Republican Orange County Public Administrator John S. Williams busted for wasting public money

Is it just me or does O.C. Public Administrator John S. Williams look like a car salesman?

“The Orange County grand jury issued a scathing report Tuesday criticizing the public administrator/public guardian’s office for “egregious” mismanagement, including questionable promotions that cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars,” according to the L.A. Times.

So who is the Orange County Public Administrator/Public Guardian? It is a hack conservative Republican named John S. Williams. This guy is deeply embedded in OC GOP politics. If you Google him you will find he has endorsed just about every OC GOP candidate from the right over the years.

According to Smart Voter, he has been endorsed himself in the past by the California Republican Assembly; the Conservative Women’s Leadership Association of South Orange County; the Young Republicans of Orange County; the Seniors and Veterans for Education (SAVE); and the Saddleback Republican Assembly.

Here are a few more excerpts from the L.A. Times:

The report, the jurors’ second on the subject, concluded “that a complete restructuring” of the office was necessary.  “It was outrageous behavior,” jury foreman Jim Perez said.

In a move to reduce county costs, the office of the public guardian was split from the Health Care Agency in 2005 and combined with the public administrator.

But instead of saving money, the first grand jury report said, costs went up because of additional management salaries. Staffing levels have risen from seven managers for 67 employees at a cost of $529,796 to 10 managers for the same number of employees at $1.04 million.

How typical.  This guy spins that he is a conservative while he spends money like a drunken sailor!  Classic.

Here is some more dirt on Williams, courtesy of the O.C. Register:

The report also accuses Williams of promoting an employee to a top management position within a year of retirement, implying that he was “pension spiking.”

They discovered that Williams had hired another manager, “even though there does not appear to be a suitable organizational reason for taking that action,” expanding the cost of management to $1.15 million by June 2009.

Does the GOP stand for anything anymore?


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.