Nonstop audition for acting sheriff

Acting Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson has expressed disgust at the mess he’s inherited at Theo Lacy Jail. “I can’t think of a lower standard they were acting at,” he told a Times reporter Tuesday. “I will take it as far as I can take it,” he said about possible further disciplinary actions, “and termination will not be enough for me.”

I hope he’s not talking about knee-capping people, but I get the point:

He’s tough.

He’s embarrassed.

He’s angry.

And, might I suggest, he’s thrilled.

Thrilled at his good fortune that just when he needs to impress five Orange County supervisors, his department hands him a scandal to clean up. Best of all, a scandal that doesn’t have his fingerprints anywhere near it.

How lucky can a guy get?

By my unofficial count, Anderson already has collected seven scalps since taking over the top spot in mid-January. He dismissed an assistant sheriff six weeks ago and another one resigned at the same time, both caught in the blowback from the jail scandal.

This week, after a scathing report from Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas on the Lacy situation, Anderson suspended three jailers, an internal affairs investigator and a women’s jail guard.

Anderson also has invited the FBI to look into the Lacy situation and has proposed systemic changes for how the county jails are operated.

He’s been Action Anderson.

The D.A.’s investigation and the subsequent grand jury probe into the October 2006 beating death of an inmate at the hands of other prisoners have resulted in murder charges against nine of them. Rackauckas said the grand jury’s nine-month investigation yielded a disturbing picture of dereliction of duty by Lacy personnel and subsequent efforts by higher-ups to impede the grand jury’s work. He also chastised the department for assuming control of the investigation into the inmate’s death, instead of following the long-standing practice of stepping aside to let the district attorney’s office handle jailhouse homicides.

No sheriff’s personnel have been charged with a crime, although Rackauckas noted that some gave misleading or false testimony to the grand jury.

For various reasons, he said, their statements didn’t meet the legal requirements for perjury.

That has opened the door for Anderson, who wants his “acting” title removed.

A 21-year veteran of the department, he’s already impressed one important observer -- Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach.

“I am still neutral, but I’ll tell you that Jack is doing a good job of convincing me he’d be a good pick,” Moorlach says. “But I would like to stay neutral, because Jack has the sad baggage of being someone in the prior administration. That’s a big hurdle.”

I’d call it insurmountable. I don’t have a horse in the sheriff’s sweepstakes, but I have argued against giving Anderson the job. Nothing against him, but he was a Mike Carona insider and, in fact, was tabbed by the now-indicted former sheriff to succeed him.

Carona’s shortcomings in picking chief aides have become the stuff of local legend.

Moorlach, however, won’t use that as a disqualifier. Among some of the things that have pleased him about Anderson, he says, is that he has reversed some of Carona’s policies.

At the moment, the supervisors have 29 applicants for the sheriff’s job and will take no more after April 18. A recruiting firm then will winnow the field to no more than six, but each supervisor can add the name of a person who didn’t make the cut, Moorlach said.

The board will interview the finalists May 27 and probably will pick the new sheriff a week later, Moorlach said.

Is Anderson auditioning? “The answer is yes,” Moorlach says, “and to date he has exceeded expectations.”

Someday I may have to apologize to Anderson for opposing him, but doesn’t an administration so plagued in recent years at its highest ranks cry out for new blood?

And for someone who, unlike Anderson, isn’t aligned with the county GOP and its political machinery?

What’s wrong with new blood? Nothing, Moorlach says, but he’s quick to add: “With the extreme amount of dysfunction Jack has had to deal with, he’s been doing an admirable job.”

I won’t read between the lines, but I’m wary.

Until the other candidates hit town in late May, the lucky Mr. Anderson has one big advantage over them: He has live auditions in front of the supervisors for the next six weeks.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons.