Supervisors Need to Treat Debacle as Something More Than a Rash

I am getting sick and tired of reading in your paper every morning of how inept the Orange County Board of Supervisors is in coping with its fiscal responsibilities as a result of the bankruptcy.

The (County) Supervisors are treating this problem like a rash when it really is a disease. They are talking about raising a few million dollars by charging County employees for parking (should have been paying before), eliminating some library and park services, and billing jail inmates for medical and dental services. It is wishful thinking that the inmates will pay. They are also asking the state to temporarily waive jury trials for people accused of some misdemeanor crimes in the hopes that this will save some money, i.e. do away with people’s constitutional rights.

The only way for the county to resolve its fiscal problems is to cut all county services immediately by 20%, and work with the 1993 budget less 20%. What this means is that every county employee will work 4 days per week for 32 hours and will only be paid for 4 days for 32 hours. All overtime will be canceled, all county buildings will be closed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. By doing this, every citizen of Orange County will suffer as a result of this bankruptcy. Why have a few agencies completely eliminated and other agencies not eliminated at all?

Being an attorney and reading where the county is going to bring a legal blitz on the bond dealers and all the other people it says are responsible for this problem, people in the county and the politicians and the voters have always been saying the people have to take more personal responsibility for their own faults and acts. Doesn’t this apply to the Board of Supervisors and the other officials that are responsible for maintaining the county’s money?

WILLIAM J. HOWARD

Coto De Caza

* I read with dismay (Jan. 11) that Orange County plans to lay off over 400 people, many of whom have already received the bad news. Then two days later (you) reported that in the five weeks since the Board of Supervisors declared a hiring freeze, Orange County has employed nearly 150 new workers, including 97 full-timers.

How can Orange County hire new people without giving preference to those who have been laid off? It is certainly very unfair, and I trust that subsequent lawsuits will find it to be illegal.

The two new members of the Board of Supervisors apparently gave no consideration to those who have just lost their jobs but hired staffers new to the county work force. According to The Times, the sheriff, who talked about the “Orange County Family” when he served on the three-person management council that recommended such drastic personnel cuts to the Board last month, has added 40 new workers to his own department.

On “L.A. Life and Times” (Jan. 13), Supervisors’ Chairman of the Board Gaddi H. Vasquez assured Hugh Hewitt, moderator, “We’re all going to share the pain.”

I wonder how many county employees, past and present, believe that statement. The members of the Board of Supervisors have blamed others, fired others and sued others.

Will they ever come to see that they themselves bear the responsibility for this sorry mess? And act accordingly?

BEVERLY M. TOY

Orange

* I’ve got a great idea for solving the Orange County crisis. We’ve all heard of the debt for nature swaps in the Third World. Well, what about right here in this county? We’ve got plenty of debt and plenty of nature, including some areas recently under the gun, like the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

If we could get a consortium of environmental groups, such as The Nature Conservancy and Audubon, plus government agencies that are involved in parks and preserves to bail out part or all of our debt, wouldn’t that be better than becoming a dumping ground for other people’s trash or allowing developers to destroy the last of our wetlands and wilderness areas?

We could turn this disaster into a model for the nation. This, in turn, would attract environmental businesses and entrepreneurs and tourists from around the world.

Whether, we become one giant preserve, or a chain of smaller ones, think of the benefits in health, recreation, and jobs. VERDA KILE

Los Alamitos

* Look out! The Orange County supervisors are going to appoint Mr. (John J. W.) Moorlach as the county treasurer. This means Moorlach will be managing Orange County’s troubled multibillion-dollar, fixed-income investment portfolio.

Has Moorlach ever managed a multibillion-dollar, fixed-income investment portfolio? Would any Wall Street firm hire Moorlach to manage a multibillion-dollar, fixed-income portfolio? Can Orange County afford to give Moorlach on-the-job training?

JAMES T. KOCIUBA

Newport Beach

* After reading the inaccurate and not-so subtle statement on who supported Citron, (“Tips Offered to Citron on Appearance,” Jan 14) The Times dropped its facade of objective reporting. “Citron had the blessings of many Republican officeholders. . . .”

WHO? Almost without exception, every elected Republican legislator in Orange County endorsed and supported John Moorlach. The “Republican” Citron backers were nonpartisan officeholders, such as Peer Swan, a water board member.

As The Times pointed out repeatedly during its coverage of the treasurer race, conservative Republicans, like Assemblyman Mickey Conroy and Gil Ferguson, were backing John Moorlach, threatening to disparage the “nonpartisan” nature of that office.

The Times, attempting to belittle Moorlach, focused more on conservative Republicans supporting his campaign, rather than his dire predictions on Citron’s investment.

JAMES BIEBER

Huntington Beach