By Kathryn Reed

There was so little evidence to support any wrongdoing by El Dorado County Auditor-Controller Joe Harn that he wasn’t even asked to defend himself.

“I never spoke to anyone from the Attorney General’s Office. I was never informed by the attorney general that I was under investigation,” Harn told Lake Tahoe News. “I don’t know exactly what they would be investigating me for.”

Joe Harn

This week the county released a press release saying in full, “The 2014-15 El Dorado County Grand Jury requested an investigation into the allegations and findings of its report in Case GJ-14-12. The office of the California Attorney General has concluded its investigation into the allegations, which were raised in the report, regarding the conduct of the El Dorado County Auditor-Controller Joe Harn with no charges being filed.”

That report in part talked about how the county as a whole was dysfunctional. It also called Harn a bully.

The District Attorney’s Office opted for the state to do the investigation so no one could claim there was any conflict.

“The specific allegations are confidential,” Michael Ciccozzi, county counsel, told Lake Tahoe News.

However, the county prior to the grand jury report had been doing an investigation on Harn that was started by Human Resources Director Pamela Knorr. She brought in Ken McHold with the law firm Prentice, Long & Epperson to conduct the investigation on a contract not to exceed $60,000.

That investigation, too, went nowhere.

Knorr and McHold knew each from their days working for Placer County. Knorr has used him before to go after auditor-controllers in other counties she has worked for when the keeper of the finances had told her they won’t be a party to illegal or unethical behavior.

The irony about this particular grand jury report is that it found Knorr’s department to be the most dysfunctional and yet no one has investigated her or the Human Resources Department.