Sundstrom Headed for Auditor’s Office

Internal county auditor David Sundstrom appeared to hold a majority lead over his two competitors, enough to win outright in the race for auditor-controller, while Deputy Assessor Webster J. Guillory led his nearest rivals by a 2-1 ratio in a field of seven candidates for the assessor’s post late last night.

But in the assessor race, certified public accountant James S. Bone and real estate broker Jeff Scott Reid appeared to be in a tight battle for the runoff slot in November.

“I’m very pleased with the numbers,” Guillory said. “If we end up in a runoff, we’ll continue to carry our message to the people.

Sundstrom seemed to have the upper hand over certified public accountant W. Snow Hume and economist and corporate director Wayne Clark.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Sundstrom said. “But I’m feeling a lot more optimistic.”

Meanwhile, longtime Public Administrator William A. Baker appeared to have successfully weathered a challenge by opponent and management analyst Kris Beard. The county administrator manages the assets and estates of Orange County residents who die without leaving an heir or a will.

New faces dominated in the assessor and auditor-controller races since the incumbents in those posts, dogged by sharp criticism within the county, decided to step down.

In the auditor-controller race, the first since Orange County’s bankruptcy, all three candidates were battling for a job greatly weakened in the wake of the county’s fiscal collapse.

The job they fought for, currently held by Steve E. Lewis, doesn’t include most of the auditing duties; those tasks were reassigned in 1995 by the Board of Supervisors to the internal auditor’s office. Instead, the position has been largely reduced to the controller’s function of handing out paychecks.

Lewis was roundly criticized in the aftermath of the bankruptcy for failing to do enough to stop the financial mismanagement that led to the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Though Lewis’ audits had hinted at problems in the county treasurer’s investments, his findings were buried in bureaucratic reports.

He was also blamed for not detecting the skimming of about $90 million in interest earnings from the accounts of the county’s outside investors. The money was funneled into the county’s general fund.

A lengthy criminal investigation into the causes of the bankruptcy produced charges against Lewis, but last December, the case against him was dismissed for lack of evidence.

All three candidates agreed that the position calls for the auditor-controller to keep a very close eye on audit results in order to warn the Board of Supervisors of impending problems, but each had different ideas on how to do it.

The race for assessor, which began as a sedate contest between two candidates, ballooned at the last minute to seven hopefuls when longtime incumbent Bradley L. Jacobs announced he would not seek reelection.

Jacobs decided to step down after two years of fighting with the Board of Supervisors, which was critical of his performance handling the assessment of billions of dollars of Orange County property.

The board had wanted Jacobs to apply for a $6.8-million state loan to help the county process property tax appeals faster.

Jacobs resisted, insisting that the county should not borrow money. His refusal to seek a loan became a major campaign issue and a sore spot with supervisors, who contend there is a backlog of appeals cases.

Angry supervisors had also signaled an intention to cut the assessor’s salary based on performance.

County Treasurer-Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, a certified public accountant who was appointed to fill the job in 1995 after Robert L. Citron resigned in disgrace, was elected to a full term without opposition. Moorlach had warned of Citron’s risky investments long before the bankruptcy but was ignored by county officials.

Also elected unopposed was County Clerk-Recorder Gary L. Granville, who, at 68, decided to run for a final term in order to continue streamlining and modernizing the office.