Treasurer considering supervisor run

Deirdre Newman

The Costa Mesa accountant who in 1994 prophesized the havoc the

county’s investment policies would wreak is now considering running

for county supervisor.

John Moorlach, who predicted the fall of the high-risk Orange

County investment fund that led to bankruptcy, is exploring a 2006

run for the 2nd District seat now held by Jim Silva. Silva will be

termed out at that time.

Moorlach has been the county treasurer/tax collector since 1995,

when he replaced the replacement for Bob Citron, who engineered the

doomed investment strategy.

Moorlach said he is thinking about running for the board at the

suggestion of another supervisor, Chris Norby. He had previously been

toying with running for state treasurer. Moorlach sought the chief

executive post of the county in 2003, also at Norby’s recommendation.

Moorlach has the requisite leadership skills to be a supervisor,

Norby said.

“I think he’d make a great supervisor,” Norby said. “John’s an

independent thinker. He’s got a lot of credibility. I think he will

not just take recommendations from staff at face value but actually

look at them. He was the one person who was questioning Bob Citron

when the entire board of supervisors was going along with what Citron

wanted to do. Our job is to supervise, and I think John would take

that job very seriously.”

The 48-year-old has not officially announced his intention to run.

He has to close the campaign account he opened when he ran for county

treasurer in 1994 before he can open another account to run for

supervisor.

“At this point, I’m getting enough encouragement and financial

commitment to be moving along,” he said.

One likely opponent in the race is Huntington Beach Assemblyman

Tom Harman. He will be termed out of his Sacramento seat that year.

After restoring the county’s financial stability from the morass

of the bankruptcy, Moorlach said he is ready to apply the same

techniques to the county as a whole.

“I had a chance 10 years ago to turn around a department,”

Moorlach said. “Now I have a chance to turn around the county. I

think [the supervisors] made some decisions increasing our long-term

liabilities that need to be addressed, like pension and retiree

medical benefits. Both have liabilities of $1 billion or more.”

Moorlach was born in the Netherlands, and his family immigrated to

Southern California in 1960. He moved to the Mesa Verde neighborhood

of Costa Mesa in 1984 at the urging of some of his friends.

“I went backpacking with two buddies of mine on Mount San Gorgonio

-- the highest mountain in Southern California,” he said. “We were

chatting away, just enjoying sort of a rainy fall day, and they both

lived in Mesa Verde, and they were both clients, and they said, ‘We

want our CPA to live in Mesa Verde.’”

One of those friends was a Realtor and bought the house for

Moorlach, putting $1,000 down.

“He said, “If you don’t like it, we’ll just rent it out,’”

Moorlach said.

He and his family liked it so much that they raised their kids in

Mesa Verde, although they now live in a different house.

Moorlach is a certified financial planner as well as a certified

public accountant. He has kept his county staff lean and efficient,

he said.

“After population growth of 25%, my department is two employees

less,” Moorlach said. “It probably should be 25 more. We’ve got a

great website. We’ve also been able to increase collections over 50%

without increasing the staff.”

His department was able to do this by streamlining the tax

collection process with measures such as persuading more people to

pay electronically and working with title companies to make their

payments more efficient during the close of escrows, he said.

“We’re trying to work diligently with the industry and taxpayers

to make sure the payment process is as simple and efficient as

possible,” Moorlach said. “I know how to run a department, which

would be real helpful for a supervisor.”

After the bankruptcy occurred, county officials did not call

Moorlach for several days. Despite his offer to serve as treasurer,

they commissioned Bill Popejoy to right the county’s financial ship.

Popejoy left three months later, and Moorlach was finally asked in

March 1995 to step in. He was reelected in 1998 after running

unopposed.

The second supervisorial district includes Newport Beach, Costa

Mesa and Huntington Beach. Moorlach’s experience with many of the

cities in the district has made him aware of their distinct needs, he

said.

“I certainly enjoyed Huntington Beach, bodysurfing off of 13th

Street and eating my chips off the pier,” he said. “I also lived for

a while in Cypress back in the 1960s. I’m just really aware of these

communities. I’ve got 44 years of history with this area, of

relationships with locations and people. You’re just going to get

someone who’s a big believer in that part of the county.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (714)

966-4623 or by e-mail at [email protected].