Should Carona wear the badge?

Re “D.A. calls on Carona to go on leave,” Nov. 3

Recent events clearly show that Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s judgment and ethics must be seriously questioned. Calls for his leaving office are appropriate. The Orange County Board of Supervisors should move forward with placing a proposal on the February 2008 ballot allowing voters to give the board the power to remove Carona from office, because he will never voluntarily step down.

But knowing the history of the Board of Supervisors, it is doubtful that it has the backbone to force his resignation. I hope the board members will refrain from altering rules to accommodate the desires of other elected county officials. Let’s not forget that it was a Board of Supervisors decision that allowed Carona to appoint alleged co-conspirator Donald Haidl as a senior member of the department -- a prime example of elected politicians accommodating other elected politicians at the expense of the public.

Bob Fitzgerald

Laguna Hills

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Innocent unless proved guilty does not appear to apply in Carona’s case, for he is being asked to step down from his position as sheriff but has yet to be convicted. He has the right to fight the charges against him.

If Carona is proved guilty, he will obviously lose his position as sheriff. And because he has chosen to not step down, if he is proved guilty, he will look quite foolish, for he could have avoided some of the public humiliation that will follow if he is in fact guilty. Why deny this man his pride, or his humiliation?

Krysta Worthen

Las Flores