[Read: Audit Finds More Questionable Spending From Convicted Former OC Supervisor<\/a>]<\/p>\n Orange County Supervisors are treated like Kings and Queens, not to be questioned by anyone and able to stick their hands directly into the bureaucracy of government.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keep in mind that more than a hundred years ago around the turn of the last century, public bureaucracy was born in America to avoid the situation that became synonymous with government corruption, New York\u2019s Tammany Hall<\/a>, where politicians had a direct hand in government spending, contracts and hiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reforms that followed those scandals largely set up the city manager form of government <\/a>seen across most of America today.\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea being that you don\u2019t want elected leaders directly ordering public staff to do anything or getting involved with procurement or hiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s why \u2013 in theory \u2013 we have a county CEO, an Executive, not a CAO, an Administrator.\u00a0<\/p>\n Except the Do scandal clearly shows how politicians in Orange County have been able over the past two decades to effectively short circuit the county CEO, turning the job into a bag man of sorts.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the March 24 board meeting, auditors with Weaver unveiled the conclusions<\/a> of looking into a series of contracts emanated from Do\u2019s District 1 office, part of what auditors called \u201ca culture where decisions related to District 1 contracts were not to be questioned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet what the auditors were too nervous to note, or didn\u2019t see, is the structural problem that made Do possible.<\/p>\n County supervisors regularly work the CEO\u2019s office and in many cases, county agencies.<\/p>\n Note that earlier this year, when South County residents started complaining about the expanding footprint of the local county landfill, Supervisor Katrina Foley announced to residents that she was able to get the head of OC Waste to immediately halt the project, illustrating a level of influence at the department level that even her colleagues called out publicly.\u00a0<\/p>\n [Read: Expansion of County Landfill Turns Into Hot Button Campaign Issue<\/a>]<\/p>\n Yet Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento really illustrated the power of county supervisors at the March 24 meeting when he publicly said that when he asked questions about Do\u2019s contracts, former CEO Frank Kim verified that everything was ok.<\/p>\n With Do himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Can you explain what happened with this inquiry?\u2019\u201c Sarmiento said. \u201cI remember the response graphically, which was \u2018I (Frank) checked with the supervisor\u2019s (Do\u2019s) chief of staff and he said that it was.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere were people trying to draw attention to this, and those in positions of more executive authority disregarded those,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a fatal flaw in our government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To Sarmiento\u2019s credit, he finally exposed the big dirty secret at the County of Orange.<\/p>\n The question now is how can county supervisors ignore the implications of what Sarmiento clearly put out there?\u00a0<\/p>\n Guardrailing Politicians<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written before on the weak CEO system in place in Orange County that county supervisors have historically encouraged and that was directly responsible for what Do was able to get away with.\u00a0<\/p>\n Few insiders seem to like my idea of having an elected CEO \u2013 as they are currently experimenting with in LA County.\u00a0<\/p>\n [Read: Santana: Time For an Elected Orange County CEO?<\/a>]<\/p>\n Yet the fact that so many insiders are afraid of an elected CEO makes me even more confident in the notion.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the county went bankrupt in 1994, Wall Street insisted on having a real chief executive that was accountable. But almost immediately, county supervisors short circuited that office and made sure to put weak executives in place.<\/p>\n Sarmiento noted publicly that he admires current CEO Michelle Aguirre because she\u2019ll bite back against supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Aguirre \u2013 the former head of the budget office \u2013 is ready for retirement, with just a few more months to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n That kind of short timer is perfect for pushback.<\/p>\n But what happens when she leaves?\u00a0<\/p>\n County supervisors have triggered another search for a weak CEO but have yet to find one despite several failed recruitments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Could it be that any tough executive with vision is smart enough to not take a job where five supervisors get to run the county behind the scenes?<\/p>\n In addition to an elected CEO, there\u2019s not enough county supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Five officials to oversee a county of three million people<\/a> spread out over nearly 800 square miles of land and 34 cities is clearly not enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s been talk of expanding supervisors to seven or even nine in past years.\u00a0<\/p>\n But again, the current Fab Five are unlikely to dilute their power.\u00a0<\/p>\n That kind of sweeping reform may have to be imposed on them from the citizenry in the form of a ballot initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reining In Supervisors\u2019 Discretionary Spending<\/p>\n There\u2019s no area more in need of reform \u2013 or more like termination \u2013 than county supervisors discretionary spending, which was minimal for decades with traditional OC leaders having an aversion to what many call political slush funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet when the COVID bailout dollars arrived, county supervisors made sure to give themselves massive private spending accounts, totalling $10 million each.\u00a0<\/p>\n [Read: Santana: Should Elected Officials Get To Spend Public Money Themselves?<\/a>]<\/p>\n Most spent it right away. And many expenses had no relation to the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Especially not now.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most recently, Supervisor Katrina Foley doled out a bunch of discretionary dollars to a series of local groups and nonprofits \u2013 just ahead of her reelection campaign.<\/p>\n Supervisor Janet Nguyen is currently arguing that just under $4 million recovered from the Do scandal should go directly to her office as she didn\u2019t get to direct spending any of the COVID money on her district.\u00a0<\/p>\n That discretionary spending was key in Do\u2019s bribery scheme.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Taylor_CountyAdminBuilding_SantaAna_2024_5-2.jpg\")
The Orange County Board of Supervisors building in Santa Ana on Aug. 19, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2023_AndrewDo_Leopo-3.jpg\")
Disgraced Supervisor Andrew Do during a 2023 Orange County Board of Supervisor meeting. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/148A3715.jpg\")
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento speaks to reporters after the scheduled press conference on July 25, 2025. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OCBoardofSupervisors_May20_2025_Taylor-20.jpg\")
Supervisor Katrina Foley speaks at the podium during the OC Board of Supervisors meeting on May 20, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC<\/p>\n