“Orange County Public Works Director Jess Carbajal was fired Monday, just a week after District Attorney Tony Rackauckas charged one of his former top executives, Carlos Bustamante, with multiple sex crimes,” according to the Voice of OC.
“The move comes after Bustamante, a Santa Ana city councilman, was charged earlier this month with more than 12 felonies in connection with the alleged sexual assault of more than seven women over eight years, according to the L.A. Times.
Carbajal has apparently hired super-lawyer Wylie Aitken to represent him. Aitken, a major power in the Democratic Party, said that it was Orange County CEO Tom Mauk, “not Carbajal, who dictated how the first investigation should be handled after an anonymous letter was sent to Carbajal and Campbell in March 2011,” according to the O.C. Register.
Carbajal may not have handled the situation well, but clearly some, if not all of the the fault lies with Mauk – and with Bill Campbell, who at the time was the Chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. And the former Orange County Human Resources director, Carl Crown, who has since retired, also has to be fingered.
I am sure that Aitken is going to win a bundle for Carbajal, who was “was terminated with cause, which does not entitle him to a severance package,” according to the L.A. Times. And more heads are bound to roll before this mess is over…
The firing of Bustamante’s boss is a crock of crap and is a way for the board of supervisors to cover their behinds to try to save their jobs.
Jess Carbajal appears to have done exactly what he was told to do. He investigated the allegations and per his lawyer the women denied all wrongdoing. What was his boss to do, fire him based upon anonymous letters? It is clear that even before Bustamante makes his first court appearance, the board of supervisors have claimed their first victim. This “cover your rear end” move will likely cost the taxpayers millions when Carbajal sues the county for wrongful termination!