Amid Outcry County Extends Watchdog Power over DA and Public Defender

The Orange County Board of Supervisors today tentatively approved an ordinance expanding a watchdog office with oversight of the sheriff’s office to include several other county departments.

The move prompted the head of the Orange County Attorneys Association, the union representing the county’s lawyers, to threaten legal action.

“They will consistently go down the wrong avenues for political gain, and this is just another example,” said Larry Yellin, who is president of the union.

The board narrowly approved the ordinance on first reading -- a second and final vote is scheduled for next week -- by a 3-2 margin without discussion. Supervisors Shawn Nelson and Michelle Steel cast the dissenting votes.

Spitzer indicated that the ordinance was revised based on feedback from department officials who cited possible problems with the proposed law at prior study sessions, but Yellin said it did not matter because the expansion of the Office of Independent Review was not done in a collective bargaining agreement.

“None of the revisions happened with our inclusion, so they’re not following the true rules of management and labor,” Yellin said. “Unless they’re going to meet and confer, I’m not going to address the specifics.”

The union is “analyzing all our legal options at this time,” Yellin said.

The supervisors want to expand the Office of Independent Review to look beyond misconduct allegations against sheriff’s deputies to also include oversight of the Probation Department, District Attorney and Public Defender’s offices and the Social Services Agency.

In the past, board Chairman Todd Spitzer has argued that county officials have been caught flat-footed on complaints against various departments that could leave the county on the hook for substantial legal fees.

In particular, Spitzer has said that most of the information he received about corruption allegations regarding the use of jailhouse informants by prosecutors came from news accounts.

The supervisors were so critical of the way Stephen Connolly ran the Office of Independent Review that they threatened to defund it. That prompted concern from U.S. Department of Justice officials who have been investigating the sheriff’s department since the beating death of an inmate in 2006, but were close to wrapping up their review.

The supervisors backed off that plan and, while agreeing to let Connolly’s contract run out by year’s end, decided they would expand the OIR.

The expanded agency would “review systemic issues and specific incidents which may identify systemic issues with regard to the performance and operations” of the various departments, according to a staff report. The newly expanded watchdog would also “have the same access to confidential records as the Office of County Counsel.”

The OIR would “provide periodic status reports to the Board of Supervisors and relevant county department heads and regular feedback to the board regarding ongoing and completed projects,” according to the staff report.

The OIR would also “conduct substantive, systemic audits of relevant county department functions...(and) review specific incidents implicating significant risk and/or liability to the county and participate in the development of corrective actions,” the staff report says.

The OIR’s reviews, however, “may (not) be used as the basis for taking punitive actions against an employee,” according to officials.

The supervisors, meanwhile, met in closed session this afternoon to discuss a potential investigation by the Justice Department regarding the use of jailhouse informants, county counsel Leon Page said.

“The purpose of this closed session is to discuss the possibility that the United States Department of Justice may launch an investigation, and ultimately, initiate legal action against the County of Orange due to the ongoing controversies involving, one, the utilization of confidential informants in the county jails, and two, the alleged concealment of informant- related evidence,” Page said.

City News Service