Santa Clara County appointed its first privacy chief, U.S. Army veteran and longtime security expert Mike Shapiro.

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.

The county will consider enlisting private sector help or adopting a full vote-by-mail system to speed up the vote count on election night.

Joe Simitian takes exception with the notion that he isn’t transparent. On Tuesday, the recidivist county supervisor waxed pedantic, crashing the Finance and Government Operations Committee meeting to argue that the county could get sunburned by a new policy of publishing county officials’ calendars. But could this all have something to do with Simitian’s perpetual fundraising?