“FlashReport” Silent on Reported Indictment of Orange County G.O.P. Sheriff on Corruption Charges

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

Sheriff Corona of Orange County faces federal corruption charges according to a Los Angeles Times story today.

Must be pretty bad for a US Attorney from the Bush Administration to indict a Republican!

Corona’s heir apparent in the Sheriff’s office is already serving time.

Corona was a poster boy for the Republican Party. Often featured on Jon Fleishman’s GOP blog as an up and comer. Corona had proposed having people from his office deputized as immigration officials so he could lead the “fight against” undocumented persons.

Corona’s problems outline a problem faced by the Republican Party. Republicans oppose government and praise private sector values. So it behooves us to ask why anyone would run for office on the G.O.P. ticket? Too many, it seems, run to win personal gain for themselves while ranting against ‘government’ and berating the less fortunate in our ranks.

Most of California’s Police Chiefs are insulated from politics. They are law enforcement bureaucrats hired by City Managers. (San Diego is an exception). But a County Sheriff marks the intersection of law enforcement with politics. Before they passed a law exempting gun permit holders from the public records act, a legislative report revealed one Sheriff issuing over 19,000 concealed weapons permits – with a high overlap between permit holders and contributors to the Sheriff’s reelection campaign

Individual police chiefs usually can’t endorse in partisan contests. Every Sheriff can. And Sheriff’s make a nice G.O.P. counterweight to rank and file police groups who tend to endorse Democrats because of the latter’s position on bread and butter issues. Most elected Sheriffs are Republican.

Sources of inside information on crime stories, Sheriff’s find it easy to develop a symbiotic relationship with the press that often produces uncritical stories beneficial to the officeholder.

The lack of critical press. The absence of partisan opposition or a base upon which an opponent might build. These things combine to produce a sense of invulnerability and invisibility.