Who you hang with…

Chriss Street is a great guy. He in fact was one of the first people back in 1994 that supported us for City Council in Newport Beach. He had the right read on seemingly everything and privately supported our underdog campaign.

The good news is that we haven’t found any Dogfighting allegations against him yet. Fast forward to modern days….and Chriss has taken the reigns of the Orange County Tax Collector’s office. As everyone knows…he was the fair haired choice of his predecessor John Moorlach who is of course a newly elected 2nd District Orange County Supervisor.

In Chriss’s defense, since the day he declared his candidacy…he has had those pesky political enemies stirring and digging up the dirt faster than a D-9 Cat Earthmover. He was accused of misrepresenting a few things and in fact some legal charges have come his way, which has made it less quiet at the Tax Collector’s office than one might expect after taking over for a so-called modern Don Quixote – Moorlach! His role as Sancho
Panza however has hit a glitch or two on the way to the forum.

A few months back, there seemed to be a general lack of convention and propriety at the OC Board of Supervisor’s office. Newbie Moorlach and a few of the other newly elected Supervisor’s decided that “their digs on the 5th floor” were less than appealing. They decided in their temerity to upgrade a few things. They thought….only an “out of work Marine” could live like this! The carpet was old, the furniture old, the desks old, the technology old. Hey, when someone gets elected by a sizable margin….surely the people….would want these sterling icons of government to have “the latest and greatest” equipment to serve the people! Several 52 inch LCD Televisions, perhaps a $7,000 to $10,000 computer desk…..for the entry. Perhaps, $30 a yard carpet…perhaps, a professional Interior Decorator to bring a little light and love to the place.

Now in the middle of this “misread by the newbies”….there was one Supervisor that “had a bad feeling about this”…and did not put his self proclaimed conservative economic principles at risk. Supervisor Bill Campbell…thought: The appearance of impropriety…is just as bad…as actually using the people’s money for one’s own comfort.

Oh, but we digress. Chriss Street is this great guy and certainly with all his petty problems wants to be part of the crowd and just get along with everyone. Moorlach sold him on the idea that buying several 52 inch LCD Televisions could save the entire group money. Wrong! It seems, the County has some arcane rules that restrict purchases to those “insider approved guys”. So, the same TV you could purchase on the open market for $4,000 bucks…will cost you $7,000 when the County Purchasing people leap up to bid. Well, as you can imagine the price for a few Interior Design Improvements was starting to ramp up.

A few months ago when this came up….we suggested that even though Supervisors have their budgets to play with….that Infrastructure Improvements to County Buildings and the like….be approved by a particular Agenda Item….so that the public might make a few well chosen comments prior to implementation. They obviously have not taken our suggestion to heart. This being said…the self approved expenses for the Orange County Treasurer’s office is now expected to exceed $1,000,000 bucks – give or take. Those other Supervisors with upgrades
haven’t yet given full disclosure of their total expenses yet either.

Hey, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the feeding frenzy of spending government money. Hey, new drapes…maybe take a wall out here, add a few skylights, maybe even a sunken bath tub for those tough days going up and down that old elevator. Yes, we fully have empathy for these “electeds” who have no qualms about spending from the government trough! The Mayor of LA had no problem utilizing paid police security when meeting with his paramour with impunity too! But there is no excuse for “over doing it”..is there?

Back to our friend Chriss. Sadly, while he was under fire for other issues…we would not have urged him to raise the specter of public scrutiny by exposing himself to excessive Interior Decorating purchases.

As Supervisor Moorlach goes after the excesses of Pension payments and other issues with which we agree……we find it sad….that he and the other self styled spendthrifts at the top of the food chain….do not use much common sense or caring when spending on personal comfort items with funds from those that they serve. Maybe they just don’t fully grasp or understand the “serve and protect” concept of public service! So, when you see our friend Chriss on the front page of the OC Register today please remember: He was led astray…by others that should have known better! People that had been doing “Public Service” for a long time!

So, to Chriss, his staff and lovely wife: In the future, we suggest: “Be careful of who you hang with…..!”

About Ron & Anna Winship

Independent News Producers/Writers and Directors for Parker-Longbow Productions. Independent Programming which includes a broad variety of Political, Entertainment and Professional Personalities. Cutting Edge - a talk show...is the flagship of over 30 URL websites developed or under development. The Winships have been blogging for the Orange Juice since back when nickels had buffalos on them, and men wore onions attached to their belts, because it was the fashion back then.