Fire Board Rejects Rules on Disclosure

A proposal that would have required companies seeking work with the Orange County Fire Authority to broaden disclosure of their political donations died after a vote this week.

The authority’s board of directors voted 12 to 7 in November to ask its attorneys to draft the regulations, after concerns were raised that ambulance companies were giving political donations to city officials who are authority directors.

Those companies were seeking exclusive contracts through the board of directors to serve the cities that belong to the Fire Authority.

Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby and Dana Point City Councilman James V. Lacy led the opposition to the proposed regulation.

Lacy said state law requires adequate disclosure. He noted that the new rules would apply to vendors but not to other interested parties, including the union representing firefighters.

“If there is a political corruption problem, it can be reported to the [state Fair Political Practices Commission] or the district attorney,” Lacy said.

The proposal’s author, who didn’t seek reelection to the Irvine City Council in November -- and gave up his Fire Authority seat -- said he wasn’t surprised his former colleagues on the board voted to kill the rules “because they’re the people benefiting most from the status quo.”

“That’s the problem with any structural change,” Chris Mears said, “because incumbents, by definition, are beneficiaries of a corrupt system, so they vote to maintain it.”