More arrogance & cronyism in the Fuentesphere

Yikes! I read the LA Times this morning, and two articles caught my eye.

he first concerned Fuentes crony Mike Carona, the County Sheriff, a fellow honored with a “Hometown Hero” award three years ago by Irvine Valley College’s GOP-crony-infested Foundation (A Sheriff's Rising Star is Dimmed by Scandal):

Two of [Carona’s] former aides are facing criminal prosecution. Federal agents have subpoenaed his financial and administrative records. State investigators are examining his conduct with women. And he's the sheriff. Scandals and controversies have clouded Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona's public and private lives, dimming the prospects of a man whose political future once seemed unlimited.

Carona's official biography describes him as "America's sheriff," the handle CNN's Larry King gave him after the successful hunt for the killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, whose kidnap-murder captivated the nation. The sheriff's camera-grabbing performance in the 2002 case made him an overnight sensation in Republican circles — a would-be contender for lieutenant governor and rumored candidate for a Bush administration post. He met with White House political strategist Karl Rove to plot career moves.

Yes, Karl Rove. Remember when the Bush people spread the false rumor, just before the South Carolina primary of 2000, that John McCain had fathered an illigitimate child with a black prostitute? That Carl Rove.

…Rehabilitation would require Carona to overcome a siege of allegations and embarrassing disclosures. Many center on bribery and election-law charges against two sheriff's officials, and accusations that Carona sexually harassed two women. Others have raised doubts about a life-shaping story he has often told of finding his mother dead from alcoholism.

…The sheriff declined to be interviewed for this story because he believes The Times has "fabricated" material about him in the past, said Michael Schroeder, his unpaid attorney and political advisor [Schroeder is a close associate of Tom Fuentes]. Schroeder, a former chairman of the California Republican Party, said Carona has done nothing wrong, remains popular in Orange County and will be reelected.

Schroeder was very involved in the Frogue Recall. He was responsible for bringing the state GOP on board the anti-Frogue bandwagon.

…In addition to the pending prosecution of an assistant sheriff and captain, and a state investigation into the sexual harassment allegations, The Times has learned that federal officials have subpoenaed records from Carona's reserve deputy program and election committee.

And America's sheriff may even have a Russian problem. Photographs have surfaced of Carona cradling a young woman in his arms during a 2002 Moscow trip, and of her wearing the sheriff's uniform jacket in a hotel. Schroeder said the woman was an official translator and the photos are innocent.

…The married Carona has portrayed himself as a Christian conservative, saying his "personal relationship with Jesus" is the most important thing in his life, followed by his family.

What's with "Christian conservative" politicians in this county, anyway?

The Times continues:

…Carona began his first term by persuading the Board of Supervisors to change a county rule requiring that assistant sheriffs serve first as captains in the department. That allowed him to appoint George Jaramillo and Don Haidl as his top assistants. Jaramillo, a lawyer, had been a Garden Grove police lieutenant. Carona fired him in March 2004 and Jaramillo was later indicted. The former aide has pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes from a Newport Beach company, CHG Safety Technologies…CHG owner Charles H. Gabbard admitted to funneling thousands of dollars to Carona's 1998 campaign through an illegal stock swap, a matter the district attorney's office referred to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

…Carona's other top assistant was Haidl, a wealthy businessman and Carona fund-raiser who came to the job with little law enforcement experience. He had been a volunteer reserve deputy in San Bernardino County. Three state agencies investigated him years earlier for allegedly skimming proceeds from government auto sales through his City of Industry auction firm. Though denying the allegations, he paid $104,000 to settle a civil complaint. He resigned as assistant sheriff in September 2004 because of the fallout over his son's arrest in a notorious sexual assault case. Gregory Haidl and two codefendants were convicted of attacking a highly intoxicated 16-year-old girl during a party at his father's Newport Beach home.

Don Haidl oversaw the expansion of Carona's reserve deputy program, creating a volunteer corps that critics say was designed as a fundraising tool for the sheriff's political campaigns. Eighty-six of the reserves — nearly all of them Carona's political allies — got weapons permits, badges and, in some cases, guns in 1999, without the full training or background checks mandated by the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training.…In August, a reserve who was Carona's martial arts instructor was arrested for allegedly waving his gun and badge at a group of golfers he thought was playing too slowly. Raymond K. Yi has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a felony trial. Another reserve, Freddie Glusman, who owns the upscale Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach, allegedly pulled his badge and threatened a coin-laundry proprietor in an argument over a parking space. Glusman, who held a 50th birthday party fundraiser for Carona last spring, resigned after the Sheriff's Department began an investigation of the incident.

…One of Carona's confidantes, Sheriff's Capt. Christine Murray, was charged last year on 16 misdemeanor counts of soliciting campaign donations for the sheriff from department colleagues. State law prohibits government employees from asking co-workers for political contributions. Murray denies the charges….

…Some people who have worked with Carona or knew him before he became sheriff say many of his woes betrayed a lack of savvy in running a big-league department, as well as hubris. They say the appointments of Jaramillo and Haidl and putting friends and political insiders on the reserve force smacked of arrogance and cronyism. Just as revealing, they say, were Carona's since-abandoned proposal to emblazon his name on all sheriff's patrol cars, and his practice of traveling with an entourage of bodyguards. The four-deputy contingent referred to Carona by the code name "Braveheart."

…The celebrity brought by the Runnion case also invited a closer look into Carona's background. In 2003, The Times first reported the inconsistencies between Carona's story of his mother's death from alcoholism and the official record. He said his mother drank a fifth of liquor and a six-pack of beer daily, and that he found her dead in her bed one morning when he was 11. An autopsy report, however, stated that his mother died of cancer that began as a sinus tumor. It said she had no alcohol in her blood, and that Carona's father had discovered her body.

…Last summer, Erica Hill, who is Jaramillo's sister-in-law, told the grand jury she'd had sex with Carona. The panel called her as part of its investigation into the bribery charges against Jaramillo. Hill told The Times that Carona pressured her to have sex as a condition to the Sheriff's Department hiring her husband as a deputy. She said their first tryst was during Carona's 1999 inaugural party, in a hotel room. Her husband was not hired.

…In September, a Mission Viejo man filed a $15-million claim against the county, alleging that his former wife was sexually harassed by Carona. Dean Holloway, who is now divorced and is on probation for grand theft, asserts that Carona called Susan Holloway in 2002 at the couple's Aliso Viejo home and asked her to spend the weekend with him in San Francisco. The Holloways were married at the time….

On the 4th of April, 2003, the IVC Foundation issued this press release:

Sheriff Mike Carona to be Honored at Irvine Valley College Foundation Awards Dinner...The Board of Governors of the Irvine Valley College Foundation announced today that Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona will be the guest of honor at the annual IVC Foundation Awards Dinner, to be held at the Irvine Marriott Hotel on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 5:30 p.m. The theme of this year’s dinner will be “Securing the Future.” “We are proud to announce that Sheriff Carona will receive our Hometown Hero Award and will be acknowledged for his contribution to the community,” said Board Chairman Duane Cave.

For a recent blog re Fuentes and cronyism, see Cronyism & Mirthulence.

he second article concerned a guy with whom I went to grade school (Cerro Villa Junior High, Villa Park High). We used to call him “Hambo." Well, Hambo got a fifteen year prison sentence for “bilking the city [of Orange] out of millions through kickbacks and fraud.” According to the Times (OC Trash Firm Owner Gets Fifteen Years),

A man once embraced as a hometown hero was sentenced Friday to nearly 15 years in prison for bilking the city of Orange out of $4.3 million through his trash hauling company. Jeffrey Hambarian, 51, who had faced up to 20 years in prison, was also ordered to pay $12 million in restitution and fines. Hambarian's attorney, Mark Geragos, unsuccessfully sought a sentence similar to those given to Martha Stewart and other executives with no criminal history…A jury in August found Hambarian guilty of 47 counts of grand theft, fraud, embezzlement, money-laundering and filing false tax income statements…The scam surfaced in 1995 after an accountant for Hambarian's trash firm, Orange Disposal Services, alerted the city to discrepancies in the annual audit. News of the scam distressed the tight-knit community, which regarded civic-minded Hambarian as a favorite son who gave generously to charity and was friendly with politicians. The disclosure also caused a rift in City Hall and ultimately the firing of the town's police chief after he started investigating the leak of sensitive internal documents to reporters. Prosecutors said Hambarian blackmailed his vendors into padding and faking invoices, then forced them to funnel the profits to him, laundering the money through check-cashing businesses in south Los Angeles County…Geragos said Hambarian had done nothing wrong and was the victim of a conspiracy by vendors who were promised immunity by the government.

I remember “Hambo” as a lout and a dolt. No wonder he became a Big Man in the OC. No F-ing wonder.