Councilman John Perry has been hailed for suing San Juan Capistrano over its water rates. But his vote to award hundreds of thousands of dollars to a law firm in the case that made payments to him may have crossed ethical and legal lines.
Category: SOUTH COUNTY
South Orange County takes in Irvine, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and the master-planned cities around them, where growth and open space keep meeting at the council dais. Every story we have published about south county, newest first.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Irvine, Top Stories
State Political Watchdog Investigating Irvine Councilwoman
The Fair Political Practices Commission’s investigation of Councilwoman Christina Shea follows a Voice of OC article about Shea’s attempts to fast-track construction plans at City Hall for her consulting client, KIA Motors.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Irvine, Top Stories
An Irvine Corruption Fighter Has Her Own Ethical Issues
Councilwoman Christina Shea has built her political career on rooting out corruption surrounding the Great Park. But what she’s doing behind the scenes for a consulting client is also crossing ethical lines, a government ethics expert says.
Posted inCountywide, Lake Forest, News Briefs, Politics & Elections, Top Stories
Lake Forest Councilman Files Libel Suit Against Deputy District Attorney
Adam Nick claims Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez made defamatory statements to the media when Nick was charged with stealing campaign signs belonging to a rival.
Posted inGovernment, San Juan Capistrano, Top Stories, Transportation
Spitzer: OC Paying Too Much for South County Road Extension
Supervisors’ Chairman Todd Spitzer says taxpayers shouldn’t be paying so much of the $127 million cost of the La Pata Ave. extension, which largely benefits a new Rancho Mission Viejo development.
Posted inIrvine
Has the Great Park Investigation Become Its Own Boondoggle?
As of now, taxpayers are expected to shell out at least $1.7 million – and probably more – for Irvine’s Great Park investigation and its fallout.
Posted inGovernment, Lake Forest, News Briefs, Top Stories
Gun-Toting Supervisors’ Chairman Detained Man at Restaurant
Sheriff’s officials say they investigated the previously undisclosed incident in April involving Supervisor Todd Spitzer and determined he broke no laws.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Lake Forest, News Briefs, Top Stories
Former OC GOP Chairman Denies Lake Forest Councilman Offered Him Cash
In response to allegations by Lake Forest Mayor Scott Voigts, Scott Baugh writes in an email that Councilman Adam Nick never tried to give him cash or bribe him, only that Nick tried to hire him for “political or legal advice.”
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Lake Forest, Top Stories, Transportation
Lake Forest Councilman Wields Cash, Bribes and Rage
Adam Nick and his council colleagues have taken petty corruption and political infighting to the level of performance art.
Posted inIrvine, News Briefs
Irvine Council Adopts ‘In God We Trust’ for Council Chambers
Councilmembers also voted to have the phrase e pluribus unum – Latin for “out of many, one” — emblazoned in the meeting chambers. The gesture is a reminder of an ongoing effort by the council’s Republican majority to cast the city in a more conservative light.
