Court Travel Records Sought
The union that represents 1,200 Orange County court employees accused court officials Friday of refusing to disclose the travel records of its top executives, records it says could show wasteful spending at a time of budget cutbacks.
Superior Court officials have failed to provide the Orange County Employees Assn. with travel and entertainment records of judges and top court executives, saying the court is exempt from the state Public Records Act. The court also instructed county Auditor-Controller David Sundstrom to deny a similar request that the union made with his office.
“I think that is an insult to every taxpayer in the state of California as well as Orange County that public officials who should be accountable to the public for their spending are attempting to refuse to show publicly what they’re spending the taxpayers’ money on,” said Nick Berardino, the union’s assistant general manager.
The accusation comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between the union and the court. The union has twice demonstrated against the court’s decision to withhold a 4% raise because of the state budget crisis.
Chelle Uecker, assistant chief executive officer of the court, said officials have been willing to provide a summary of travel expenses and is considering an itemized response.
Berardino said the union wants to view the travel records because some of his members have told him that court executives have taken many trips, including at least one overseas. If the court scaled back on those expenses, it might be better able to honor the raises it negotiated with the union and then rescinded, Berardino said.
The union’s public comments came one day after Sundstrom declined to provide the records to the union at the court’s request. Sundstrom said county attorneys and the court told him that the court does not have to follow the state Public Records Act, which requires government agencies to share their records with the public.
“I wish it weren’t this way. I’m a believer in open government,” Sundstrom said.
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