Orange County supervisors revise their ethics code in wake of corruption scandal — but does it go far enough?

The Orange County Board of Supervisors revised its code of ethics Tuesday to include greater protections for whistleblowers — but several of the supervisors questioned whether the measures go far enough.

"I expected more," said Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who asked county staff to look into strengthening the ethics code last year.

Among other concerns, he said the code lacks any mechanism to bind county leaders and employees to adhere to the code — not just read and sign it.

"I'm disappointed," Sarmiento said, "especially in light of what we just lived through."

Why it matters

The vote comes the same week that one of their own, former Supervisor Andrew Do, is slated to begin a five-year prison term on a federal bribery charge related to his work when he was a sitting official.

On Monday, Judge James V. Selna ordered Do to pay roughly $878,000 in restitution to the county — a small fraction of the $10 million in taxpayer dollars county leaders say was stolen through Do's misdeeds.

How we got here

Last year, the board asked county officials to recommend ways to strengthen its ethics code in the wake of the Do corruption scandal. He was sentenced in June to five years in prison on a felony bribery charge for receiving kickbacks in exchange for lucrative county contracts, and has been ordered to turn himself in by Friday.

What will change?

County officials voted to support:

• A new section aimed at protecting whistleblowers. It states that no county official or employee will “discourage, restrain or interfere with, or effect a reprisal” against any person reporting a potential wrongdoing or "abuse of authority." 
• A requirement that county supervisors review and sign a copy of the code of ethics upon taking office.
• A sentence stating that county officials and employees “shall not act for personal gain.” 

You can read more about the changes here.

Despite Sarmiento's criticism of the relatively minor changes, he and several other supervisors said the revisions were a step in the right direction. Supervisor Doug Chaffee praised the "explicit protection for whistleblowers," calling it a "meaningful enhancement to the policy."

Supervisor Katrina Foley said it was "another step forward for accountability." She listed a number of other measures the county has taken to tighten controls over contracts and other spending of taxpayer dollars. She also noted the county is in the process of ordering a "massive forensic audit" of major contracts approved during Do's time on the board.