Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-board-of-supervisors/)
Nelson received $539 worth of wine from Potomac Partners, a Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm, a few weeks after he cast a deciding vote to award them a county contract. He says his approach is legal because he paid the contractors for the items out of campaign funds and will use them at an office event.
Publisher Norberto Santana Jr. writes that Orange County supervisors should reimburse local taxpayers for the more than $120,000 in legal fees they just had to pay Voice of OC after losing a public records lawsuit. It likely won’t be the last time the courts are needed to pry public records loose and Santana says Voice of OC will stay on the case.
County Supervisors Tuesday unanimously voted to pay Voice of OC $121,396 in legal fees after losing a Superior Court case for refusing to release public records about Supervisor Todd Spitzer’s handcuffing a preacher at a Wahoo’s restaurant.
County Counsel Leon Page said the conflict of interest claims were “simply not true.”
In a public rebuke, one of Supervisor Andrew Do’s colleagues said Do has been pushing for the takeover because the health plan’s board refused to elect him chairman.
It’s up to county supervisors to decide whether to settle the claims, which would prevent lawsuits. A settlement discussion is scheduled for Tuesday.
As the 1990s-era equipment becomes obsolete, county supervisors and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens have opted not to ask other companies what they could offer as a replacement for the current system. The upgrade project is expected to cost $140 million.
Joe Kerr, who is running for a seat on the OC Board of Supervisors, writes that OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley deserves better support from county supervisors on his efforts to improve Orange County’s voting systems.
As a growing opioid epidemic claims hundreds of lives across Orange County, Supervisor Todd Spitzer said heroin addicts should be given help for their addiction, not antidote kits to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
Dr. Saskia Boisot believes that animals entrusted to the care at the county animal shelter deserve better treatment. Boisot spotlights continuing challenges at the County Shelter and calls on county supervisors to adopt a “no-kill” approach.