ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Some Questions for Moorlach

The coronation of John M. W. Moorlach as treasurer-tax collector now seems inevitable. The toast of the public forum circuit may in fact be the best available candidate, but the county can never be sure because the national search that ought to have been conducted hasn’t taken place.

The county keeps saying it wants the best talent in the bankruptcy recovery effort. This apparently done deal is further evidence that politics drives the county’s decisions in almost every aspect of the crisis. The supervisors are terrified of the powerful political forces in Orange County that have pushed Moorlach from the beginning.

Give Moorlach credit for being a stronger candidate now than he was a year ago. We now know that he first explained in theory how the the county’s investment pool might collapse, and then issued an eerily accurate warning of trouble ahead just before the election.

But the questions we had almost a year ago persist, and now have been raised by others: What are the qualifications for this post? And is Moorlach, an accountant, the best available person? Those wondering include experts brought in by the county, the grand jury foreman and state Sen. Lucy Killea (I-San Diego), who is the co-chair of the state Senate panel looking into the bankruptcy crisis.

We don’t think that under Moorlach the county’s investments will be in trouble; his conservative strategy is supported by events. We would prefer that the county conduct a wider search, but at least overseers should question him closely before handing over the keys to the kingdom.

The new five-member committee of financial professionals that will oversee investments by the treasurer’s office is a logical place for a review of Moorlach to be conducted. For one thing, Moorlach should be asked not only about his qualifications but also to talk about the help he got in analyzing the investment portfolio during the campaign. He refused to do so in testifying before the state Senate Special Committee on Local Government Investment. Hearing more about how Moorlach got his information may be pertinent to how he would perform in office.