{"id":379579,"date":"2026-06-29T18:33:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/379579\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:33:47","slug":"oc-district-attorney-lambasts-supervisors-for-silencing-public-debate-on-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/379579\/","title":{"rendered":"OC District Attorney Lambasts Supervisors For Silencing Public Debate On Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orange County residents just got shortchanged on having any real input on making $10 billion in locally-focused taxpayer funds work for them much less improve their quality of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In adopting the next year\u2019s fiscal budget last Tuesday, Orange County Supervisors may have set a record for the darkest budget in history \u2013 one that isn\u2019t structurally balanced and denies raises to general workers but grants healthy raises to top execs and a 25% pay boost for county supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Read: Orange County Supervisors Now Make More Than California\u2019s Governor<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Now, when I say dark, I mean lights-out dark. This year was an especially fast-paced budget process with virtually no public debate without much public input or analysis by county supervisors on the dais.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adopting an annual budget is a central function for any elected body \u2013 a chance to publicly discuss and set top priorities as a community and force tough discussions about charting a path toward those aims.<\/p>\n

But with county supervisors ready to start their month-long vacation and a CEO days away from retirement, the budget got sandwiched in between the year\u2019s most packed agenda alongside over 100 other items.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was rushed through with a clear effort to quash debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just me that saw it that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Outrageously Laughable\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those are the exact words District Attorney Todd Spitzer used to describe this year\u2019s lack of budget deliberations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a rare public rebuke, Spitzer came up to the public comment podium, calling out county supervisors for a rushed budget process that didn\u2019t allow one department head to talk about \u2013\u00a0 much less contest \u2013 any spending decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur employees rely on a budget process that builds credibility and morale,\u201d Spitzer said at the public comment podium, criticizing the manner in which the annual budget was agendized and approved, as \u201can afterthought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s have a robust discussion in public about our budget,\u201d Spitzer said before his mic was essentially cut.<\/p>\n

Supervisors\u2019 Chairman Doug Chaffee responded, \u201cThank you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"District Attorney Todd Spitzer walks away from the public comment podium after his remarks regarding the county budget during the Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Ana. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n

After seeing this, I called Spitzer just like I called Treasurer\/Tax Collector Shari Friedenrich when she was cut off <\/a>at the mic the week before \u2013 the first time I\u2019ve ever seen independently elected officials robbed of a chance to speak to the board of supervisors, especially about their office budgets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spitzer has seen, by his own count, at least a dozen public budgets as an elected official, having served several terms as both a county supervisor and a school board member before becoming DA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told me what he was trying to tell county supervisors before he got cut off, noting that historically at the county, there used to be a much more robust budget deliberation process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, CEO recommendations for the budget came out in writing and would be followed by departmental augmentation requests.<\/p>\n

You can imagine that kind of variety of official opinions about funding levels \u2013 and potential cuts \u2013 fueled intense media coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The entire process, Spitzer noted, \u201cput these issues front and center.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet that kind of approach goes against the tide at the County of Orange, a place where bureaucratic executives are increasingly insulated from accountability \u2013 a trend I\u2019ve begun to attach to resort economies where protecting the brand is above all else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I remember when I first started covering county budgets for the Orange County Register in 2004 \u2013 and I\u2019ve covered every one since \u2013 the entire process was much more open, fueling volatile debates, with hearings going on for virtually an entire week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flash forward to today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked specifically if we could submit augmentation requests to CEO\u2026we were told no,\u201d Spitzer told me. \u201cNow, this board has no idea what our priorities are for any department.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The real question is whether any of these politicians are interested in tough talks about county spending \u2013 especially since Supervisors Katrina Foley and Don Wagner are focused on their November election campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll they do is want to get out of there,\u201d Spitzer told me in a Tuesday phone interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And despite his kind words for her at the public podium on Tuesday, Spitzer was critical of Aguirre\u2019s approach to the budget, characterizing it as \u201crush and cut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior boards pushed back against that kind of leading,\u201d Spitzer said.<\/p>\n

Conspiring to Quash Debate<\/p>\n

The most startling aspect of our conversation is when Spitzer said Aguirre told him that the message to go dark came directly from county supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Supervisors take a photo with outgoing County CEO Michelle Aguirre during her last meeting on June 23, 2026, county meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me the board doesn\u2019t want to have a public discussion,\u201d Spitzer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I asked Spitzer if that direction violates the state\u2019s open meeting law \u2013 the Brown Act \u2013 since that directive seemingly constitutes a daisy chain, which is illegal under state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou raise a super interesting question,\u201d he said. \u201cI need to contemplate.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked a county spokeswoman for a comment from Aguirre in response to Spitzer\u2019s take on her management of the budget process but have yet to hear anything back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treasurer Tax\/Collector Shari Friendenrich made the same comment to me about a dark budget process in a statement she provided last week after being cut off at the public comment podium \u2013 limited to a one-minute speech to offer her take on her department budget, which was one of just a few departments that met the 10% cut asked for by the CEO\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A brochure featuring Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari L. Freidenrich sits on the check-writing table at the Orange County Service Center. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also concerned by the lack of transparency in this year\u2019s budget process,\u201d she wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike prior years, the budget materials do not fully present the TTC\u2019s s requested staffing and budget recommendations in a manner that allows the public to evaluate the differences between the Department\u2019s request and the CEO\u2019s recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Read: Santana: OC\u2019s Treasurer\/Tax Collector Protests County Supervisors\u2019 Budget Ax After Voter Mandate<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a movement in this county to limit public discussion,\u201d Spitzer told me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA well run county,\u201d Spitzer added, \u201cdoes things in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County residents just got shortchanged on having any real input on making $10 billion in locally-focused taxpayer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,2076,6703,4765,2034,2267],"class_list":["post-379579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-budget","tag-county-government","tag-orange-county-board-of-supervisors","tag-todd-spitzer","tag-voice-of-oc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}