OC Register Loses Sheriff Candidate

Notice anything odd about this online Orange County Register story teaser from last night and this morning?

Check our Total Buzz blog to find out what candidates Bill Hunt, Craig Hunter, Sharon Hutchens, Randy Adams, Jack Anderson, Salt Lake City undersheriff Beau Babka, San Bernardino undersheriff Richard Beemer and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters had to say.

Yep, Register editors left out one of the nine interviewed candidates for sheriff: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Commander Ralph Martin. Okay, okay. They also botched the name of another candidate: ex-Los Angeles County Sheriff's Chief Sandra Hutchens.

(Does the Reg have something against the LA folks? Martin backers say it's not the first time the paper has shortchanged them with sloppy coverage. The paper's editorial management is cozy with a wing of the local Republican Party that's supporting Paul Walters.)

Surely the screw-up was unintentional, although Martin is considered one of three top candidates to replace FBI-indicted ex-sheriff Mike Carona (pictured) for the remaining two years of his term. If conventional wisdom is right, the other top choices are Walters and Jack Anderson, current acting OC sheriff. All three men impressed members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors during nearly 12 hours of public interviews on Tuesday.

Supervisors are expected to select a replacement sheriff sometime in June. Any of the candidates will do a better job than Carona, who brought a new low to California policing with his womanizing, constant lies, cowardly conduct, waste of taxpayer resources, supersized ego and gross incompetence. He faces a federal corruption trial on bribery charges later this year.

-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly