The Hypocrisy of Darth Norby

On Tuesday the Orange County Register reported on the comments of Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Chris “Darth” Norby about the 6 % raise and 3% bonus given to OCTA CEO Art Leahy. Supervisor Darth Norby said:

“The 6 percent raise is fine,” he said, “but to continue to grant these 3 percent bonuses every year – that should be a one-time thing, not an ongoing, annual event. Nine percent is high.”

Nine percent is too high? What about the 17% that Norby and the rest of the Board has given County CEO Thomas Mauk since February of this year.  That doesn’t include by the way the additional 3.88% ($9,752) in vacation time bonus they gave him as well.

Then we have the issues of two County of Orange Republican elected officials who are either under investigation or indicted for misconduct; Sheriff Mike Carona and Treasurer/Tax Collector Chriss Street.

On November 13th Norby all but called upon the Sheriff to resign saying:

“The Sheriff’s deputies who patrol our streets, guard the jails and solve crimes will continue to do their duty regardless of top management. But there are many long-term projects and budget decisions that need the attention of a full-time Sheriff empowered to act and plan for the long-term. Let us hope we get one soon.”

But Supervisor Norby doesn’t feel that there is any problem with Chriss Street not being a “full time Treasurer.” News Flash Darth; Street is very distracted. He is so distracted that he cannot even sit through an entire meeting of the Orange County Employees Retirement System Board of Directors.  He missed all but an hour of the approximately 5 hour September meeting of that Board, and missed the afternoon session of the November meeting.

It should be noted that those are the official attendance records for when he was in the room.  It does not account for the reality that a good portion of the time he is at the meeting he is in the back of the room on his cell phone.

So Darth, don’t the residents of the County of Orange deserve the attention of a full time Treasurer/Tax Collector?

Such is the Hypocrisy of Darth Norby.