Andrew Do resigned in disgrace, as did Do’s Chief of Staff on a separate scandal. In 2022, then-Supervisor Michelle Steel gave a meal contract to a printing shop connected to her campaign. It would be a mistake to think these are just a few bad apples.
County government has serious problems.
Is there any oversight in the upper echelons?
Frank Kim was County CEO from 2015 to 2024. He claims he didn’t know Andrew Do’s daughter was soliciting county funds. In that case, the moment he found out, Kim should have fired managers, like OC Community Resources Director Dylan Wright, who kept him in the dark. Instead, Kim continued to delegate to them.
Here’s my personal experience: I sent Kim hard evidence of serious problems in the county animal shelter. He didn’t reply. He didn’t ask for more information. He disregarded the evidence and gave his unconditional support to Dylan Wright.
Just days ago, we found out that an audit requested by Supervisors was arbitrarily narrowed by auditing managers to a “sampling” of contracts. This is my interpretation: The so-called auditors will pick and choose. They’ll “audit” just the clean contracts and leave alone the dirty ones.
All this is not oversight. It’s not accountability. It’s a license for mischief.
Is Public Relations the main goal of County operations?
There’s a pattern of constant bragging and little action. We see it in Frank Kim’s final interview to the OC Register glossing over the scandals; shiny, costly internal reports whose sole purpose is to aggrandize the manager; the choice of an unqualified animal shelter director whose background is dominated by Public Relations; the same shelter’s PR document chockfull of false statements; a Supervisor’s long-winded weekly newsletters whose production, we suppose, doesn’t leave much time to address the actual needs of the county.
When the Andrew Do scandal became public, some Supervisors defended Do, more concerned about preserving a veneer than clearing the rot.
Instead of checks and balances there is only mutual praise, as we saw between Supervisors and Frank Kim in his last appearance before the Board.
This PR machine is constantly distracting and confusing citizens rather than serving them.
Is the County Fraud hotline just a decoy?
The County has a Fraud Hotline… but it didn’t uncover the Andrew Do scandals. Local media did.
I have submitted information to the OC Fraud Hotline. Others have as well. There was no response, no follow-up for more information, and no action.
This hotline is worse than useless. It’s a cover-up tool. The county is using it to dissuade concerned citizens or employees from flagging misconduct in more effective ways.
Whom do Supervisors’ aides serve?
At a holiday party, I asked two aides to County Supervisors what their career plans were. They told me they’d like to work in county management. How can these aides exercise oversight over county departments now, while looking to get jobs there later?
When County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett left the Board in 2022 her then-Chief of Staff got a management position at OC Community Resources with a large pay raise. Was this in the works while he was working for Lisa Bartlett… nominally supervising the Department Director he later went to work for?
This revolving door is an inherent conflict of interest.
Is the County hobbling its hard-working frontline workers?
The failure in the county’s upper management is not representative of the rest of the county workforce.
In the Andrew Do scandal, we saw rank and file staff flagging problems, trying to prevent the abuse of public funds. We see overworked and compassionate attendants at the county animal shelter doing their best while the county disregards national standards.
I’m convinced that we have skilled and conscientious rank and file county employees. We just need to give them honest leaders and sound standards.
Our county government needs a thorough scrubbing.
For a year now, Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento has been pushing for reform. He proposed strong conflict-of-interest rules that include Supervisors’ aides and their families. Supervisor-elect Janet Nguyen is asking for accountability and audits.
On December 3, the Board finally voted for an external audit of many contracts, proposed by Supervisor Sarmiento. (Can you believe it took other Supervisors a year from the eruption of the Andrew Do scandal to get to this?)
There’s more to do.
– The Board should hire a capable, reformist outsider as CEO. Someone with the fortitude to fire all Directors and Assistant Directors of departments involved in the scandals.
– County Counsel should produce a public report on the OC Fraud Hotline, detailing, by year and by county department how many complaints were submitted, how many the hotline followed up on, and how long it took.
– Department and agency directors should be required to attest that public relations claims are truthful and accurate. If that slows down the Public Relations machine, we’ll get more substance and fewer empty words.
– Rules should bar Supervisors’ aides (political appointees) from working in county government for a two-year period, to eliminate an inherent conflict of interest.
The county government machinery should be serving the citizens, not itself.
Michael Mavrovouniotis retired from a career in scientific research, education, and investment management.
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