Year: 2023

Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) general counsel Ryan Baron resigned this week — just ahead of a board meeting called to consider terminating him and his firm, Best Best & Krieger (BBK), as the agency’s legal advisors.

Baron was involved in the formation of the OCPA and was instrumental in the hiring of Probolsky. He has been criticized by present and former board members for acting more as the CEO’s personal attorney than the board’s legal counsel. For example, Baron advised the board that they could ignore the OCPA bylaws and have Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, a Probolsky ally, included as a voting board member — even though the County was not yet drawing electrical power from the agency. (Orange County has subsequently withdrawn from the agency.)

There is an ongoing FBI investigation into public corruption at Irvine City Hall involving disgraced political consultant Melahat Rafiei.

It should be obvious to everyone that it would be a conflict of interest to have the City investigate itself … with the Council directing and overseeing the investigation. A friend who teaches legal ethics and is an expert witness in these matters told me that any internal investigation by the City that was controlled by the Council would itself be unethical, lack credibility, and viewed as highly questionable.