Lt. Hunt headed for courthouse?

An inside source revealed yesterday that the beleaguered Lt. Bill Hunt may be headed to OC Sheriff Mike Carona’s old stomping grounds. According to my source, an OC elected official told him that Hunt’s situation will soon be resolved, and that Carona intends to remove him from his current position as Chief of the San Clemente Police. Hunt, a real cop by anyone’s standards, is apparently headed for a much simpler assignment. Apparently Carona intends to make him an OC bailiff. If so, this is a stunning turn of events for a professional police officer who almost forced Carona into a runoff, mere weeks ago.

If Hunt is indeed forced to serve as a bailiff, I believe he will not stay with the department. He would be better off transferring to another department in Southern California. It is a joke that Carona, a guy with no beat or investigative experience, has his heart set on ruining the career of Hunt, a guy with more experience than Carona will ever have.

In related news, another pajarito tells me that Hunt would have gotten into a runoff with Carona, except for the fact that Carona had several of his cronies on the board of the deputies’ association that spent over $200,000 on Hunt’s campaign. The Caronistas managed to water down Hunt’s mailers such that they failed to attack Carona. The “nice” campaign strategy was a failure, which is exactly what the Caronista deputies wanted.

I hope the Caronistas are happy with Carona’s victory. It turns out most OC residents are not. According to the OC Register’s Total Buzz blog, Carona recently asked the Board of Supervisors for $396,000 for a consultant that will try to find out why so many voters did not support Carona in the primary, and why they are not happy with the “Little Sheriff.”