County Leaders at Odds Over Campaign Finance Ethics Commission

Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel’s attempt to give voters a cost analysis of the implementation of a campaign finance and ethics commission was rejected by the board Tuesday.

Supervisor Andrew Do voted with Steel, but Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett and Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Shawn Nelson voted no to directing the county’s auditor-controller to do a more specific cost analysis of the proposed commission, which voters will be asked to approve in the June 7 primary. So far, the only cost estimates are a range between about $500,000 and $1 million, but that is based on scenarios including full-time employees.

The supervisors opposing Steel’s proposal argued that it would be difficult to determine an accurate cost because it’s not yet known whether the commission will require part-time or full-time employees or how much of the work would be outsourced. The hiring of part-time employees or outsourcing some of the work could eliminate or reduce the cost for benefits, they said.

Steel insisted she was not against an ethics commission, but she wanted voters to have a better picture of how much it would cost taxpayers. Steel, however, voted against putting the question of a commission on the June 7 presidential primary ballot.

“The voters have the right to know how much it’s going to cost,” Steel said.

Spitzer said “I totally agree with you... that a cost analysis was important,” but he noted there is no consensus yet among the board on the makeup of the commission or how much staff it would need. Spitzer said he would favor having a part-time employee oversee the commission.

“Telling the public it would cost $1 million is grossly misleading,” Spitzer said.

Spitzer said it was inconceivable that the board would want the commission to become a cumbersome bureaucracy.

“Supervisor Spitzer’s right,” Nelson said.

“We better not have a bunch of fulltime people,” Nelson added, arguing that the commission would be inactive, for example, during summer months when there is no election.

“This would be a bureaucracy gone haywire, and there’s not going to be anything for these people to do,” during the off-election season, Nelson said.

Supervisor Do sided with Steel, but then questioned whether her proposal would violate the state’s open meeting laws because it would require the auditor-controller to survey the supervisors for their vision of the makeup of the commission.

Orange County Counsel Leon Page warned that Steel’s proposal would lead to an illegal “serial meeting.”

Voters also will be asked in June to approve an amendment to the county’s charter that would give the executive director of the commission, if approved, the power to subpoena bank records of county candidates.

The commission would essentially take over enforcement of the county’s TINCUP, or Time is Now Clean Up Politics, ordinance. For years, volunteer Shirley Grindle has shouldered that responsibility.

When Steel voted in October against placing the question before voters, she characterized the commission as a “million-dollar golden hammer in search of a two-penny nail” and a “new government bureaucracy.”

City News Service