This republished story was written by the late Tracy Wood. Her powerful work, as this story demonstrates, serves as a persistent championship of the power of the press and the ongoing need for journalists and the public to push government to maintain openness of public records and meetings.
Author Archives: Tracy Wood
Tracy Wood oversaw Voice of OC’s civics reporting, including county and city government, the Orange County Transportation Authority, CalOptima, Anaheim, Santa Ana and other community coverage.
Tracy was a government reporter, foreign correspondent in Asia, California investigative reporter and editor. She covered the California legislature and governor’s office for both United Press International and the Los Angeles Times. As a UPI reporter, she was one of the few women combat correspondents during the Vietnam War. She joined the Los Angeles Times in California where she was an investigative reporter for 17 years, covering political and government corruption. Later she became the Orange County Register’s Investigations Editor, leading the paper’s investigations team when it broke the story of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s ties to Nationwide Auction Systems founder and former Assistant Sheriff Donald G. Haidl.
She won numerous awards for investigative reporting and in 2001 was named Los Angeles Print Journalist of the Year by Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism association.
Wood and eight other women reporters from Vietnam co-authored “War Torn, Stories of War from the Women Reporters who Covered Vietnam” (2002 Random House). She was also part of the Los Angeles Times staff team that won the 1993 Pulitzer for coverage of the Rodney King riots. The Pulitzer was for spot news coverage for balanced, comprehensive, penetrating coverage under deadline pressure of the second, most destructive day of the Los Angeles riots.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Safety, Security & Justice, Santa Ana, Top Stories
OC Police Chiefs Seek Common Ground on New Transparency Law
At the request of District Attorney Todd Spitzer, police chiefs and the Sheriff are working on a policy for all departments to uniformly handle the new state law that creates transparency in law enforcement discipline records, but is opposed by many police unions.
Posted inCountywide, Top Stories
Arnold Forde, Longtime California Political Consultant and Direct Mail Pioneer, Dead at 82
Arnold Forde, one of California’s most influential, longstanding and controversial political consultants, died Saturday after two years of illness. He was 82.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Investigative, Politics & Elections, Top Stories
Activists Threaten to Sue Steel and Rackauckas If They Don’t Pay Back County For “Community Coffee” Mailer
Government watchdog Shirley Grindle and former Orange County Common Cause President Bill Mitchell have sent letters to county Supervisor Michelle Steel and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas demanding they repay taxpayers all costs for 16,000 postcards inviting voters to a “community coffee” that only could accommodate 50 people.
Posted inGovernment, Politics & Elections, Top Stories
16,000 Voters Invited By Mail to Meet Steel and Rackauckas, But There Only Was Room for 50
Only 50 people could attend the event, prompting one ethics expert to say the mailers appear to be “more about blanketing people with an electoral mailer than actually meeting people.”
Posted inGovernment, Safety, Security & Justice, Top Stories
Rackauckas Faces $21,000 Fine for Late Reports of $190,000 in Behested Payments
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas faces a $21,000 fine from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) for failing to publicly report more than $190,000 he solicited for a charity he heads, according to the FPPC board meeting agenda released Monday.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, News Briefs, Politics & Elections, Top Stories
Ex-Staffer’s Claim Against Spitzer Didn’t Pan Out, According to DA Investigator
The OC Register said District Attorney investigator Tom Conklin, in an 11-page summary of the investigation of Spitzer obtained by the newspaper, said bank records of former Spitzer aide Christine Richters didn’t show the cash withdrawals.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, News Briefs, Safety, Security & Justice, Top Stories
DA Rackauckas Investigating Supervisor Spitzer, His Election Rival
According to the Los Angeles Times, Rackauckas, working with the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), is looking into Spitzer’s campaign fundraising and spending as well as allegations from a former Spitzer legal client that she couldn’t pay her legal bills so Spitzer put her on his campaign and county payrolls and she used $7,000 of that money to repay him in cash.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Wellness, Top Stories
Battle Intensifies for Control of OC’s Health Care Plan for Low Income Residents
CalOptima provides health care for nearly 800,000 disabled, elderly and low-income Orange County residents. County supervisors are moving to expand their power on its board of directors, but state legislators are moving to block that effort.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Wellness, Top Stories
OC Supervisors Attempt CalOptima Takeover
The Orange County Taxpayers Association, backed by the medical industry, teamed with state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) to block a move led by Supervisor Andrew Do to have the supervisors take over the $3.4 billion CalOptima health plan for low income, disabled and elderly OC residents.
