Just got back from Nick Berardino’s shop, where the union boss, as expected, called for a recall of embattled Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street. Berardino said he wants the recall effort to be non-partisan and include “all proponents of good government in Orange County.”

Those people will “believe, as we do, that integrity in government wears no party label, and that the residents of Orange County deserve and demand public servants whose personal conduct in and out of office is beyond reproach,” Berardino said, meeting with roughly the same group of reporters who were in Street’s office yesterday.

This is obviously a first step, and Berardino said he hasn’t takled to the many groups he mentioned today, including the GOP, the Democrats, the Lincoln Club and the New Majority. He said he’ll need at least 150,000 valid signatures to get the issue on a ballot — and that is still undetermined, too. Berardino said it would be up to an executive committee to decide whether the recall should be placed on the February or June ballots or be placed in a stand-alone election.

– Peggy Lowe

As for Street’s assertion that that the many claims against him are merely accusations, and even “rumor and innuendo,” Berardino said he believes the office has been placed in a dangerous position.

“We would simply respond that the number and seriousness of the accusations and investigations against him have now escalated to the point that the trust and confidence voters placed in him cannot be regained, and that he cannot effectively carry out the obligations of his office,” Berardino said.

– Peggy Lowe

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