The Orange County Grand Jury released a report blasting the O.C. Board of Supervisors on Monday, calling their decision to raise their salaries 25% in the wake of a scandal dubbed “A Breach of Public Trust in Orange County,” a phrase that also titled the report.
The salary increase was approved in June, just days after former Supervisor Andrew Do was sentenced to five years in federal prison on bribery and corruption charges, and was written in a way that “effectively obscured it from public scrutiny” on the agenda, the Grand Jury said.
“The timing was especially troubling as the County of Orange (County) has been facing hiring freezes and budget constraints,” the report said. “This decision was not only tone-deaf—it reflected a deeper disconnect from the Board’s duty to serve the public with transparency and fiscal responsibility.”
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That salary increase, which the Grand Jury notes puts the supervisors’ pay higher than that of the governor of California, is emblematic of elected officials “enrich[ing] themselves” when they were “entrusted to serve.”…