BLINDSIDED / ORANGE COUNTY’S FINANCIAL CRISIS : What Now? : Experts on finance and government provide prescriptions for change and lessons for the future. : Political Process

The Issues: All but three of California’s counties elect their treasurers. The theory is that an elected treasurer is independent of political influence and accountable directly to the voters.

But will Orange County’s debacle result in county treasurers who are appointed rather than elected? Former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron was credited with financial know-how, but do elected officials bring the proper expertise to the office? Is their accountability elusive because voters are hard-pressed to know the names of their county treasurers, let alone evaluate their performance?

The accountability for Orange County’s problems is still being determined. Who should have recognized the problems and didn’t? Observers expect voters will make their determination at the ballot box--an impact that could extend through several layers of government.

Dana Reed

Former Orange County transportation commissioner and a supervisorial candidate:

Orange County voters in June had a chance to reject Citron’s risky investment policies--but didn’t, Reed notes. “The fact of the matter is that this very specific problem and situation was the subject of the campaign in June, (John J.W.) Moorlach versus Citron. The voters can’t say, ‘I had nothing to do with this.’ This was presented to them and it was a very black-and-white issue: Do you want a higher interest rate that is risky? Or do you want a more conservative, more traditional management of the public funds? And relatively few people chose the latter.

“Now comes the question, why is the treasurer elected in the first place? The treasurer of Los Angeles is not elected. The treasurer of Los Angeles is a professional money manager who is not looking to please the electorate and doesn’t get campaign contributions. . . . There is no absolutely foolproof solution to this.

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Curt Pringle

Republican Assemblyman from Garden Grove:

Pringle suggests considering changing the way a treasurer is selected. “When you’re dealing with this type of expertise in this day and age, I would consider ensuring that the treasurer has a certain knowledge base, a certain expertise,” he says. “You are not dealing with someone to make political decisions, you are dealing with someone to make financial decisions.”

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Larry Agran

Former Irvine mayor and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate:

“It’s a lot easier to borrow and let future generations pay the bill rather than doing the right thing, which sometimes means you have to stand up and say we are a high-service community with well-kept streets and neighborhoods and all of this costs money,” Agran says. “And we have to ask ourselves if we are going to pay for it (with higher taxes).

“I think this is going to have a powerful, sobering effect on the electorate, and I do think there will be great anger vented against those public officials who do bear responsibility here--that means elected officials and appointed officials.”

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Tom Rogers

Former supervisorial candidate and community activist:

Rogers says the Board of Supervisors and other officials must be more open and accountable. “When people would go down (to speak to the board), you were treated in many cases discourteously, and in a number of cases, rudely. . . . They would say, ‘All we are going to let you do is have your minute up there.’. . . In that kind of environment, you had the makings of this disaster. You had this environment in which there was no outside influence. . . . The only way they can act this way is if they knew they were not going to be defeated. You can’t say (to the board), ‘If you don’t like it, we’re going to throw you out in a couple years,’ because that can’t happen. There is no accountability in this county.

“Term limits (will not work) because the same developers would be behind it. . . . Full disclosure is what I would go for on campaign literature--if you sent out a flyer, you say, ‘This flyer is mailed by citizens for (Supervisor) Tom Riley and the major donors are as follows. . . .’ And if people want to vote for the Irvine Co. or the Mission Viejo Co. stooge, then let them go ahead.”

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Larry Thomas

Former aide to Gov. Pete Wilson and former communications director for the Irvine Co.:

“All of this is my own opinion, not the governor or the Irvine Co., but I do think a strong case could be made that the position of treasurer never should have been and should not be an elected office,” Thomas says. “It actually isolates the accountability as opposed to focusing it. . . . If there was some sophisticated oversight, that would have slowed him (Citron) down. But as long as he’s elected, I think the treasurer was going to say, ‘I answer to the people.’ It’s a strange twist on accountability to voters that is counterintuitive.”