George Shirakawa Jr. shuffled out of office in disgrace two and a half years ago, but the former county supervisor’s egregious misuse of taxpayer funds created a financial odyssey so twisted that it continues to bedevil staff to this day.

An annual audit of the city of San Jose’s procurement cards (P-cards) unearthed a litany of violations—alcohol purchases, personal car rentals and way too much money spent on food.

Liz Kniss termed out of her Santa Clara County supervisor seat at the end of last year, and it was assumed she would ride off into the sunset to finish her political career on Palo Alto’s City Council. During the budget cycle last year, the Board of Supervisors even gave her a parting gift of sorts, donating $47k to Palo Alto Animal Services—while she was running for that city’s council seat—even though it is not a county entity. But it seems Kniss may have been throwing around her own handouts in her final year on the board.

On the same day the county released a second audit critical of P-Card purchases made by Supervisor George Shirakawa’s office, County Executive Jeff Smith provided his first extended comments regarding Shirakawa’s misuse of taxpayer funds.

Leave it to Larry Stone, the county assessor, to call it like he sees it when the vast majority of his fellow elected officials have danced around the issue of Supervisor George Shirakawa’s flagrant misuse of taxpayer money.