Blog note: this article
references two 2013 grand jury reports that triggered the probe.
The state's Fair Political Practices
Commission has closed a conflict-of-interest investigation it launched in 2013
into county supervisors and CalOptima board members and will take no action.
“After reviewing the minutes and meetings
of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the Enforcement Division has
determined that the allegations were too vague (to) establish that you had a
conflict of interest,” the commission wrote Sept. 4 to then-supervisors John
Moorlach, Shawn Nelson, Bill Campbell, and Pat Bates, all Republicans.
State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove),
who served as both a supervisor and CalOptima board member, received a closure
letter through her lawyer, Brian Hildreth.
Nelson still serves on the board.
Separately, the investigation determined
there was “insufficient evidence” of conflict of interests involving the
CalOptima board members because “none of the decisions reviewed during our
investigation were in proceedings involving a license, permit, or other
entitlement for use pending before the CalOptima Board,” a requirement for
conflict-of-interest violations.
The FPPC investigation stemmed
from two 2013 county grand jury reports, one titled "CalOptima Burns While
Majority of Supervisors Fiddle;" and the other “A Call for Ethical Standards:
Corruption in Orange County.”
The CalOptima report focused on
Nguyen's efforts to overhaul the board so it included a permanent member from
the hospital industry as well as other medical professionals. The medical
industry contributed significantly to her supervisorial campaigns. The grand
jury also examined the actions of the Hospital Association of Southern
California and two CalOptima lawyers.
The report that focused on
corruption in county government called for creation of a county ethics
commission.
“In a healthy ethics
environment,” the grand jury wrote, “leaders are not afraid of an independent
ethics program because they understand that the best measure is to do
everything possible to prevent officials and employees from creating an
appearance of impropriety.”
The two reports provided fodder
for county political watchdog Shirley Grindle who has long advocated for a
local ethics commission. On Tuesday, the supervisors will discuss a ballot
proposal authored by Grindle and other good government advocates.
Moorlach described the reports
as the work product of an overzealous grand jury.
“So they investigated a vague
thing and said it was vague at the end of the day,” said Moorlach, who is now a
state senator representing Costa Mesa. “That grand jury was certainly a low
point in the history of grand juries in Orange County. So I’m glad this
chapter’s closed, but there’s no surprise to the closure for me.”
CalOptima board members who received
closure letters were Chairman Mark Refowitz, head of the county Health Care
Agency, Vice Chairman Lee Penrose, president and CEO of St. Jude Hospital,
doctors Viet Dang and Samara Cardenas, former board member Steve Knoblock, bank
branch vice president Peter Agarwal, nonprofit executives Ellen Anh and Tricia
Nguyen and former Social Services Agency director Michael Riley.
September
22, 2015
Voice
of OC
By Tracy
Wood
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