County Mayoral Candidates Stake Positions
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
By: Tom Parkinson

Two Democratic candidates for Orange County Mayor are staking out positions and proposing new measures this week. County Commissioners Linda Stewart and Bill Segal are talking about ethics and crime, respectively.

Stewart wants to close loopholes in the county’s new ethics ordinance.
At issue are private parties organized by a lobbyist for the Centerplate hospitality company and attended by current County Mayor Rich Crotty and Commissioner Bill Segal. Centerplate holds the 300 million dollar, 10-year contract for food and beverage vending at the County Convention Center.
Meanwhile, Segal wants to raise the cost of going to jail. Currently, people arrested in Orange County have to pay a 5 dollar booking fee. Segal wants to increase that to 50 dollars and raise the amount inmates pay for food from a dollar-50 a day to 2-50.
Segal says the additional fees could add up to 4 million dollars a year and the county could use the money to hire new deputies.

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