Board Postpones Audit of D.A.’s Office Pending Grand Jury’s Inquiry

SANTA ANA — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided to postpone an audit of the district attorney’s office until a separate examination by the Orange County Grand Jury is completed in June.

And rather than have the audit performed by an outside firm, the board also decided to have the county’s Internal Audits Department conduct the study, a move that should save the county about $45,000.

The action comes three months after supervisors approved the audit, designed in part to determine how much prosecutors spent on their two-year investigation into the possibility of criminal wrongdoing related to the December 1994 bankruptcy.

County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier said delaying the audit “would be the most efficient way [to ensure] that we don’t duplicate” the efforts of the grand jury probe, which began last fall.

The grand jury obtained authority to pay the Big Six accounting firm of Price Waterhouse $86,000 to perform its audit, which officials described as a routine look into the way the district attorney’s office is run.

Board Chairman William G. Steiner said he hoped the separate county audit would look more closely at the bankruptcy investigation and whether personnel and resources within the office were diverted from other criminal prosecutions for that purpose.

David E. Sundstrom, the manager of internal audits, provided supervisors with a nine-page report outlining how he will perform the audit, which will cost about $45,000. Hiring an outside firm would have cost $90,000.

Sundstrom “has done an incredibly thorough job and really honed down the issues,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer.

Former Supervisor Roger R. Stanton championed the audit, criticizing Dist. Atty Michael R. Capizzi’s handling of the bankruptcy investigation and the resulting charges, particularly the civil accusations against himself and Steiner.

At the urging of prosecutors, the grand jury accused Stanton and Steiner of willful misconduct for allegedly failing to prevent the bankruptcy. But a state appeals court threw out the charges against them last year.

When the board approved the audit in December, Capizzi accused Stanton of being “vindictive” and said the study would only duplicate the grand jury probe.

In other action Tuesday, two supervisors expressed new interest in broadcasting Board of Supervisors meetings on cable television.

County officials studied the idea last year but found limited interest among cable companies in broadcasting the meetings or equipping the board meeting room with expensive video equipment.

Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson asked county officials to again study the issue and provide his office with information they have collected.

Spitzer said his office is studying the idea of forming a private foundation that could raise funds for the video equipment. “This would address the criticism that public funds are used for this,” he said.