UPDATE: This story is now being reported on KNX News Radio; KCBS TV News; the O.C. Register, the Total Buzz blog and the O.C. Weekly. Still NO mention of it on the Liberal OC and Bolsavik blogs and only a link to a Register story on the Red County blog.
“Janet Nguyen was one of the strongest defenders of restaurateurs during Tuesday’s vote on making restaurant health inspections more consumer friendly. Turns out she has good reason to be sympathetic: Her husband and chief of staff are co-owners of a sandwich shop in Stanton and she reports income from her husband’s food-related job on her public disclosure,” according to the O.C. Register.
When I revealed yesterday that Nguyen’s husband, Tom Bonikowski, owns a Lee’s Sandwiches in Stanton, that received a major violation and several minor violations in July of this year, that turned out to be the tip of the iceberg with regard to Nguyen’s conflict of interest.
Bonikowski is also “a manager for Sodexho, a worldwide food services company. He works at the company’s Fullerton location, which provides on-campus food services at Fullerton College and is subject to health inspections. He brings in between $10,001 and $100,000 a year from his employment there, according to the Nguyen’s statement of economic interest.”
But wait, there’s more! Nguyen’s “chief of staff, Andrew Do, is listed as the owner of the Lee’s Sandwich shop, according to a representative from the company’s corporate office.” Nguyen made it a priority to get Do elected to the Garden Grove City Council this year.
Nguyen said that the proposed change to a County restaurant rating system tnat would be “more consumer-friendly system such as the A-B-C grades in Los Angeles or color-coded placards,” would be “really devastating to restaurant owners. I think in these difficult economic times, if the system isn’t broken, we should not go in and fix it.”
The other “supervisors echoed her concerns that color-coded and A-B-C grading systems could hurt restaurants by causing patrons to think a restaurant is unsafe when in reality, any problems a health inspector finds must be corrected before the inspector leaves. They also were concerned about the added annual cost to restaurant owners, which would have been no more than $7 a year for a color-coded system.”
Imagine that – a cost of only $7 a year would have given O.C. consumers a much better method of gauging the quality of local restaurants. I don’t care if a restaurant fixed their problems right away – I don’t want to eat at a place that has had major violations!
I wonder what grade Bonikowski’s restaurant would have received after their July inspection? And I wonder why his restaurant has not been inspected again since July?
You can find out how your local restaurants have fared after inspections at this link.
UPDATE:
The O.C. Register’s Total Buzz blog also covered this story at this link. And the OC Weekly weighed in at this link. The Register also published this letter about the restaurant rating scandal:
Getting a good meal
It amazes me that with all the input from staff and the grand jury, the Board of Supervisors still decides that the public’s health and ability to easily pick a restaurant come last. Janet Nguyen is afraid of hurting restaurant owners [“Consumer-friendly ratings rejected,” Local, Dec. 17]. If they consistently receive a poor grade, and no one frequents their restaurants, whose fault is it?
When I’m out I don’t have the time to stop and look up a restaurant’s history on the Internet, and many people never have that ability. However, when I’m in L.A. County, even at Bradley Terminal at LAX, I can readily make a decision as to which restaurant I want to eat at. Thanks for nothing, again, supervisors.
Terrance Cramer
San Juan Capistrano
Still NO word about this at all over at the Liberal OC blog. Why aren’t the Democrats at the Liberal OC going after the Supervisors and Nguyen in particular? Doesn’t consumer safety matter to them at all? I guess not!
The Red County blog did offer a link to the Register’s Watchdog story about this scandal, but that was it. That figures as they generally cover up for local elected Republicans.
Art,
I wonder what Chris Prevatt knows about this? He does work for the County of Orange Health Care Agency and has shown tendencies of being a “Janny”.
Maybe this is a reason why there is not even a mention of this story over on “Blue County”.
As for Red County, they are too busy promoting Carlos Bustamante for Mayor Pro-Tem and attacking good people like Mario Turner to cover it.
Chris Prevatts handler “the unemployed planner” also known as Count Chocula wont let Chris Prevatt touch this story.
Sean,
I agree with you that conflicts of interest can be problematic.
Why then would you support the appointment of a developer (Mario Turner), with possible development interest in Santa Ana, to the SA Planning Commission?
Mike,
Mario has never hidden his employment. Supervisor Nguyen, on the other hand, failed to mention her obvious conflicts of interest while addressing the public and her fellow Supervisors on the issue of restaurant ratings.
What Nguyen did was very wrong but it was also typical of what I have come to expect from her.
Mike,
I support Mario because I know him to be a man of integrity who would recuse himself from a vote if there were to be any sort of conflict of interest.
Some of those stirring the pot on this, and no I am not referring to you, have recently shown that they are the ones with questionable integrity. The lies they tell to members of the city council appear to be endless these days. Some might say that they have become pathological.
I would recommend that you talk to Mario before you start buying into what people have told you. He is a good man and deserving of a position on the Planning Commission. Judge him for yourself and I am sure you will have a much different opinion.
“Still NO word about this at all over at the Liberal OC blog.”
Art,
The jannies in the DPOC and Prevatts handler, Count Chocula, wont let him report this issue. It would cause too much embarassment for their chosen candidate for this seat.
Art,
whats with the picture in this post? Is that a technical glitch or is it intentional? Just wondering.
I don’t believe Janet knows how to cook.
Paul,
I have a photo program that can alter photos. I wanted the photo to be a graphic analogy for the corruption that appears to be lurking in Supervisor Nguyen.
“County Counsel Ben de Mayo said there was no formal conflict.”
“Nguyen did not participate in last week’s discussion, saying she needed to figure out whether she had a conflict of interest that would prevent her from voting. ”
Both quotes are from the referenced OCR article.
The ethical thing to do would be to skip discussions until a legal opinion on a conflict could be obtained.
That is what the OCR article said happened.
Cook,
That is ridiculous. I don’t care what the County Counsel said. He works for the BOS. Of course he found no conflict. But most everyone agrees that there was indeed a conflict.
As has been stated, the restaurant owned by Nguyen’s husband and Chief of Staff was issued ten violations in July of this year. What letter grade do you think that would have merited? Obviously Nguyen is running cover for these guys.
As for Nguyen, she had a lot to say at the meeting in question. The Register ran her remarks. She was very strident in voting no. Of course. Now we know why. Question – why didn’t she tell the public about her conflicts of interest?
Paul. Fess up. How much were you paid and by whom and why… to run for the GG city council? Also, are you a habitual blogger? Is blogging all day keeping you unemployed…not to mention a nuisance.
I understand your issue with BOS counsel, could be just like the SA city council member getting bad advice from the city attorney on OBP.
Sounds like a good argument for an independent Auditor General in each county to keep track on the ethical standards of city and county officers, directors, employees, etc.
Cook,
Don’t forget that the OC Grand Jury gave the County an “F” with regard to their current restaurant inspection and rating system.
Most folks don’t know if their local restaurants are safe. That is a major problem. Sooner or later more OC residents will get sick and some will die. The Supervisors will have blood on their hands.
RECALL!!!!