ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Failing the Audit

Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis has earned deserved criticism over his failure to ring the warning bell loudly when he thought Treasurer Robert L. Citron’s investment practices were overly risky. Citron resigned just before the county declared bankruptcy last December. Lewis should follow suit. Instead, he has insisted he did all he could and has refused to step down.

Because Lewis will not leave, the supervisors tonight are scheduled to decide whether to keep paying him his annual salary of $104,582 while stripping him of much of his responsibility.

The problem is that Lewis is elected. Recall or resignation is the only way to get him out of office. County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy says he has no confidence in Lewis and has tried to find some way to work around him. But county officials have concluded that an end run would require firing Lewis’ staff and would still leave him in office. As a compromise, some of his staff will be transferred to an independent auditing unit to be set up outside Lewis’ office, leaving him with mostly bookkeeping and check-writing responsibilities.

That may be the only way out of this imbroglio, but it is bound to increase taxpayers’ anger at public officials. It makes no sense to pay someone a full salary for half a job. The problem also underlines the need for a full debate on changing Orange County government from one ruled by general law to one ruled by a charter, which would allow posts like auditor-controller and treasurer to be appointed, rather than elected.