I've been receiving a ton of email and Facebook messages from both good and bad people in Fullerton, concerned that tomorrow, the Fullerton City Council just might replace acting Fullerton Police Department Chief Dan Hughes with former Orange County deputy sheriff Bill Hunt. Hunt is a darling of Tea Party activists and the boyos over at Friends for Fullerton's Future for standing up to our felonious ex-sheriff Mike Carona; Hunt is scaring the shit out of those idiots who crammed the city council chambers a couple of weeks ago sporting “We (Heart) Fullerton PD” shirts (where the hell were they after the murder of Kelly Thomas?) but also good people scared of Hunt's Tea Party affiliations and initial involvement in the Haidl gang rape fiasco.
Hunt getting the Fullerton PD position is almost a foregone conclusion. Both sides have asked me to publicly endorse or eviscerate Hunt, but it ain't that easy. I don't necessarily have a problem with Hunt being the next Fullerton police chief–but only after he renounces two of his most noxious supporters, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and evil queen Barbara Coe.
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Arpaio, of course, is the most corrupt sheriff in America not named Carona. The list of his crimes is so extensive that I direct ustedes to our sister paper, the Phoenix New Times, which has covered him for nearly 20 years now, if not more. Jail deaths, brutal cops, lawsuit payouts, culture of secrecy–it's just like the Fullerton PD!
Yet not only did Hunt have Arpaio do a fundraiser for him in SanTana when Hunt unsuccessfully ran for sheriff in 2010, but he's publicly pronounced his man-crush on Arpayaso and his ways. That alone, Bill, shows me you don't have the capacity to lead a department. However, if you publicly renounce and denounce Arpayaso and his policies, that shows true leadership and maturity–hey, we've all made mistakes before (I, for instance, once supported evil SanTana councilwoman Claudia Alvarez)
Even more bizarre was Hunt allowing Coe within 300 miles of him. Coe, of course, is the Wicked Witch of Huntington Beach (no insult to witches, mind you), a woman who has spread all types of nastiness across Orange County. And yet not only did Hunt take Coe's campaign money, but he also posed with Arpayaso and Coe in the picture that I have above and which we'll run again, even bigger, to remind people of where Hunt currently stands.
I know Hunt doesn't like it when we run this photo, saying it's unfair for me to constantly carp about his association with Arpayaso and Coe, but tough tamales. We at the Weekly also know a side of Hunt that his detractors don't know, so that's why I can't and won't automatically vilify him. But as long as he doesn't renounce Arpayaso and Coe, I cannot take him seriously–in fact, I'll view him as Arpayaso-lite, which means he'll be on my radar. But renounce, and let's together fight the culture of corruption that plagues Fullerton so, Bill. The choice is yours…
