Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
BY MARTIN WISCKOL / STAFF WRITER
Published: May 30, 2014 Updated: 7:12 p.m.
Republicans once touted Orange County as “America’s Most Republican County” and the area was known nationwide as a GOP stronghold and fundraising Mecca.
BY SCOTT MARTINDALE / STAFF WRITER
Published: May 28, 2014 Updated: 7:19 p.m.
COSTA MESA – A former state lawmaker accused of improperly lobbying for the 2009 sale of the Orange County fairgrounds has been exonerated of wrongdoing, the latest development in an ongoing criminal probe of the failed sales effort.
Posted: Monday, March 10, 2014 12:08 pm | Updated: 7:39 am, Tue Mar 11, 2014.
By NICK GERDA
Orange County transportation officials fired their Sacramento lobbying firm Monday in the wake of a massive fine against the firm for giving illegal gifts to state lawmakers.
BY MARTIN WISCKOL
STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: March 7, 2014 Updated: March 8, 2014 7:52 a.m.
Over the years, the Orange County GOP has sometimes made it a point of pride to rally around an O.C. candidate in state Legislature districts that straddle county lines.
Not this time.
By Jill Cowan
March 3, 2014, 7:46 p.m.
Orange County has been deluged with more than 1,000 concealed weapons applications since rolling back restrictions in the wake of an appellate court ruling, and officials are preparing to hire more than a dozen retired deputies to handle the crush.
By Paloma Esquivel
February 27, 2014, 4:38 p.m.
Attorneys for the man charged with killing eight people in a Seal Beach salon three years ago have accused Orange County prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies of running an unconstitutional jailhouse informant operation that ensnared their client and other inmates.
BY MIKE REICHER / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Feb. 25, 2014 Updated: 9:36 p.m.
Orange County’s chief operating officer, who was convicted of election fraud in the 1990s, was stripped this week of his position overseeing the county elections office.
BY DAVID MONTERO / STAFF WRITER
Published: Feb. 19, 2014 Updated: Feb. 20, 2014 1:59 p.m.
The Orange County sheriff loosened requirements Wednesday for obtaining a concealed-weapons permit in light of a recent federal appellate court decision that deemed many urban counties in California to be overly restrictive in saying who can and can’t carry a concealed weapon.
Monday, February 17, 2014 – 02:00 p.m.
In part one of the series we looked at the stacked contract bidding process to handout four, three-year contracts totaling some $40 million in taxpayer dollars.
But there’s more to the story.
A human side of the story.
Posted by MIKE REICHER
Published: Feb. 14, 2014 Updated: Feb. 16, 2014 1:17 p.m.
Most agree that taxpayers should pay police well for risking their lives in the line of duty.
But should they be paid for the time they spend strapping on their gun belt and bulletproof vest? Or tying their boot laces? What if the department insists they dress in the stationhouse, instead of at home?
Posted: Sunday, February 16, 2014 8:23 pm | Updated: 10:11 am, Mon Feb 17, 2014.
By REX DALTON
A huge cache of records alleging the Orange County district attorney’s office and law enforcement agencies utilized a long-running informant program to violate defendants’ rights was unsealed last week in Orange County Superior Court.
Posted by MIKE REICHER
Published: Feb. 14, 2014 Updated: 1:49 p.m.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Shawn Nelson zips around town in a silver Toyota Prius – a $44,000 plug-in hybrid – which he gets to drive for free.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 – 10:15 a.m.
The political advisor to San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos and Sheriff-Coroner John McMahon has resigned his long-time appointed position on the Orange County Fair Board.
Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:41 pm | Updated: 8:35 am, Wed Jan 29, 2014.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
What a difference a county line makes.
In San Diego, a majority Republican Board of Supervisors is handing out big salary raises to sheriff’s deputies. Meanwhile, Orange County’s all-Republican Board of Supervisors is not only holding the line on salaries but demanding that deputies pay significantly more toward their pensions.
By TERI SFORZA
tsforza@ocregister.com
Published: Jan. 24, 2014 Updated: Jan. 25, 2014 8:17 a.m.
Orange County firefighters can boost overtime pay by counting vacation hours as time worked – a lucrative perk that costs taxpayers millions, and which at least one elected official says must go.
BY MIKE REICHER / STAFF WRITER
Published: Jan. 23, 2014 Updated: Jan. 24, 2014 7:57 a.m.
In the past year, the Orange County Public Employees Retirement System board has agreed to loan $450 million to companies in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, mostly little-known companies with poor credit ratings that need cash.
By Paloma Esquivel and Robert J. Lopez
January 13, 2014, 9:26 p.m.
The FBI said Monday that it would examine evidence in the Kelly Thomas police beating death trial to “see if further investigation is warranted.”
BY MARTIN WISCKOL / STAFF WRITER
Published: Jan. 13, 2014 Updated: Jan. 14, 2014 1:17 p.m.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ failure to win a conviction in the Kelly Thomas case, combined with two other recent court rulings against him, leaves Rackauckas more politically vulnerable if he draws an opponent in his re-election bid.
Sunday, November 24, 2013 – 10:00 a.m.
The drama surrounding the, now-closed, Upland-based law firm of Lackie, Dammeier, McGill and Ethir doesn’t seem to be abating in any way.
Posted: Monday, November 18, 2013 10:39 pm | Updated: 11:33 pm, Mon Nov 18, 2013.
By NICK GERDA
Following months of intense debates over how to best handle $5.7 billion in unfunded retirement obligations, leaders of Orange County’s local pension system have struck a deal to avoid a major surge in public agency payments that officials warned could bankrupt small cities.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 11/14/13, 7:40 PM PST | Updated: 1 hr ago
An Upland law firm accused of double and triple-billing police union clients across Southern California and bullying two Costa Mesa councilmen now stands accused of planting a GPS tracking device on one of those councilmen’s cars.
By Adolfo Flores and Paloma Esquivel
November 13, 2013, 9:35 p.m.
An Upland law firm accused of bullying civic leaders faced new accusations Wednesday of planting a GPS device on the car of a Costa Mesa official as a way to intimidate him.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 – 09:30 a.m.
The Upland-based law firm at the center of overbilling allegations, and an investigation by the Orange County District Attorney, has retained a prominent national law firm, to possibly seek damages.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
and Sandra Emerson, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 10/17/13, 7:08 PM PDT | Updated: 4 hrs ago
What began as an investigation into alleged fraudulent billing practices at an Upland law firm that has represented dozens of police unions across Southern California has branched off into a separate criminal probe by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Thursday, October 17, 2013 – 09:00 a.m.
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) of the Peace Officer’s Research Association of California (PORAC), says it has filed multiple complaints against the Upland-based law firm Lackie, Dammeier, McGill and Ethir.
The action comes after LDF trustee’s allege the law firm, a former member of the trust’s defense panel, engaged in overbilling practices.
By Paloma Esquivel and Joseph Serna
October 16, 2013, 9:21 p.m.
Orange County district attorney’s investigators have raided the offices of an Upland law firm accused of bullying civic leaders across Southern California in its aggressive representation of police and their unions.
Posted: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 3:47 pm | Updated: 7:19 am, Wed Oct 16, 2013.
By NICK GERDA
Orange County district attorney investigators obtained a search warrant late last week seeking records at the offices of an aggressive law firm accused of bullying city leaders across Southern California on behalf of police unions.
Thursday, October 10, 2013 – 12:57 p.m.
Sources report that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney are presently executing a search warrant at the Foothill Boulevard offices of Upland-based Law firm Lackie, Dammeier, McGill and Ethir.
By James Nash
September 11, 2013
California’s largest toll-road agency, whose revenue has trailed projections for six years, is nearing the biggest default in the $3.7 trillion municipal market since Detroit’s record bankruptcy.
By Jeff Gottlieb
August 31, 2013, 7:44 p.m.
When a pair of graduate students from little-known Brandman University dug out the salaries of top administrators at all 34 cities in Orange County and made them public, they were showered with praise.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Four years ago, Lou Correa, a Democratic state senator from Orange County, refused to vote for a state budget deal until then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other legislators agreed to give his county more money.
Posted: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 2:08 pm | Updated: 6:56 am, Wed Aug 7, 2013.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
Just as Sacramento leaders return for the end of this year’s legislative session, Orange County leaders are sending an important message:
Posted: Thursday, July 25, 2013 6:00 am | Updated: 2:31 pm, Thu Jul 25, 2013.
By TRACY WOOD and NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
The FBI, Internal Revenue Service, district attorney and U.S. attorney’s office have formed a task force to investigate reports of political corruption in Orange County, the FBI confirmed Wednesday.
Posted: Friday, June 14, 2013 4:48 pm | Updated: 7:03 pm, Fri Jun 14, 2013.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
County Supervisor Todd Spitzer said that when he and Supervisors’ Chairman Shawn Nelson joined state Sen. Lou Correa for a meeting on Thursday with the governor’s staff to discuss a dispute involving $73 million in property taxes, they were confronted over their straw votes this week to exempt themselves from budget cuts imposed on other departments.
By Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times
May 9, 2013, 11:57 p.m.
The first grand jury report described Orange County as being a “hotbed of corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of authority” while the next blamed political leaders for the “implosion” of the county’s health plan for the poor.
By Nicole Santa Cruz
May 8, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
Orange County may owe the state as much as $150 million after a judge tentatively ruled this week that it must pay back funds originally meant for local schools and community colleges.
Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 6:00 am
By TRACY WOOD
The Orange County Grand Jury, citing the county’s 40-year history of political corruption, Monday recommended creation of an independent ethics commission to advise elected officials of ethical pitfalls and increase public confidence in government.
By Matt Clark
March 27, 2013 – 06:01 p.m.
Here’s a list of the top 10 highest-paid county executives.
March 11th, 2013, 3:38 pm
Posted by MARTIN WISCKOL
Orange County is known as an ATM for political fundraisers – Mitt Romney came for the dough four times in 2012 – but the sums brought in by the county’s own Congress members are relatively middling.
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
March 8, 2013 | 3:52 pm
A report on the root causes of problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant shows that officials considered making design changes to the plant’s new steam generators before they were installed but rejected some fixes in part because they would require further regulatory approvals.
Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2013 7:00 am | Updated: 12:18 pm, Thu Jan 17, 2013.
BY NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
A committee set up by the Orange County Fair Board is recommending that the board urge Gov. Jerry Brown to investigate a shadowy statewide organization, the California Construction Authority, in connection with the failed effort during the Schwarzenegger administration to privatize the fairgrounds.
December 27th, 2012, 12:15 pm
Posted by Andrew Galvin
The County of Orange has persuaded the state’s Department of Finance to lower its demand for unused housing funds from the county’s former redevelopment agency, reducing by $29.6 million the amount the county must pay.
December 26th, 2012, 11:57 am
Posted by Jeff Collins
The value of homes in the Los Angeles-Orange County area jumped $122 billion in 2012, the biggest cumulative gain of any major metro area in the nation, the online real estate site Zillow.com reports.
By BRIAN JOSEPH / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Dec. 20, 2012
Updated: Dec. 21, 2012 7:02 a.m.
The state Department of Finance has demanded in recent weeks that 19 Orange County cities and the county itself turn over a combined $263 million in unused funds previously earmarked for low- and moderate-income housing.
By Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times
November 20, 2012, 4:08 a.m.
Orange County was once an instant synonym for Republican power, and the GOP’s dominance looked impregnable. Now, battered by the recent election results and dismayed by the slow, steady decline in party registration, Republicans here are struggling to craft a new strategy.
By Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times
September 16, 2012
One after another, people stepped before the Costa Mesa City Council to decry the blight and lawlessness on tiny Ford Road — prostitutes, thieves, home invaders. What the city needs, they pleaded, is more cops.
July 26th, 2012, 4:58 pm
Posted by Andrew Galvin
Tom Mauk agreed Thursday to resign as the county’s highest non-elected official, the latest executive departure since former O.C. Public Works manager Carlos Bustamante was charged with 12 felonies for alleged sexual abuse of female employees.
Mauk will receive about $270,000 in severance payments, said John Moorlach, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors. That includes 10 months of pay and 410 hours of accrued vacation time and is a bit less than Mauk would have been entitled to under his contract if he’d been fired, Moorlach said.
BY DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITER
dbegley@pe.com
Published: 05 April 2012 10:43 PM
Faced with a half-trillion dollars in Southern California transportation needs through 2035, officials Thursday called for higher gas taxes or a shift to a fee drivers would pay based on how far they drive.
April 5th, 2012, 3:13 pm
Posted by Andrew Galvin
Remember that $73.5 million that Orange County grabbed from schools a few months back, forcing the state to make up for it? This was after the state grabbed $49.5 million in Vehicle License Fee money from the county to help balance the state’s budget.
Well, the state wants its $73.5 million back.
By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times
February 16, 2012
The Southland’s housing market is flooded with cash-rich, bargain-hunting investors snapping up distressed homes and dragging down overall prices — but their presence also indicates the market could be nearing bottom.
February 3rd, 2012, 5:00 am
Posted by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter
The Orange County Employee’s Retirement System ended 2011 with an investment return of 0.74 percent — that’s 7 percent less than projected.
But OCERS officials, though concerned, say it is too early to panic. For one thing, says CEO Steve Delaney, the 20-year average is 7.9 percent on investments, right where the system needs to be.
November 14th, 2011, 4:07 pm
Posted by Kimberly Edds, Staff Writer
In a bold move to make up for $49.5 million in tax revenues lost to the state earlier this year the County of Orange will grab $73.5 million in property taxes once destined for local school districts, County Supervisors Chairman Bill Campbell said Monday.
Frank C. Girardot, Staff Writer
Created: 09/30/2011 05:03:08 PM PDT
Local officials are bracing for a radical realignment of the state penal system that will place thousands of low-level felons in county jail rather than prison.
Published: Sept. 30, 2011 Updated: 5:56 p.m.
By KIMBERLY EDDS / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The County of Orange needs to make $29 million in cuts, lay off dozens of employees and dip into its reserves under a plan recommended by the county’s chief executive officer to recoup $49.5 million the state took to fix its own budget issues.
September 29th, 2011, 3:33 pm
Posted by Kimberly Edds, Staff Writer
The County of Orange was unfair to the Sheriff’s deputies union when it moved deputies out of jailhouse jobs and replaced them with civilian jailers in an attempt to save as much as $34 million a year, a California Court of Appeal ruled.
Ellis
Posted: Friday, September 23, 2011 2:14 pm | Updated: 10:00 pm, Fri Sep 23, 2011.
NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 | Orange County Marketplace swap meet owner Jeff Teller, a driving force behind the two-year fight to stop the sale of the local fairgrounds, has been kicked off the property.
Orange County Fair Board Chairman David Ellis
NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
Posted: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 6:43 am
Updated: 12:16 pm, Tue Aug 23, 2011.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | The Orange County Fair Board’s attempt to privatize the county fairgrounds in Costa Mesa — a two-year saga that prompted multiple investigations and lawsuits — ended last month when Gov. Jerry Brown officially nixed a proposed sale to the Newport Beach-based Facilities Management West.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 – 06:00 p.m.
The Lewis Group of Companies strike again and more questions come forth!
This time it’s a large parcel of land, owned by the Orange County Flood Control District, and located in the City of Highland sphere influence.
South California
Supervisor urges 13 counties to secede
Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 07/11/2011 08:10:22 PM PDT
RIVERSIDE – A local lawmaker has called for much of Southern and Central California to secede from the Golden state.
Housing market
Business suffers all over SoCal
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 06/13/2011 09:22:10 PM PDT
Southern California home sales continued at a snail’s pace in May while the median sale price fell by the largest amount in 20 months.
Published: June 7, 2011
Updated: June 8, 2011 7:33 a.m.
By JON CASSIDY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SANTA ANA – The sale of the Orange County fairgrounds to a private company is dead, unless the state Supreme Court resurrects the deal.
May 4th, 2011, 1:03 pm
Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
UPDATED with reader poll on whether we should stop using the photo of Obama as a chimp.
The Orange County GOP official who sent an email portraying President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee was censured this morning by the county party’s executive committee in a 12-2 vote.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 1, 2011
California Democrats adopted a series of predictable positions as their convention this afternoon – supporting Planned Parenthood, healthy oceans and the California Dream Act, for example – but a shot at one Orange County Republican caused a minor stir within the ranks.
Marilyn Davenport
April 21st, 2011, 11:53 am
Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
Santa Ana Republican Virgil Nickell wants to know why the county GOP doesn’t kick Marilyn Davenport off the party’s governing Central Committee.
Friday, April 22, 2011
By Ed Mendel
Orange County supervisors led by John Moorlach took on the legal issue of boosting pensions for years already served under a less generous plan. They lost when the state Supreme Court last week unanimously refused to hear their appeal.
Thursday, April 21, 201 – 07:40 a.m.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors led by foolish supervisor John Moorlach just had their hats handed to them by the California Supreme Court.
April 20th, 2011, 3:27 pm
Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
The Orange County GOP official who emailed a controversial photo depicting President Barack Obama as a chimp reiterated her apology today, but also said that she didn’t consider the rendering racist and that she wasn’t sure Obama is U.S. born.
April 19th, 2011, 4:35 pm
Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
The Orange County GOP chairman is being criticized for his public condemnation of an email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimp.
April 18th, 2011, 8:05 pm
Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
The Republican official who emailed a controversial email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee issued an apology this evening, but county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh continued to call for her resignation and ordered an ethics review of the controversy.