filing false nomination papers, alleging that during his re-election bid, he claimed to have personally collected signatures on petitions that were circulated by an associate.

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Saturday, August 23, 2014 – 10:30 a.m.

From political/campaign consultant to water consultant! Really?

The political blogs down in the O.C. are buzzing this week over the new candidacy of campaign consultant Dave Ellis.

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Annual returns are looking good for many funds, but they are still in a big hole when it comes to being able to meet obligations.

By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: Aug. 3, 2014 Updated: 6:20 p.m.

Public investment types may be rubbing their hands together muttering, “money, money, money,” after stellar returns over the past year, but some have a lot more to crow about than others.

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Solutions to filling the void in pension-benefit funding often pit unions against city officials.

By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: July 6, 2014 8:45 a.m.

So let’s start with the bracing news: Orange County cities have promised their workers more than $3.3 billion in retirement benefits that they do not have.

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A Register investigation shows that one in five fatal incidents across region isn’t disclosed.

BY KEEGAN KYLE / STAFF WRITER
Published: June 28, 2014 Updated: June 30, 2014 10:58 a.m.

California’s system for tracking deadly police shootings is plagued by confusion and inadequate oversight, further clouding public knowledge of an officer’s greatest power.

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