Berardino, also general manager for the Orange County Employees Assn., said not including his requests on the agenda for public discussion was a blow against democracy.
"To stifle debate and to basically say we're not even going to allow a public official to put something on a public agenda because we're not going to allow you to talk about it flies in the face of everything our country stands for," he said. "It sounds like a little bit of hyperbole, but you know, it is what it is.
"It's somebody who was appointed to have a stewardship in the fairgrounds, and my feeling was, let's build a consensus and reduce suspicion and build trust so we can move forward."
Since then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put the fairgrounds up for sale in 2009 to help plug a budget deficit, some in the public and many fair vendors have cast a suspicious eye on the board's handling of the sale. The board hired a former state lawmaker to monitor how Sacramento proceeded, but critics argued he was hired to lobby for the sale.
When a majority of the board formed a nonprofit to buy the 150-acre property in Costa Mesa, they were accused of aiming to develop the grounds for private gain.
An Orange County district attorney investigation cleared the board of any wrongdoing, though it did chastise the board for creating the appearance of secrecy.
But when combining that lack of misconduct and the board satisfying more than 40 public record requests in the last three years, Ellis says the board has done enough to clear its reputation.
"I suggest that it's not a lack of information — some folks simply don't like what they're reading," Ellis said in an email to Berardino on Monday.
