Sending the report to the D.A. will help the O.C. Fair & Event Center "move on" from the sale attempt, said Director Nick Berardino, who last month accused those behind the sale of money laundering and failing to protect the board members. He was appointed to the Fair Board in 2011, after the sale.
The D.A.'s office, Berardino added, can use its subpoena power to pursue the missing information requested by the committee that the board cannot secure with its own authority.
"We've done it," Berardino said. "What we have, we've got … there ain't no more to get. Nobody's going to be giving up anything at this thing, and I'm sure their attorneys are telling them not to."
The Fair Board's decision marks the second time the D.A.'s office has examined the fairgrounds sale. In October 2010, the D.A. exonerated the Fair Board of any wrongdoing.
In a 51-page report, the office said the Fair Board did not violate open-meeting laws or have any conflicts of interest.
Theresa Sears, a member of the Fair Sale Review Committee who testified during the Jan. 17 meeting, said in a phone interview from Vermont that she was glad to see the report go back to the D.A.
This time, she said, after news of Bell and exposed political corruption elsewhere, there may be more "pressure to actually do it right."
"Hopefully, a young D.A. will get in there, sink their teeth into it, not be politically connected and do the right thing," Sears said.
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'I know nothing of a check'
The committee's work has not come without its critics, however.
