Here is another roundup of some of the most thought-provoking reader comments from the week. Comments are selected by our editors and subject to editing for grammar, spelling and length.
Bustamante Sex Scandal
As a county employee for over 20 years, I can tell you the county bureaucracy is a small place. There are no secrets.
The reason no “victims” have filed sexual harassment lawsuits (yet) is they have all been given promotions and other special considerations in exchange for their silence. OC Public Works is conducting a rigged recruitment right now in order to promote one of Bustamante’s girlfriends.
Senior management in several agencies had full knowledge of Bustamante’s predatory behavior, yet protected him every step of the way. The boys’ club takes care of its own.
I would wager it is this complicit behavior that has senior managers, the CEO and the Board of Supervisors very nervous. As the Hughes report no doubt documented, the cover-up is as bad as the crime.
— OC Bureaucrat / March 8
I guess this explains pretty clearly why women were reluctant to come forward. What a story! Let’s hope this is a wake-up call to put an end to the county’s coverup culture.
— Lostinspace / March 8
How much does [County CEO Tom] Mauk make a year — $300k or more? And this is the performance we get for that kind of money? Total farce.
Now we can expect lawsuits against the county by the women who were sexually harassed by Bustamonte, and this will be a direct result of Mauk and the board failing to initially act on the reports and do their jobs. At that time, Bustamonte was being protected by his fellow executives.
— Beelzebub / March 8
Anaheim’s Hotel Subsidy
This is a very simple issue now. It boils down to our American principles: “one person one vote,” democracy.
Let the people vote. That way both sides can debate the issue and try to persuade the public regarding their respective positions.
If these elected officials deny the public an opportunity to vote on something that is this big and affects their city so much, then you know the fix is in.
— Truevoice / March 2
Editor’s note: The City Council declined to call an election on the issue.
How many months will it take a lawsuit like this [against the hotel subsidy] to come up on the calendar in an OC courtroom? My guess is that those hotels will be holding a grand opening about then.
— Praetor / March 5
What Loophole?
[Re Anaheim Councilwoman Lori Galloway voting on issues involving contributors to her charity:]
This is one of the areas where disclosure is a good thing, but saying that there is a loophole in campaign finance law is quite the stretch.
We want our elected officials to be actively involved in the community, and we are delighted when local nonprofits provide services to the needy.
And we are also proud when local companies are good corporate citizens and donate to local charities from their locally derived profits.
So what’s the issue here?
— Moonunit / March 6
Supervisors’ Pensions
“[Supervisor Shawn] Nelson says he feels he deserves something when it comes to retirement. ‘I just want to be like every worker in the U.S.,’ he said.”
Uh, news flash, Shawn: Most U.S. workers get nothing at retirement unless they’ve saved on their own. The exception is — gasp! — union members.
— Sincerely yours / March 5
I cannot see anyone serving four or eight years, then expecting thousands a month in a pension.
— Dweezle / March 2
Coaches’ Kickbacks
So, the only really new details that have emerged are what Teresa Sando has to say? Everything else is old news?
Is it not really irresponsible on your part to have Teresa Sando tell you what the investigator said in confidential findings — if, in fact, he really even said that? Did you fact-check?
And that there are coaches who have come forward and admitted they knew there were double books on the part of Lapes [Athletic Team Sales] does not mean that the three fired by the [Capistrano Unified] district knew anything about it or were in any way responsible for the actions of others.
There has been no due process in this entire misreporting storm. This whole thing stinks beyond belief — as does your article — and to continue to quote one person with highly suspicious motives is questionable reporting at best.
— The Lone Wolf / March 3
Santora Arts Building
Perhaps a silver lining to the cloud hanging over the Santora? If [owner Mike] Harrah were to sell, the logical thing to do would be to mobilize the art community to find a way, possibly through their patrons, to purchase the building. What better way to ensure their place in the community?
— Keepdapeace / March 5
Keepdapeace, great advice. We are doing everything we can to mobilize the creative community in the Santora and throughout the downtown area.
The arts and entertainment venues are the glue that keep much of the peace between the different economic classes and ethnic groups there. If only the City Council, management and Planning Commission recognized the true value of that kind of system.
— Got your back / March 7
Anaheim’s $19,000 Fee for Public Records
The cost [of restoring emails that have been purged] is probably for combing the [computer] servers, which means paying a programmer’s salary to query and locate records that have been moved offline.
Of the millions of email correspondence items in a server or on a hard drive, it will take considerable time to load the data back onto a server and write a query. The cost may seem a little high, but given the volume and the data compilation and the California Public Records Act’s requirements to locate all the material requested, it simply proves the public is unaware of how much of their tax dollars is being spent to provide public openness and transparency.
Most municipal agencies are looking at 3 to 5 million emails a month, 100 to 200 tapes backing up data and a program to seek the requisite information from them. Saving records that document business is one thing. Saving every email correspondence to be sent to a public agency sort of boggles the mind.
— Slidnpaint / March 7