OC Politics Blog | Category Archives: Mike Giancola

Mauk surfaces, dirty dealing again (updated)

Posted on July 2, 2014 by John Fields Posted in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Mike Giancola, Orange County, Tom Mauk 2 Comments

Former OC CEO Thomas Mauk

He wasn’t lost in the woods after all as ex-Orange County CEO Thomas Mauk recently made the LA Times — and it wasn’t for a Model Citizen or Employee of the Year Award.

Mauk was pushed out of County employ in mid-2012 with a $270k severance package. Among a number of nasty personnel issues that he’d failed to deal with, it was former Public Works Manager and Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante’s sexual assaults of multiple female employees since the mid-’90s that finally forced the Supervisors to deal with look-the-other-way Mauk — clearly he was an incompetent senior manager who should have been let go long before he finally hit the door. Mauk was replaced with another County insider who’s got his own checkered reputation.

From a May LAT story, Agency that overbilled county let go: Continue reading→

The County of Orange warns employees that the Bustamante hearings are starting

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Editor Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Courts, Crime, Mike Giancola, Orange County 2 Comments

May 16, 2014

To: Orange County Employees
From: Chairman Shawn Nelson, Supervisor, 4th District
Michael B. Giancola, County Executive Officer

Subject: Bustamante Case

On Monday, a preliminary hearing will begin in the criminal case against former OC Public Works executive Carlos Bustamante. Mr. Bustamante is charged with 12 felony counts for alleged conduct between 2003 and 2011 when he worked for the County, including sexual assault, false imprisonment and stalking.

Preliminary hearings are held in criminal cases to determine if there is enough evidence to justify taking the defendant to trial on the charges. You will very likely be reading and hearing reports about the hearing, including comments and opinions about the County, its policies and procedures, and specific County employees, either past or current. We expect that all of the victims will be testifying. Continue reading→

OC COO Mark Denny won’t be overseeing elections after all

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Editor Posted in 2014 Elections, Mark R. Denny, Mike Giancola, Neal Kelley, OCEA, Orange County 2 Comments

Mark Giancola, Bill Campbell and Mark Denny visit a fellow snake

County CEO Mike Giancola has had second thoughts about putting County COO Mark Denny – who was convicted of election fraud in the 90′s – in charge of overseeing our elections, according to the Orange Juice Blog. OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley will insteada be reporting directly to Giancola.

This is a big victory for the OCEA, the union that represents OC public employees. But it is also a big victory for all of us. Denny should not be working at the County in the first place and he most certainly should not have been in charge of overseeing elections. Continue reading→

Political operative convicted of election fraud now overseeing OC elections

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Editor Posted in 2014 Elections, Mark R. Denny, Mike Giancola, OCEA, Orange County 4 Comments

Mark Giancola, Bill Campbell and Mark Denny visit a fellow snake

To: Interested parties

From: The OCEA

A Fox in the Henhouse: Political operative convicted of election fraud now overseeing County elections

Despite being convicted of election fraud, a longtime insider and ally of politicians on the Orange County Board of Supervisors has recently been appointed to oversee the County’s elections office.

Longtime political operative Mark Denny, who is the County’s Chief Operating Officer, is now responsible for the Orange County Registrar of Voters office, a nonpartisan County office charged with administering elections and ensuring the public’s access to campaign finance disclosures. Denny pleaded guilty to election fraud in March 1996 in connection with a Republican scheme to manipulate the ballot in an Assembly District election, according to a Los Angeles Times report. He was placed on three years of probation. Continue reading→

Updated: OCEA Chief Berardino allegedly flips out at County labor talks meeting

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Editor Posted in Crime, Labor, Mike Giancola, Nick Berardino, OCEA, Orange County, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Nick Berardino

Managers were making their final contract offer at the Santa Ana offices of the 12,000-member Orange County Employees Association, when union chief Nick Berardino allegedly “verbally abused and physically threatened with violence” county negotiators, County CEO Mike Giancola wrote in a letter to OCEA Friday. OCEA represents rank-and-file employees, according to the OC Register.

The county is filing a formal assault complaint with the Santa Ana Police Department, according to the letter. Officials also will try to bar Berardino from future negotiations, will not meet at OCEA offices, and will provide security during future sessions, the letter adds.

Here are a few more details about Berardino’s shameful behavior: Continue reading→

County CEO Giancola off the hook as judge tosses harassment lawsuit

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Editor Posted in Mike Giancola, OC Waste & Recycling, Orange County Leave a comment

Orange County CEO Mike Giancola slithered off the hook today when a Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit by a former County employee, Kathleen Tahilramani, who alleged she had been retaliated against and harassed while working for Giancola during his tenure as director of the County’s Waste & Recycling Agency, according to a County of Orange press release.

Judge John C. Gastelum granted the County’s motion for summary judgment in full. Continue reading→