Subject: John Moorlach

• Less than an hour until the polls close...

  ... and I'm soooooo confused. I was out of town last Thursday through Sunday, and when I returned there were 17 messages on my phone from the likes of Pete Wilson, Dick Ackerman, Hillary Clinton, someone yammering about Jessica's Law, the Nguyen running for an OC school board seat and his partner in crime David Boyd, Wendy Leece (Costa Mesa City Council), Ben Stein, Alan Mansoor (Costa Mesa CC), sheriff's lieutenant Ron Cunningham (from which sheriff's agency, Lordy knows), "Don't Call Me" Shirl

  November 7, 2006

• Glum Old Party?

  With the Democrats taking the House and threatening to take the Senate at this hour, you might expect the Orange County GOP election night party at the Hyatt Regency Irvine to be a mopey affair. After all, a huge banner in the room proclaims this is "America's Most Republican County." But, other than being about the tenth of the size of previous gloat-a-thons, the well-dressed crowd here is mostly laughing, chatting and paying little attention to the results streaming in on the giant screen CNN

  November 7, 2006

• Cop Land

  Longtime courthouse observers can't remember the last time an Orange County jury convicted a police officer of abusing his power. It's not that abuse doesn't periodically occur. Several months ago, I watched the trial of an Irvine cop who got an erection and ejaculated on a female motorist in Laguna Beach. He escaped criminal liability. In recent years, the Weeky's Nick Schou and the Register's Steven Greenhut have shown that independent oversight of the county's police officers is zero. In Su

  April 16, 2007

• Key OC Republicans Back Civilian Oversight of Sheriff

  Steven Greenhut over at The Orange County Register's Orange Punch blog recently reported more bad news for Sheriff Mike Carona. Key members of the powerful Republican Lincoln Club announced last week they believe it's time to form a civilian review panel over the sheriff's department, says Greenhut. This follows the gruesome October 2006 killing of an inmate in front of a deputy who claims he was busy watching television during his shift and didn't notice the violent gang attack. At least one

  May 20, 2007

• Civilian Review of Sheriff Passes 5-0

  Steven Greenhut at the Register's Orange Punch Liberty Blog attended today's Board of Supervisors meeting and reports that Sheriff Mike Carona lost his bid to kill the concept of a civilian review panel. Thanks to a surprising last-minute switch by Supervisor Bill Campbell, the vote was 5-0, according to Greenhut. In 60 days, a detailed proposal will come back to the all-Republican board for consideration. Led by Supervisors John Moorlach and Chris Norby, the board has worked to increase scr

  May 22, 2007

• Is There an ECCO in Here?

  Interesting June 6 election endorsements from the Elections Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO), a political action committee aimed at mainstream (change to:) Democrat Party hacky gay lesbians Democrats: GOVERNOR Steve Westley (D) - endorsed Phil Angelides (D) - acceptable Arnold Schwarzenegger (D, er, R) - unacceptable ATTORNEY GENERAL Rocky "The Liar" Delgadillo (D) - endorsed Jerry Brown (D) - acceptable 69th ASSEMBLY DISTRICT Armando "Not My Real Last Name" de la Libertad (D) - en

  June 1, 2006

• Saturday's Headlines & Surprises

  Saddle Sores: Supervisor John Moorlach hasn't been in office long but he could be the most revolutionary county politician since . . . well . . . we haven't had any revolutionary politicians on the board of supervisors. On Friday, Moorlach announced plans to cut pension benefits retroactively for certain members of the Orange County sheriff's deputies union. He says the payments are an illegal gratuity of as much as $500 million in local taxpayer funds. Peggy Lowe at the Register posted two use

  July 21, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: Total Idiot

  Fatal Femmes! In the July 30 issue of Time, Sean Gregory reports on the Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship for all-female mixed-martial arts caged combat. Need I say more? Well, okay. In an enjoyable read based on the event in a Compton casino earlier this month, Gregory describes the brutality and “the raucous Femmes crowd, an eclectic, testosterone-heavy mix of bachelor-party drunks, white-collar MMA fans and even a few young girls, ooohed every choke hold and kick to the face.” These fig

  July 25, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises

  Speed Eating: Would you eat 42 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in 10 minutes for $1,500? Patrick “P-Rock” Beroletti, a twentysomething-year-old Chicago cook, won the Drum Corps International World Peanut Butter and Jelly Eating Championship this week at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. (Earlier this year, Beroletti devoured 47 donuts in five minutes.) Tim “Eater X” Janus dunked his treats in a milk-water mixture and nabbed second place with 37.5 sandwiches. Rich “The Locust” LeF

  August 9, 2007

• Friday's Headlines & Surprises

  No, really? You can finally relax. The Coastline Pilot decided it was time to voice its opposition to alcohol consumption by teenagers. “Drinks, teens shouldn't mix,” the Los Angeles Times-owned community paper serving Laguna Beach declared today. And just in case readers didn't comprehend the stance or--heaven forbid--disagreed with it, the paper explained soberly, “The fact is that young people and alcohol are a combustible mix.” Who isn't listening? “Adults must realize that the he

  August 10, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: OC Judge Slaps Guv

  Will a murder inmate defeat the Guv? Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino — a quiet, often-expressionless fellow who is married to a court reporter — ruled yesterday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was wrong to deny parole to Delbert “Dale” Chrittenden. The inmate was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1988 and sentenced to 17 years to life in prison. In Makino's view, the Guv abused his discretion by ignoring Chrittenden's post-crime deeds as hailed by the often-

  August 16, 2007

• Friday's Headlines & Surprises: Stale Marijuana?

  Doesn't marijuana go stale? I dunno, but Jim Spray, 51, and Felix Cha (the person, not the tea), 22, want the government to return the pot police officers confiscated two years ago, according to Christine Hanley at the Times. Lawyers for both men told the Santa Ana-based Court of Appeal yesterday the narcotic was legally possessed for medicinal reasons. In separate cases, judges have previously tossed out their arrests but bureaucrats in the cities of Garden Grove and Huntington Beach refuse to

  August 24, 2007

• No Street Cred

  The county's biggest public worker union called on all OC factions -- Republicans, Democrats and all those in-between -- to join them in a countywide recall effort to remove County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Chriss Street, from office. The County's money manager is under investigation by the Orange County DA's office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for, among other things, spending $1 million on his office remodel and awarding a $23

  August 28, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines

  More immigrants than ever: Bilingual folks ain't so special anymore. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that nearly one in five people living in the United States speaks a language other than English. The number of immigrants in the country is at an all time high at 37.5 million, according to 2006 data released by the bureau, and our state is, as Cesar Millan would say, pack leader: "California led the nation in immigrants, at 27 percent of the state's population, and in people who spoke a foreign

  September 12, 2007

• Friday's Headlines & Surprises: The Drake Two-Step

  Dancing With the Fibber: UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake has inspired a new dance. We’re calling it the Drake Two-Step, and it goes like this: hire, lie, fire, lie, rehire, wiggle. For a story in today’s Times, Drake admits that he “bungled” the firing last week of Erwin Chemerinsky as dean of the university’s future law school, but he refused to answer a single question on the record about his blatantly inconsistent versions of events. Most noticeably, Drake still won’t expla

  September 21, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: My New Slogan For The Deputies!

  Back the Badge, Support the Star, Empty your Wallet: Peggy Lowe at the Register watched “dozens of black-shirted deputies march through Civic Center Tuesday as the union went on a public offensive to rally support for their fight to preserve” an incredibly generous pay, perk and pension package. The message on the T-shirts worn by the deputies said, “Back the Badge, Support the Star.” Supervisor John Moorlach has put the boys in green into a tizzy because he thinks a 2001 pay deal the c

  October 3, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Darth Vader Chases Janet Nguyen

  October 11, 2007

• Monday's Headlines. No Surprises: More Ex-Gay Action in Irvine

  More ex-gay Irvine action: Over the weekend, the devil snuck into Irvine and the mainstream media said nary a word. On Saturday, Focus on the Family's homosexuality-quashing Love Won Out conference came to Mariners Church (the event was interestingly categorized under "MarinerScare" on the church website). Soulforce, the group that came forward to counter ex-gay ministry Exodus International in Irvine last June, was strangely silent. Randy Thomas, executive vice president of Exodus, comments on

  October 15, 2007

• Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises: A Blue Flame For Republicanism!

  Cal-infernos Rage On: Residents at 248 Modjeska Canyon homes were evacuated in the middle of the night thanks to the arson fire that’s now burned a massive 15,000 acres in Orange County. Before sunrise the winds were relatively non-existent but the air was nasty with ash. Mail delivery folks were given masks to wear yesterday. Numerous roads remain closed and, according to the National Weather Service, red flag warnings continue today. Gusts of up to 65 mph are expected. OC Register and KCBS-

  October 23, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: A Real Saint in OC

  While Politicians Yap, Strickland Performs: The current issue of People celebrates Orange County’s Alena Strickland, 49, for taking in 112 foster children. Yes, 112. Even more impressive? According to the article, each child has had special needs such as autism, blindness and deafness. She doesn’t do it alone. Strickland has her retired restaurateur husband Philip Pedone by her side. What motives her? "I was faced with a need, I can [help], so what's my excuse not to?" she told the magazine.

  October 24, 2007

• Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises: KFI Nailing Carona?

  Chivalry at its Finest! Federal prosecutors gave Michael S. Carona, 52, multiple chances to save his wife and one of his mistresses from aggressive federal prosecution if he agreed to plead guilty on corruption and obstruction of justice charges. But the self-styled Christian conservative sheriff resisted. Carona wanted to save his own ass, a source told Gil Reza and Christine Hanley for a story today in the LA Times. The sheriff offered to resign if the feds would let him escape all charges. P

  November 6, 2007

• Sheriff Carona Takes Two-Month Vacation

  Halfway through today's intensely dull OC Board of Supervisors meeting, during which the supes hemmed and hawed about whether to allow county voters to demand elected officials under indictment take a paid leave of absence, board chairman Chris Norby paused to read a letter from Sheriff Mike Carona, who, in case you didn't know, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for a slew of corruption charges. In his letter, Carona announced he was—you guessed it—taking a two-month paid leave

  November 6, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Carona Camp Says FBI Case "Trash"

  Hookers take cash too, Mikey: Dana Parsons writes today that “the good news for [indicted OC Sheriff Mike] Carona is that the government doesn’t always win.” But Parsons says the “bad news” for Calamity Mike is that the feds take their “sweet time putting public corruption cases together.” He interviewed former assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Greenberg who says his old office is cautious and thorough “in cases like this where you’re trying to take down the county sheriff.” The

  November 8, 2007

• Moorlach, NY Times Refuse to Acknowledge Moxley

  Our former sheriff Mike Carona made the New York Times a couple of days ago, and the parachute dispatch was boring save for the last segment: In recent years, however, local news outlets reported accusations of murky financial dealings and the misuse of public money and accusations of infidelity. At the time, most officials disregarded such reports, said John Moorlach, chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “Who knows?” Mr. Moorlach said. “At the end of the day, they might have been very

  January 17, 2008

• (Sheriff) Jack in the Box

  If ever a man looked like a sheriff, it’s Jack Anderson. The mustachioed man is tall and husky and, if he wore a cowboy hat, would cast an impressive shadow sitting on a horse. Of course, the wild—ridiculously wild—west days at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) should be over. Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona and his evil sidekicks Jo Ann Galisky and Steven Bishop have found their rightful places in society. Carona teeters on the brink of prison if convicted later this year in a bribe

  April 1, 2008

• And The Sheriff is. . .

  Sandra Hutchens! The Orange County Board of Supervisors earlier this morning appointed the retired LA County Sheriff's Department division chief to replace Mike Carona as Orange County Sheriff. The vote was 3-2 in favor of Hutchens. Supervisors Chris Norby and Bill Campbell supported Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters. Patricia Bates, John Moorlach and Janet Nguyen voted for Hutchens. More new-sheriff stuff to come on this very blog. Stay tuned!

  June 10, 2008

• Supervisor Janet Nguyen's Ties To Vermin Happy Restaurants

  Something seemed fishy yesterday when the County Board of Supervisors voted to reject health department and grand jury recommendations for more user-friendly signs displayed in restaurant windows to warn the public of potential health safety violations (the board had already rejected the supremely helpful A-B-C grading system visible in the window of every eatery in LA). Instead, the board voted to make some very minor changes to the cryptic, small-print signs already displayed in restaurant win

  December 17, 2008

• Supervisors Abort Planned Parenthood Funding

  As anticipated, the Orange County Board of Supervisors today cut about $300,000 in Planned Parenthood health education funding by canceling the nonprofit's contract through the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics. Each Supe cited a moral objection to Orange-based Planned Parenthood providing abortions, even though the funds were not used for that. Chairman John Moorlach telegraphed his punch, having sent out an email blast to constituents after his problems with the funding appeared in

  March 10, 2009

• Welcome to the Poorhouse: the Rise of the No-Tell Motel

  I was feeling pretty shitty this morning about having to talk to a credit-card company and charge-card company about their hardship programs. Then the New York Times reminded me things could be much worse.In light of the current financial meltdown, reporter Erik Eckholm puts a fresh spin on the Orange County Register's lauded series from 1998 about poor families struggling to survive in cheap motels. Eckholm's piece opens with Greg Hayworth, a 44-year-old Syracuse University graduate who made a

  March 11, 2009

• It's a Quick Read 14: Weekend and Monday B.S.

  Orange County Register: Octo-Mom took spawn from her oldest litters to Knott's Berry Farm on Saturday and Disneyland the day before, and all she got were crummy t-shirts reading: "More kids have passed through my log fume than Knott's" and "Your Kaiser co-pays helped pay for the 8-pack I just dropped, so what am I doing now? I'm going to Disneyland!" TMZ's got pics of the getaway, which allowed volunteer contractors to finish getting her La Habra home

  March 16, 2009

• Meet the New Sheriff . . .

  Taking a wait-and-see stance toward OC’s new top cop

  June 19, 2008

• Has It Been a Year Already?

  2007: A year to remember

  December 27, 2007

• No Party Favors

  The county GOP gives beleaguered Republican board members at Capo Unified Schools a vote of no-confidence

  November 1, 2007

• Cop Land

  Pressure mounts for civilian oversight
  

  April 19, 2007

• The First Annual OC Weekly Pension-Crisis Essay Contest!

  August 11, 2005

• Go Time

  January 13, 2005

• The Times They Are A-Changin . . . Back!

  March 4, 2004

• The Metamorphosis

  December 14, 2000

• The Adventures of John Moorlach

  March 27, 2003

• I Went to My Kids Soccer Game and an English Soccer Game Broke Out

  July 12, 2001

• The Honeymoon Continues

  February 8, 2001

• Behind the Smoke

  November 9, 2000

• Lifes a Beach, Then You Sue

  November 18, 1999

• Blown Coverage

  February 18, 1999

• Planned Parenthood Still In the Running for County Funding

  All seemed to be said and done yesterday in the fight over whether Planned Parenthood should receive county funds for its non-abortion related health care programs.

  June 24, 2009

• How Pro-Life Activists and OC Supervisors Cut Off Funds to Planned Parenthood

  July 2, 2009

• Letters From OC Weekly Readers

  July 9, 2009

• Register OC Watchdog Blog Celebrates Birthday With Top 10 List

   To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Orange County Register's OC Watchdog blog, Teri "Don't Call Me Terry" Sforza posted the top 10 items based on page views. They are . . . 1. State considers ban on big screen TVs. Joseph. This one went nationwide, and led to many California jokes. 2. AIG subsidiary parties in style in OC, two weeks after bailout. Sforza. AIG had to cut back on the parties after this one. 3. Who's who in the badge fracas. Saavedra. Sheriff created quite a ruckus w

  July 23, 2009

• Friday Film Funnies Fun: The OCTA, and John Moorlach the Bus-Hater

  Supervisor John Moorlach wants to get rid of our bus system? What a buffoon! This video is too earnest, but what are you gonna do...

  August 14, 2009

• As Cranks Get Town Hall Time With Royce, Websites Help the Rest Struggling With Healthcare

  Congressman Ed Royce​Cranks who wouldn't know true socialism from extreme botulism get to take some swings at Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) beginning this afternoon. Royce holds a 1 p.m. town hall in the Buena Park Senior Activity Center, 8150 Knott Ave. (just south of La Palma), Buena Park. It's actually billed as a "Combat Fraud Forum: Information on Identity Theft, Mortgage Loan and Lending, Investment Scams, and Charity Fraud," and representatives from the Federal Trade Commission, the Calif

  August 19, 2009