Santa Ana officials are prohibiting themselves from giving out city contracts and grants to their immediate family members after a former OC Supervisor pleaded guilty to bribery involving public contracts.
On Tuesday, city council members voted unanimously to adopt the first reading of an ordinance that bans them from giving out contracts, agreements and grants to the family members of the mayor, city council members and other city officials with little discussion.
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez said that the newly introduced ordinance is an example of good governance.
“It’s making sure that we have safety guards in place so people don’t abuse the system and to really minimize preferential treatment, to really safeguard the use of taxpayer dollars and curb corruption,” she said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The new ordinance comes months after former Supervisor Andrew Do’s admitted to accepting over half a million dollars in bribes involving county contracts and channeling $10 million in federal COVID bailout funds to a nonprofit where his daughter worked.
Federal prosecutors say that nonprofit didn’t do almost any of the work they were hired to do, which was to feed seniors amid a deadly global pandemic.
[Read: What’s Changed After An Orange County Supervisor Pleaded Guilty to Bribery?]
Since then, county supervisors have launched a series of audits into contracts approved during the pandemic and are considering putting all the county’s purchasing officers under the County CEO’s scope.
[Read: Are OC Supervisors About to Tighten Up Public Contracts After Bribery Scandal?]
Under the ordinance in Santa Ana, all city contracts and agreements must include a non-collusion clause requiring compliance with the new law.
Contractors will be banned from hiring or subcontracting with immediate family members of city council members, city commissioners and other officials.
Immediate family members include parents, children, step children, siblings, spouses, grandparents, domestic partners and in-laws.
If a contractor becomes aware of a conflict of interest must disclose it to the city or they will have breached their contract.
There is no consequence listed in the ordinance if officials do contract with a family member.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
