Is Orange County Soft on Political Corruption?

By
Greg Diamond
– August 14, 2025Posted in: "The OC", Andrew Do, bribery, Corruption, Fresh Juice, Harry Sidhu, Todd Spitzer, westminster

OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer famously (and obnoxiously) ran for reelection on a platform of “NoLAinOC”. (I think I’ve missed a hashtag there.) I was offended at that at the time, as it seemed to champion the sort of lawbreaking in policing that LA’s former DA was trying to stanch. But now I think that maybe Spitzer had a point. Politicians arrested in Los Angeles — and there are many — not only get prosecuted a whole bunch, but seem to receive legal punishments reflecting the seriousness of violating the public trust. But in Orange County? Things seems to be different here. There is, sadly, NoLAinOC.

The voices of Rhiannon Do and Harish Sidhu console Amy Pham West that the consequences of corruption are much less than one might think.

Take the story of Westminster City Councilmember Amy Phan West, who offered a bribe to a police officer to try to prevent the towing of her husband’s illegally parked car. (Paywalled link to the Orange Lady.)

OK, the stakes were low, but the breach of public trust was huge. She was charged with a misdemeanor (and I wonder if that same restraint would be shown to some financially strapped worker from Santa Ana), which seems mild to me. The real problem is that she was granted the ability to benefit from a “misdemeanor diversion program.” This means that she has to “stay clean” for six months — performing 20 hours of community service (probably getting something less sweat-inducing than picking up trash with a poker from a highway medium) and taking a two-hour ethics class. (If I’m not mistaken, she already has to have taken such a class.)

But will an ethics class really do her much good? Did she really not know that using duress to prevent a city police officer from enforcing of a city law — showing a the officer her police department keychain, boasting about her close friendship with the police captain, and discussing how much she has done and would continue to do for officers regarding their pay– to a member one’s police force is bad? I suspect that she knew it — and she ignored it. It was a failure of character, not of awareness.

Anyway, that’s grounds for contempt against her, but it’s not my main aggravation. The kicker is that she after the class and the telling school children not to use drugs (or whatever), she can then ask to have the misdemeanor dismissed.

For those of you who can’t get past the Register’s paywall, I’m just going to summarize its coverage of the outraged resident response to this., led by Terry Rains, who presented a letter of protest signed by 75 residents.

The letter said diversion programs were aimed at drug possession or petty theft offenses, “not for crimes that threaten the core functioning of government or undermine the rule of law.”

The group requested a plea deal that would document the misdemeanor conviction while allowing her to avoid jail.

“A diversion program, followed by total dismissal of this case, would be a grave miscarriage of justice and an insult to the residents of Westminster,: Rains wrote. “Such an outcome would suggest that public office grants immunity from the consequences of illegal actions, thereby eroding the fundamental principle of the rule of law.”

They are completely right. But sadly, this is not the only case of powerful wrongdoers in OC wrist getting only relative slaps on the wrist.

Two months. Harry Sidhu, who appointed himself sole negotiator with the Angels over Angels stadium and offered a proposal that was so lopsided towards their owner Arte Moreno, aside from offering him inside information about the city’s negotiating plans, that he was able to suggest that they should contribute a million dollars to his campaign account. How much time in prison for screwing over his city?

Five years. Andrew Do’s punishment may seem huge, but not considering that he took bribes of $550,000 connected to $10,000,000 of Covid relief funds being directed to a charity. His daughter Rhiannon — who has just graduated from law school! — got what Janet Nguyen (or her ghostwriter) called a “get out of jail free” card (Janetese for “slap on the wrist”) for her participation in the corruption.

I could go on. In fact, I will go on, with more such examples. But first I want to allow readers the chance to suggest their own. Fire away at both parties, so long as they’re from OC! Bonus points if they represent County prosecutions rather than state or federal!

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About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)