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County of Orange executives can’t answer questions on how they signed off on sending over $10 million to a nonprofit that hasn’t been able to prove it spent the money on feeding seniors, over eight months after questions about their work surfaced.
The controversy is also prompting broader questions about how well the county has tracked over $200 million in public contracts it issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Viet American Society, the nonprofit in question, was hired by the county with federal funds to feed seniors during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic but hasn’t been able to prove to county attorneys they delivered meals to the elderly.
An ongoing Laist investigation has revealed ties between the nonprofit and County Supervisor Andrew Do, whose daughter was once employed there, a fact that wasn’t disclosed when the contracts were approved.
Now, county leaders are demanding the Viet American Society either prove what they did with the money or give it back, threatening to sue if the money isn’t immediately returned.
“The County has no way to verify the funds were utilized for their intended purpose,” wrote county counsel Leon Page in a letter to the organization’s lawyer. “If the County does not receive the requested funds and documentation demanded…my office will be recommending filing litigation.”
Sterling Scott Winchell, Viet American Society’s lawyer and a former political appointee of Do’s to the county’s ethics commission, has not replied to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, county leaders haven’t been able to answer questions on how the contracts got created in the first place or how they were monitored – eight months after questions first came to light.
Do hasn’t returned messages asking about the contract, and neither have the Orange County Community Resources Department, County Counsel or the county Auditor-Controller.
The only answer came from county spokesperson Molly Nichelson, who told reporters she was the primary spokesperson for the county on the issue and then stopped responding to messages.
Even county supervisors say they don’t know how the contract was created, but they are supporting staff’s demand for the money’s return or an explanation on where it went.
Supervisor Don Wagner, who currently serves as board chair, said “it wasn’t illegal or unethical,” for Do to not disclose his daughter’s role at the nonprofit, but acknowledged “now there are other questions.”
“It’s a hard position that this situation is putting the county in,” Wagner said. “The longer it drags on, the worse for Andrew and the county.”
He also claimed these weren’t the first problems the county has seen with contracts quickly approved during the pandemic.
“These are problems that have been occurring throughout,” Wagner said.
Supervisor Katrina Foley claimed the other contractors were in a different situation because they’d worked with the county to solve the problem and the total value of money in question was $1 million or less.
“Nothing compared to this,” Foley said. “There’s been extensive efforts to help them to prove the funds were used as promised but they just can’t.”
“As PTA president I had to keep better records,” she continued. “This is not reasonable that the taxpayer shouldn’t know where this money went.”
But when asked about the vendor selection process that picked Viet American Society, Foley defended county staff.
“Of course I have concerns about that, but who could’ve known at the time?” she said. “There were procedures in place that were sufficient to protect the taxpayers and that is why this item came to light.”
This isn’t the first time county leaders have faced questions over transparency around contracts given out during the pandemic.
Over $200 million of secret contracts were dispersed entirely behind closed doors and weren’t revealed until over a year into the pandemic following a records request from Voice of OC, during which Supervisor Do was the vice chair of the board.
County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who wasn’t on the board when the contracts were awarded, said that while the contracts followed all the county’s processes, “no amount of vetting can guarantee that an organization will honor their obligations.”
“Nevertheless, we must reconsider the oversight process for all county contracts awarded to ensure tax-payer dollars are well spent,” Sarmiento said in an emailed statement. “Oversight is our responsibility, and I am committed to working to address any issues identified.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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