Steiner

William Steiner and Roger Stanton petition for writs of mandate/prohibition, contending the trial court erroneously overruled their objections to the accusations filed against them pursuant to Government Code section 3060. We grant the writs.

The district attorney seeks to unseat Steiner and Stanton as Orange County supervisors. He took this action under section 3060 after another elected official, County Treasurer Robert Citron, made speculative high-stakes financial investments, which suffered a precipitous downturn and plummeted the county into bankruptcy.

The district attorney instituted proceedings before the grand jury, which issued substantially identical accusations against Steiner and Stanton, alleging, in essence, they failed to adequately carry out their duties to supervise Citron and other county officials. The accusations are divided into four sections, lettered “A” to “D.”

Section A alleges Steiner and Stanton jeopardized the county’s financial health by violating their duties to protect county finances under sections 23005, 25207, and 25303. It alleges they voted in 1993 and 1994 to issue short-term notes of approximately one and a half and two times the…