Supervisors may rescind ex-campaign treasurer’s appointment
A Newport Beach accountant accused by a congressman of embezzling campaign funds could lose his seat on a county board Tuesday.
County Supervisor Michelle Steel will propose terminating Jack Wu’s appointment to the Assessment Appeals Board at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
In May, Steel nominated Wu, a former newspaper columnist, to fill a position of hearing officer on the appeals board. The Board of Supervisors approved his appointment and a vote would be required to reverse it.
“It is requested that this board find that public acknowledgment by Mr. Wu of embezzlement of campaign funds is sufficient cause for removal from the assessment appeals board, and that this board rescind his appointment and remove him from office,” the county staff report states.
After Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) circulated a news release on June 22 contending that Wu had admitted stealing about $173,500 from the official’s reelection campaign fund, Wu was asked to resign from his position on the county board, according to a board of supervisors staff report.
Wu, who owns Costa Mesa accounting firm Wubell, was Rohrabacher’s campaign treasurer for seven years.
The congressman fired Wu in May after finding $187 in an account that was supposed to contain about $185,000, according to Rohrabacher’s attorney, Charles Bell.
Wu, 44, had not yet completed the training necessary to assume his role on the assessment appeals board, which is made up of 25 members tasked with hearing property value disputes between residents and the county assessor.
Wu expressed his willingness to resign to county officials, but has not yet submitted a letter of resignation, according to the report.
In July, the accountant resigned from his position on the Newport Beach finance committee — an advisory body to the City Council on budget issues — after serving for less than six months.
The Newport Beach resident has not responded to requests for comment.
The congressman’s team, which is conducting an audit of the account, reported its initial findings to the California attorney general’s office and the Orange County district attorney’s office. Criminal charges have not been filed.
Wu is a former political candidate. He ran unsuccessfully for various public offices in the past two decades. He entered the race for Irvine City Council in 1998, the Irvine Ranch Water District board in 2002 and the Newport Beach City Council in 2006, when he was defeated by Mike Henn by about 3,000 votes, county documents show.
Wu has written columns about local politics for the Daily Pilot, the Voice of O.C., the Newport Beach Independent and, most recently, the Orange County Register.