A recent Orange County Grand Jury report recommended converting the elected Treasurer-Tax Collector into an appointed position and giving supervisors power to remove independently elected officials by a super-majority vote. The timing matters. Just 10 days earlier, Orange County voters had sent the opposite message, returning Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Freidenrich to office with more than 70 percent of the vote. The Grand Jury offered an institutional critique. The voters delivered a resounding public affirmation.
That raises a question that goes well beyond any one officeholder or controversy: In a democratic republic, who is actually in charge?
The answer is supposed to be simple: the voters are. That may sound obvious. But recent events in Orange County suggest county insiders have a different answer in mind…