| Behind closed doors, outside public view, without any public hearings, with Fair Board members conspiring to violate Open Meeting laws, a decision was made to sell the Orange County Fairgrounds.
Former State Senator Dick Ackerman has publicly acknowledged that he was up in Sacramento,being paid by the OC Fairgrounds, a state agency, to engineer a sale that would essentially defraud the taxpayers of the state and give insiders a path to create a non-profit corporation that would take over the Fairgrounds.
It seemed curious that Ackerman never registered as a lobbyist, and that his firm, Nossaman LLP, a firm registered as a lobbyist, never disclosed that the Fairgrounds was their client. Curious until someone recalled the pesky section of the state law that was written to keep legislators from being lobbyists for at least one year. State Senator Ackerman left office November 30,2008.
87406. (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Milton Marks Postgovernment Employment Restrictions Act of 1990.
(b) No Member of the Legislature, for a period of one year afterleaving office, shall, for compensation, act as agent or attorney for, or otherwise represent, any other person by making any formal or informal appearance, or by making any oral or written communication, before the Legislature, any committee or subcommittee thereof, any present Member of the Legislature, or any officer or employee thereof, if the appearance or communication is made for the purpose of influencing legislative action.
And where, we ask again, was the Deputy Attorney General who represents the taxpayers of California as the legal representative for the Fair Board, a state agency? Asleep? Incompetent? Ignorant of the law?
Time for an independent prosecutor with no ties to the Governor, the legislature, or the Attorny General's officer? How about the US Attorney?
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