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Posts Tagged ‘Todd Spitzer’

Jan Grimes Appointed OC Auditor-Controller: We Have Vote Totals

Posted by Chris Emami on April 16, 2013

My iPad died earlier, right after the final update and I did not get the chance to do an official post announcing that Jan Grimes was appointed Auditor-Controller. It was fairly easy to track the vote totals since only four candidates even made it to the interview process. Following up from earlier I am posting a list of votes that each Supervisor cast yesterday for Auditor-Controller. Later tonight stay tuned for an interview with Supervisor Shawn Nelson that we will be posting in its entirety. Now onto the vote recap:

Round 1

In this opening round, each Supervisor could vote for up to two applicants to advance to the second round with an applicant needing to finish in the top two in order to advance. Here’s the breakdown:

Janet Nguyen

Eric Woolery

John Moorlach

Jan Grimes

Todd Spitzer

Jan Grimes

Shawn Nelson

George Beck
Jan Grimes

Pat Bates

Eric Woolery
Jan Grimes

Here are the results from this round:

Making The Cut

Jan Grimes (4 votes)
Eric Woolery (2 votes)

Missing The Cut

George Beck (1 vote)
James Benuzzi (0 Votes)

Round 2

In this second round, each Supervisor could vote for up to one applicant in order to give an idea of who would be the top choice. Here’s the breakdown:

Janet Nguyen

Eric Woolery

John Moorlach

Jan Grimes

Todd Spitzer

Jan Grimes

Shawn Nelson

Jan Grimes

Pat Bates

Eric Woolery

Here are the results from this round:

Jan Grimes (3 votes)
Eric Woolery (2 votes)

Final Motion

With the top vote getter being Jan Grimes, John Moorlach made a motion to appoint Jan Grimes. Todd Spitzer seconded the motion and the vote which was more of a formality at this point was as follows

Janet Nguyen- Aye
John Moorlach- Aye
Todd Spitzer- Aye
Shawn Nelson- Aye
Pat Bates- Aye

This made it a 5-0 vote on the actual appointment.

Posted in Orange County Auditor-Controller | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Auditor-Controller Interviews: Time To Vote

Posted by Chris Emami on April 16, 2013

4:55 PM- We are now voting on the top two choices for the office among the four applicants.

4:57 PM- Jan Grimes and Eric Woolery appear to have advanced to the final round but it is not looking good for Eric Woolery.

4:58 PM- We are now voting for the top candidate with the previous total being Beck with 1 vote, Woolery with 2 votes, and Grimes with 4 votes.

5:00 PM- Janet Nguyen is advocating for Woolery but states that she will work with Jan Grimes if necessary.

5:02 PM- Spitzer is talking about his vote as one that is to create an open seat since he is certain that Grimes will not run for re-election.

5:05 PM- Pat Bates feels that Woolery is the best choice for the job based on his experience and wants to back somebody that will run for it.

5:07 PM- Jan Grimes is appointed by a vote of 3-2.

5:10 PM- Check that. The paper ballots were 3-2. The appointment of Jan Grimes was a 5-0 vote.

5:24 PM- We are now adjourned and I am calling it a day. Now interview will be available because all of the applicants are gone and are not accessible for any interviews.

Posted in Orange County Auditor-Controller | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

We Have Vote Totals! Clerk-Recorder Follow Up

Posted by Chris Emami on April 3, 2013

Forgive my typos and grammar from yesterday. I don’t type very fast and often cannot go back and fix items when I am live blogging. As you may have noticed I want back through all of the posts from yesterday and cleaned up the typos along with some of the grammar. A bit of reformatting also may have been done in order to make the posts a bit easier on the eyes. Following up from yesterday I am posting a list of votes that each Supervisor cast yesterday for Clerk-Recorder. Later today stay tuned for our interview with Supervisor Todd Spitzer that we will be posting in its entirety. Now onto the vote recap:

Round 1

In this opening round, each Supervisor could vote for up to five applicants to advance to the second round with an applicant needing a minimum of three votes to advance. Here’s the breakdown:

Janet Nguyen

Chris Norby
Hieu Nguyen
Dick Ackerman
Harry Sidhu

John Moorlach

Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen
Dick Ackerman
Steve Rosansky
Renee Ramirez

Todd Spitzer

Hieu Nguyen
Bruce Peotter
Renee Ramirez

Shawn Nelson

Chris Norby
Dick Ackerman
Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen

Pat Bates

Chris Norby
Dick Ackerman
Hieu Nguyen
Steve Rosansky
Renee Ramirez

Here are the results from this round:

Making The Cut

Hieu Nguyen (5 votes)
Dick Ackerman (4 votes)
Bruce Peotter (3 votes)
Chris Norby (3 votes)
Renee Ramirez (3 votes)

Missing The Cut

Steve Rosansky (2 votes)

Round 2

In this round, each Supervisor could vote for up to three applicants to advance to the third round with an applicant still needing a minimum of three votes to advance. Here’s the breakdown:

Janet Nguyen

Chris Norby
Hieu Nguyen
Dick Ackerman

John Moorlach

Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen
Renee Ramirez

Todd Spitzer

Hieu Nguyen
Bruce Peotter
Renee Ramirez

Shawn Nelson

Chris Norby
Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen

Pat Bates

Chris Norby
Dick Ackerman
Hieu Nguyen

Here are the results from this round:

Making The Cut

Hieu Nguyen (5 votes)
Bruce Peotter (3 votes)
Chris Norby (3 votes)

Missing The Cut

Dick Ackerman (2 votes)
Renee Ramirez (2 votes)

Round 3

In this round, each Supervisor could vote for up to two applicants to advance to the final round with an applicant still needing a minimum of three votes to advance. Here’s the breakdown:

Janet Nguyen

Hieu Nguyen

John Moorlach

Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen

Todd Spitzer

Hieu Nguyen
Bruce Peotter

Shawn Nelson

Chris Norby
Hieu Nguyen

Pat Bates

Bruce Peotter
Hieu Nguyen

Here are the results from this round:

Making The Cut

Hieu Nguyen (5 votes)
Bruce Peotter (3 votes)

Missing The Cut

Chris Norby (1 vote)

Final Round

With the field being narrowed to the final two applicants Nelson realized that only one applicant received five votes in every round. Supervisor Nguyen made a motion to appoint Hieu Nguyen to the position of Orange County Clerk-Recorder. Here was the breakdown of the votes on that motion:

Janet Nguyen- Aye
John Moorlach- No
Todd Spitzer- Aye
Shawn Nelson- Aye
Pat Bates- Aye

Posted in Orange County Board of Supervisors, Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Hieu Nguyen Appointed Orange County Clerk-Recorder

Posted by Chris Emami on April 2, 2013

On a 4-1 vote (Moorlach dissenting) after a marathon interview session the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to appointed Hieu Nguyen to the position of Orange County Clerk-Recorder. His interview was not the best but he did well and answered the questions the right way.

My computer has already died so I am not able to complete the portions of this post the way that I would like but we have a couple of things on deck for this news. following the meeting I am fairly certain that OC Political was lucky enough to get the first interview with Hieu Nguyen just outside the boardroom. We will be launching this as our first audio post.

Also, Supervisor Todd Spitzer had the misfortune of being the only Supervisor that didn’t run away fast enough as I approached the dais looking for interviews. He was kind enough to give us some time to talk about the process and what he looks to see moving forward.

If not tonight, by tomorrow I also expect to be able to have a more comprehensive post up about Hieu Nguyen. I will also tally up each Supervisors individual votes on each round of the process and present it for our readers. Be on the lookout for all of these and more later this week on OC Political.

Coming up we have the next round of appointments which will be the Orange County Auditor-Controller and Orange County Public Administrator.

Posted in Orange County Board of Supervisors, Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Clerk-Recorder Interviews: Deliberation Time

Posted by Chris Emami on April 2, 2013

4:31 PM- They are going to have a ballot to decide the top 5 choices to advance for further discussion. Anybody with 3 votes advances if I understood correctly.

4:33 PM- They are voting.

4:36 PM- The following advance Renee Ramirez, Hieu Nguyen, Bruce Peotter, Chris Norby, and Dick Ackerman.

4:39 PM- We are now going to vote on a top 3.

4:40 PM- They are voting.

4:41 PM- The results are in and the top 3 are Hieu Nguyen, Chris Norby, and Bruce Peotter.

4:43 PM- They are now discussing the procedure of appointing this today versus going forward.

4:45 PM- They are looking into the top 2 now to advance.

4:48 PM- They are now voting.

4:50 PM- The top 2 are Hieu Nguyen and Bruce Peotter.

4:51 PM- A motion is on the table to appoint Hieu Nguyen to the position and it was approved 4-1.

4:53 PM- Hieu Nguyen is the next OC Clerk-Recorder.

4:52 PM- We are adjourned.

Posted in Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Clerk-Recorder Interviews: Introduction

Posted by Chris Emami on April 2, 2013

We are now starting the meeting at 9:06 AM.

9:07 AM- Jack Enda came up to speak on behalf of Hieu Nguyen during the public comment portion of the meeting. He spoke of his experiences working for Gary Granville alongside Hieu.

9:08 AM- Darlene Bloom also stood up to speak on behalf of Hieu Nguyen. She was the Clerk-Recorder briefly during the transition period after Gary Granville passed away and before Tom Daly took over.

9:11 AM- Supervisor Nelson stated that first interview should take place at 9:10 AM. He suggested an opening statement for each applicant, questions and then a closing statement by each applicant.

9:13 AM- They are currently deciding on who will ask certain questions that were prepared by the 4th Supervisorial District staff.

Posted in Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Orange County Clerk Recorder Recap & Preview

Posted by Chris Emami on April 1, 2013

Now that we have had some April Fools Day fun on to the real business for the day. Here is a post that has no pranks or jokes in it.

Tomorrow evening we will likely have a new Orange County Clerk-Recorder in place after what I am sure will be a lengthy and intriguing deliberation by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. I will be in attendance live blogging all of the interviews for our readers and giving my take on what is happening. be here with us at OC Political at 9:00 AM to follow along.

330px-Seal_of_Orange_County,_California_svg

To explain how it will be formatted I will start with a post that details the opening of the meeting. After my original post I will have a separate post for every single interview up until the end of the meeting. After the interviews are done I will have a separate post for the deliberation and appointment. With any luck I might even get an interview with the individual who gets nominated. My suggestion to readers in order to be able to follow along live is to click on each post as it goes up and hit refresh to get a live update on what is going on with that interview.

We have had some of the best coverage of the Orange County Clerk-Recorder saga over the past few weeks often being the blog to breaks stories on this subject. Let’s take a moment to recap the process from the beginning.

Due to the length of the post I am cutting it off here. Click the link to view the rest of it. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 1st Supervisorial District, 2nd Supervisorial District, 3rd Supervisorial District, 4th Supervisorial District, 5th Supervisorial District, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Clerk-Recorder Resumes, In-Depth Bios, and Schedules

Posted by Chris Emami on March 26, 2013

Update 11:28 PM- Corrections made for brief synopsis of Chris Norby & Larry Bales.

This just in from the Orange County Board of Supervisors website. We now have access to resumes and schedules for the interview process. I initially posted a list of OC Clerk-Recorder candidate bios along with statistics and occupations. Yesterday it appears staff at the County decided to take it a step further by posting each applicants resume among other things into a packet that is preparing us all for the epic meeting on Tuesday April 2nd.330px-Seal_of_Orange_County,_California_svg

In case you were wondering I will be down at the County of Orange on the day of interviews providing our readers with a live blog of every single interview from start to finish. After that hold onto your hats for a live blog of deliberations leading up to the new OC Clerk-Recorder getting selected. Stay tuned for a potential interview with the new OC Clerk-Recorder in our new audio post format if I can snag them after the meeting.

Here is the schedule for Tuesday April 2nd:

9:00 AM-9:10 AM  Opening of Meeting
9:10 AM-9:40 AM  Larry Bales
9:45 AM-10:15 AM  Chris Norby
10:20 AM-10:50 AM  Hieu Nguyen
10:55 AM-11:25 AM  Richard Ackerman
11:30 AM-12:00 PM   Bruce Peotter
12:00 PM-1:00 PM  Lunch
1:00 PM-1:30 PM  Harry Sidhu
1:35 PM-2:05 PM  Michael J. Fox
2:10 PM-2:40 PM  Steven Madoff
2:45 PM-3:15 PM  Steven Rosansky
3:20 PM-3:50 PM  Roy Reynolds
3:55 PM-4:25 PM  Renee Ramirez
4:25 PM-TBA  Deliberation & Selection

Here is a list of candidates in interview order with a link to their packet that they submitted to the OC Board of Supervisors. My thoughts after the links.

Larry Bales
Chris Norby
Hieu Nguyen
Dick Ackerman
Bruce Peotter
Harry Sidhu
Michael J. Fox
Steven Madoff
Steven Rosansky
Roy Reynolds
Renee Ramirez

This was an interesting read to go through all of these applications, cover letters, and resumes in order to figure out how these applicants are angling themselves for the position. Here area few items from the different resumes that stood out.

Larry Bales- He works for used to work for the County of Orange for over 30 years in the office of the Orange County Assessor.

Chris Norby- He puts OC Supervisor as his position as opposed to CA Assemblyman He lists OC Supervisor as his previous employment with Orange County and mentions that he heard about the job from a County employee/friend. I find it interesting that he listed Supervisor Shawn Nelson (1 of the 5 votes) as another one of his references.

Hieu Nguyen- Other than Renee Ramirez he appears to be the only individual other than Renee Ramirez who has experience working in the OC Clerk-Recorders office. He also heard of the position from a County employee/friend. The one think I liked about his packet was that he included letters of reference from supporters including the very well-known businessman Dale Dykema.

Dick Ackerman- He says that he learned of the job through Newspaper/Magazine and has a number of references he lists including OCGOP Chairman Scott Baugh, CRP Chairman Jim Brulte, OC Supervisor (Ret) Bill Campbell, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, and Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway.

Bruce Peotter- As I have stated before he is one of my personal favorites for this position along with Hieu Nguyen. I must admit though that I was surprised with his experience in the office of Public Administrator/Guardian that he applied for Clerk-Recorder instead. His resume/cover letter was the cleanest out of all applicants in terms of formatting and shows that he is extremely qualified for this position.

Harry Sidhu- This one will be tough as long as Shawn Nelson is still a Supervisor next week. In his cover letter he focuses on his private sector experience. In his resume he includes not only his Anaheim City Council experience but also his background as a mechanical engineer, real estate broker, and a business owner.

Michael J. Fox- I was totally hoping to read a filmography on this one but alas my dream was crushed. He learned about the position through Newspaper/Magazine and has a long list of cases he sites as being involved in that shows his background in law is solid.

Steven Madoff- He along with many others in the list learned about the position through Newspaper/Magazine. He is on my list of the most interesting applicants to sit down and have lunch with based on the stories he must have from his years of working for Paramount.

Steven Rosansky- Something is off with this application as he used a totally different application than everybody else that applied for the position. In terms of his cover letter and resume nothing specifically stood out to me other than his experience in Newport Beach as a Councilman, real estate broker, and business owner.

Roy Reynolds- He also states that he learned about the job through Newspaper/Magazine. He included an article that he wrote in the OC Register that referred to his firm conducting polling on behalf of the Costa Mesa Taxpayers Association. Apparently he does his political consulting business as a separate entity from his personal rapid transit consulting which I was unaware of.

Renee Ramirez- In my opinion she went from being the frontrunner to a longshot in a matter of months. She does mention her current occupation as being in the office of OC Clerk-Recorder. She has been employed at the office of the OC Clerk-Recorder since 1991 if I am reading her resume correctly. 2 of her most notable references include former Santa Ana City Manager/Police Chief Paul Walters and Yorba Linda Water Board Member Phil Hawkins.

Posted in Orange County, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Orange County Clerk-Recorder | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments »

More Info: Background Info On Auditor-Controller Candidates

Posted by Chris Emami on March 22, 2013

The office of Supervisor Todd Spitzer released a list of all seven candidates who will be interviewed for Auditor-Controller in their newsletter. You can read the full newsletter here.

We’ll have continuing coverage on Auditor-Controller here on OC Political in the coming days and weeks.

Here’s the list with background information on each of the interviewees:

  • George Beck, CIA, Mission Viejo
    • legacy replacement program team member, Los Angeles Unified School District
    • former director of accounting, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
    • former city auditor of the City of Houston, Texas
  • James Benuzzi, CIA, Orange
    • private sector internal auditor
    • former member of the Audit Oversight Committee, City of Placentia
    • first internal audit manager of the City of Orange
  • Jan Grimes, CPA, Dana Point
    • chief deputy auditor-controller of Orange County
    • former director of central accounting operations
    • former accounting manager of environmental management agency (now OC Public Works)
  • Nick Pham, CPA, Aliso Viejo
    • private sector regional controller
    • former private sector accounting manager
  • Gustavo Rodriguez, CPA, Fullerton
    • private sector financial management consultant
    • former CFO of various private sector medical entities
  • Eric Woolery, CPA, Orange
    • Riverside County district attorney’s deputy director of administration
    • former private sector CFO
    • former member of the Orange County Board of Education
  • Alexander Yu, CPA, Ladera Ranch
    • CFO of Tri-City Healthcare District
    • former CFO of various private sector medical entities

(CFO is Chief Financial Officer, CIA is Certified Internal Auditor, and CPA is Certified Public Accountant.)

Posted in 3rd Supervisorial District, Orange, Orange County Auditor-Controller, Orange County Board of Education, Placentia | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Republican, Democrat, Independent??? The Partisan Affiliations of Everyone Holding Office In Orange County

Posted by Chris Emami on March 22, 2013

I was working on a database of the part affiliation of all Orange County local elected officials. Finally, I have completed the project with all of the special districts and county seats being added. I also fixed some errors in the previous versions (here, here, and here) and have combined the database into one post.

duck-elephant-donkey-logos

We have added a button on the menu bar for our readers to always be able to access this database and use it for whatever research/political needs that they may have. Due to the length of th epost you are going to have to click the below link to read the rest of the post.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 1st Supervisorial District, 2nd Supervisorial District, 3rd Supervisorial District, 4th Supervisorial District, 5th Supervisorial District, Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Anaheim City School District, Anaheim Union High School District, Brea, Brea Olinda Unified School District, Buena Park, Buena Park Library District, Buena Park School District, Capistrano Bay Community Services District, Capistrano Unified School District, Centralia School District, Coast Community College District, Costa Mesa, Costa Mesa Sanitary District, Cypress, Cypress School District, Dana Point, East Orange County Water District, El Toro Water District, Emerald Bay Service District, Fountain Valley, Fountain Valley School District, Fullerton, Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Fullerton School District, Garden Grove, Garden Grove Unified School District, Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach City School District, Huntington Beach Union High School District, Irvine, Irvine Ranch Water District, Irvine Unified School District, La Habra, La Habra City School District, La Palma, Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Unified School District, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Los Alamitos Unified School District, Lowell Joint School District, Magnolia School District, Mesa Consolidated Water District, Midway City Sanitary District, Mission Viejo, Moulton-Niguel Water District, Municipal Water District of Orange County, Newport Beach, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, North Orange County Community College District, Ocean View School District, Orange, Orange County, Orange County Auditor-Controller, Orange County Board of Education, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Orange County Clerk-Recorder, Orange County District Attorney's Office, Orange County Water District, Orange Unified School District, Placentia, Placentia Library District, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, Rancho Santa Margarita, Rancho Santiago Community College District, Saddleback Valley Unified School District, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Santa Ana Unified School District, Santa Margarita Water District, Savanna School District, Seal Beach, Serrano Water District, Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Park District, South Coast Water District, South Orange County Community College District, Stanton, Sunset Beach Sanitary District, Surfside Colony Community Services District, Surfside Colony Storm Water Protection District, Three Arch Bay Community Services District, Trabuco Canyon Water District, Tustin, Tustin Unified School District, Villa Park, Westminster, Westminster School District, Yorba Linda, Yorba Linda Water District | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

 
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