Orange County manager Frank Clifton has resigned, effective in September. This story gives some interesting background on tensions between Clifton and the liberal county commissioners who see government as the go-to answer for most everything.
At a budget retreat, Clifton told the commissioners they could no longer afford to give people everything they wanted.
“Our problem has been we focus on what we’re going to spend on,” he said, “instead of what we have to spend.”
In Orange County, that kind of talk is heresy. From Commissioner Renee Price:
Even before she joined the board, she disagreed with some of his recommendations, such as the decision to cut the Commission for Women, which the previous board went along with.
Price wants to bring the commission back, as part of the county economic development department to address workforce and other issues.
Yet another Commission on Women? For goodness sake, it’s 2013, not 1970. Women are not victims of society. Women now dominate college enrollment, advanced degrees, law schools, etc. It’s time to accept progress, Commissioner Price.