
It makes zero sense for the head of an organization to file a whistleblower complaint with an agency or organization he or she leads. Orange County Power Authority’s CEO Brian Probolsky, with zero energy experience and no college degree, filed a whistleblower complaint last month against the agency he runs in a big to hold on to his high paying position. Probolsky’s complaint centers on his claims that Huntington Beach Councilmen Dan Kalmick (a current OCPA board member) and Mike Posey (a former OCPA Board member) were corrupt.
The last time something like this happened impacting Orange County was when former State Senator Joe Dunn filed a whistleblower complaint with the California State Bar, an organization he ran, and late last week the State Bar — years after the fact — has moved to discipline Dunn for three counts of moral turpitude. Dunn led the State Bar for four years and was fired in 2014, and with the state bar’s action, Dunn could lose his license to practice law. Dunn teaches at UCI’s Law School.
Probolsky will likely face the music at a agency board meeting Tuesday morning. What he should do is resign. What he ought to do is apologize for his mismanagement as well.
An OC Grand Jury Report issued recently only spelled out what many already knew. The management of the agency was poor and the OCPA did not conduct itself in a transparent fashion. The report supported board efforts to fire Probolsky focusing on his lack of expertise and the OCPA’s lack of transparency. Probolsky’s response was to claim the grand jury did not properly address his agency’s work. It doesn’t matter what the response is — Probolsky has few allies left on the board (Irvine Council member Mike Carroll being one) and rather than stay and fight for his job at an agency that has failed every promise made to energy customers, Probolsky ought to be negotiating a severance package for his resignation.
At least then, he’ll have all the time in the word to complete his Undergraduate Degree at Brandman University (now UMass Global).
Definitely won’t happen. His ego is too big and he thinks he is the smartest person in the CCA community. Plus the Carroll Strader machine are working hard to keep him by trying to influence Jung to stay on his side.