Orange County agencies have faced their share of scandal in recent years. There was the “snitch” scandal involving law enforcement’s improper use of jailhouse informants, the Anaheim corruption scandal involving the attempted sale of Angel Stadium and the scandal involving former Supervisor Andrew Do’s bribery scheme that diverted millions of dollars in COVID-19 funds to a charity affiliated with one of his daughters.
Few punishments were meted out in the first example. Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu was sentenced to two months in prison for the second. And Do is beginning a five-year prison term. Do also was ordered this month to repay $878,000—an amount the Board of Supervisors says falls far short of the total losses to the county. These agencies have had mixed results implementing reforms to stop future scandals.
It took the district attorney’s office and sheriff more than a decade to reform their system. Anaheim continues to struggle over ethics measures. Supervisors have taken their first major stab at post-Do reform by approving a new ethics code. Unfortunately, it’s much ado about very little, as it’s vague and lacking in enforcement mechanisms.
Related Articles
Editorial: Three state bills worth passing, three that should be rejected National debt continues to threaten economic growth Editorial: Redistrict maps are absurd, so let’s end this war Unions wage war on self-checkout Budget perils as state retiree liabilities soar by the billions “I am very disappointed in what little this first step has brought us,” said Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento. As the Register reported, the code doesn’t require county staff to blow the whistle on wrongdoing, although it forbids officials from discouraging whistleblowers. The code also forbids county officials from acting for personal gain. We doubt such language would have stopped the Do fiasco.We noticed a lackadaisical approach in official quarters toward the scandals as they unfolded, with some colleagues erring in the “providing the benefit of the doubt” rather than “the let’s get to the bottom of it” direction. Supervisors even blocked a transparency measure as Do allegations came to light.
There really is no way to write ethics rules that stop unethical people from behaving unethically. The only fix is public pressure and continued outside oversight. It also takes more diligence—and less defensiveness—by elected officials as such scandals unfold rather than after the feds file charges.
Hence then, the article about editorial orange county s ethics code update is meaningless was published today ( ) and is available on The Orange County Register ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Editorial: Orange County’s ethics code update is meaningless )
Also on site :