Santana: A DIY Approach to Watchdogging Local Government

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There’s nary specified happening arsenic a escaped lunch.

Especially erstwhile it comes to section authorities and politics.

That’s the informing Shirley Grindle has been shouting to Orange County residents since she sat connected a region readying committee successful the 1970s.

It’s besides what prompted her successful 1978 to constitute and assistance walk 1 of the toughest run concern ordinances successful the nation, known locally arsenic Tincup.

Most OC politicians hatred the ordinance with a passionateness and person complained astir it consistently en masse since I showed up successful 2004.

Yet this past year, Orange County’s Ethics Commission recognized the agelong word interaction of Grindle’s enactment with a region resolution.

Grindle’s example, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told maine successful an interview, “reminds citizens that if you’re dissatisfied with your authorities oregon a government agency…you person the quality to ringing retired issues and rise attraction to them.”

To go a section watchdog similar Grindle, here’s a speedy usher to run concern disclosures.

[Read: Santana: How To Track Special Interest Influence In Your Public Backyard]

Spitzer said the cardinal acquisition for activists from Grindle is to cognize your topic, beryllium close and look for solutions, not conscionable gotchas.

That and a beardown constitution.

“She’s salty. She’s a fighter. She’s a scrapper,” Spitzer said. “I admit that.”

“I conscionable emotion her resolve,” helium said, noting helium started arsenic an outsider successful authorities connected a section schoolhouse committee and feels a kinship to Grindle. “She’s a existent believer.”

“I tin number connected my manus the radical I’ve travel across, radical that I respect and privation to emulate,” Spitzer added. “Shirley is 1 of those people.”

At the region level, the inaugural Grindle led – called Tincup (Time To Get Money Out of Politics) – imposed choky run publication limits on with a acquisition ban, keeping freebies astatine the region authorities down to $10.

The acquisition prohibition bounds utilized to beryllium $5 but was precocious updated with Grindle’s blessing.

The thought down acquisition bans, Grindle argues, is that keeping freebies constricted to a cupful of java keeps nationalist unit harmless from improper power arsenic good arsenic liberating vendors from having to pony up for freebies and influence.

After getting an morals committee started a fewer years backmost with Spitzer’s assistance arsenic a erstwhile region supervisor, Grindle, who conscionable turned 90 this past Christmas Eve, is present connected a ngo to get each metropolis successful Orange County to destruct freebies for metropolis employees and the elected officials that oversee them.

She wants each metropolis to follow a acquisition ban.

“There’s nary crushed they should beryllium getting gifts,” Grindle said, referring to section politicians and nationalist officials.

“An progressive acquisition prohibition is the azygous astir effectual happening you tin bash to person the nationalist that you are not being bought and paid for,” she added.

Grindle has astir precocious advised Anaheim officials, who are mulling implicit their ain mentation of a acquisition ban.

Yet she fears that the $50 freebie bounds presently being projected successful Anaheim inactive allows lobbyists and peculiar interests acold excessively overmuch country for power peddling.

Anaheim made large headlines successful caller years with an FBI probe surfacing that killed a stadium woody and enactment the edifice district’s power connected metropolis hallway nether a microscope.

“If determination was ever a metropolis that needs a acquisition ban,” Grindle told me, “it’s Anaheim.”

Training An Eye For Detail

“I’ve ever been this way…all my life, Grindle told me, noting her attraction to item and evidence-based determination making.

Most importantly, she adds, “not acrophobic to beryllium the lone vote.”
Grindle grew up successful Long Beach and graduated successful 1958 from UCLA arsenic the lone pistillate technologist successful her class.

She aboriginal worked arsenic an aerospace technologist arsenic the method manager of the Hyperthermal Re-entry Simulation Plasma Arc Wind Tunnel trial installation astatine some the Giannini Scientific Company successful Santa Ana and Space General Corporation successful El Monte.

She earned a estimation successful her manufacture for her publication to the improvement of nose-cone and leading-edge materials that could withstand re-entry into the earth’s ambiance from outer abstraction and instrumentality a antheral live from space.

After retiring successful 1971, aft 15 years successful the aerospace business, Grindle bought a location successful the foothills of East Orange astatine the ft of the El Modena Hills.

A Passion for Watchdogging

When a section soil and gravel institution sought a portion alteration of a adjacent orangish grove to let for a pit-mining operation, Grindle started organizing the neighborhoods of East Orange, El Modena and North Tustin to reason the enlargement of mining operations successful Santiago Creek.

In the midst of the controversy, OC Supervisor Ralph B Clark met Grindle and was impressed with her quality to garner nationalist enactment to face the soil and gravel industry.

In January 1973, Supervisor Clark appointed the caller retiree arsenic the 2nd pistillate successful region past to service connected the Orange County Planning Commission

That, Grindle notes, is wherever she learned everything she needed to cognize astir section authorities and government, watching power peddling up close, noticing however incumbent region supervisors would gully run contributions from those with interests astir the region readying counter.
“First of all, nary 1 is assigned that work by immoderate ordinance oregon law,” Grindle said of public watchdogs, adding “a batch of times lone citizens know” erstwhile it’s clip to cogwheel up to, “keep em honest.”

By 1978, Grindle led Orange County’s archetypal countywide initiative, the Tin Cup Ordinance, to modulate the powerfulness of wealth successful section politics.

“I retrieve erstwhile we qualified it for the ballot,” Grindle notes, recalling her connection to section politicians.

“We person to bash the occupation you guys should person done,” she said.

After her stint connected the readying committee and adoption of the ordinance, Grindle said she shifted into a antithetic gear.

“I felt an work to bash this … .because I’m liable for this ordinance,” she noted. “I’ve ne'er been paid for immoderate of this.”

A House of Cards

Grindlle’s location is afloat of thousands of scale cards, with circumstantial cards individually tracking run donors and recipients – an ongoing hand-written unrecorded database tracking lobbying networks crossed OC – each successful her effort to support an oculus retired for immoderate undue power peddling.

That benignant of autarkic watchdogging has ever attracted a premix of interest arsenic good arsenic occurrence from section politicians – who hatred getting called retired by Grindle.

Former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ main of unit utilized to trade hard words with Grindle implicit her work. Especially erstwhile Grindle called retired the DA for a deficiency of enforcement connected section politicians, specifically calling out cases of run concern reporting issues with apical officials similar erstwhile OC Sheriff Mike Carona, adjacent DA Rackauckas’ chief of unit herself.

Carona yet attracted FBI attention, which focused a prosecution successful portion connected issues raised by run contributions and ended up sending him to national prison.

DA Rackauckas ended up losing re-election to Spitzer successful 2018.

Grindle says her efforts are ever aimed astatine compliance not prosecutions – an accent Spitzer seconded.

These days, Grindle says she chiefly keeps an oculus connected the region arsenic good arsenic the cities of Anaheim and Orange with her scale cards.

Orange City Council members were aiming to besides manus Grindle a congratulatory solution this period connected the heels of the region ethic’s committee recognition.

Grindle refused.

“Four members of the Orange City Council, nether the urging of Councilman Jon Dumitru, precocious voted to weaken the Orange Campaign Ordinance,” she told me.

“This enactment opened a recognizable loophole whereby amerciable run funds could beryllium diverted to them done different candidate’s run funds. Because of this dishonorable and unwarranted weakening of the ordinance, I bash not privation to beryllium honored by the 4 councilmembers who betrayed the nationalist by this self-serving action.”

[Read: More Orange County Cities Overhaul Campaign Finance Rules]

Keeping publication limits debased and forcing politicians to stitchery tons of tiny contributions translates straight into much autarkic leaders with wide support, Grindle notes.

A fewer years back, Grindle sought to institutionalize her efforts by getting region supervisors to acceptable up an autarkic ethics commission to ticker implicit region run contributions.

While acold from cleanable (the sheet lacks subpoena powerfulness and doesn’t telephone retired elected leaders publicly), Grindle is arrogant of the sheet and the enactment of Executive Director Dena Hoard.

But she besides worries astir a aboriginal region without a national watchdog similar her.

“All hellhole volition interruption loose,” she said, “when they recognize nary 1 is watching.”

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