Norberto Santana Jr.

Orange County, CA

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at Voice of OC

Publisher, Editor-in-Chief of Orange County, CA-based nonprofit news agency,@VoiceofOC. Board alum @IRE_NICAR, @INN

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Articles

Santana: Confronting Orange County’s Public Spending Problem

1 week ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

Orange County Democrats and Republicans are strangely similar when it comes to managing local public budgets. Neither likes to tell taxpayers much when it comes to overspending. Especially when law enforcement blows past budgets. This past month, during the last quarterly budget update of the fiscal year, county officials unveiled a stark number.
Santana: Who Wants to Run Orange County?

3 weeks ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

The County of Orange seal at the OC Civic Center on Feb. 27, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC Orange County Supervisors today will be meeting behind closed doors to discuss the latest finalists to become the next CEO of Orange County.
Santana: Anaheim Can’t Afford to Play With the Angels

1 month ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

In the end, former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu begged for the grace he and his regime always lacked. Especially when it came to the doomed sale of Angel Stadium. The Los Angeles Angels franchise in Anaheim has been laser focused on buying Angel stadium on the cheap for more than a decade – evidenced by two comically lopsided deals that collapsed about a decade apart. The last fiasco unleashed a historic, unvarnished public look at how that city hall operates in the shadows.
Santana: Defending Your Right to Watchdog Local Government From Home

1 month ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

Californians should be able to watch and participate in government meetings from home. Elected officials should be expected to show up. Seems simple. Yet it’s a standard state legislators – who themselves stream a host of public meetings – have yet to adopt for their colleagues in the trenches of local government.
SANTANA: Should OC Supervisors Manage A $17 Billion Public Investment Portfolio Alone?

2 months ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

Weeks before Orange County Supervisors took the rare move of stripping all investment powers from the county’s elected treasurer, two supervisors met privately with a group of workers who expressed a host of festering concerns about their boss. Such private meetings are rare. It’s even more rare to see county supervisors take immediate action based on worker complaints, especially involving an independent elected official.
Santana: Keeping Watch Over Orange County’s $17 Billion Investment Pool

2 months ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

For the first time in two months since Voice of OC first alerted the public to the quiet stripping of investment authority from Orange County’s elected , county supervisors have issued a public statement to the rising tide of questioning from residents, elected officials and investment pool participants.
Santana: Required Reading For Presidents Day

2 months ago | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

A man raises a flag in Orange County. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC It’s one of the oldest warnings to Americans. One that’s been ignored ever since it was first uttered. After two terms in office, President George Washington left office in 1796 disgusted by partisan politics. In his farewell letter to a young nation, he urged people to think of themselves as Americans not partisans.
Santana: A DIY Approach to Watchdogging Local Government

Feb 10, 2025 | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Especially when it comes to local government and politics. That’s the warning Shirley Grindle has been shouting to Orange County residents since she sat on a county planning commission in the 1970s. It’s also what prompted her in 1978 to write and help pass one of the toughest campaign finance ordinances in the nation, known locally as Tincup.
Santana: How To Track Special Interest Influence In Your Public Backyard

Feb 10, 2025 | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

Orange County voters cast their votes on Nov. 5, 2024. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC Imagine if you could slap stickers onto politicians – like those on Nascar drivers’ uniforms and race cars – showing who is sponsoring them? You actually can. If you learn how to do so – accessing the powers left to you by former generations of open government activists and lawmakers.
Santana: Mystery Crisis Brewing at the OC Treasurer Tax Collector

Jan 29, 2025 | voiceofoc.org | Norberto Santana Jr.

Questions continue mounting about a mystery move just before the winter holiday break to strip investing powers from Orange County’s elected treasurer by a board of supervisors still reeling from the aftermath of an FBI bribery scandal involving one of their colleagues. It also comes on the heels of the 30th anniversary of Orange County declaring bankruptcy in 1994.