Tom Daly’s $50K Hall of Shame

Will it have a football wing?

As we reported last week, here, County Clerk/Recorder Tom Daly paid almost $50,00 in 2008 and 2009 to a campaign contributor to “study” the feasibility of developing an Orange County athletic “hall of fame.” We opined upon the irresponsible expenditure and questioned why the County Clerk would even embark on such a lame idea in the first place.

At the time of the post, our request for public records had resulted in scant documentation that this “consultant” Brett Barbre, had actually done anything at all to justify his $3000 per month bill. We were informed by the County that we didn’t have all their “work product” documents.

Now we do.

I don't remember and you can't make me.

The sum and substance of Mr. Barbre’s efforts for Daly is reflected in brief periodic memorandums sent  to Daly’s office informing them of what he had been up to in the previous month. Even these cursory, written updates ceased after September 1, 2008, although Barbre continued to be paid by Daly through June, 2009.

The lack of accomplishment was clear; but the invoices kept coming in.

Curiously, in the summer of 2008 Barbre and Daly had gotten it into their noggins to create something called a prep sports honor roll dinner, some sort of tie-in to the original concept, presumably. They had even picked a date for the inaugural event. Amazingly no one seems to have even questioned why the County Clerk would be organizing such a blatanly non-public function that had absolutely nothing to do with his job responsibilities.

The other scant fruits of Barbre’s labor were a photo montage of the New England Hall of Fame and a facsimile of a brochure from the Newport Sports Museum. Material collected and scanned and submitted as somehow substantive.

We will probably never know what was actually discussed verbally between the parties involved – including why they thought this hare-brained idea was in any way justified; or how they could ever defend the $50,000 paid to Barbre to do almost nothing. One thing is evident from the documents: by the summer of 2009 Barbre was no longer at the public trough, although by then he had already collected regular monthly payments of $3000, totaling $48,000 with nothing to show for it.

Almost fifty thousand dollars. Squandered. Wasted. Flushed down a rathole and into the pocket of a Daly campaign contributor.

Does anyone in the County government even care about this total dereliction of responsibility and breach of the public trust? Do the folks at the Orange County Register care? Do you?

16 Replies to “Tom Daly’s $50K Hall of Shame”

  1. Daly’s got some ‘splainin to do…when will we see his mea culpa on the Red County blog? In the Register (a call to Cathy Taylor is in order)?

    And what’s Hugh Nguyen doing with this? I should be pasted all over his blog.

  2. I met Hugh Nguyen the other day at an event in Fullerton. He told me and my wife that he is challenging Tom Daly because he feels that Tom is over spending his budget on things like this.

    Hugh said he felt that the satelite office in Fullerton was also a waste of taxpayers money. Hugh knows what he is talking about and my wife and I will be voting for Hugh.

  3. Hugh Nguyen has over 12 years experience at the Clerk Recorder office. He will do a better job than Daly.

    I will be supporting and voting for Hugh Nguyen.

  4. Those vacation slideshows belong on Barbre’s Facebook, not a public report.

    Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that anyone sat through the 100 pages of tourist photos with no meaningful analysis.

  5. Barbre instantly went over to stroke the liar Harry Sidhu. What a fat joke he is, literally.

    I hope Daly resigns over this.

  6. We will be supporting Hugh Nguyen for Clerk Recorder, first time we will not be supporting Daly in two elections. I hear there is more dirt to come on Daly/Barbre, not good stuff.

  7. Thor, for many political people Harry Sidhu represents the ultimate bonanza. The word is he spent $850,000 on the State Senate race only to get his ass kicked by 2-1. An awful lot of people cashed in on Hide And Seek and the appears to be more gravy to slurp up this time, too.

    The odd thing is the repuglicans don’t seem to be able to learn. The last “we’ll have all the money campaign” (Ackerwoman) got whipped by almost twenty points in a special election. Oh yeah, she was a carpetbagger too.

    1. Thanks Joe.

      I hope someone publishes all five of his elections over the last eight years so people can see this guy is just a joke of a serial candidate.

      Embarrassing.

  8. He ran for Anaheim City Council in 2002 – lost

    Ran again in 2004 – won

    Ran for State Senate in 2008 – got ass kicked

    Ran for re-election that fall – won

    Running for County Supervisor for a District in which he does not live 2010 – will lose again

    2012?

    2014?

    2016….

  9. Yes. where is the DA. IS there any oversite at all at the County? Do the Supervisors and Auditor just turn a blind eye to the graft of other electeds?

  10. Does Daly really think, and expect, people to believe this Sports Hall of Fame is part of his public responsibilities. Well the good news is that if he loses his re-election bid, he can always get a job as the Minister of Communication with the Taliban.

  11. The Barbre Contract and the contract to the guy in Sacramento (and probably others) are just mechanisms to funnel money to friends and supporters, with some of the money coming back to daly as donations. This is the most blatant that I can recall. I am also surprise the DA is not involved.

  12. Daly is spending our taxpayers money. This is unacceptable. He should be accountable for his actions.

    The Board of Supervisors is going to protect Daly because he is an elected official. They are not going to do anything about it.Shame on all you guys.

    John Moorlach are you going to sit back and do nothing why Daly’s is blowing taxpayers money.

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