Subject: Political Scandals

• Who Stole the Election from the Stealers?

  As Gustavo's recent post on Hugh Hewitt suggests, even Republican diehards are beginning to surrender. That raises an important question: how will conspiracy theorists explain the stolen election that wasn't? Many on the left had warned that the GOP had everything wired--from electronic voting machines run by Diebold to election-rigging legal changes--to steal this election. What happened?

  November 7, 2006

• Sampling Dana

  Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall catches the ex-CIA bigwig at the center of one of Washington's more intriguing ongoing scandals (the one with the hookers), Dusty Foggo, trying to pass off as his own a memorable bit of nonsense first used by everyone's favorite Surfin' Congressman, D. Rohrabacher, when another ongoing scandal (the one with Jack Abramoff ripping off Native Americans) broke. Dana deserves a royalty check.

  May 12, 2006

• What Could Go Wrong

  Here in Orange County we've got every reason to fear voter fraud. There's that time back in 1988 when Tom Fuentes, then head of the OC Republican Party, authorized the use of poll guards to scare off Latinos. There's the 1996 election when Loretta Sanchez won from nut-bar Bob Dornan (now with extra nuts!), in which Dornan demanded (and Tom Fuentes encouraged) a fruitless, frivolous investigation into whether unregistered Latino voters had tipped the scales. The words "sore loser" spring to mind.

  November 4, 2006

• Va Tech Murders Give OC Sheriff Pal Excuse

  At the insistence of John Barnett, OC 's legendary defense lawyer, a San Bernardino County judge refused to allow opening statements Monday in the jury trial of Raymond K. Yi, a former OC reserve deputy who faces six felony charges for a 2005 gun-related temper tantrum on a golf course. Barnett, famous for his defense in the Rodney King police brutality case and the Greg Haidl gang rape trials, urged a mistrial because of the potential "inflammatory nature" of the Seung-Hui Cho killing spree la

  April 24, 2007

• OC Lawyer Tossed From CA Republican Bribery Case

  A federal judge in San Diego removed Mark Geragos from a sensational bribery case yesterday because the (in)famous Orange County-based defense lawyer refused to agree to a federal background check before receiving classified national-security-related data. Geragos—who worked for convicted wife-and-baby-killer Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder—was attempting to represent defense contractor Brent Wilkes in a bribery case involving tearful, ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningha

  July 11, 2007

• Sheriff Loses Battle To End Federal Case

  A U.S. District Court in Los Angeles has refused Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s demand to dismiss a First Amendment complaint filed by former Carona challenger, ex-sheriff’s Lt. William Hunt, according to a press release issued this morning by Silver, Hadden, Silver, Wexler & Levine. Hunt attorney Richard A. Levine says it’s possible now that Carona will be “held accountable for abuse of office and for interfering with the constitutionally protected free speech of Mr. Hunt.” Hours aft

  October 5, 2007

• OC Sheriff Carona Indicted For Corruption After FBI Probe

  Christine Hanley at the Los Angeles Times is reporting late night that Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona (pictured in a Newport Beach bar with convicted felon Rick Rizzolo, a Chicago Mafia associate) "has been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a lengthy investigation into allegations that he misused his office for financial gain." Larry Welborn and Peggy Lowe at the Orange County Register report tonight that George Jaramillo, Carona's handpicked ex-No. 2 at the departme

  October 29, 2007

• Tuesday's Headlines. No Surprises: Moxley called it

  Moxley called it: Last night, the Los Angeles Times reported that OC Sheriff Mike Carona had been indicted on federal corruption charges. If you haven't already, read R.Scott Moxley's post on the subject, with links to his ballsy coverage of the official over the years. Note: The indictment is under seal but could be revealed later today. Santiago Fire update: Still 65 percent contained, but cooler weather is making a difference for firefighters. They are "battling the clock to smother the stub

  October 30, 2007

• To Do Tonight - 11/05

  WINE & CHEESE TASTING, 4pm Featured every Monday night. Reservations recommended. Located at The Camp, 2937 Bristol St., Ste. A-102, Costa Mesa, (714) 545-1411 www.oldvinecafe.com ANAHEIM DUCKS, 7pm Hockey! vs. Dallas Stars Honda Center, 2695 E Katella Ave., Anaheim www.hondacenter.com/EventDetails.aspx?eventDateID=219 VALERIE PLAME WILSON, 7pm “Outed” former CIA Covert Operative Valerie Plame Wilson finally speaks about her experiences. Carpenter Center, 6200 Atherton Blvd., Long Beach,

  November 5, 2007

• Nguyen vs. Nguyen: Janet Wins!

  Ok, so the timing sort of sucks for us, since we'd have liked to include the information in our story, but it's good news for Janet Nguyen: the California Court of Appeals ruled today, the same day our cover story hit the streets, that Janet did win her election, and therefore does get to stay in office. Last November, the Orange County Registrar ruled that Trung Nguyen, a Garden Grove school board member backed by State Assemblyman Van Thai Tran, the most powerful Vietnamese-American elected o

  January 17, 2008

• And Now There Are Two

  Five months after indicted Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona resigned to prepare for his corruption trial, the county's board of supervisors (BOS) today narrowed the prospective replacement list from nine candidates to just two: Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters and ex-Los Angeles County Sheriff's Chief Sandra Hutchens. Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson will turn over California's second largest police department to Walters or Hutchens in mid-June after the BOS considers background checks and then

  June 3, 2008

• The Year in Oval Office Bootie Calls

  January 7, 1999

• The Wire: Haidl and Carona Caught on Tape

  Today at ex-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona's federal corruption trial, prosecutor Brett Sagel introduced the following inflammatory excerpt of a secretly recorded July 7, 2007, conversation between then-Sheriff Carona and Don Haidl, who had served as assistant sheriff. At the time of the conversation, Carona knew that the FBI was investigating him on suspicion of public corruption. What he didn't know was that Haidl, his longtime pal and the alleged source of a large amount of bribes, had a

  November 6, 2008

• Carona Corruption Trial Quote Of The Day

  "A 'hubcap deal' was in regards to [then Sheriff Mike Carona's appointed assistant sheriff and best friend] George Jaramillo. A standing joke going way, way back [to 1998] while I was trying to control Jaramillo and Carona. George could be told that he would get a new car tomorrow and he'd steal it's hubcaps today. Meaning he was a short-term thinker." --Former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl testifying today in the federal trial of indicted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona, who the FBI says st

  November 6, 2008

• Why Would The Sheriff of OC Be "Scared Shitless"?

  "Yeah, me too." --Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said in July 2007 to his onetime Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl who'd just described himself as "scared shitless" that another alleged co-conspirator, Debra V. Hoffman--Carona's chief mistress, had talked at length to FBI agents in Newport Beach. Carona, who is on trial on public corruption and bribery charges, was unaware that his words were being recorded. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 6, 2008

• Crime Made Sheriff Mike Carona Hungry

  "Crab cakes sounds good. How about that French brie too?" --Then-Sheriff Mike Carona pausing temporarily in August 2007 from plotting how to foil a federal grand jury corruption probe during a meeting at a Newport Beach restaurant with Don Haidl, his onetime assistant sheriff who is secretly wearing a wire for the FBI. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 7, 2008

• But Mike Carona Cried on Robert Schuller's Hour of Power. . .

  “Cocksucker . . . He can suck my dick . . . Bob McDonell’s a lying cocksucker. Uh, most of what he’s done is illegal and my guess is that at some point in time, um, he’ll either get the shit sued out of him or he’s gonna get indicted on something, so you can tell him I said that.” --In July 2007, before his FBI indictment on corruption charges, then-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, a self-described "Christian conservative," blasting the Newport Beach police chief for refusing to

  November 12, 2008

• Look! Up in the Sky! It's Bad News for Mike Carona?

  "He looks up in the sky and says, 'From here on out we've got to be real careful and be concerned about [FBI] surveillance.'" --Ex-Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl testifying today about Mike Carona's 2002 private reaction to speculation in the Orange County Sheriff's Department that federal agents had begun a corruption investigation into their activities. Carona now says he's innocent of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Haidl. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 12, 2008

• The Billboard on Mike Carona's Sizable Forehead

  "In plain terms, you have to do a little dance with politicians to get them to do what you want later. These two guys came in with 'For Sale' signs on them." --Don Haidl, a used car business owner and eventual assistant sheriff who admits to a long history of trying to buy influence from politicians, testifying today in Mike Carona's federal corruption trial and outlining his first impressions of meeting Orange County sheriff's candidate Carona and his "sidekick," George Jaramillo, in March 199

  November 12, 2008

• Carona Ordered "Back Door" Treatment for Gang Rapist's Father

  "They took me in the back door. They were good guys." --Millionaire Don Haidl explaining today in Sheriff Mike Carona's federal corruption trial that Carona had ordered the Dignitary Protection Unit of the Orange County Sheriff's Department to give him special, taxpayer-funded courthouse escorts during the early stages of the gang rape case against his son. Gregory Haidl and two other young men were eventually convicted of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl during a Newport Beach high schoo

  November 12, 2008

• Perhaps Mike Carona Only Meant to Order More Crab Cakes

  "Okay." --Inside a Newport Beach restaurant in August 2007, then-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona's secretly recorded response to a co-conspirator's plan to "burn" a document concerning a federal grand jury's corruption probe. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 12, 2008

• Sheriff Mike Carona Gave A Badge to His Favorite Restaurant Owner

  "Nobody was going to admit anything." --Ex-Assistant Sheriff Don Haild testifying today in the federal corruption trial of indicted Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who allegedly ordered silence about the department giving badges, guns, concealed weapon permits and police powers to unqualified individuals (like his favorite restaurant owner) who'd given campaign contributions. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  November 12, 2008

• Mike Carona Corruption Trial Quote of the Day!

  "He would be the fucking sheriff of Orange County. They'd be, uh, he'd be riding fat. All he had to do was be a white guy about it." --Then-Sheriff Mike Carona speaking to a confidante without knowing he's being recorded during an August 2007 meeting and bitching that George Jaramillo, his onetime best friend and second in command of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, could have taken over the agency if he'd obeyed Carona's wishes. All of Carona's inner circle--Jaramillo, Don Haidl and Joe

  November 14, 2008

• 6 Observations about Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's corruption trial

  1. If it's his decision to make, indicted ex-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who is a superbly confident man with rare charisma, will testify in his public corruption trial. 2. Although the FBI and IRS appear to have nailed Debra V. Hoffman, Carona's top mistress, on bankruptcy fraud related charges, the case against her slightly weakened today when federal Judge Andrew Guilford severed her from the trial against Carona, the government's main target. 3. Debbie Carona, the

  December 2, 2008

• Quote of the Day in the Mike Carona Corruption Trial

  "I'm sure it's memorable." --Sassy defense lawyer Jeffrey Rawitz on a Newport Beach cop's recollections today about Orange County Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo wearing a "Hawaiian shirt" over his uniform while trying to block a 2002 police investigation into the videotaped gang rape of an unconscious minor during a high school party at the home of Don Haidl, another of Mike Carona's assistant sheriff's. Carona, who is close to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is on trial for a s

  December 5, 2008

• Sheriff Mike Carona Corruption Trial Quote of the Day! Part Two

  "The cover story was that he wasn't there to obtain a blowjob. It was to sign [legal] documents." --Prosecution witness and current Orange County Sheriff's Department employee Sandy Murphy testifying today how Mike Carona and his mistress Debra Hoffman helped devise a lie to mask the assertion that Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo had been found getting a blowjob in a county vehicle. Later, Carona and Hoffman--who are co-defendants with Carona's wife in a public corruption case--soured on

  December 9, 2008

• Deep Throat Dies

  The famed and enigmatic anonymous source credited with grinding Richard Nixon's perfidious presidency to a halt, died yesterday in northern California. A career FBI director, W. Mark Felt Sr. confessed to being "Deep Throat" in 2005, after 30 years of denial. He was the man, he admitted, who walked Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein through Nixon's debauched attempts to cover up his dirty footprints in the early 1970's, which culminated in the Watergate scandal, Nixon's resignation in 1974, the lau

  December 19, 2008

• It's your money but the government spends it

  Not a trick question: How much of your tax money does it take for the all Republican Orange County Board of Supervisors to renovate a mere five public toilets at Sunset Beach? Sad answer: A couple hundred thousand dollars more than what most residents paid for entire homes: $839,000. That's a whopping $167,800 for each crapper. Please don't tell Idaho Senator Larry Craig. (R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)

  January 5, 2009

• Saint Mike Carona?

  "He worked hard for you. He was a tireless worker. He worked all the time. He did great things. He helped at-risk kids and he did so much for the vulnerable people in our community." --Exasperated, red-faced lawyer Jeffrey Rawitz (pictured) wrapping up an eight hour closing argument today in his defense of Mike Carona, who faces a series of public corruption charges including bribery and witness tampering after an extensive IRS and FBI investigation into the indicted ex-Orange County sheri

  January 7, 2009

• Mike Carona Struts After Learning Jury Still Deadlocked

  Thirty long hours. That's how much time the 11 men and lone woman of the jury have deliberated the federal corruption charges against ex-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona without reaching verdicts. Meanwhile, boredom has driven reporters to gossip, play poker, gossip, plan vacations, gossip and bitch. How's Carona spending his time? Mostly huddled in a 7th floor courthouse conference room with a small fan base that lovingly follows him and shoots nasty looks at the medi

  January 15, 2009

• No Party Favors

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

  November 1, 2007

• Punchin' Judy

  October 20, 2005

• Angry Asian Rap Stalls Case

  VA Tech murders give OC Sheriff pal excuse

  April 26, 2007

• Hey, You!

  Rosy Outlook

  January 11, 2007

• Update: Agran's Pork Probed

  January 19, 2006

• Lou Sheldon's Movin' On Up

  January 12, 2006

• Gracious

  September 15, 2005

• A Clockwork Orange

  September 8, 2005

• The Spy Who Loved Me

  July 21, 2005

• Slammer Time!

  July 29, 2004

• We Respond to Register Letters

  November 20, 2003

• Letters

  April 17, 2003

• Unmentionables

  March 4, 1999

• Constitutional Cuisinart

  February 25, 1999

• Letters

  August 20, 1998

• Jerque Du Soleil

  May 1, 1997

• The Sore-Losers Club

  January 23, 1997

• Friday Film Funnies: Larry "Nativo" Lopez

  My email and Facebook in-box have been invaded with the news that longtime Latino activist/racialist Larry "Nativo" Lopez was arrested on felony counts of voter fraud this Wednesday. We'll see whether the charges (that he voted in Boyle Heights but lives in OC), but my only comment at this point is either Lopez is colossally stupid, lazy, or this is a modern-day case of Al Capone getting nabbed for keeping false books. Meanwhile, here's Larry on The O'Reilly Factor:

  June 26, 2009

• The Other F-Me Pump Drops for Sarah Palin

  Right after her stunning loss to Loretta Sanchez in the Great Navel Gazing Fashion-off, the other pump dropped for former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Apparently, The Associated Press got ahold of a report about an ethics complaint involving Alaska's departing governor and the Alaska Fund Trust, her legal defense fund. Why does Palin need a legal defense fund? Because of all the brewing ethics complaints, silly. The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is sec

  July 22, 2009

• Wattergate: The Final Chapter

  November 5, 2009