OC Blog News Roundup -- April 15, 2006

Today's top stories and commentary from behind the Orange Curtain:

LAT, OCR: Sheriff's Captain Agrees to Plea Deal.  Lead,

Christine Murray must mail apologies to peers she asked to support Carona's reelection. In exchange for having criminal charges dropped, an Orange County sheriff's captain agreed Friday to perform community service, cooperate in an internal investigation and write letters of regret to colleagues she asked to support Sheriff Michael S. Carona's reelection.  The deal between state prosecutors and Capt. Christine Murray, disclosed during a brief court hearing, marks a pivotal — if anticlimactic — turn in the case, sparing Murray and Carona a trial that promised to be divisive.

LAT, OCR on catching a common drunk: Man Sought in Hit-Run Case Is Arrested. $100k bail.

OCR on the right move in Laguna Niguel as Council eschews eminent domain (but watch out for that tunnel, too): City shields owners.  In part,

"I just think it's the worst use of governmental authority," Mayor Cathryn DeYoung said...  In Laguna Niguel, the decision came after the city launched a dialogue about sprucing up its 300-acre Gateway area with plans to create an "urban village," or a mixture of residential buildings in an existing industrial and business district.  Proposals to revitalize the Gateway, home to several hundred businesses, have been on the table for about seven years. The council opted to include the entire city.

OCR: New setback in Street’s campaign for treasurer.  Says 5th floor flak Shirley Grindle,

"For John Moorlach, having been the knight in shining armor, having saved this county in the bankruptcy, to then be a part of putting a man in office with such a shady background makes me vomit".

A first for OC Blog, I think -- reporting a decrease in a government fee (OCR): Santiago merger to lower water bills.

OCR's Peggy Lowe on Jaramillo, the helicopter and the Flash at Total Buzz: Flash in the Pan.

Comments

[Art Pedroza]

It looks like Schroeder pulled strings to get the Murray charges dropped. I guess we should not be surprised by this...

I see Art's tinfoil hat fell off! Somebody get Art more tinfoil!

Gary Schons would never have agreed to drop the charges if he had the case to go to trial with Art. He and Schroeder had a very public spat and there is no way Schroeder could influence him to let it go.

Reynolds Wrap anyone?

[Art Pedroza]

8:26,

Doesn't Schroeder's wife work for the DA? Seems like a conflict of interest. Do you seriously believe that the DA's office could not be compromised by the Schroeders? Perhaps you need the tinfoil...

[An injustice to Murray]

It is so clear that the Attorney Generals office clearly realized they had made a mountain out of a molehill, and that if they went to trial, they would have lost their case.

The only reason prosecutors would drop criminal counts in exchange for apology letters and a few days off poll-watching is if they didn't have a case.

Of course, what isn't mentioned in the story is that Murray, in the biggest travesty of all, is probably out tens of thousands of dollars.

Jennifer Keller (a Democrat for all of you 'its a Republican conspiracy types) is the best in her business, and doesn't come cheap.

Hey Art, yes Schroeder's wife work for the DA!

Can you tell me which one of his relatives works in the Attorney Generals office-because the DA's office had nothing to do with the "pursecution" of Christine.

[justice]

Geez, Art, a solid 25 year OCSD employee makes a dumb mistake and commits a misdemeanor. You want to hang her from the yardarm? Spend some time in courtrooms and see what real criminals get if you want an eye-opener!

[Art Pedroza]

9:19,

My bad. I didn't realize the matter had been referred to Lockyer's office.

Too bad about Murray - but when you support Carona, bad things happen...

[No more Moorlach]

Moorlach has a double standard of conduct when there is something that HE wants.

He wants a public pension that comes with his office and the one he seeks, yet he complains about public employee unions and their pensions, even though his will likely be higher than most.

He wants to slip through his personal successor into a temporary short-term county job so that the successor can use the job title on the ballot, yet Moorlach complains about the Board of Supervisors not being fiscally responsible.

He says he warns others about the shaky financial dealings in the County, yet ignores the shaky financial dealings of his handpicked successor.

Moorlach calls out the "Greedy Government Employees" and then complains about the same employees supporting his opponent in the supervisor race.

Moorlach is only interested in himself and how many times his name is in the media.

Hopefully, the final media article in his file will headline something like, MOORLACH LOSES.

[fed up with pedroza's nonsense]

This case was a real shame. Murray's spotless reputation gets dragged through the mud because of the rule or ruin Hunt brigade. It was all so unnecessary. While Hunt and his ilk have been shaking down sheriff employees Carona has had a policy of not accepting donations from employees due to an appearance of conflict of interest. The AG said dropping the case was in the interest of justice...ie the Hunt campaign has done much worse on county time and Hunt actually cashes the checks. In due time the fine hand of Jaramillo will be exposed for his behind the scenes manipulation of the Hunt campaign. How ironic that moral crusaders Tim W and Art P are unknowingly doing his dirty work...or do they know?

Thank God that they arrested that scumbag who took out the ladies.

The coward ran...

Pray for the girls, they are far from being out of the woods at this point and will likely be dealing with this blindside hit-and-run for the rest of their lives.

This guy who hit them should be charged with attempted murder.

There is a site up for the girls at www.caringbridge.org

When you get, go to 'visit a site' and then type in their names without a space:

StacyNeria
CarolDaniel

May God Bless you all on this Glorious Easter Weekend.

[Art Pedroza]

11:24,

Who's wearing the foil hat now? Trust me - Jaramillo has nothing to do with me or the Hunt campaign. He is too busy with his court case, I'm sure. You are spouting sheer nonsense.

[Carona Must Go]

Hey fed up,

You say Carona does not accept donations from employes. Look back at his earlier contributors and you will see numerous sheriff's employees listed as campaign donors. If Carona has a policy against accepting donations from department employees, it is a relatively new policy due to the Murray mess.

Typical Carona...making and changing policy as he goes to fit his needs.

What employees contributed to Carona? Sworn of non-sworn?

I thought he was not accepting contributions from them?

[Carona Must Go]

Carona was accepting donations from everyone, including sworn personnel. The most recent were Murray and a deputy from Dana Point, who also is a council member from Dana Point. When, and only when, Murray was indicted did Carona make a "NEW" policy about accepting donations from department employees.

Don't let Carona fool you with his constant lies and changing of policies and tactics to suit him. Carona also accepts money from known Mafia members AKA Rick Rizzulo from Las Vegas. Google that name and see who the sheriff is in bed with. It will make you sick.

Mike Skippy Carona’s infamous re-election “train” almost ran off the tracks on Thursday, November 3, 2005 when the OC Register revealed that Rick Rizzolo, reputed mafia associate and owner of the troubled “Crazy Horse Too” strip club in Las Vegas, Nevada, contributed the maximum to Skippy’s campaign.

Rizzolo is known in Vegas as “the strip club mogul” according to a Las Vegas Sun news article dated October 14, 2005; Rizzolo has been identified by the feds as a known mafia associate and is currently under federal indictment for a variety of crimes.

Here are some of the highlights from the OC Register article dated November 11, 2005:

Rizzolo, 47, owns the Crazy Horse Too topless club, which was raided in January by federal agents who arrested a shift manager on racketeering charges. A federal indictment in Nevada declared the club a "racketeering enterprise."
“Court documents also allege that Rizzolo repeatedly dined with mob underboss Joey "The Clown" Lombardo in Chicago - who disappeared after being indicted on murder charges. Court records, quoting the Chicago Tribune, add that Rizzolo also rubbed shoulders with high-ranking mobsters, John "No-Nose" DiFronzo and his consigliere, Joe "The Builder" Andriacchi.”

Hey justice,
"A solid 25 year OCSD employee"?? You're wearing the tinfoil! Also try 16 misdemeanors, and by the way "injustice to Murray", Keller has been bought and paid for, and not by Murray. Hey Art, these jokers need the tinfoil to drink their Kool Aid with.

CARONA CAMPAIGN DONATIONS FROM EMPLOYEES

Carona has accepted tons of money from the Orange County Sheriff's Reserve Division members. Compare names on both lists - Irrefutable.

So much for that promise.

Is it true that you will not accept donations from employees of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office?

Yes. I will not accept campaign contributions from employees of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. I personally believe this to be unethical and create unnecessary pressure on employees who do not want to contribute or cannot afford to contribute. Paying for promotion and preferred assignments will not occur when I am Sheriff – Rick Staly.

THIS ABOVE COMMENT IS FROM RICK STALY, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA. WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF HERE IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, MIKE CARONA SAID THE SAME THING? WAIT A MINUTE....HE DID!

Wouldn't that be refreshing

Carona is Italian. Even the recent OC Metro story refers to him as Hispnic.

Got a feeling Mike is at home with the likes of Joe "No Nose" Lombardo.

The Campaign donation stuff is disturbing, if true. Can anyone prove or disprove?

[justice]

Yes, Tim, I mean anonymous poster at 5:17, "a solid 25 year OCSD employee". I've worked with her throughout those 25 years- have you?

I too have worked with Christine in several assignmnets. Although I saw her as self serving, manipulative and abusive, it never had direct impact on me. Some good people we both worked with did and used words to describe her that I didn't know they knew.

[justice]

Putting aside personal feelings about Murray, if you look at my original post, the thought behind it was that, due to her standing in the community and law enforcement, the disposition of the case appears fair. She appears to be receiving the same treatment as any other citizen who has been a productive member of society with no criminal history. Art is just so dead set against Carona he started screaming "conspiracy" before the ink had dried. He even tried to make it a Tony Rack conspiracy, not knowing it had been shipped out to prevent that appearance. So much hate!

Mike Schroeder's Quote Today

In reference to tonight’s attempt by Mike Carona to gain the endorsement he did not recently get, Schroeder was quoted in today’s Register. He refers to, “Significant lies, that if they’d been true, would have legitimate grounds for giving you pause about endorsing the Sheriff.”

Mike, how much did Whitacre pay you to say this? It is hopefully a mis-quote. Perhaps they were quoting Fleischman who is typically reckless.

As we now know, many committee members, some not present then, have reconsidered what happened that night. The issue of priority for them is “the process.” Some feel committee by-laws were circumvented and the members were duped and that the ethics committee, NOT the endorsement committee, will first decide if there was an ethical violation.

For you to hang your hat on this criteria for re-vote because you say it occurred may be overstepping boundaries. That will be determined tonight.

Why would you admit that “legitimate grounds” may exist to not endorse Carona if what Whitacre said is true. Whitacre, agree with him or not, is known even by his opponents as an honest debater with noble intent.

Choose your words careful tonight Mike. The party reputation should not be subordinated to individual desire.