Orange County Has Its Share of Corrupt “Conservative” Republicans
Posted by PrestoPundit on 11/03/2007
And now — finally — our “Christian conservative” sheriff Mike Carona is going down — long with his wife and one of his girlfriends.
We can only hope the sleazy political careers of the GOPers who have enabled Mr. Carona will also end.
The only word for all this is disgusting.
UPDATE: Jon Fleischman of the FlashReport emailed to let me know that he hasn’t worked for the Sheriff’s department in over a year — after six years as an official department spokesman for the department. He also notes that his web site is linking to coverage of the Carona criminal indictment , something I hadn’t notice earlier (the links are in the bottom left hand column of the web page.) In light of these facts and the contents of his private messages to me, I’ve removed my earlier link to his web site. I’ve remained disturbed by the continuing support among leading “conservative” Republicans for this clearly compromised “top cop”. Whatever the outcome of any trial, Mike Carona has shown himself to be a man of bad judgment in the people he has had around him and in his many — at best — sleazy doings. Law enforcement in Orange County is being damaged daily, and there are Republicans who are still choosing to advance the interests of Mike Carona over the interests of OC law enforcement. I have no trouble deciding which side I’m on.
UPDATE 2:Â The Liberal OC blog takes a trip on the Wayback Machine.
PrestoPundit 
fouse, gary c said
Rotten Fruit in Orange County -Part IV
Yesterday (November 5), indicted Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona appeared for arraignment and pleas in Federal Court (Santa Ana). Also appearing were his two accused co-conspirators, Debbie Carona (his wife) and Debra Hoffman (his alleged mistress). After entering his plea, Carona met with reporters outside the courthouse and announced that he would not resign his office since he was not guilty of corruption and bribery charges against him. After telling the reporters he was going back to work (a la Bill Clinton) and wishing them God Bless, he then headed for his waiting suv. According to KFI (radio) reporter, Eric Leonard, Carona suddenly stopped when he remembered that he had left his wife behind. (“Oh, I forgot my wife.”) They then proceeded hand-in-hand to the suv and were whisked away.
Today, as calls for his resignation mounted, Carona’s office announced that he will take a (paid) 60 day leave of absence. The same day, Orange County supervisors voted against putting a ballot measure on the February ballot that would have enabled them to fire the sheriff (who is elected). So, as things stand now, Carona will take a 60 day paid vacation, then return to run the OCSD. The trial has been originally scheduled for December, but most observers predict it won’t take place until summer 2008.
Meanwhile, stories continue to mount about the sheriff’s personal life, in which he is pictured as a serial womanizer. Actually, these stories have been going around about Sheriff Mike for years. Now everyone is getting in on the action, including KFI (LA) talk jocks, John and Ken, all but exhausted from reporting on the circus called Los Angeles under Antonio Villaraigosa et al, and now having on opportunity to laugh at OC for a while. Being a fan of John and Ken, I look forward to the yuks coming our way at Carona’s expense.
Sadly, however, the situation in OC is anything but funny. It appears we are in for the long haul. We, the citizens and the deputies who work under Carona, are going to have to deal with this muck until he is finally gone from the scene. We will have to witness the spectacle of “America’s Sheriff” standing before the cameras announcing how he has taken down another major criminal while ducking questions about his own criminal case. Carona could spare us a lot of the aggrevation by simply stepping down, but he won’t. It’s all about Mike.
gary fouse
lake forest, ca
fousesquawk