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Health & Fitness

Voters, why listen to them!

 

            In June, 2012, Orange County voters, by an overwhelming majority, said they supported electing the Public Administrator.  The option was to change it to a position that the Board of Supervisors would fill by appointment.

            The PA became an issue when John Williams was forced to resign because of accusations he had created “significant financial and liability risks” because of the way he had handled property instructed to the office.

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            The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Shawn Nelson was not happy with that decision and for well over a year, the Board sat on the situation, allowing the position to more-or-less be filled by the Public Guardian, a county employee.  So, he took a page out of President Obama’s playbook, and the public’s vote was overridden by the Board of Supervisors.

            At the January 28, 2014, regularly scheduled meeting, the Board voted to eliminate the Public Administrator position and placed it under the District Attorney.  The District Attorney, like any elected official, was delighted to add to his empire.  Todd Spitzer, who aspires to becoming the DA someday, supported the measure, after taking his usual stance of being on both sides of the issue.

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            Nelson, with a straight face, said the elected position paid so little that anyone running for it would be using it to gain full time county employment or use it as a platform to run for another office. 

            The last comment is the most egregious considering that sitting on the dais with Nelson is Pat Bates, running for State Senate, Janet Nguyen, running for State Senate and John Moorlach, running for US Congress. And, as mentioned, Todd Spitzer has been “running” for the DA seat for over a decade!

            Incidentally, Supervisor Moorlach disagreed with Nelson saying that he had reviewed the people considering or already having filed for the position, and there were many well qualified applicants or candidates.

            Another particularly disgusting aspect of this is the timing.  In order to meet mandatory time frames, the Board had to make the decision on January 28, 2014.  As noted above, the voters said in June, 2012, they wanted to keep this an elected position.  The Board, wanting to limit public push-back or interference, waited until the last possible moment to take their action.  Legal, probably, ethical, no.

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