The County of Orange was in turmoil in 1994, after having filed bankruptcy that December. It was out $1.67 billion in investment losses—becoming the largest municipal bankruptcy in history.
John Moorlach, a CPA and financial planner was appointed county treasurer-tax collector following the bankruptcy and within 18 months he assisted the county’s exit of Chapter 9 bankruptcy. He now is running for mayor of Costa Mesa in the Nov. 8 election. His sole opponent is incumbent John Stephens.
Before the bankruptcy, Moorlach said he tried to warn the county of a possible financial crisis and criticized the county’s treasurer at the time for leveraging money on interest rates. He said he knew if rates went up, the practice would quickly fail….