OC Political Fundraiser Tied To Mike Duvall Hires Lawyers To Threaten News Outlets

Desiree Mouzoon, the Orange County Republican fundraiser salaciously tied to disgraced ex-state assemblyman Mike Duvall in a Wednesday KCBS-KCAL report, has finally spoken.

Well, not exactly.

Mouzoon apparently has hired Jones Day–the law firm that unsuccessfully defended dirty ex-Sheriff Mike Carona for his crimes in office–to threaten local news outlets which mention the report that the woman had been caught in a “compromising position” with Duvall.

In a letter to Art Pedroza, editor of Orange Juice blog, lawyer Thomas R. Malcolm asserted that the KCBS report is “absolutely false and [has] caused irreparable harm” to Mouzoon. Malcolm, a heavyweight in local political/legal circles, demanded that Pedroza “immediately” remove his blog post from the Internet or he would be “aggressively” attacked in future litigation.

Pedroza–a feisty blogger who attempts to keep officials with both major political parties honest–told me tonight that he removed his original blog entry and then wrote a new posting about Malcolm's threat.

A joint September KCBS/OC Weekly probe caught Duvall, the powerful vice chairman of a state utilities committee graphically bragging about having sex with a Sempra Energy lobbyist. An outraged Assembly Speaker Karen Bass immediately removed him from his committee assignments. Shortly thereafter, Duvall–a self-described Christian conservative who had strenuously claimed gay marriage would wreck family values–resigned his seat.

In an October 21 follow-up investigation that had nothing to do with the Weekly, KCBS reporter Dave Lopez, a hard-charging, award-winning veteran of 37 years, reported that he'd discovered that Duvall's indiscretions may have extended to Mouzoon. At a Tuesday political fundraiser in Fullerton, Lopez confronted her with the allegation because she is now working for Linda Ackerman, a candidate seeking to replace Duvall. (Ackerman has made sexual ethics an issue in the campaign.) Mouzoon refused to answer any questions.  

Despite the blatantly obvious source of the report, Mouzoon's allies–which include boyfriend and local Republican Party pollster Adam Probolsky, a longtime Carona apologist–spent today attacking me and the Weekly in an shamelessly deceitful and misguided effort to discredit Lopez's story.

–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly