I greeted Nick Gerda the same way last week, the same way I greeted him last year: a handshake, a hug, and “Great job, man.”

Since last November, LAist reporter Bombshell after bombshell has been dropped about Andrew Do, a longtime politician who most recently served as an Orange County executive.

I say “as soon as possible” because resign After federal prosecutors revealed he would accept more than half a million dollars in bribes to direct more than $10 million in Covid-19 relief funds to a nonprofit headed by his college-age daughter Rhiannon.

“The essence of the plan was that it worked in reverse with Robin Hood.” US Atty. E. Martin Estrada He said at a press conference on October 22.

Estrada credited the media for spreading the story; This actually meant Gerda, who stuck a microphone to my shirt about 15 years ago when I was an intern at Orange County’s PBS station.

And now look at it!

With his peach fuzz, he looks like Clark Kent: tall, slim, soft-spoken, prefers khakis and long-sleeved shirts, and more serious than a Peace Corps Volunteer. We met at my wife’s store in downtown Santa Ana, not far from where the Board of Supervisors meets, so I could congratulate her again—and not just for ending the career of a politician as insufferable as the bow ties he wore.

Gerda’s career is an example of what can happen when news organizations invest in local journalism, let reporters dig rather than write clickbait, and stand up for critics both real and imagined.

Gerda has been describing how a sculptor crafts a slab of marble on LAist and her previous employer, Voice of OC, for over a decade. Multiple public records requests led the superintendent to sarcastically refer to the “Noise of the OC.”

Last year, Do demanded that Los Angeles native Gerda be fired for allegedly using false tax returns in her reporting; This tantrum went nowhere because it wasn’t right. previous days FBI and IRS agents raided homes Speaking about Do and her daughter, the politician appeared on Little Saigon radio station to accuse Gerda and other opponents of “slander”.

“On the one hand, I feel like I’ve justified myself,” the young reporter, who is only 33 years old, told me while drinking coffee with the strap of his digital watch half torn. “On the other hand, my biggest concern when researching this was: What happened to this money?”

Do’s mistakes were so egregious that Gerda accomplished the impossible in Orange County: unite Democrats and Republicans.

I asked Gerda why she thought Do Matt had eliminated OC’s partisan divide.

“People perceive it as an abuse of power,” he replied, “and it really connects with people, it makes them concerned.”

Former Orange County Auditor Andrew Do, photographed at a news conference in Orange in 2021, pleaded guilty in a bribery case that a U.S. attorney called “Robin Hood in reverse.”

(Lilly Nguyen / Daily Pilot)

Local journalism was among the stars long before it went after Gerda. When I started out as a reporter, he accompanied his mother to Santa Ana City Council and school board meetings and found her generous with quotes, opinions, and tips.

“My mother and father showed me what an important role journalists have in society in seeking the truth,” Gerda said. “Speak truth to power while violations continue.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Irvine when she was just 18, journalism remained on her mind, and she later studied at NYU and Cairo while considering international relations as a career.

Recently, Gerda noticed that news organizations in Southern California were firing reporters who were “keeping an eye on” local government.

“From seeing my family growing up and following the local news, I knew that people had a real ability to make a positive difference in their local communities in a way that was often impossible at a national or international level,” he said.

Gerda returned home and enrolled in journalism classes at Orange Coast College, where I taught. After a few internships, he found a job at Voice of OC, where he immediately caught the attention of publisher Norberto Santana Jr. The founder of the nonprofit news agency said he studied Gerda to handle local reporting “like electrical work, plumbing — like a methodical job.” approach. Follow the money. And it was solid from the beginning.”

Santana Jr. put the cub reporter on the county government agenda, so he ended up at Do’s election night party in 2015. Do became a candidate for management for the first time. Gerda’s clearest memory of that night: Do berating another Voice of OC reporter so much that Do’s supporters had to hold him back.

Gerda said, “It struck me as an unusual behavior towards a member of the press.”

The new manager immediately gave Gerda material to report on. There were questions about where he actually lived, and he failed to pursue a policy of shutting down public commentators he deemed offensive. His office used voter data to send out taxpayer-funded mailers, leading the state Legislature to ban such efforts within 60 days of the election.

None of this derailed Do’s career; He went on to win the election and became chairman of the Board of Supervisors in 2021.

I asked Gerda why Do had avoided this for so long.

Gerda mentioned the 2013 Orange County grand jury report that said the lack of a live press in OC was actually an invitation to civil corruption, and this unfortunately proved to be true.

The only publications that regularly cover the county of 3.1 million people are the Voice of OC, the Daily Pilot and the Orange County Register, a ghost of what it once was.

mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita and a recent City Council candidate in Fullerton pleaded guilty making false statements on their nomination papers confirming that they personally collected and witnessed the signatures. An ongoing federal investigation in my hometown of Anaheim, resignation of former Mayor Harry SidhuHe pleaded guilty to four felonies for his role in the proposed sale of Angel Stadium to its namesake baseball team.

Orange County “strikes me as a place where many elected leaders are not exposed to or accustomed to media scrutiny, attention, and questions compared to places like Los Angeles,” Gerda continued. “And in a place like Los Angeles, a lot of things escape the public eye that would perhaps be questioned and noted.”

Gerda largely left Orange County politics behind when she joined LAist last spring to cover homelessness in LA County. So it took him a month to answer the call from a source who warned him about Vietnam-American contracts — “I actually almost missed that tip,” he sheepishly admitted.

State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), left, congratulates Los Angeles reporter Nick Gerda on his work.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

After reviewing thousands of pages of documents, Gerda published a story in November It details how Do voted to give the Viet America Community millions of dollars in county charters, without disclosing that his daughter Rhiannon was chairing it.

Gerda followed this up days later with another bombshell: The chief’s testimony in a civil case had led to a mistrial because He did not disclose that his wife, Cheri Pham, is vice president at the same courthouse.

As a result of Gerda’s drip-drip stories, Pham announced that he would not seek re-election. County files lawsuit against Vietnamese Community of America Accused of a “brazen plunder” of more than $13 million, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning elected officials from approving contracts for organizations run by their children.

Gerda did not speculate on whether her reporting was the catalyst for the federal investigation into Do. In federal court this week, the former auditor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery related to programs that receive federal funds.

“This is true. “I feel great regret for what I did,” Do said at the hearing. “I am responsible for every word.”

It is stated that Do faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. Rhiannon Do, meanwhile, agreed to a three-year probation and diversion program in addition to assisting the feds in their ongoing investigation and giving up the million-dollar home in North Tustin that prosecutors allege she knowingly purchased with federal funds to feed the elderly. Vietnamese refugees.

So who will Gerda defeat next?

He laughed for the first time all morning.

“I don’t think of it as taking people down,” he said. “There are a number of other funding streams and questions about taxpayer money that is meant to serve vulnerable people.”

He stood up to return to work.

“And we continue to pursue the truth.”