As ‘Young Gun’ Steel Runs for Congress, She Votes for New Policy to Immediately Destroy Public Records Including Her Own, Steel has a Long Record of Opposing Transparency and Ethical Oversight
Last week, GOP Congressional candidate and Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel joined her colleagues in approving, without public discussion, an extremely controversial new policy allowing for the immediate destruction of public records.
This new and extreme attempt to hide politicians’ records from the voters they should answer to, orchestrated by Steel is in spite of California state law and a court ruling saying that public records must be kept for two years at minimum.
When Steel was asked whether she believed this new anti-transparency policy by her and her colleagues was legal, Steel wouldn’t comment.
As one statewide expert on public records law put it in regards to this new anti-transparency policy, this completely “undercuts […] the way the Public Records Act operates.”
To make matters worse, this is just the latest in a long line of questionable actions relating to transparency and accountability for Steel, who as a public official previously:
- Voted to reduce transparency for public contracts — AKA: taxpayer resources
- Voted to shield government officials’ emails and text messages from public view
- Worked to reduce public speaking time at Board of Supervisors meetings AND reduce the total number of public Board of Supervisors meetings
- Voted to prevent a County-level ethics commission that was later supported by 69 percent of voters from being placed on the ballot
- Supported defunding and dismantling the County’s Office of Independent Review, which provides oversight on issues like overreach in the county jail system and spending on homelessness.
“Public records are exactly that – the public’s records. Government doesn’t operate for the convenience of its elected representatives, but for the benefit of the public,” said DCCC Spokesperson, Andy Orellana. “Steel’s decision to hide politicians’ records and undermine the public’s right to information, flies in the face of our democratic values. If Steel can’t respect the need for our elected officials and government to be fully transparent, how can she ever be honest as she runs for Congress with the voters of Orange County?”
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