Sheriff Mike Carona Loved Don Haidl

"I'm tired of being scared. I'm tired of, you know, you know, like, like this. I'm tired of, you know, being embarrassed to hang out with my friends. You know, fuck it. I love you man and you, like, you know, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be the Sheriff of Orange County."

--Knowing of federal prosecutor Brett Sagel's investigation of his activities, Sheriff Mike Carona--a man President George W. Bush appointed to a powerful national security position--talking in a secretly recorded July 15, 2007, conversation with Don Haidl, the businessman who illegally funded Carona's first campaign to head the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

(R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)