Sticks and Stones and a Protest Too
I just received this email from the Bill Hunt campaign and I believe it’s worth a post, so here you go:
ATTENTION: CONCERNED CITIZENS OF ORANGE COUNTY !
This is a “Call to Arms!”
WHAT: A peaceful lunchtime Public Protest of political gamesmanship against Bill Hunt for Sheriff by the District Attorney’s Office, SAPD Chief Paul Walters, The Orange County Register, Channel 2/9 news reporter Dave Lopez, Sheriff Candidate Craig Hunter, Sheriff Candidate Sandra Hutchens.
WHEN: Wednesday June 2nd, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
WHERE: In front of the Santa Ana Police Department Headquarters, 60 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana , Ca.
WHAT TO BRING: American Flags, posters expressing your thoughts about the recent hatchet job against Bill Hunt in the MSM, Bill Hunt signs.
BACKGROUND: Inside operatives of both the Craig Hunter and Sandra Hutchens campaigns for Sheriff have appeared to join forces in an attempt to falsely discredit Bill Hunt. Hunt was hired as a Private Investigator by a defense attorney on behalf of a client who was arrested as an alleged gang member and accused of committing a crime (P.I.’s are routinely hired by attorneys on both sides of a case to help support or refute the known facts in a legal matter or to bring new facts to light). Hunt conducted a thorough, objective investigation of the circumstances surrounding the arrest based on his two-decades plus, experience in all facets of evidence gathering, apprehension, arrest and prosecution of an alleged criminal. The findings of Hunt’s report concluded the wrong man had been arrested and both the DA’s Office and SAPD leadership were complacent in their zeal to prosecute the case anyway.
If it wasn’t for the fact Bill Hunt is a Candidate for Sheriff this would be a non-issue. However, D.A. Spokeswoman, Susan Schroeder (a staunch Hunter supporter), and SAPD Chief, Paul Walters (a staunch Hutchens supporter), in an attempt to silence and discredit Bill Hunt, employed their contacts in the media – specifically Dave Lopez of Channel 2/9 and the Orange County Register, to “expose” Bill Hunt as supporting gang members and to express “outrage” over this falsehood. Throwing all objective reporting codes of conduct aside, both Lopez of Channel 2/9 and Tony Savedra of the Register gladly acquiesced to the smear campaign, reporting whatever “facts” had been scripted for them by political insiders associated with both of Bill Hunt’s opponents. This resulted in lies and distortions of Hunt’s objective, ethical conduct as a Private Investigator to be presented to the voting public a mere two weeks before the June 8th Election. This is nothing more than Election Engineering at its worst and a prime example of why we need at a minimum, a wholesale eviction and/or rejection of Establishment Incumbents or Candidates in Orange County .
Please join fellow outraged Citizens who can take time off from lunch to draw attention to this matter and seek redress for the unethical and possible illegal conduct of political insiders in high positions of authority within the law enforcement community of Orange County .
The Constitution matters! Our Bill of Rights matter! Bill Hunt was simply standing up as a principled man and placed the Rule of Law over the “Code of Silence” as he helped an accused man exercise the Fifth Amendment Right to due process and our Sixth Amendment Right to a defense when charged with a crime.
God help us if this kind of conduct is allowed to be reported as a negative attribute of a Candidate running for the highest law enforcement office in the county – the Office of Sheriff.
I’m outraged! Are you?!
Please forward this urgent message to everyone you know and please show up tomorrow!
Right on! I can’t wait until tomorrow. My family will proudly participate in this event.
You have to be kidding me. Next thing Bill will say is that Mike Carona planted evidence in these cases and Bill had to save them. What ajoke Bill is for hire no matter who you are as long as you pay.
Sounds like a Mini Hunter on an upset applecart.
Bill Hunt’s characterization of this new opposition to him as dirty is ludicrous. The Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association, and the La Habra Police Officers’ Association pulled their endorsements because their members screamed for it. The cries of Union Cronyism are mis-placed.
Do you realize that the leaders of all of the police associations are police officers, and not “union thugs”? This “innocent” man that Hunt claims to have been defending is a documented gang-member, with documented gang-arrests.
Hunt is the one obscuring the truth when he says he was defending an innocent man. Of COURSE he says he was innocent, that’s what defense attorneys and defense investigators are supposed to say.
Does that in and of itself make Hunt a bad guy? No, but if that’s where he wants to be, then fine, but he doesn’t get the support of the rank and file police officers/deputies. Trust me, if they had a re-vote of the Deputies Association again today, you’d see a far different result. And many of you have said how important it would be to have the support of the deputies.
Does that mean you would change your support of Hunt if the law enforcement of Hunt evaporates (like it currently is)?
Please don’t tell me that SAPOA or LHPOA are pawns of Schroeder or the political machine. You’d only look silly.
What evidence do you have that this SA defendant is a gang member? According to SAPD gang detectives, there is no information or evidence that supports your notion that Lua is a gang banger. He may not have been a saint but that doesn’t make him guilty of the crimes for which he has been charged. Look at the evidence and it is pretty clear Lua isn’t the perpetrator. But if you have your doubts, take it to trial and watch the jury bring back an acquittal. Then you will see how police agencies waste taxpayer’s money.
You seem to be confused about our Constitution. In the U.S., everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The fact that you profile Lua as a gang member but offer up no supporting evidence along with your assertion that he is guilty, a fact only rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction, leads me to the obvious conclusion that you know not what you speak of. I may be a few years out of the academy but I know P.O.S.T. requires several hours on criminal law and surely you didn’t miss the class on defendant’s rights, albeit only an hour or two of practical discussion consisting of how to take out your Miranda card and read it to suspects. That was one of the first things a new recruit learns about criminal law.
From the information you provided (or lack thereof) and the conclusions I have reached from your statement, SAPOA is embarrassed by the lack of due diligence demonstrated by their officers. Compounding matters are the facts regarding Dave Lopez, Paul Walters, and the Schroeders. Those aren’t just guesses or conjecture but rather facts, something you seem to know little about.
“The Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association, and the La Habra Police Officers’ Association pulled their endorsements because their members screamed for it. The cries of Union Cronyism are mis-placed”, that’s an outright LIE!
I spoke with a member of the rank and file who wishes to remain anonymous and confirmed that was NOT a vote of the rank and file.
Fullerton Flat Foot is Full of Sh**!!!
The street cops up here staunchly support Hunt for Sheriff. He’s one of us. He knows what’s up and he sets a great example for all cops to follow.
It is a lie to say we screamed to pull our endorsement. In fact, we weren’t even asked and a lot of cops here are pissed off at our Association leadership for playing politics with the Hutchens and Hunter people.
I have a feeling some heads might roll over this.
Stand tall Bill. We’re 10-8 and 10-23!
Mr. Flat Foot,
The fact that Bill Hunt has the guts to stand for the rule of law, something you fail to mention as you lick the boots of law enforcement, (Who work for me not the other way around) means that Bill Hunt will indeed get my vote.
Consider this: The alleged gang banger as well as all of us need the very best defense possible in order to determine the truth. Santa Ana PD tried to pin another charge on him. While I don’t agree with the lifestyle choices of a gang member, I respect even less a state which deems someone in authority, (In this case the Santa Ana PD) the right to unlawfully charge a person with a crime they didn’t commit. Then when it is found that the suspect is innocent they get upset and refuse to support the person who helped deem an innocent charge?
Really, I do hope the cops are pissed, if this is why they signed up to be a cop, screw them. I’ll go buy my badge at the local badge maker shop and call myself the “Officer at Large” start charing j walkers with crimes that I deem fit, and see what happens.
Any of you in law enforcement that are upset by INNOCENCE being found, regardless of the character attached to it MUST QUIT. If you have preconceived notions of guilt, then YOU are UNFIT to protect me. (Something that I PAY you to do.)
My understanding is that he was a paid employee of the defense during this preliminary hearing where his client was held to answer to the charges. Hardly an an unlawful charge against this defendant and hardly an innocent man has been proven. I didn’t vote for Hunt for the simple fact that 22 years experience is not enough to run the top OC LE agency but his PI work sealed the deal for me. Enjoy the protest and you vote for your choice I’ll vote for mine.
I was one of those who expressed surprise that there was negative flak against Mr. Hunt because the police unions voted support for his candidacy. I mentioned that this type of police union support (i.e. relating to the election of a Sherrif) was the ONLY valid campaigning in which the union might engage (rather than their “normal” campaign payments to anyone who will vote to support-increase their incredible over-compensation).
I think that ALL government “workers” unions are obviously systemically corrupt and they should all be eliminated. These phony unions (bribe-gathering organizations would be more accurate) merely politicize government employees and thus deprive the citizenry of fair even handed dealings with government.
Government employees unions are inherently corrupt and create partisan antipathy against any candidate for political office who represents the limited government, maximum freedom, basis upon which our nation was founded. And, on the human level, government employee union membership demeans the individual government employee from a high status-integrity professional into a go along get along member of a bully mob (visit a Teachers Union, I mean, School Board, meeting some time).
The sheriff has very little influence on salaries and pensions. Those issues are between the AOCDS and the Board of Supervisors, hence the reason AOCDS and OCEA are opposing Nelson.
As a member of the Ca. Teachers Association, I cannot agree with Rain more on the last paragraph. CTA hurts teachers far more than it helps them and the students are hurt even worse.
I just drove by SAPD on my way back to work from lunch. More protesters than I would have expected. All wearing Bill Hunt for Sheriff shirts, waiving American flags and holding signs. Getting that many people on what looks to be 24 hour notice AND on a weekday is pretty impressive.
Someone get us some video, please.
Mr. Flat Foot,
Do you or do you not have the guts to respond? I waited all day, breathlessly shining up my new badge. I even have it engraved, “Flat Foot supports me!”
Jefferson, Flatfoot cannot comment until he receives further instruction from the union PAC.
The protest was well-attended by close to 100 people at its peak. It was pretty funny to watch Walters and curious employees peer out from behind the blinds. We then marched all the way down to the old court house, took some pictures on the steps, then marched back up through the center of all the county buildings and then back to SAPD. Lots of honks of support and thumbs up from jurrors on break. Some of the signs said “Walters – Cop Gone Wild,” “Arrest the wrong guy? Just lie! lie! lie!,” “Bill Hunt the P. eoples I. nvestigator!,” “DA “Try” the truth,” “Bill Hunt uncovered a Cover Up,” “Shame on Walters,” and some others I can’t recall right now.
As people left the SAPD, we told them about what went on and how Bill Hunt stood up for a man that was being prosecuted for political purposes. Everyone we talked to who could vote said they will vote for Hunt. We even had people stop and ask us for signs and bumper stickers.
It was an awesome day!
“It was pretty funny to watch Walters and curious employees peer out from behind the blinds.”
I hate to break it to you but Chief Walters was not even there today. He was out of town on official business.
Sean,
Yeah, Walters was “out of town…” “…on official business.”
ROFLMAO!!!
Even IF it’s true, it doesn’t change the fact folks were peering out the windows – even from the 4th floor corner office…
Jefferson,
Let’s see, I may have had other things to do today than hitting F5 on my keyboard every 30 seconds to get into a discussion with you.
I didn’t offer any evidence? I hate to break this to you, but this is a BLOG. What evidence am I going to offer? The very point of this blog and others is people spouting off with their opinions. Your opinion and conclusion is no more valid than any others (neither is mine for that matter).
What did Bill Hunt say to the Santa Ana POA after they spoke to him? He didn’t get on some soap box about the Constitution and defendants rights, he said, “I gotta eat”. His initial explanation was regarding his need for employment and feeding his family. Great, no problem. It was only some time later that he created this Constitutional Crusader argument, which you and others have swallowed hook, line, and sinker.
As Gilligan stated, he was held to answer by a judge. That means there is probable cause to believe that the charges against him were factual enough to let a jury decide. Of course Hunt says he’s “innocent”, that’s what defense attorneys and investigators do!
Do you realize that the job of the defense is to get their client off at near all costs (vigorous defense)? Do you realize that the job of the prosecution and law enforcement is to find the truth? If the prosecution finds evidence that a defendant is innocent, he/she is required to provide that information (not that there aren’t bad DAs or police officers, but it is a small number). If the defendant finds evidence that his/her client is guilty, there is no similar duty.
Why does every defense attorney say, “the truth will come out in court” as they play their dance and posturing before a trial. And what happens the overwhelming majority of the time? The defendant is found guilty. Didn’t Mike Carona’s team insist he was innocent throughout his ordeal?
Once again, he was *not* found innocent. Maybe you should read a little more?
And Rain, all “workers” unions are systematically corrupt? What? How is one group any more corrupt than another? The Grover Cleveland Club is systematically corrupt. FFFF is systematically corrupt. The Republican Party, the Lincoln Club, the Lutheran Church are all systematically corrupt.
If you (or anyone else) oppose a candidate, then campaign against them. To cry foul because you don’t like the people that support them is a little sad.
100 people in a county of well over 3 million, ok.
“Of course Hunt says he’s “innocent”, that’s what defense attorneys and investigators do!”
“Do you realize that the job of the prosecution and law enforcement is to find the truth? If the prosecution finds evidence that a defendant is innocent, he/she is required to provide that information (not that there aren’t bad DAs or police officers, but it is a small number).”
These two statements that you present us with are at odds with one another. If ALL investigators are only out to “defend” their client’s client (aka the defendant), then it is completely reasonable to use that logic and state that the investigators whose clients are prosecutors are only out to get a conviction for their client’s client (The People).
I think we all understand how labor units work. A very small elected group is supposed to represent a large workforce. Just like our council, sometimes you agree with their decisions and sometimes you don’t. I would make a wild guess and say that very few of the sworn personnel had any input about pulling the endorsements. It is probably safe to conclude that the small elected group and/or the PAC made the decision on their own and without a vote of the membership. But these are simply my best guess based on my experience as a public employee who, over the course of several years, was never asked which candidate the association should endorse. Their endorsements were rammed down our throats without so much as a straw vote.