Sources: Walters WonNt Run
Without Santa AnaNs police chief in the race, the field of 2010 challengers to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens looks a whole lot narrower
Law enforcement is a tough job. Politics is vicious. Combine the two, and youNve got an often-combustible mix. Nevertheless, the upcoming election for Orange CountyNs top cop just got less hazardous for the incumbent.
Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, long touted as the largest potential election obstacle for appointed sheriff Sandra Hutchens, has decided he wonNt enter the race, according to multiple pro-Walters sources.
“Paul would make a great sheriff, but I donNt think he wants to endure what probably would be a heated campaign,” one longtime source told me. “I hate to say it, but I donNt think he has the fire in his belly for it. HeNs not going to run.”
Walters—a veteran chief who lost both the sheriffNs race in 1998 to Mike Carona and an appointment to replace the scandal-prone, prison-bound Carona in 2008—could not be reached for comment. But other prominent local political activists with ties to the chief confirmed their belief that he is unlikely to enter the contest.
If this news puts a smile on faces in HutchensN election headquarters, the sheriffNs critics are frustrated. ItNs said theyNd hoped Walters would mount a serious campaign by capitalizing on HutchensN perceived blunders. She has incited CaliforniaNs pro-gun lobby, frustrated four of the five county supervisors, angered the local daily newspaperNs libertarian editorial staff and annoyed powerful OC Republican Party players. Her image also suffered when supervisors discovered that a deputy spied on them during a meeting using their own ceiling surveillance cameras.
But the independent and strong-willed Hutchens has repeatedly cast herself as the anti-Carona—perhaps her strongest campaign theme with voters. Indeed, on the job a year this month, she touted her early reform accomplishments to reporters on June 22. She says her achievements include boosting morale, removing political pressure from law-enforcement decisions such as issuing concealed-weapon permits, and improving jail management. The sheriff also claims that lying is no longer tolerated in the department (under Carona, it was perfected as an art form) and that she has fired or punished deceitful deputies.
If Walters ultimately opts to stay out of the race (the filing deadline isnNt until January), that leaves former SheriffNs Lieutenant Bill Hunt as a possible Hutchens challenger. Forced out of his job after campaigning to replace Carona in the 2006 election, Hunt has recently told me he plans to run because he thinks the new sheriff has mismanaged the $750 million-per-year department. Now a private investigator who has captured numerous fugitives—but not the hearts of the GOP establishment—Hunt will likely need an endorsement and hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the powerful Association of Orange County SheriffNs Deputies to have a chance.
‘THE NEW CRIPSN REDUX
When lawmakers wrote the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and CaliforniaNs corresponding Unruh Act, they didnNt ban convicts from transforming the well-intentioned laws into personal-profit-making measures. They apparently werenNt contemplating David Allen Gunther, featured in an October 2006 Weekly cover story. About a decade ago, Gunther—whose criminal record includes narcotics trafficking, petty theft, assaults and burglaries—discovered that wheelchair-bound folks like himself could get businesses to pay him $4,000 for every technical ADA violation he claimed to find at their location.
If ethical people found violations in the normal course of their affairs, itNd be one thing. But Gunther made ADA violations the core of his income, collecting more than $20,000 during some weeks, according to court records. If businesses owners—some of whom used the word “extortion”—didnNt pay, Gunther hired fringe lawyers and sued. He did so more than 200 times in OC alone in recent years. One of those cases landed at the Santa Ana-based state court of appeal, where justices ruled that GuntherNs legal strategy was faulty because he didnNt prove businesses had intentionally violated the access provisions of the ADA.
But earlier this month, the California Supreme Court rejected the OC appellate courtNs view. The high court determined that Gunther and his ilk can continue to collect money without proving intentional discrimination. The justices noted concerns about abuse of the system but said itNs the legislatureNs responsibility to solve the problem. News of the ruling brought celebrations from GuntherNs family and allies.
MAD MEN INC.
When a bailiff brought a handcuffed Prince Edward Maryland into Judge John ConleyNs courtroom on June 19, the convictNs eyes darted around the room looking for the reporter heNd been told was present. I stared back at Maryland, an X-Files actor and Hollywood producer unflatteringly featured in my Feb. 25 online crime column, Citizen of the Week! He smiled and, no exaggeration, giggled.
The reason for MarylandNs elation was obvious. Having been sentenced in 2007 to more than 130 years in prison for the kidnapping, rape, torture and attempted murder of his wife in Lake Forest in April 2005, heNd won a summer vacation of sorts. So that he can represent himself in the reconsideration of a contributing factor in his punishment, Maryland was relocated in May from his prison cell to the relatively pleasant Orange County Jail.
“Are you ready to proceed?” Conley asked Maryland last week.
A courteous voice coming from the man wearing an orange jump suit said he wasnNt ready because jail deputies had violated ConleyNs court order and refused him access to law books for three weeks. Never mind that the unresolved legal issue—Did Maryland cause great bodily injury in a previous assault case?—isnNt exactly complex, Maryland asked to delay the hearing until mid-September. He needed time to study the law books, he explained. The look on ConleyNs face said, “nice try.” A hearing was set for July 24.
Maryland nodded, smiled, thanked the judge and turned to Deputy District Attorney Lynda Fernandez, who was soon to take maternity leave. “Best wishes, Lynda,” he said. Fernandez must have recalled the terrifying case: During a four-day drug binge, Maryland repeatedly beat his wife; whipped her buttocks, stomach, legs and face with a metal coat hanger; dragged her around the apartment by her hair (ripping out huge clumps); strangled her to the point of unconsciousness three times; raped her in multiple ways; threatened to kill her; burned and cut her vagina; promised to slit her throat with a butcherNs knife and stab her genitals with scissors so that no other man would ever desire her again; bound her to a futon with panty hose; and made her beg for sodomy.
“Your honor,” Maryland told Conley, “INve created a nonprofit charity.”
The judge looked up from his paperwork.
“ItNs called Mad Men Inc., and itNs dedicated to ending domestic violence.”
“Good,” said an unconvinced-looking Conley.
What is MarylandNs idea? To open “escape houses” for people on the verge of committing domestic violence. In a letter to the Weekly, he said heNll “immediately” end domestic violence. But to start, he wants the public to send cash donations to him. According to Maryland, “This plan is phenomenal.”
ITNS YOUR MOENY, BUT THE GOVERNMENT SPENDS IT
Despite the fact that governments throughout OC are struggling with declining revenues and chopping key programs, the city of IrvineNs Great Park Corp. spent $72,000 in public funds for “decorative banners” promoting the balloon that itself promotes the yet-to-be-built park.
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.