Grand Jury Has Its Work Cut Out--Again : Bankruptcy Continues to Dominate the Agenda, but Other Topics Vie for Attention

Federal grand juries may get to hear fascinating tales of political corruption or large-scale drug trafficking. County grand juries usually spend their days worrying that there are too many sewer districts or too few jail cells.

But much of the usual went out the window for this year’s Orange County grand jury, which has been called upon to examine how the county went bankrupt and whether anyone should face criminal charges as a result.

Next year’s county grand jury is expected to continue its examination of the bankruptcy. But the 19 members of the panel who were selected this month--and who will assume their duties in January--will have a host of other topics to consider as well.

Monitoring government operations is one of the main responsibilities of county grand juries. The variety of corners on which to shine a light is a good reason to have members with different backgrounds and skills. Fortunately, past pleas to include more minorities on the grand jury have been heeded for the second consecutive year.

Thirteen men and six women were chosen as grand jurors; 12 are white, two Asian American, four Latino and one African American.

Credit for the panel’s makeup goes to past grand jurors, Superior Court officials and minority groups that aggressively recruited members to apply. Invitations were sent to churches, civic groups, chambers of commerce and libraries throughout Orange County, a proper blanketing of the community.

The push to include more minority members moved into high gear two years ago, when a previous grand jury issued an ill-advised report calling for an end to all immigration into the United States for three years.

Another impetus for more diversity came when lawyers for several Asian American defendants accused in the killing of another Asian American complained over a lack of representation from that community on the grand jury that returned indictments in the case. There is no evidence that a panel with a different ethnic makeup would have acted differently, but perceptions of fairness are important.

Because of the low pay ($25 a day) and long hours (four or five days a week), grand juries tend to be dominated by retirees or others without full-time jobs. Given fiscal constraints, that picture is unlikely to change soon.

Even in times when there is no bankruptcy to probe, county grand juries perform an important function and deserve credit for serving the community.