Times are Tight
And hereNs what OCNs Board of Supervisors has been doing with its loose change for the past few months
Ever wonder where our precious tax dollars go, especially when government officials insist there is a dire need to raise taxes and fees? Even in Orange County, where the Board of Supervisors is a collection of five self-described “fiscal conservative” Republicans, there are cries of massive budget shortfalls and the need to chop or eliminate vital public services. So what have the supes been spending money on lately? Looking back to August, hereNs $13.3 million in spending—some fascinating, some bizarre, some downright ridiculous during a recession:
Teach county employees foreign languages: $128,000
Market exercise and healthy eating to kids: $137,000
Pay annual insurance for sheriffNs departmentNs Taser guns: $80,000
Remodel Hall of Administration lobby: $455,000
Hire empowerment coach for bad parents: $190,000
Replace maintenance houses at a park: $189,000
Pay a waste-hauling consultant: $868,500
Purchase theater materials for Westminster: $150,000
Hire county-employee-benefits consultant: $165,000
Build a secure basketball court and monkey bars for Santa Ana copsN athletic league: $33,675
Market anti-smoking ideas in South County: $162,750
Replace five bathroom stalls at Sunset Beach: $838,826
Retroactive pay to county lobbyist: $60,000
Transport corpses to/from morgue: $305,000
Market the value of vegetables to Latino kids: $155,000
Buy playground equipment, lights and signs for a Tustin park: $358,413
Pay for crosswalk guards: $510,000
Add benches and trash cans to Laguna Lake Park: $110,000
Construct a Santa Ana tennis court: $170,000
Market carpooling ideas to county employees: $214,500
Install high-definition screens in 235 deputy cars: $2,212,777
Hire consultant to analyze county bureaucracy: $100,000
Pay Goodwill to package inmate food boxes: $125,000
Buy elementary-school baseball-field backstops: $68,000
Employ polygraphs to insure sex-offender “compliance”: $170,000
Expand Dana Point Harbor bathroom stalls: $350,000
Pay incentive bonuses to groups advocating healthy eating: $687,161
Clean ventilation ducts at county jail: $150,000
Purchase ads in The Daily Journal: $250,000
Pay subsidy to local tourism corporations: $100,000
Market anti-alcohol messages to local college students: $72,500
Construct new office building at a county dump: $3,655,106
Hire a consultant to guard against wasteful spending: $98,115
CARONA COUP?
A month after verdicts in ex-Sheriff Mike CaronaNs corruption trial, courthouse players continue to discuss the outcome, mainly asking: How could the jurors not believe CaronaNs incriminating statements on a series of secretly recorded FBI tapes?
As INve stated many times, Orange County jurors historically have been unwilling to hold law-enforcement officers responsible for criminal conduct. During deliberations in this case, there were jurors who treated Carona like a heroic action figure despite ample, unrefuted evidence of his slimy character.
But another potential factor has received little attention. Before the trial, federal Judge Andrew Guilford handed Carona a gift few criminal defendants ever get: the ability to provide jurors numerous self-serving statements without facing cross-examination by federal prosecutors.
A man of unquestionable ethics, Guilford made the move not because of any favoritism, but rather in response to demands from CaronaNs legal defense team that the government be punished for improperly recording our dirty ex-top cop after heNd hired a lawyer. In the view of prosecutors, GuilfordNs ruling may not have been supported by a Ninth Circuit decision that precluded another defendantNs efforts to introduce inadmissible hearsay in a similar circumstance.
The impact of GuilfordNs decision, however, is now undeniable. Some jurors reasoned to reporters that Carona couldnNt be guilty of taking bribes because on the tapes, heNd told Don Haidl—a co-conspirator and the man who said he supplied the bribes—that “unless thereNs a pinhole” camera in the ceiling, he didnNt take monthly envelopes stuffed with $100 bills.
Though CaronaNs lawyers are asking Guilford to overturn the juryNs guilty verdict on the charge that the ex-sheriff tried to sabotage a federal grand juryNs bribery investigation, a sentencing hearing remains on schedule for April.
THIS IS NOT THE DARK LORD YOUNRE LOOKING FOR
Have you spotted Michael J. Schroeder—the black-Hummer-driving dark lord of Orange County Republican politics—in public lately? Legal process servers certainly havenNt, and theyNre a bit frustrated. TheyNve been repeatedly foiled at SchroederNs Xerox Centre offices in Santa Ana and at the hillside Corona del Mar home he shares with wife Susan Kang Schroeder, public-affairs counsel to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
The servers want to hand Schroeder, a lawyer and close adviser to Carona, a subpoena ordering him to undergo a deposition before ex-Assistant Sheriff George JaramilloNs upcoming civil trial against the county.
In 2004, Carona, then sheriff, fired Jaramillo, his handpicked top aide. Jaramillo claims the firing was illegal and in retaliation for complaining about CaronaNs alleged misconduct in office. CaronaNs representatives describe the lawsuit as hogwash.
Whom to believe? Both Jaramillo and Carona—for five years the two top cops in Orange County—are now convicted felons.
So back to Schroeder (a.k.a. Vader). After JaramilloNs departure from CaronaNs inner circle, Schroeder became one of the sheriffNs closest advisers. Jaramillo insists that Schroeder took him to a Los Angeles Lakers game (undisputed) and, during the outing, threatened him with retaliation if he exposed Carona (disputed).
Joel W. Baruch, JaramilloNs Irvine-based attorney, would like to question Schroeder about events. ItNs safe to say Baruck thinks Schroeder is dodging him.
Is that true?
“INm hiding in plain sight in Sacramento,” a laughing Schroeder told me during a phone call late in the afternoon of Feb. 20. “And on Monday, INll be hiding in plain sight in New York. These guys [the process servers] just donNt understand how much I travel.”
JaramilloNs trial is set to begin April 6 in Superior Court Judge Andrew BankNs courtroom.
BOOTLICKER SIGHTING
Gordon Dillow is the veteran Orange County Register columnist who produces near-homoerotic love letters to folks in uniform. Kill or beat a suspect or an unarmed civilian (especially a minority), and the man in awe of lethal discharges will come to your rescue. Last year, the Reg laid off Dillow. He now writes occasional columns, still lining up squarely behind state force while he pretends to harbor libertarian instincts.
On Feb. 17, Dillow penned another old soldierNs hagiography (he kept the guyNs identity a secret), ending with what appeared to be one of his best gobbledygook moments. Now that W. isnNt occupying the White House and thereNs a sense that starting wars isnNt a top priority for the nation, Dillow is wondering where that leaves our professional warriors. He wrote, “I know that guys like Staff Sergeant Mac [his columnNs mystery subject] will persevere through the hard times of peace” (my emphasis).
Gordo, donNt fret too much. Your pal Mac can always join a mercenary force. Or Dana RohrabacherNs next campaign.
TILTING AT WATER TOWERS
Orange County has spectacular views, and on Feb. 8, Oscar Omar Ramirez decided to experience one for himself. Just before midnight, he skirted a security fence to climb the 153-foot Santa Ana water tower near Interstate 5 and Grand Avenue. The tower, 81 years old and repainted last year during a $1.1 million renovation, is part of Santa AnaNs “Downtown Orange County” marketing campaign, designed to attract potential new residents and business owners leery of the cityNs less-than-savory reputation. Ramirez didnNt help. Police say that in addition to trespassing, the 40-year-old was intoxicated, which may have been the reason it took cops a while to coax him down.
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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.
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