Matt/Jubal speaks out on Carona

Since Matt “Jubal” Cunningham, the editor of Red-faced County/OC Blog, has not written much about the Carona debacle, I spent some time tonight going through his past posts about the Little Sheriff. I am amazed that Cunningham has not yet apologized to his readers for being an ardent supporter of Carona last year. Here are some excerpts (My comments appear in italics):

  • Honestly, I think Carona has learned some excruciatingly hard lessons and has learned from his mistakes. Orange County is a safe place to live and crime is down in areas patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department. Carona knows the job and I frankly don’t believe it is necessary to change horses in mid-stream.
  • Sheriff Mike Carona won the endorsement of the Republican Party of Orange County on a 44-20 vote. Congratulations to Sheriff Carona and his campaign.
  • Considering the OC Democratic Party is completely dysfunctional and ineffective, be careful when tossing around pejoratives. (From a comment that started out about Carona. Ironic though. In the wake of the Urell scandal, the Measure D scandal, and now the Carona fiasco, the OC GOP is the party that looks like cr*p).
  • It is also important to remember that the Sheriff is elected in his own right, per the state constitution. He is simply a department head who reports directly to the BOS. That entitles him to more deference from the BOS regarding how he runs his department.
  • Here’s the Carona mailer, which focuses on illegal immigration and his challengers’ reactions to it. It’s a very effective piece. I don’t go so far as to classify Carona’s challengers in with “liberals,” but they shouldn’t be surprised given the degree of their invective against Carona.
  • With all due respect, Art, it’s a little much to be lectured about a “cult of personality: by a Hunt supporter!
  • The big, ugly horse flies in the ointment — Don Haidl and George Jaramillo — are now gone. The damage they inflicted on Carona is an example of the Sheriff being loyal to a fault. If those two had truly been Carona’s friends, they would have stepped down long before rather than clinging to their posts of honor, to their friend’s detriment.
  • The Sheriff eked out a 50.9% win over Bill Hunt and Ralph Martin. That’s barely a majority, but a gigantic win because he can now avoid 5 grueling months of political attacks, media water-torture, fund-raising and trying to hold together an uncomfortable coalition.
  • John Lewis and Matt Holder, the political helmsmen of Mike Carona’s re-election, have once confirmed themselves as OC’s premier political consultants, bar none.
  • Jon (Fleischman) absorbed a slew of abuse from Huntistas while performing his job as an OCSD spokesman with aplomb under miserable circumstances — and was re-elected to the OC Republican Party Central Committee to the dismay of his detractors.
  • Sheriff Mike Carona’s campaign sent over another list of endorsements, this time from partisan elected officials and officers:
    • Ed Royce, 40th District US Congressman
    • Gary Miller, 42nd District US Congressman
    • Dana Rohrabacher, 46th District US Congressman
    • Bob Margett, 29th District State Senator
    • Dick Ackerman, 33rd District State Senator
    • Bill Morrow, 38th District State Senator
    • Van Tran, 68th District State Assemblyman
    • Chuck DeVore, 70th District State Assemblyman
    • Todd Spitzer, 71st District State Assemblyman
    • Lynn Daucher, 72nd District State Assemblywoman
    • Scott Baugh, Chairman OC Republican Party
    • Tom Fuentes, Chairman Emeritus OC Republican Party
    • Michael Schroeder, Past Chairman CA Republican Party

There you have it. For a complete list of those who endorsed Carona, go to this link.


About Admin

"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.