Orange County’s Little Sheriff

By Ken Silverstein

From the Washington Post, in a story about Michael S. Carona, who during his glory days “appeared to personify the righteous virtue of Orange County, the famously conservative bastion that three times elected him sheriff.”

The defense is lately working to dilute the unsavory flavor of the government exhibits. On the tapes, Carona remarks on being photographed with “some whore from Russia” on his lap and, separately, beside a strip bar owner with reputed mob ties. Prosecutors possess a tape from an answering machine that a cellphone accidentally dialed while the sheriff was having sex with a female deputy in a county vehicle.

Court papers indicate the woman has turned state’s witness, sharing with investigators “without limitation, physical characteristics, the kinds of sex he preferred, examples of sexual talk, and a nickname he used for his private parts.”

That would be “The Little Sheriff,” according to birthday cards published in the alternative OC Weekly.