Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/shawn-nelson/)
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.
For months, top county officials have had drawings of the Civic Center’s new Building 16, but kept them under wraps from the public.
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.
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.
Peter Agarwal, who was recently appointed as the county’s first ethics commissioner, wrote that he is on the governing board of a national association. That’s not true, he acknowledged in a recent interview.
Among those who will be subject to enforcement by the commission are the county supervisors and their election opponents. The changes would make it so commissioners “serve at the pleasure of the supervisor” who appointed them, said Supervisor Andrew Do, who supports the effort.
Supervisor Shawn Nelson nominated Peter Agarwal, a bank manager and Anaheim Chamber of Commerce board member whom county supervisors have previously appointed to positions like board member of the CalOptima health plan for poor and disabled residents.
The proposed budget has a large discretionary increase for the Sheriff’s Department and comparatively tiny discretionary increases for social and health services.
A majority of the council has expressed concern over Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s proposal to open a 200-person homeless shelter on county land near the entrance to the Great Park.
Some supervisors criticized Todd Spitzer’s request as pointless and misguided, while Spitzer called on his colleagues to take action when they learn of corruption allegations.