Orange County Supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento Tuesday renewed their calls for Supervisor Andrew Do to resign as authorities investigate allegations of fraudulent spending of COVID-19 relief funds by a nonprofit that employed Do’s daughter.
At the county board’s next meeting on Sept. 10, Do is expected to be stripped of his committee assignments. Orange County Board Chairman Don Wagner put the matter on the agenda for the September meeting and said he expects it will pass.
Do, who did not attend Tuesday’s board meeting, declined comment.
Wagner issued a statement Monday saying he hoped Do would “seriously consider his future” on the board.
But Supervisor Doug Chaffee said in a statement that, “The lawsuits and investigations that are occurring must be allowed to continue without disruption or intervention by any member of the board of supervisors. The board is not judge or jury and it is our constitutional duty to uphold the principle of separation of powers. This case is now in the hands of the courts. We must let the legal system take its course in a fair and unbiased manner.”
Foley said at Tuesday’s board meeting that Do “has shattered the public trust and each day he remains in office is one more day we have to wait to start rebuilding the trust of the public.”
Foley predicted, “This is just the first strand in a giant hairball that will unravel over the coming months. Everything I’m learning over the last few weeks leads me to believe that we are just touching the surface …”
Foley spoke directly to Do in case he was viewing the board meeting.
“Andrew, please resign,” she said. “Resignation is not an admission of guilt. You are entitled to due process. However, your position on the board is untenable and will only cause harm to the good work of the county. If you truly care about this county as you have claimed many times in the past then you will step down so we can begin to heal the wounds you have caused us.”
If Do will not resign, Foley added, “I will continue to pursue every legal avenue available to have him removed from office.”
Do, who is termed out this year, could miss nearly every meeting until the end of the year without being removed for abandoning office.
Sarmiento said, “I believe it is very difficult for one of us to be able to carry out our public functions while all this is swirling around. … I would ask him, and would demand, that he step down. I believe his 150,000 residents deserve somebody who will be able to deliver services, be responsible to constituents.”
Sarmiento said Do deserves “due process,” but, he added, “I do think that at this point it is very difficult for a supervisor or any board office to carry out its public functions given what we’re dealing with right now.”
Sarmiento also wants the board to consider censuring Do.
Earlier this month, the county sued the Viet America Society and its President Peter Pham, alleging misappropriation of millions of dollars of pandemic relief earmarked for delivery of meals to needy residents. The Hand to Hand Relief organization, which subcontracted with Viet America Society, was also sued.
Sarmiento had previously asked for ethics reform amid criticism of Do for not disclosing his daughter, Rhiannon Do, volunteered and then worked for the Viet America Society when the nonprofit was subcontracted to provide meals to the needy during the pandemic. Do said he was not required to disclose the relationship because the society was not a main contractor.
Foley this week also called for a new probe of whether Do resides in the district he represents. Do has homes in Westminster and Tustin, but he has said he splits his time between both. Earlier investigations did not lead to any determinations of wrongdoing.
Last week, the FBI searched the Garden Grove home of Pham and the Tustin home of Rhiannon Do as well as the Perfume River restaurant in Westminster, where meals were prepared for the delivery services.