Carona must go

Note to Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona: You’re an embarrassment. Vacate your office.

Note to Orange County supervisors: If Carona won’t leave, cut off his perks and weaken his power. Starve him out if necessary.

Note to voters: If your elected officials won’t take firm action, go recall.

Regardless of whether the criminal charges against him ultimately stick, Carona deserves to lose his job simply for clinging to the ludicrous notion that he can step off to the sidelines every once in a while, when he’s too busy fighting allegations of sleazy, self-enriching crimes to fulfill his duties. He’ll hand off power to his top cronies, Carona promises. Of course, the last time the sheriff empowered his cronies, they pleaded guilty to their own crimes and agreed to act as witnesses against their former boss. The public knows better than to believe this charade, even if the Board of Supervisors doesn’t.

While Orange County was treated Monday to the sight of its sheriff in court as the alleged perp in a years-long corruption scandal, public officials were giving Carona kid-gloves treatment, encouraging him to take a leave of absence. So far, the only leader to exhibit ethical moxie is Supervisor John Moorlach. His proposal, which comes before the board today, would enable the supervisors to remove elected officials for neglect of duty. This is exactly the sort of leverage the public needs against Carona, who continues to embarrass his office and the county as he has for years, handing out favors to financial supporters, engaging in petty retribution against critics, entangling himself in one foul mess after another. The supervisors should clamor to get onboard with this idea.

One more note to the sheriff: This isn’t one of those little brouhahas that will quiet down with time. It will only get louder and more insistent until you admit that however much you love your job, you aren’t trusted. With good reason. Get out, before voters have to spend the time and money on an election to boot you out.