Still Waiting For An Answer, Cynthia
Posted by OC Insider on September 25, 2012
Catch this exchange between Anaheim blogger Cynthia Ward and former RedCounty blogger Matt Cunningham, who has an issue with ballot-box policymaking like an initiative in Anaheim Ward supports. True to form, Ward turns it into a personality conflict and accuses everyone of having ulterior motives.
Speaking of ulterior, Cynthia is still staying mum on who is paying her legal fees on her failed attempt to have “Chavez” struck from Anaheim Council candidate Steve Chavez Lodge’s ballot name. Strange silence from someone who describes her self this way:
“I am a truth-teller. It gets me in trouble. But if you ask me if a dress makes you look fat, I will tell so, and help select another, before you go on television and realize it for yourself. My real friends are expected to be truthful with me as well. A secret shared will be taken to my grave, but lie to me, and it will end up here…on these pages… especially if you are tasked with the stewardship of public resources.”
Ward, as a director of the OC Cemetery District, is a “steward of public resources.” She votes to approve or disapprove budgets, contracts, etc. Gifts are reportable. She still needs to clear up this question mark hovering over her about whether she has violated TIN CUP.
OC Political 
Cynthia Ward said
If you genuinely believe I have done something wrong, you have an obligation to the taxpayers I represent to file a complaint with the FPPC. So why haven’t you filed a complaint yet? I am still waiting for an answer….
Vern Nelson said
Maybe because they’d have to sign their name, they couldn’t do it as just “OC Insider?” Just a thought.
Also, they’ve got jack.
OC Insider said
How hard is it to just give an honest answer, Cynthia? You bill yourself as a truth-teller. You are a public official, now.
BTW, who paid for your registration, lodging, etc, for the CSDA conference this week?
Cynthia Ward said
Whenever possible i manage training and/or meetings by teleconference or video, trying to keep travel to a mimimum. The District sends us to these events, at District expense which i take seriously, so I go as little as possible, stay for only what I have to be there for, and decline the extra events like the golf tournaments, cocktail things, etc. (I realized I could skip the training on Thursday, nothing there my District needed that we could not get elsewhere, so I cut my trip short and saved an extra night’s lodging)
I am always wary of anything involving spending public funds and i now serve on the Education Committee for CSDA in order to reassure myself that the conferences etc. that we are planning are as efficient as possible, while maintaining access to legally mandated training and education for special district trustees and staff. There is a fine line between a Conference and a “junket” and the public should not be paying for extraneous trips to luxury destinations on the pretense of “training.” I work hard to never cross that line, and thankfully our District is made up of others of like mind. I am also proud to say that CSDA appears to be fiscally sound, as well.
That was a long way of saying that my District, ie taxpayers and users fees, picked up the tab for (some of) that trip. Those numbers should be public record, I would be happy to make that information available to you, and anyone else interested. To whom shall I have our District staff send that info?
OC Insider said
Since it is public information, why don’t you provide it here for the public?
Cynthia Ward said
Um…because it is not my job to write your blog posts? Although they would then be factual and accurate for a change.
I am turning in my few receipts Tuesday, to be combined with the docs the District generated, and you are then welcome to do your own public records request. Or, you could attend the meeting of the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, and hear the recap of the CSDA conference in person.
The meeting Agenda should be posted to the District website today, because although the State has lifted the requirement to publicly disclose that information, the Orange County Cemetery District voted to continue complying fully with the Brown Act in the interest of the public good.
I look forward to the blog post I am sure will follow regarding how Cynthia Ward is wasting the taxpayers’ dollars attending continuing education programs that better help me to administer taxpayers dollars. Have at it.
OC Insider said
“I am turning in my few receipts Tuesday, to be combined with the docs the District generated, and you are then welcome to do your own public records request.”
Not a very transparent attitude, Ms. “I’m A Truth-Teller,” and Steward of Public Resources. How hard is it to post a comment saying, “It cost the OC Cemetery District $____ for me to attend the CSDA conference”? Why put up these obstacles to informing the public?
There’s nothing wrong with you attending the conference. The only one raising the accusation of wasting public dollars is you.
Vern Nelson said
Yeah, keep barking up the wrong tree, little doggie. He won’t come to the meeting or file a complaint, Cynthia, he’s too happy with nobody knowing who he is.
Cue the folks on the blog here calling me a drunk.
OC Insider said
Gosh, Vern, since when did you become anti-transparency? The burden is on Ms. Ward. She’s the public official here.
Chris Emami said
Vern,
Every time I see these comments I redact them as quickly as possible. Please let me know ASAP if I have missed any.
thinkoc said
Oh, and I am not paid to attend the conference, nor am I paid for my service on CSDA Education Committee.
Cynthia Ward said
These little boxes are getting too small so I will start a new one. Going back to your original post, you find it odd that I accuse Matt Cunningham of possibly having ulterior motives. OCInsider, you do understand that Matt Cunningham earns a living promoting those positions, right? In the cases in listed (which you conveniently took out of context) Matt Cunningham was paid by the principals in those contentious issues. Pardon me for thinking that a paycheck might be an ulterior motive for taking a position. Silly me.
To answer your last comment, there is no burden whatsoever on me. As a taxpayer you are entitled to know how District funds are spent, and there is a process for obtaining that information, oddly enough the process does not involve anonymous hacks demanding information via blog comments. Use the process provided to obtain the information you seek. That answer would also apply to your incessant demands for personal information that is none of your business. My obligation is to report my income and gifts using the appropriate forms, which I will do within the given time frame. Beyond that I owe you exactly nothing, and I am especially disinclined to provide information you have no right to when you have been a nasty little piece of baggage. No, I will not go out of my way for you, do your own research using the methods provided. If you are waiting for me, I hope you brought a book.
I am quite finished wasting my time here. OCPolitical has become nothing but a gossip column, rapidly losing credibility by hosting annoying, cowardly children with access to a keyboard. I thought better of Chris and Chris.
I won’t be back.
Glass Ceiling said
What a bureaucrat. Holding back info just because she’s peeved.
Chris Emami said
Listen, I am not going to tell our bloggers what they can and cannot write, but this post in particular annoys me. It reminds me of these “Occupy” folks who run around complaining instead of taking action. If you have a problem with Cynthia and want to question her payment on the law firm stuff then file an FPPC complaint. You can download information on the complaint process by going to this website http://fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=498 otherwise you look like somebody that wants to cry about stuff and not take any action.
Regarding the conference that she attended I also have an issue with this but it is an institutional problem and not a Cynthia Ward problem. I don’t think any commissioners should be attending conferences at taxpayers expense. It is bad enough that elected officials go to these conferences and sometimes turn their elected office into their own personal travel agency.