Candidate vs. unions in O.C. poll

The two-candidate race for one Orange County supervisor’s seat is shaping up as a battle between Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach and public employee unions, leaving the other contender, Stanton teacher David Shawver, largely on the sidelines.

Moorlach is the county’s head finance officer, appointed after predicting the 1994 bankruptcy and elected to the treasurer’s office three times. Shawver is a physical education teacher and longtime Stanton city councilman.

Both are seeking the second district supervisor’s seat, which represents Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and all or part of eight other cities and some unincorporated county areas.

So far Moorlach has run a successful campaign, with a war chest of about $375,000 and an endorsement list that includes a majority of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach City Council members. He’s planning to raise more money, and he says he’ll need it when faced with the unions’ deep pockets.

The county deputy sheriffs association and an umbrella county employees’ organization have paid for pro-Shawver mailers, and the Orange County Employees Assn. recently asked members for permission to spend some of their dues to oppose Moorlach.

“I feel like it’s me against the unions as opposed to me against a candidate,” he said. “What they don’t like about me is that I’ve been very vocal about the benefits that they’ve been able to achieve. This last bargaining agreement was very detrimental to the county.”

The last agreement helped push the county’s unfunded liability up by $1 billion, threatening the county with another financial crisis, Moorlach said. Because its increased retirement benefits were retroactive, it created a wave of retirements and then recruitments and promotions, he said, adding that one department head recently told him 68% of the department’s staff have changed positions.

While private sector companies are moving from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, Moorlach said, “we’re going the complete opposite direction of those that are paying the bills, so that means we need to look at how do we bring some parity or how do we make sure that county employees are compensated fairly without making it look like they have extravagant benefits.”

Meanwhile, despite the union-funded mailers supporting Shawver, he insists he is running his own grass-roots campaign. Asked why unions are supporting him, Shawver said it’s probably because Moorlach has antagonized them.

“I wasn’t recruited by them. I was very insulted by that [suggestion],” Shawver said.

He’s been in politics for nearly 18 years, and that’s where he sees an advantage over his opponent. As a city councilman, Shawver has helped make policy, dealt with the public and run meetings.

As a supervisor, Shawver said, he would work to balance the county’s budget, seek renewable energy sources and make police and fire services a high priority.

Whether Shawver wants campaign help or not, union participation has clearly upped the ante in the race. Moorlach said he’ll have to keep trying to raise money to counter union mailers.

The Orange County Employees Assn., which represents 16,000 public employees, sent a May 12 letter asking to shift $10 of each member’s already paid dues to a fund to defeat Moorlach.

Nick Berardino, the association’s general manager, criticized Moorlach for his appointment of Chriss Street, who was named assistant treasurer in January and is now running to replace Moorlach. The appointment has come under scrutiny after accusations that Street mishandled a corporate bankruptcy in which he was a trustee, and the Orange County district attorney is now investigating.

“I think that clearly demonstrated that John does not have the kind of sound judgment necessary to be a member of the board of supervisors, and we think he’s exercised that opportunistic political approach to a variety of problems and a variety of issues,” Berardino said.

He also accuses Moorlach of creating an artificial crisis in the pension system by assuming future revenues from investments will be smaller than they’ve been recently. That means the pension fund appears to be in danger and employees must pay more into it, Berardino said.

Three supervisor seats are on the June ballot and either candidate for the second district seat would be just one vote on the five-member board. “I think we have made a decision regarding which one of those seats would be the most detrimental to sound public policy, and clearly John Moorlach is the biggest problem for good public policy,” Berardino said.dpt.10-shawver-CPhotoInfoQD1R8O6A20060524ivw1adkn(LA)dpt.moorlach,john-CPhotoInfoQD1R8NRG20060524ixzun1nc(LA)