VUI – Voting Under the Influence
Editorial Staff

Do the Orange County supervisors not have a lot to do? They sometimes tear themselves away from the important work of redecorating their offices to vote on something.

The process of appointing a permanent Orange County sheriff ended June 10 in the usual way. Two lobbyists groups had been vying, each wanting to get at least three of five supervisors’ votes for a candidate. John Lewis (former Asssemblyman turned lobbyist) was pushing Paul Walters (police chief of Santa Ana). California Women’s Leadership Association was pushing Sandra Hutchens (L.A. Sheriff’s Dept. retiree). CWLA is a group that promotes Republican women for political office.

Under the influence of Lewis, Supervisors Chris Norby and Bill Campbell dutifully stuck with Walters. When the BOS met on June 3, Norby pushed hard to clinch the position for Walters. Norby could count on Campbell’s vote, and he may have thought he could sway Supervisor Pat Bates. Bates also has ties to Lewis, but her political roots go further back with CWLA.

At the June 10 BOS meeting, Norby made a motion to appoint Walters, but only Campbell voted with him. Hutchens got the job with the votes of Supervisors John Moorlach, Janet Nguyen and Bates. Orange County residents might have started celebrating prematurely in noticing the Republican Party good ol’ boys lost. However, the cheering should have stopped if anyone noticed the victory by the Republican Party good ol’ girls.

Bill Hunt, a failed Carona challenger in the 2006 election, openly said he preferred Hutchens over Walters. Hunt could run again in 2010, facing off with Hutchens as a presumed weak incumbent. Some Orange County residents who depend on the OC Sheriff’s Department to guard their cities didn’t find anything to cheer about.

Many Mission Viejo residents said the best candidate, Jack Anderson, was bypassed in the political process. Anderson had no lobbyists backing him. He had no big-money supporters, no one throwing mud at the other candidates and no supervisor politically tied to him. With a superior background and an impeccable record with the OCSD, he didn’t get any closer than being one of nine semifinalists. In a preliminary round a week ago, he got only one vote from a supervisor. Bates included him when she voted for four candidates. Her other votes predictably included one for John Lewis’ candidate and another for the CWLA candidate. Her fourth vote went to Ralph Martin.

OC columnist Frank Mickadeit indicated that the John Lewis entourage was in the audience as the supervisors voted. Lewis filed past him when leaving, and Walters wasn’t far behind. By staying close together, the strings aren’t as likely to become tangled.