Will Voters Elect to Alter the System?

In the continuing political fallout from Orange County’s bankruptcy, voters will be asked in March to relinquish their right to elect nearly a dozen city and county officials.

The sweeping changes are proposed in a series of ballot measures that would transform some elective positions, such as treasurer, into appointive ones.

The most significant reforms are included in a proposed county charter that proponents say will make county government more efficient, more accountable and less susceptible to disasters such as the investment-fund losses that triggered the bankruptcy.

The charter calls for the county treasurer and three other officeholders now elected by the public to be appointed by--and answerable to--the county’s chief executive officer.

The bankruptcy has been blamed in part on the Board of Supervisors’ lack of complete authority over former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, an elected official whose risky investment strategies caused $1.64 billion in losses to the county-run investment pool.

Voters in Brea, Huntington Beach, Orange and San Clemente will decide whether to give their city councils the power to appoint municipal treasurers and other officers.

Critics are quick to assail the proposals on the March 26 ballot as undemocratic in spirit.

“It’s a question of bureaucracy or democracy,” said Patrick Quaney, an opponent of the county charter. “We don’t want the bureaucrats making these choices. We want the people to decide.”

But backers insist that the measures would bolster good government by ensuring that positions such as treasurer, which require technical competence, are filled by the most qualified candidates, and not simply by those who can win elections.

They point out that Citron was reelected just months before his investment practices plunged the county into bankruptcy.

“All we need to do is point to that situation to make it evident that we need extremely competent people,” Orange Councilman Dan Slater said. “Those who spend money are the ones who tend to get elected. It’s conceivable that an outright crook could come along, get elected and steal us blind.”

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Traditionally, voters have been reluctant to give up the power to select government officials, and similar initiatives have gone down to defeat in years past. But some observers said the proposals might stand a better chance this year because of the financial crisis, which has ignited public interest in government reform.

Most city councils did not devote much attention to investment matters before the county filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 6, 1994. Almost all of Orange County’s 31 cities simply placed funds in the county investment pool.

Brea Treasurer John H. Sutton said the bankruptcy convinced him that the city needs a professional money manager--not a politician--running its investments.

“I’m as qualified as the average layman, but the city deserves more than that for the responsibilities involved,” said Sutton, a retired civil engineer. “To put it up as an elective position doesn’t give the city the skill and expertise it needs.”

Making technical government jobs appointive rather than elective would also resolve a power struggle that has frustrated both city and county officials.

As elected officials, treasurers are not directly answerable either to their governing boards or to top administrators.

“Ultimately, when it comes to running the city, the buck stops with the City Council,” Huntington Beach Councilman Ralph Bauer said.

“But in the case of the city treasurer and the city attorney, the buck stops with them because they are independently elected,” said Bauer, who added, “I’d be love to have the buck stop with me and have the public hold me responsible.”

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Despite the bankruptcy, experts said some of the ballot measures probably face an uphill battle.

“Generally, people do not like to surrender power,” said Fred Smoller, chairman of Chapman University’s political science department. “When you’re talking about moving an elective position to appointive, the voters like to keep their options open.”

Smoller said he supports the proposals because voters generally pay little attention to minor offices like treasurer and fail to check the backgrounds and records of the candidates.

“It looks like democracy but it is not, because it does not involve informed participation,” he said. “It’s politics without meaning.”

But critics fear that handing the selection process over to government officials would stifle a free debate of issues and result in cronyism.

“They say they want the treasurer to have the right credentials,” Quaney said. “What credentials? That he goes to the same clubs? That he’s in their clique?”

Nick Lall, a member of the Orange Taxpayers Assn., said he sees the proposals as a “grab for power” on the part of council members who want to obscure their own roles in bankruptcy.

Losses suffered by municipalities because of the bankruptcy should be blamed on city councils that voted to place money in the investment pool, not the treasurers, Lall added.

Others are concerned about the precedent some of the proposals would set.

“Thomas Jefferson did a great job in creating this government,” said Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Garofalo, who opposes making the city attorney an appointive job. “I don’t want to give up any rights I have right now.”

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System Change

The March 26 ballot will contain measures that, if approved, would convert almost a dozen elected city and county offices to appointive positions. Backers say the measures are designed to make government more effective; critics fault the proposals for taking power from voters. Offices that would become appointive:

* Countywide: Treasurer-tax collector, clerk-recorder, auditor-controller and public administrator

* Brea: Treasurer and city clerk

* Huntington Beach: Treasurer and city attorney

* Orange: Clerk and treasurer

* San Clemente: Treasurer

Source: County registrar of voters; Times reports

Los Angeles Times