OC Politics Blog | Category Archives: John Moorlach

Orange County’s Oversight Chairman resigns

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2012 Elections, Chriss Street, John Moorlach, Orange County 3 Comments

ORANGE COUNTY’S OVERSIGHT CHAIRMAN RESIGNS

By Chriss W. Street

In another abrupt surprise, the highly respected Chairman of the Orange

County’s Treasury Oversight Committee resigned on Monday, April 16,

2012. It seems he was being asked to read into the public record at a

meeting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a letter written by

county Treasurer, Shari Freidenrich stating that she had complied with the

county’s rigid Investment Policy Statement mandates. The local

community was already reeling from discovery that the county secretly

borrowed over a half a billion dollars from local schools and others at a predatory yield to fund illiquid and highly conflicted interest rate wagers. In an ongoing display of county’s dangerous abandonment of transparency, Orange County continues to conceal the debt issuance and refuses to disclose the resignation of the Treasury Oversight Committee Chairman. Continue reading→

Moorlach to cut ribbon at opening of new O.C. Mental Health Campus

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2012 Elections, Bill Campbell, Healthcare, John Moorlach, Mental Health, Orange, Orange County Leave a comment

COUNTY OF ORANGE – HEALTH CARE AGENCY MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: April 18, 2012
Contact: Deanne Thompson, 714-834-2178, dthompson@ochca.com

MENTAL HEALTH CAMPUS CEREMONIAL RIBBON CUTTING

What: The new 2-acre Mental Health Campus will house 3 new buildings totaling nearly 25,000

Square feet and will provide a consumer-run Wellness/Peer Support Center, Education and Training Center and a Crisis Residential program. Funding for the project is provided by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). Continue reading→

Orange County’s financial iceberg is dead ahead

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2012 Elections, Chriss Street, John Moorlach, Orange County Leave a comment

By: Chriss W. Street

Like the Titanic a hundred years ago that ignored warnings and ran full-speed into a massive iceberg, Orange County is taking enormous financially risks rather than addressing their gaping cash-flow deficit. The county quietly entered into $518 million of illiquid and unsecured interest rate wagers, mostly financed from

the payroll and savings accounts of local schools and other government agencies. With spending rising as revenue is falling and financial officers exiting as liquidity is drying up; the danger of hitting another iceberg is becoming extreme. John Moorlach, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, warned last year: “The County of Orange, which went bankrupt in 1994, is a bankruptcy candidate again.” He should know as Chairman, he is steering the ship. Continue reading→

Orange County’s financial crisis exposed by California lawsuit

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in Chriss Street, John Moorlach, Orange County, Republican Party 1 Comment

Op Ed: CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT EXPOSES ORANGE COUNTY FINANCIAL CRISIS

By: Chriss W. Street

The ballooning Orange County financial crisis continued to spiral down as the State of California filed a law suit to force return of $73.5 million of property tax revenue the County skimmed from local schools and community colleges last November. It seemed bazaar at the time that the supposed “Most Conservative County in America” would increase spending by $145.8 million, then grab the school’s cash and cancel planned layoffs of 490 union workers.

The new lawsuit has caused increased scrutiny of other dicey actions by the County. The biggest shock came from the recently released Orange County 2010-11 Audited Financial Report, which discloses the County is short $30,146,000 in Reserves and out of accounting compliance: Continue reading→

Michelle Steel’s staff gives her 2014 Supervisorial campaign a big edge

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2012 Elections, Huntington Beach, Joel Angeles, John Moorlach, Ken Lopez Maddox, Michelle Steel, Orange County, Republican Party, Tyler Diep Leave a comment

I received an anonymous package in the mail on Friday, from someone in Sacramento. The envelope contained two articles about State Board of Equalization member Michelle Steel’s Chief of Staff, Joel Angeles. Apparently he was charged with assault back in 2009, but he ultimately was acquitted of all the charges. A candidate for the Ventura County Community College District’s Board of Trustees also charged Angeles with offering him a bribe, but that 2002 story went nowhere too.

However, the fellow who sent me the articles was trying to make the point that Steel’s campaign for Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach’s seat, when he terms out in 2014, will somehow be doomed because of Angeles’ shenanigans. I don’t buy it. Continue reading→

Exclusive: Street responds to allegations that he overcharged O.C. investors

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Editor Posted in 2012 Elections, Chriss Street, John Moorlach, Orange County Leave a comment

Has John Moorlach created an Orange County Financial Crisis as Chairmen of the Board of Supervisors? That is what former Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street told me when I asked him, via email, to respond to allegations that he “skirted county investment guidelines and overcharged investment pool participants, who are now owed an estimated $2.9 million rebate, according to interviews and county audits,” according to the O.C. Register.

Here is the rest of Street’s response – in his own words:

The Treasury Department during my tenure spent less money each year than the year before, and less than the Treasury Department’s budget that was approved by the Treasury Oversight Committee and the Board of Supervisors approved. Continue reading→