Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/cares-act/)
OC’s regional association for journalists is calling Andrew Do to apologize for criticizing Voice of OC’s questions and public records requests about secretly-approved contracts during the pandemic.
While county supervisors have gotten monthly lists of such contracts, the public has not – until now.
In response to Voice of OC questions, sheriff officials are answering questions about where the money went – questions not asked publicly by county supervisors elected to have budgetary oversight over the sheriff.
Andrew Do, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, says reporters are asking too many questions and requesting too many public records.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts have been signed privately by county staff under emergency powers delegated by county supervisors, according to the supervisors’ chairman.
In a scathing September report, state health officials verified nurses’ accusations that virus patients at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital were being mixed with non-virus patients.
Sheriff staff received $93 million in CARES Act relief money, compared with $58 million for county Health Care Agency staff, as of the latest data.
In Orange County alone, 137 arts organizations and businesses in 27 cities received relief funds totaling more than $2.7 million.
As hospitalizations spike to record levels, CARES Act relief money is almost all spent. Where did it go?
Voice of OC keeps asking where the $554 million in taxpayer money went. Some answers are starting to emerge.