Last week we were alerted to a mysterious new blog called “Who is Craig Hunter,” which claims to reveal the true power structure behind the candidacy of the Anaheim Deputy Chief for County Sheriff.
Drink it up
The blog seems focused the connections between political heavyweight Mike Schroeder and Hunter, who is called Schroeder’s protegé. Hunter was hand picked to fill in the void left by ex-sheriff Mike Carona’s felony conviction, alleges the author who goes by the pseudonym “V”.
A few ancillary players are introduced into the picture on a page called The Players, including Jack Anderson (Carona’s own pick for successor), Carona apologist and OCCCWS member Greg Block (that name sounds familiar), DA spokesperson Susan Kang Schroeder and GOP Chairman/lobbyist Scott Baugh.
Motives are questioned, empires are sketched out and historic similarities are drawn. What emerges? A sketch of a picture that isn’t very pretty.
I’ve also heard rumors that the site was created by Friends for Fullerton’s Future, citing a humorous yet biting style that is similar to many of our own posts.For what it’s worth, nobody here knows where this blog came from or where it’s going.
A few days ago I related how Board of Supervisors Chair Janet Ngyuen had hired a couple of people to occupy Chris Norby’s former 4th District office. I opined that it seemed like a real extravagance given the fact that there was no supervisor to support, and likely diminishing “constituency work” since there was no supervisor to direct and approve it. Also the replacement election is just a short 10 weeks away.
I also speculated that perhaps Nguyen was just placing her people inside the office to report back directly to her; and perhaps that she was embedding her personnel in the office in the unlikely event of A Sidhu victory in June. Did Nguyen make a deal with Sidhu to keep these people employed later? Just wondering.
The latest word from several sources is that Nguyen has hired yet another person to work in the 4th District office and that this person started today. Good grief, this is ridiculous. One of those sources informs us that Nguyen’s explanation for this idiocy is that “her” people are there to help make sure folks in the 4th District are aware of all the programs the County offers them. Oh, really?
Frankly, none of the explanations make Nguyen look like anything other than a devious empire-builder.
She should keep her hands off the 4th District. She has enough trouble in her own.
When I posted about my interview with former assemblyman Mike Duvall a week or so ago, we got tons of traffic on the site. An awful lot of people wanted to know what was going on with Duvall – even John and Ken from KFI’s popular radio program talked about our post in a lot of detail.
And it was precisely that recognition from non-establishment voices of John and Ken that got me thinking about some big problems we have here in north Orange County that the so-called “mainstream media” just won’t touch, and specifically the growing problem with carpetbaggers – political gypsy moths who are so hungry for office that they move, or pretend to move, into another district to run for office. We’ve spent a lot of documenting the behavior of these people on this site.
If you think about what’s wrong with politics and some of the people who want to get their hands on governmental power, the issue of carpetbagging really starts to come into sharper focus.
Let’s review what’s been going on in north Orange County.
Last year Linda Ackerman, wife of former State Senator Dick Ackerman pretended to relocate from her “top-secret gated community” in Irvine to run for the 72nd Assembly District to replace Mike Duvall. She cooked a phony address at a friend’s house in Fullerton.
I was really just doing you a favor, only you didn't know it.
Then late last year somebody called Sue Perez sent up a trial carpetbag balloon against State Senator Lou Correa. With a little coaxing she has mercifully disappeared.
Now we have Lorri Galloway, who has been playing musical residences in the OC 4th Supervisorial District in order to run in the election to replace former Supervisor Chris Norby. Her real home is somewhere up in the hills in the County’s 3rd District. Her new addresses since have been provided by a big campaign contributor and contractor to the City of Anaheim. How shady is that?
Did Galloway remember to get her renter's insurance?
And then we have the unfolding spectacle of Hide-and-Seek Harry Sidhu,the worst culprit of them all.Here is a guy who simply believes he can buy an election.He believes he’s entitled to do that.
Let me tell you, moving is no fun at all. I really try to avoid it.
This fine fellow is also running in the 4th District election, the latest in a seemingly unending series of political campaigns. His real abode is in the 3rd District, too.
His carpetbagging caused immediate embarrassment for himself. First he created a fraudulent voting address at 2230 West Lincoln in Anaheim:
The Calabria Apartments. The residents do not include rich people.
That’s right: the somewhat marginal pink apartment building behind the pool hall was his alleged home. Coming from an extremely wealthy guy who lives on a big estate in the hills that lie was so unbelievable, that one short month later Sidhu came up with yet another, only slightly more plausible address on Lucky Way:
The sun sets on Sidhu's home #2 in the 'hood.
But this is where Sidhu really lives: a huge estate that sprawls across a wide swath of the 3rd District. It even has an aviary with exotic birds.
Sidhu's real home. Peacocks optional.
And check out the blatant shamelessness of this guy. He actually did a campaign “kick-off” event fundraiser for his 4th District carpetbagging run at his fancy 3rd District estate – “The Sidhu Family Residence.” Damnation, how stupid does this clown think we are? The answer, of course, is very.
Now I ask you: what weird combination of ego, insecurity, lust for power, hunger for recognition, and total disrespect for their would-be constituents animates these people? Whatever that personality mixture is, it’s toxic for politics and accountable government. These are exactly the sort of people that need to be kept away from authority at all cost.
Well, we helped get rid of Mrs. Ackerman and Mrs. Perez, and we’re doing our best to keep the latest carpetbaggers out of our 4th District. But I see a real trend here, and it’s not good. Carpetbagging success is bound to make it even worse.
And that’s a real story that people need to pay attention to.
As part of an ongoing report, March 1, 2010, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The round table discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.
We had some questions about concealed weapons permits (CCW’s) for the man whose slogan has been “The Sheriff should be in the business of protecting people’s rights, not restricting them.”
We asked Hunt how his stance was different from his opponent’s. Hunt told us that he is a constitutionalist and believes that the current system lends itself to corruption. Hunt believes that statistics from than 39 “Shall Issue” states are proof that CCW’s lower crime rates. Further, he believes that an armed citizenry will help keep the peace at a time when the Sheriff’s Department is looking to lay off sworn deputies.
We also asked Hunt to lay out the process that a permit applicant can expect if he is elected Sheriff. Hunt said, “If we have someone come in and they are a range owner and maybe they have one of these reciprocal CCW’s that’s good in thirteen states, and they’re in good standing in those states, then I think we need to shorten up that process. We need to verify that the permit is legitimate and have had backgrounds on them, and then do an updated background to make sure there have been no problems in the interim. Then we check their training. If they’re proficient, we have our range master check them out. If they’re proficient, sign them off. If it’s a new person with no current CCW then we need to do the full background check, send them through the full NRA familiarization course, and get them through the process!”
Hunt also wants to waive or at least reduce fees for low-income applicants. The logic is simple: low-income areas have higher crime rates thus more victims. Lowering fees would put the odds back in the hands of citizens rather than the criminals.
View the transcript
A cookie-cutter approach is the wrong way to handle it. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to CCW’s, crime victims, and high propensity targets.
“When seconds count, cops are minutes away!” – Bill Hunt
Our Friend Allan Bartlett passed along our post about Tom Daly’s $10,000,000 real estate disaster for the edification of the good government advocates who read the “Red County” blog. Or maybe he did it to annoy the Republican supporters of crazy spendthrift Democrat Tom Daly.
And as I predicted in my original post, a couple of Tom Daly sycophants popped up to defend the indefensible. And here’s what Cynthia Ward, AKA Colony Rabble had to say:
Tom Daly bought a piece of real estate that staff reveiwed (sic) and approved and the Supes voted for? Oh no! Whatever will we do? String up the varmint! The Fullerton boys are real sleuths. I told you in the Barbre post that Tom was expanding the Archives and looking at other space. His real estate may not have been the best deal? Well welcome to the world the rest of us live in!
Tom Daly is a fiscal conservative. Tom Daly is a fiscal conservative.
Apparently the idea of wasting $2,100,000 for a completely worthless piece of property is of no concern to Ms. Ward. Not the best deal? Jesus H., this miscreant flushed 2.1 million tax dollars down the toilet! The world the rest of us live in? Is that supposed to be a joke? Does Cynthia Ward routinely blow millions on worthless real estate? Do her friends? Do her neighbors?
Well now we know what kind of a conservative Ward is. And if we ever needed confirmation that her job at the Mauve County was to do anything other than promote the egregious Daly (and now, it seems, to try to talk away his mammoth incompetency), now we have it.
I was driving through a blue-collar type neighborhood in the flatlands of Anaheim this morning, not all that far from Hide-N-Seek Sidhu’s fraudulent voting address at the Calabria Apartments, and look what I came across.
Earlier FFFF noted the story of an Anaheim activist who says he was wrongfully arrested after speaking out against OC Sheriff candidate Craig Hunter at Anaheim city council meetings. James Robert Reade claims that several officers questioned him about his anti-Craig Hunter speeches shortly before arresting him on false premise that he was under the influence of narcotics.
Yesterday Reade took his accusations a step further and filed an $85,000 claim against the city of Anaheim, saying he was “attacked and brutalized by two Anaheim officers under color of authority.”
In the claim Reade presents drug tests from both the OC Crime Lab and St. Jude hospital that show there weren’t any narcotics in his system on the day of his arrest. Reade further asserts that he has never used drugs in his life and should never have been detained.
The city dropped all charges against Reade after determining that the officers made a misdiagnosis of Reade’s behavior. Officers were disciplined and sent to additional training for mishandling the incident.
At best, we could consider this another example of the culture of abuse coddled by decades of poor leadership at Anaheim PD under the control of Craig Hunter. That certainly lines up with what courts and civil rights activists have said over the years.
On the other hand, the officers’ prior references to Reade’s political activities suggest something far more malicious may have happened. If the department intended to silence an outspoken activist as Hunter was about to begin his campaign for Sheriff, that would be an inexcusable abuse of authority.
Obviously Mr. Reade is very serious about pursuing this case against the department. We’ll see what happens.
Some dude named Chris Prevatt at a blog called “the Liberal OC” has decided to pass along that ludicrous piece of spam mail “hit-piece” we posted about yesterday – sent all the way from India!
It seems Prevatt is taken with the fact that Sidhu’s Mumbai Marauders have discovered the horrible truth about Nelson: he’s gotten three traffic tickets since (gasp) 2003! Prevatt seems to think he deserves his own wing at Corcoran State Prison.
All tentacles and no brains
A little digging uncovers what’s going on here. Prevatt is a County worker who once had his computer taken away for blogging on company time. He is also what is known as a “Jannie,” one of the pathetic creatures that Janet Nguyen discovered under some rock or other and put to work in her PR salt mine.
Here’s the connection: Nguyen has recently endorsed the completely unethical carpetbagging scampaign of Harry Sidhu, fake addresses and all; and we’ve been questioning why Nguyen is putting on additional staff in Norby’s former office where there is no supervisor. The Register’s Jennifer Muir picked up on this and started asking questions. Nguyen is no doubt pissed off at being outed.
Prevatt leaps into the breach by passing along Sidhu’s comically pathetic attempt to attack Nelson for traffic tickets! Hoo boy! Petty and silly? Stupid and ineffectual? Of course. What do you expect?
Say, what is the Democrat equivalent of a “repuglican?”
Yesterday we related how Board of Supervisor Chair, Janet Nguyen, Supervisor for the 1st District, has taken into her noodle to employ two new folks in Chris Norby’s former 4th District office – even though there is no supervisor there.
Now we are informed that the OC Register’s Jennifer Muir was calling around the Hall of Admin later in the day and asking about the new staffing arrangements.
Geez, pretty soon the Register may just have to give FFFF its own column.
As we reported, March 1, 2010, FFFF’s Travis Kiger, Fullerton businessman Larry Lazar and myself sat down with Bill Hunt, 2010 candidate for Orange County Sheriff. The round table discussion was an opportunity to ask some important questions that we think are on the minds of voters. No topic was off-limits.
Hunt Speaks Out About Haidl & Co.
Back in 2003, Greg Haidl, son of Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, was awaiting trial (where he was eventually convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious teen) when he was picked up by deputies in San Clemente after they found marijuana in a car driven by Haidl’s friend.
FFFF: “You’ve taken a lot of criticism for some events that happened a long time ago with Haidl’s son, specifically the October 26, 2003 incident. Can you tell us what happened?”
Bill Hunt: “Here’s what happened. At the end of the day, me and my captain were sold out by a sheriff and assistant sheriffs, Jaramillo and Haidl, who were involved in this thing behind the scenes and then lied about it and tried to hang it on me. And you’ll remember by that time I was a candidate for the office [sheriff].”
Hunt went on to describe in great detail the events behind the criticism that eventually lead to his resignation. The following is a synopsis of Hunt’s full explanation:
Gregory Haidl was out on bail on rape charges and living with his mother in San Clemente. On October 26, 2003 at around 10:00PM Haidl was skateboarding with a couple of friends in an industrial complex when Deputy Roche spotted them and made contact. It seems everyone agrees that there was marijuana in a car that the teens used to get to the industrial complex. After a brief interrogation by Deputy Roche, a sixteen-year old male confessed to possessing the pot. Based on an audio record of the incident, it was a solid bust based on a solid confession.
Deputy Roche, knowing Haidl was involved, called his supervisor, Sergeant Richard “Dick” Downing. Downing arrived, reviewed the circumstances, and called his watch commander. At some point, Haidl was driven home to his mother’s house by Sgt. Downing and the sixteen-year old was allowed to leave with the third suspect in the third suspect’s car. It is at this point that the cover up seems to begin.
Sgt. Dick Downing called his watch commander, Lloyd Downing. Lloyd Downing then called Jaramillo who told him “Don’t log it, take care of it.” Lloyd Downing said, “It’ll be our little secret.” Then Lloyd Downing called Dick Downing and told him not to log the event. But Sgt. Downing wasn’t dumb and he wanted to do the right thing. He told Roche to log it in the deputy’s log and then he intentionally did not enter it into the sergeant’s log. This way, Sgt. Downing could say he followed orders without really doing anything wrong. Next, Jaramillo called Carona and a six minute conversation ensued.
Sgt. Dick Downing decided to call Hunt and explain that Roche found Haidl and his friends with some dope and that Haidl had been taken home. He didn’t tell Hunt that he had already spoken with the watch commander or what the watch commander had told him. Hunt then called his captain to let him know what happened.
Days later Hunt ordered Deputy Roche to submit his report and book the confiscated marijuana which had been stored in Sergeant Downing’s file cabinet. Roche wrote up the report and submitted it to the shift supervisor, Sergeant Nancy Gafner, who reviewed it and determined that there are subjective opinions in it. Roche stated that, although the sixteen-year old minor confessed to possessing the marijuana, he believed it to be Haidl’s. Gafner felt that the opinion should be omitted because there were few or no facts to support it and asks Hunt if he concurred. Hunt read it and decided that he wanted Roche to explain why he was so sure was Haidl’s dope. Roche explained that he just felt that the kid was covering up for Haidl but he could not articulate exactly why. Hunt then told Roche to omit the opinion and only include the facts.
Greg Haidl
Later, Carona and Jaramillo conspired to dump the entire case on Hunt’s shoulders. Hunt said “So if you look at the indictment of Mike Carona, that’s on page 19. It says in there defendant Carona, defendant Jaramillo, and co-defendant Don Haidl conspired to arrange for preferential treatment for co-defendant Haidl’s kid. And they don’t mention me in there. But remember, the attorney general didn’t know about this. They didn’t do an independent investigation. They didn’t pull phone records. They took a corrupt Sheriff’s word on an investigation that only looked at us and didn’t look at their involvements. My captain went to Jaramillo several times and said ‘let me go to the media and explain it. This is a nothing deal that you let spin out of control.’ They wouldn’t let us and that’s why. If they found out what our involvement was it didn’t make sense with what happened on the back end. They wouldn’t be able to get the stories straight.”
All of these details come to light through the media over the course of years. David Lopez of KCAL9 news and R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly were able to corroborate the much of the story. Lopez ultimately caught Carona in a lie when he asked “Did you get involved with this on October 26, 27, or 28?” Carona responds, “No. No sir.”
There is so much more to this story and we encourage you to read Hunt’s own words on the case and decide for yourself. Hunt names names and tells it like it is.Read the full transcript.
