Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder For those who don't live in the Southern California area, Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, a "train wreck from the start" according to the L.A. Times, was indicted yesterday on ten counts of corruption by the Feds. Carona, his wife, and his mistress (yep, his mistress) were all led into Federal Court yesterday in shackles to face the judge. He's accused of accepting a boat, other gifts and over $110K from people in exchange for favors. Along the way, he's been caught on tape having sex with a secretary in the front seat of a car with his wife and son unaware 50 feet away, had another mistress admit to several encounters in exchange for her husabnd to get a job, and demoted to patrolman someone who ran against in the last election. Those are just some of the highlights. Unfortunately, those who are aware of him in the rest of the country think he's just a great lawman, serving on Bush's Homeland Security committee and appearing on CNN every so often. The guy is a world class crook who deserves the 105 years he's looking at. Below is a link to the L.A. Times' editorial calling for him to resign. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-ed-carona1nov01" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/news/pr intedition/asection/la-ed-carona1nov01</a>,1,3486417.story?coll=la-news-a_section Some excerpts: "From the very start, according to the indictment handed down this week, the sheriff conspired to enrich himself and his mistress, trading access to his department for fat financial favors. If these accusations had come out of the blue, tarnishing an otherwise sterling sheriff, they would still form such a cloud over his department that he could scarcely carry on. But that's not the kind of sheriff Carona is. Rather, he has been dragging his office through the mud for years, subjecting it and the residents of Orange County to his self-aggrandizement and consistently bad judgment. An early, telling decision was to hire two political allies as top assistants after his first election in 1998, even though neither man met even the basic requirements for the job. The indictment now gives a possible reason why a newly minted sheriff would do such a thing: money and gifts. The two appointees are cooperating with prosecutors in building a case against the sheriff." "The courts will ultimately decide what Carona deserves. What the county and a department of hardworking deputies deserve is another matter. If Carona has any honest friends left, they should be advising him to leave his scandal-splattered office to someone who can restore confidence both within and outside the department."
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Orange County Register wants him out, too. <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/carona-sheriff-haidl-1913785-charges-indictment" target="_blank">http://www.ocregister.com/opin ion/carona-sheriff-haidl-1913785-charges-indictment</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry Wow - that's quite amazing. Having lived in Texas for 10 years, I've come to expect this sort of thing from local law enforcement, which in many ways retains its southern roots and "Boss Hogg" mentality. It's markedly different than what I remember from living on the west coast for most of my life.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I'm not familar w/Orange County's election cycle. The exerpt in post 1 says that he was first elected in 1998, about 9 years ago. How long is his term, how often has he had to face re-election? I'm just curious. I'm fairly aware of law enforcement politics in the Inland Empire (which doesn't usually include the OC) because that's ElderP's workplace. I know it's just not often that a sitting sheriff loses a bid for re-election, most voters are educated enough about local politics and tend to just re-elect who ever is there. I am curious though, with all these aparent shinanigans how often he has been re-elected.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I should say most voters are NOT educated enough about local politcs, but you all knew that!
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Carona is a year or so into his third term, a third term he once promised not to seek.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Here's a link to the OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper. They have a writer who has had it in for Carona for quite a long time, and word is also very instrumental in developing information that led to the indictments. What you'll find are a series of links to other articles that will simply blow you away. Warning- some of the language is coarse. <a href="http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/crime-sex/oc-sheriff-carona-indicted-for/" target="_blank">http://blogs.ocweekly.com/nave lgazing/crime-sex/oc-sheriff-carona-indicted-for/</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Carona is a year or so into his third term, a third term he once promised not to seek. >>> An elected official breaking a campaign promise? Say it isn't so! <<< Here's a link to the OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper. They have a writer who has had it in for Carona for quite a long time, and word is also very instrumental in developing information that led to the indictments. >>> Not being familiar with the particulars, it would not surprise me at all to find out that the "alternative" reporter was dismissed early on as a kook and his reporting as unfounded. But, apparently there's enough smoke to lead to indictments. And this is one of the important functions of the federal government: to step in in situations where local, county, or state government agents are corrupt but the local system won't do anything about it for various reasons.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Well, looks like the Sheriff will be taking some time off... <a href="http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/" target="_blank">http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/</a> >>Under Sheriff Jo Ann Galisky will take command of the Sheriff's Department while her boss, Michael Carona, fight against his corruption charges in court. Carona will be available on important policy decision but the day-to-day operation will be on the shoulder of Jo Ann Galisky who has been with the department since 1984.<<
