Victims and Culprits in Orange County’s Crisis

James Flanigan has raised the Times’ call of victimization in the Orange County fiscal debacle to a new level (“California’s Faulty Tax System May Be at Bankruptcy’s Root,” Dec. 14). The unfortunate thing is that he distinctly misses identifying the victims.

To clarify the situation, there is definitive fault to be placed. County Treasurer Robert L. Citron was well aware of what he was doing. He is a sophisticated investment manager. He advised other bureaucrats and agency managers to risk public funds to increase the amount of monies they had to expend within their domain. If these people did not understand the relationship between risk and reward, they should have been required to take a high school-level economics class.

In no way are they victims of the changing tax system within California. They are irresponsible people who overstepped their authority. If the system was not providing these bureaucrats with sufficient funds, their only responsibility was to either cut expenditures or inform their constituents they needed additional revenues. The taxpayers could then make a decision to increase the burden upon themselves to cover the tab.

Let us make this crystal clear: The only victims here are the citizens of Orange County and possibly the rest of California who are going to have to foot the bill for this tomfoolery.

BRUCE L. BIALOSKY

Beverly Hills

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James Flanigan almost had it right when he blamed Proposition 13 and the California taxpayer for the Orange County investment fiasco. He correctly noted that the taxpayers are unwilling to provide unlimited tax revenues to fund increasing expenditures in a declining economy.

And he was right on the mark by observing that the taxpayers really do want smaller government, less regulation, less services and, most of all, less civil servants.

But he somehow missed the fact that the greedy investment houses duped Mr. Citron into buying derivatives that were not only ill suited to the investment objections of the county but also flew in the face of the clearly stated Federal Reserve intentions to raise interest rates.

Even worse, he seems to have forgotten that government exists for the benefit of the taxpayer, not the other way around.

DANIEL W. PAINTER

Sun Valley

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Why can’t the rich, greedy, conservative Republicans of Orange County accept the blame for their fiscal problems created by their own greed? They voted overwhelmingly for Proposition 13 and Reaganomics, from which they no doubt sowed billion of dollars while welcoming every Defense Department tax dollar that came their way.

The linkage of the words conservative and prudence is one of the major follies of our time.

HAROLD WEBER

Oceanside