From the Los Angeles Times
Wanted: A fresh face in sheriff's job
Dana Parsons
March 4, 2008
Watching the Orange County Sheriff's
Department the last couple years has been
like renting the entire series of "The
Sopranos" on DVD. Every time you turn
around, somebody's getting whacked.
Maybe not in the permanent and gruesome
fashion of a Jimmy Bones or a Joe Peeps, but
let's put it this way: The department
apparently is a very fluid place to work if
you're in upper management.
Don't hold me to this being a final list,
but in the last three years I come up with
this body count: a sheriff, an acting
sheriff and eight assistant sheriffs,
including one who was once an undersheriff.
Plus, a lieutenant who'd been a police chief
but suddenly found himself out of work after
he'd challenged the sheriff in the 2006
election. He disappeared shortly thereafter.
That's the kind of turnover that Paulie
Walnuts could appreciate.
The latest flurry occurred in the last few
days when the acting sheriff and two
assistant sheriffs found their situations,
uh, altered.
The state attorney general's office
reprimanded acting Sheriff Jack Anderson for
political lobbying while in uniform. The
AG's office said Anderson broke the law last
year when he urged the San Clemente City
Council not to endorse the demoted
lieutenant for sheriff, but confined its
punishment to the public scolding.
That may sound like a small potatoes kind of
"Sopranos" hit -- more like a little
roughing up than a ball-peen hammer to the
head -- but it just goes to show you. Nobody
is safe in that department. At least
Anderson lived to tell about it and remains
on the job.
Not as lucky were assistant sheriffs Jo Ann
Galisky and Steve Bishop. Galisky, a former
undersheriff (the No. 2 position in the
department) before being demoted earlier
this year, was dismissed by Anderson. Bishop
resigned.
Both departures Friday were connected to a
grand jury investigation of an inmate's
death in the county jail, according to
county Supervisor John Moorlach.
Although he wasn't the first to go, you'd
have to pin most of this on former top
banana Mike Carona. Once appearing to be a
prince of a guy, he now looks more and more
like the head of a very dysfunctional family
with an alarming tendency to get into legal
trouble.
He got whacked when a federal grand jury
indicted him on corruption charges last
year, leading to his resignation in January.
Carona says he's innocent and awaits trial.
But before that, his underlings already were
falling by the wayside. His former No. 2
guy, George Jaramillo, went to jail on local
charges and has since pleaded guilty to
federal charges. Another top Carona aide,
Donald Haidl, has pleaded guilty to federal
charges and will be a key witness against
Carona if his case goes to trial. Then came
Galisky and Bishop, who found themselves
under a cloud last week.
But you don't even need to be a Carona
insider to vanish. Former Lt. Bill Hunt all
but dropped out of sight not long after the
election when the victorious Carona busted
him down in rank. Three other assistant
sheriffs since 2005 avoided a potentially
scary fate by resigning on their own.
All in all, quite a graveyard for law
enforcement, eh?
Which makes it all the clearer that the next
sheriff must -- let's repeat for emphasis --
must come from outside the ranks of
former Carona appointees. That means
Anderson should be told by the Board of
Supervisors that he won't be the permanent
sheriff.
Anderson may be undeserving of a "hit," but
never has guilt by association meant more
than it does in this situation.
If "The Sopranos" taught us anything, it's
that sometimes people are just in the wrong
place at the wrong time. So it is for
Anderson.
The supervisors may take months to find a
new sheriff. When you think of attractive
law enforcement jobs in the country, Orange
County sheriff would be pretty high on the
list. There can't possibly be a shortage of
high-caliber (oops, bad choice of words)
candidates out there.
My plea to the supes: Put an end to this
carnage. Find a fresh face and let him or
her take over this department.
Tony Soprano knew how to make bloodletting
entertaining.
Mike Carona did not.
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