Crickets.
Nothing on the Flash Report. But click here for a stroll down memory lane on Jon’s man-crush on Sheriff Mike. And for a laugh, click here and be sure to read the URL of the website and the content of the page.
A story from yesterday directing readers to the Register’s Twitter coverage of the hearing on Red County.
And a lame story on OJ with a prediction that Debbie Carona will dump her philandering husband without a shread of evidence to support it (like many OJ articles). If she’s hung in this long, she”ll hang in longer.
And yet there was considerable coverage on Red County dedicated to expenses billed by new Tustin council member Debbie Gavello shortly after assuming office got more coverage than the Carona trial or sentencing on Red County. Oh the shame. The travesty. Get a grip. Debbie Gavello made a mistake. Mike Carona willfully chose to break the law he was sworn to uphold.
Let’s go back to the Flash Report again and Jon Flesichman’s ringing endorsement of Carona’s last re-election. How many Republicans will cringe at reading these words?
“I have known Mike Carona for nearly fifteen years. He and I first met when he was the Marshal of Orange County (in charge of security for our county courthouses) and I was a special assistant to freshman Congressman Ed Royce. Over the years, I have come to know Carona as a man of strong integrity with a commitment to freedom and liberty, and a passion for public policy administration.Â
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Because of Mike Carona’s strong belief in Republican principles, I have seen him be a leader within the GOP. He has endorsed hundreds of Republican candidates for local, county, state and federal office. Whether it has been his support of paycheck protection, or his solid opposition to both open primary measures, Carona has done the right thing. This year you need only look at the big battles in Orange County to know that, despite his own election taking place, Carona is still stepping up for the GOP cause. He was a solid endorser of Diane Harkey for State Senate, and he is a prominent supporter of John Moorlach for Board of Supervisors.
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Of course, for FlashReport readers, it is important to see the Sheriff as a great conservative leader (I’ve never met a Sheriff who is more passionate about second amendment rights than this one!), but the last five and a half years, I have been able to see a great law enforcement leader and manager first hand. If you didn’t know it, I work full-time in the media relations office of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. In that capacity, I get an insider perspective of Sheriff Carona.”
More from Jon….
“There have been a number of news articles (primarily in the OC Weekly and in the LA Times) that have been negative about the Sheriff. Well, I can tell you as someone who is truly in a position to sort out fact from fiction — most of what they have said simply isn’t true. And the volumes of great things that he and our department achieve on a daily basis that the newspapers don’t print is staggering. Yes, unfortunately somone the Sheriff hired for his senior staff turned out to be involved with criminal activities. That said, the Sheriff let that person go (before these activities came to light) and the Sheriff tells anyone who asks that he takes responsibility for having brought that person in, and for letting that person go. Don’t believe those out there who want to truly make a mountain out of a mole hill – their sole agenda is to take down an honorable and well-respected public official.”
So will Fleischman wait for Carona’s appeals to be exhausted before he pens a “I’m ashamed of Mike Carona” piece a la the “I hate Duke Cunningham for what he did to the GOP” piece about a year and a half ago? Worse still, will he admit that the OC Weekly and LA Times were right about his boss? That damn liberal media, exposing felony GOP corruption. Let’s diffuse it by showing a Democrat wasting a few hundred bucks.
Give me a break, Dan. What is there left to say that hasn’t been said a zillion times already?
Problem is Matt, if one’s only source of news was the FlashReport it hasn’t been written about at all.
A zillion times said on sites others than yours…
That said, Loretta’s fundraisers and Gavello’s drop in the bucket expense report warrant more coverage than a convicted felon who was a leader of the OC Republican Party and Conservative movement.
Typical Matt Cunningham double standard. He loves to prattle on about Loretta’s fundraisers in a fashion so repetitive you can make a Madlibs out of each post—yet somehow there’s nothing left to say about Carona’s indictment? How about ripping him a new one, o protector of the OC GOP? Nah, that would take actual backbone
I meant “sentencing” instead of “indictment” and meant Matt should blast Carona for the embarrassment he’s caused Orange County’s Republican Party.
Cunningham says there’s nothing to report that hasn’t been said a zillion times, yet how many times did Red County say such things, especially when it mattered?
Matt got a post up last night; better late than never.
Interesting post, Dan. The truth is that the Mike Carona scandal was, in part, a bipartisan mess. Yes, Carona claimed to be a Republican and the local GOP stood by him long after it was obvious he was a tragically flawed pervert. Yet, prominent local Democrats continue to support this shameless convicted felon while conservative/libertarian journalists (like Greenhut, or before him at the Reg, Chris Reed) join me (and you, Dan) in their outright contempt for a sleaze bag who wasn’t remotely qualified to be the top law enforcement officer of a bus system police force in Yuma.
I am still waiting on Fleischman to weigh in; there were prominent local Democrats in 1998? Other than Loretta Sanchez?
Fleischman was one of the leading taxpayer-paid and aggressive Carona mouthpieces for years. From his arrogant perch (and while often clutching a copy of an Ayn Rand book), he belittled those few of us who took the risk of challenging the ridiculously fake image of most powerful law man in OC. Indeed, Jon was a key architect of the lies to the public. Forget my work. Forget the work of Hanley at the Times. Now that a conservative Republican federal judge has called Carona a deceitful crook who disgraced this county, law enforcement and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Flash, his “Report,” and related online GOP allies are doing what they do best: looking the other way. We’ll all be waiting forever to hear the appropriate, sincere apology for Jon’s not-unsubstantial contributions to the top cop turned convicted felon. Perhaps this is because he’s calculating his political future or perhaps, like the old boss he angrily vouched for over and over with me, he too is a slimy, unethical coward.
Perhaps this is because he’s calculating his political future or perhaps, like the old boss he angrily vouched for over and over with me, he too is a slimy, unethical coward.
That would be my guess. Especially the bolded part.
Dan,
there were several prominent democrats that supported Mike Carona over the years including Loretta Sanchez, John Hannah, Frank Barbaro, Tom Umberg, Joe Dunn, Lou Correa, Miguel Pulido, Tom Daly, and a host of others.
These were elected Democrats. These “Democrats” endorsed this slimeball. These “Democrats” supported him financially. And yet, no one has ever called them out for it.
I don’t think we can blame anyone, Republican or Democrat, who endorsed Carona inm 2002 or 1998. In 2002 he wasn’t even opposed. Maybe the cracks were starting to show in 2002 but most people weren’t aware of them. And wasn’t 1998 the first time he ran? But I agree with you that the people who endorsed him in 2006 should be called to task for it. Can you give us a list of the people who endorsed him in 2006?
TH,
You didn’t see any of those people claim the stories about Carona were false because they had an “inside” perspective like Jonny Flash. That is the difference.
Howard: Scott called it on Carona from the beginning. There is no excuse for any elected official ever endorsing Carona.
I agree with Gustavo. But they did. Over and over and over again. It wasn’t just Moxley’s or Christine’s writtings they ignored, they even overlooked the ridiculous photos of Carona and his shenanigans. It was all “unsubstanciated”. What a crock. I’m not blaming the Dems so much as it is the OCGOP “shot callers” and the lemmings that allowed them to do it.
“Typical Matt Cunningham double standard.”
Gustavo, I didn’t realize your were my editor and I am permitted only to write about what you want me to write about. Maybe I should appeal to your ego and write a series of fawning “Gustavo is a genius” posts to regain your good favor.
Gustavo, was Moxley already criticizing Carona when he ran the first time in 1998? I don’t remember. All I recall, vaguely, is that many people were happy to see Gates on the way out.