ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Crisis of Confidence in Recorder’s Office

A number of official reviews of Orange County Recorder Lee Branch’s office over the years have raised serious questions about the way he managed. The concern has grown in recent months, and now the Board of Supervisors is poised to censure him.

Branch has not been charged with or convicted of any official wrong-doing, and he denies that he has done anything wrong. But clearly he has lost both the confidence of his own employees and that of a broad cross section of county leaders who have investigated his stewardship. It is therefore apparent that he cannot continue in office with any reasonable expectation of effectiveness. He should resign for the good of the county and for the good of his staff.

Complaints from judges and various reports since the 1980s, two that came in last week, all point to serious concerns about his management. The county’s affirmative action officer, who investigated employee complaints, concluded this month that Branch should leave. In the other recent report, focusing on management deficiencies, a review found that the recorder had become isolated and unresponsive.

Employees told investigators in both reports that they are demoralized. The report compiled by the affirmative action officer found that at least nine employees sought medical or psychological treatment for stress and depression. In an office that deals with the vital records of an individual’s life--birth and death certificates, the deed to a house--workers have enough stress meeting the public’s expectations.

A major source of the latest complaint in the affirmative action inquiry about Branch has been his involvement with a woman who worked for him, a relationship both acknowledged. Subordinates said she “wielded tremendous power” and used it to “intimidate” others. Both Branch and his assistant deny that. But many companies bar one person in a relationship from supervising the other. And these recent concerns are but one example of a lengthy record of concerns about management.

In 1984, when Branch held the combined post of recorder and county clerk, state appellate court judges in Santa Ana issued more than a dozen orders threatening to hold Branch in contempt for not forwarding long-overdue files from Superior Court trials. More deficiencies were found in a management audit the next year.

In subsequent years, county supervisors denied Branch pay raises to get him to reform. There have been recent complaints of sexual harassment and physical abuse, which he denies; last year they led the supervisors to put him on paid leave for several weeks.

As a result of the inquiries by the affirmative action officer and a specialist in employee relations, the supervisors have been urged by the county administrative officer to take control over the office. If Branch resists stepping aside, there is little the county can do. A seldom-used law lets the grand jury recommend the district attorney file civil misconduct charges, but that requires a full-fledged trial. That would not start until long after June, when Branch is up for reelection.

He makes $75,000 a year, and county officials estimate he could get nearly $60,000 a year in retirement. The best advice for Branch is in those numbers; he should take the money and go.