Clerk-Recorder Resumes, In-Depth Bios, and Schedules
Posted by Former Blogger 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.
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.
OC Political 
Connor D. said
Thanks for the commentary
Allan Bartlett said
Watching Supervisor Nelson interview Harry Sidhu should be entertaining. Grabbing the popcorn.
OCInsider#33 said
Hieu Nguyen doesn’t appear to have a college degree, not even from a community college. Is that true?
Chris Emami said
Renee Ramirez is in the same boat.
OCInsider#33 said
But Chris, look at her overall education in comparison. Not that I think it’s a deal breaker for either one. Just interesting he has worked in a managerial position for so long at the county and not continued
his education.
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
Chris — same perspective here: Peotter, Nguyen, and Fox as the apparent standouts on paper (with Ramirez in her own puzzling category.) We’re not doing that well on this “maintaining partisan disagreement” thing. Then again, I don’t seem to have a Democrat to root for if I were so disposed.
Over at Le Jus, we have one person suggesting that we sniff around to find out why Peotter left the Public A/G’s office. What do you hear about this in your neck of the woods?
It looks to me as if #33 on my OCInsider team is correct about Nguyen: a certificate from a two-year and an “academy” graduation from Chapman. I consider that reason for suspicion — but I don’t consider it to be damning in and of itself. Relevant experience can overcome a lack of general ed classes.
Of greater concern with Nguyen — and I don’t mean this in a damning way either — is that impressive list of functions he’s performed for the past 6-7 years for the Board of Supes. How well has he done with them? One that caught my eye, for example, is handling of public records requests.
Thanks again for doing this good service.
OCInsider#33 said
#29, my intel has the entire Peotter clan cast as Moorlach insiders. An extremely close alignment. I would bet Bruce will have the Moorlach vote automatically.
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
So, let’s line them up:
Moorlach for Peotter;
Nguyen for … Nguyen?;
Nelson for … Norby?;
Bates for ????;
Spitzer for ????.
I don’t see three votes for Norby. Maybe either of the others.
Chris Emami said
Technically Renee Ramirez just needs nobody to get to 3 votes to win.
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
Seriously? She’s the “default option” and gets a contract if no one else gets a majority?
Interesting — if it’s really deadlocked and they HAVE to give it to her, can she demand a contract giving her double what Daly made?
I tend to doubt it — so I’d need to be convinced that she’d continue on as anything other than a temporary hire.
OCInsider#33 said
Greg, as long as they don’t appoint she should be able to continue on in the position she has now.
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
I would think that she’d only continue in an “acting” capacity. That would leave the job open for someone else anytime they wanted to fill it, right?
OCInsider#33 said
Right, or until an election is held.
OC Insider #77 said
Greg Diamond, Michael Fox is an attorney whose practice seems to be working for mortgage servicers, probably on foreclosures. This is based on my reading of his resume, so my apologies if I am wrong.
He used to be a VP for Fidelity, the title insurer, whose wholly owned subsidiary Lender Processing Services and their subsidiary DOCX were the very ones behind the notorious robosigning scandal and their forged recorded documents, all of which were fraudulently notarized. By the way, the president of DOCX is in prison right now over that.
Do you think Michael Fox knows about this? It was on 60 minutes. Hardly a secret.
I think it’s possible that his former employer, Fidelity would be thrilled to have one of their guys there at the recorder’s office in an elected position. Expect them to pony up the political donations at election time!
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
See, this is one reason why I like to make predictions — to draw out comments like yours.
You’ve certainly identified a good line of questioning for him for next week! (And for others!)
OCInsider#33 said
#29, on the first vote
Moorlach – Peotter
Nelson – Norby
Nguyen – Sidhu
Bates – Ackerman
Spitzer – ?
Chris , are you going to hand out a prize for the correct first vote prediction?
OC Insider #29 (aka Greg Diamond) said
Why would Nguyen waste a vote on Sidhu? He’s not going to win.
What’s the procedure here: interviews on Tuesday, then do they each vote for one or for two (or more)? (How long before that next vote takes place?)
OCInsider#33 said
Depends on what Chairman Nelson and the Board agrees to as far as process. You would need a second on a motion to appoint someone. Not sure anyone has two votes going into the interviews. I am going to guess that Hieu Nguyen is the safe fall back vote after all the political favors are paid off during the first round. Unless it falls apart, I would think they will come up with someone Tuesday afternoon.
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