Commentary: New supervisor must have highest ethics

Any potential candidate running to fill John Moorlach’s district on the Orange County Board of Supervisors should have a substantially better platform than having “firsthand knowledge of how things get done at that level,” (Jim Moreno, Daily Pilot, July 30).

The series of 2012-13 Orange County Grand Jury reports containing detailed evidence of our county’s corruption will require a great deal more than a few new ideas that the candidate’s party approves. Included in the array of grand jury reports are “CalOptima Burns While Majority of Supervisors Fiddle” and “A Call for Ethical Standards: Corruption in Orange County.”

Arrogant dismissal of these reports by county elected officials was followed by their recommendation to reduce the daily pittance members of the grand jury receive, even though these volunteers commit to this full-time job for one year.

The damage done by this county’s supervisors is incalculable if one has only followed the destruction of CalOptima, our county’s $1.5 billion healthcare system responsible for serving 427,000 people with low income or a disability.

The FBI has just recently initiated a task force to investigate Orange County political corruption. Undoubtedly the 2012-13 grand jury reports and Fair Political Practices Committee investigation of Orange County supervisors and CalOptima (members appointed by the Board of Supervisors) served as the basis for this attention.

Any candidate for public office wanting my vote must comprehend and acknowledge the damage done. I must be convinced of his or her commitment to ethical behavior and the best interests of constituents.

RHYS BURCHILL lives in Huntington Beach