Wait for a Better Reform Plan

Measure T is no remedy for what ails political governance in Orange County. In fact, to borrow a line from James Madison, as a remedy it could well be worse than the disease. Notwithstanding the sincerity of the Orange County Charter Commission, there is hardly a single clause in the document which appears on the March 26 ballot without fault.

Measure T fails to expand the opportunities for consequential public involvement in county-level decision-making; reduces democratic accountability by eliminating election for key county officials; threatens what little separation of powers exist in the structure of county government by turning elected positions into appointive positions.

The main ailment facing Orange County is the stark imbalance of political power. This condition enabled the borrow-and-bet investment scam that led to the county’s bankruptcy; precipitated the misguided advocacy of a sales tax hike; and helps explain the developer-friendly distribution of scarce county resources. Measure T will do nothing to rectify this imbalance.

Maybe Orange County needs a charter, but Measure T certainly isn’t the one we should adopt. If charter reform is worth doing, it’s worth doing right the first time. If that means taking more time to do it, then so be it.

MARK P. PETRACCA

Irvine

Orange County voters shouldn’t be misled into thinking they must endorse the charter proposal on the March 26 ballot or forego the opportunity to reform county government in the wake of a disastrous bankruptcy. Nor should voters believe approval of the ill-conceived charter will magically transform county government into a downsized, modernized lean spending machine.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the proposed charter maintains the status quo by [keeping] a government headed by five county supervisors and an executive officer.

What’s more, for no gain the voters will be plugging themselves permanently into a bureaucracy that will never, but never let go. While doing so they’ll be squandering their prerogative of electing four of their own county officials in favor of bureaucratic appointees endorsed by the Board of Supervisors.

I should note here that my own elected office, clerk-recorder, will be one of those converted to appointment. That is not an influence in my judgment because at 66 I plan to retire at the end of my current term, if not before then.

Proponents of Measure T insist that the voters’ failure to adopt the charter proposal will toss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “move forward” to the winds. Gone, they say, will be the opportunities to expand privatizing and limit officeholders’ terms.

That’s nonsense. There’s another election in November and time enough to overcome the false hope of this misguided charter proposal.

GARY GRANVILLE

Orange