Matt Cunningham has an interesting post over at Red County, about how newly appointed Sherriff Sandra Hutchens is quietly working the room with the GOP power base in Orange County.
The week she was appointed, we contacted her press people for an appointment to talk with her once she has settled in.Â
Since then, we’ve heard squat.Â
Now I have to guess we have our request in for a half-hour chit chat long before The New Majority or the OC GOP, plus the fact that Sheriff Hutchens supports John McCain for president, tells me this sheriff is going to play to the right wing base and hold on come the 2010 election. It makes me long for the good old days of the Acting Sheriff Anderson regime, where he’d at least meet with us in the Liberal Media.
Am I pouting? Not really, because I’m not surprised we’ve been forgotten. But hey, her peeps have my cell.
A reminder that Sheriff is a non-partisan post; The OC is home to the second largest group fo registered Democrats in the state. Since Sheriff Hutchens can only meet with registered Republicans, is she still settling in?
Matt pointed out how both Mike Carona and Tony Rack were able to garner support from the left; some Democratic politicians sure. Rank-and-file Dems, no.
Â
Â
The new sheriff is a one-trick pony. Her specialty? NOT being Carona. She continues to make mistakes that show what most of us already knew–she is ill-equipped to do this job. In her short time in office she has already done some things that have left people scratching their heads. From innocuous mistakes, like trying to dodge the CCW bullet by palming off the issue onto the city police chiefs (they refused, it is against their policy) to more dangerous precedents like issuing a sole-source contract to ‘people she has worked with before’ to assess the jail system for upwards of $250K. Of course this opens the door to any ‘friends’ of Sandra wanting piece of the taxpayer dollar. But all this pales in comparison to the people advising her, namely Paul Morabito of Jiffy Lube fame (anyone here remember Carona/Fanticola?) I guess this means that Ron Cedillos and Morabito will be wrestling each other for a chance to be the new Haidl in this sheriff’s regime.