SANTA ANA, CA — At noon on Tuesday a couple dozen women gathered at the Old Santa Ana Court House to call upon the California Attorney General to investigate the failures in management at the County of Orange. Specifically they want an investigation of how those failures allowed the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by former Public Works Executive Manager and Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante to go unaddressed for so long.
In a letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris, Patty Bellasalma, President of California NOW, and Nick Berardino, OCEA General Manager asked that she become involved “because of allegations (made by Deputy CEO Alisa Drakodaidis) that the District Attorney, Tony Rackaukus, has brought the charges against Mr. Bustamante as retribution for actions previously taken by County Chief Executive Tom Mauk that negatively impacted the county employment of the District Attorney’s then-fiance, now wife, Peggy Buff.”
The letter claims:
“Under the circumstances, it appears that the District Attorney may have a conflict of interest and may have already taken action in connection with these matters in collusion with members of the Board of Supervisors.
We hope that you will conduct an initial review of the propriety of the District Attorney’s involvement in any investigation of possible illegal conduct by county officials. If you determine that his continued involvement would be inappropriate, we request that you intervene and commence your own investigation at the earliest possible time.”
Jennifer Muir told the assembled media of the distrust and concern that female employees of the county have experienced as a result of this scandal. They have“watch as high-level executives leave the county, some with payouts that are more than (the women) could ever hope to save,” Muir said.
The groups have set up a website detailing the timeline of events to better describe the web of deceit that has led them to this point. AbuseWatchOC.com