County backs acting sheriff

Orange County supervisors accepted outgoing Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s hand-picked successor as the new acting head of the law enforcement agency on Tuesday, setting aside concerns that the appointment was improper and that political calculations played a role in the selection.

Jack Anderson, in an interview with The Times on Tuesday, said he planned to campaign for the office in 2010, and in comments appearing in a conservative political blog, Carona said he tapped Anderson as interim leader in order to give him a leg up in the race. Anderson is an officer in the Orange County Republican Party

Supervisors now find themselves in the delicate position of appointing someone to a position that’s normally determined by voters.

Board Chairman John Moorlach welcomed Anderson to the job, saying that despite the questions over whether the succession had been handled properly, he was supporting Anderson “in the interests of moving forward.”

In his final hours in office, Carona demoted Undersheriff Jo Ann Galisky, fired another member of the command staff and then appointed Anderson second in command, putting him in line to become acting sheriff.

Under state law, the successor in the event of the sheriff’s resignation is the department’s undersheriff. Anderson, though, does not meet county requirements to be the undersheriff.

Carona, facing federal felony charges that he sought to enrich himself, his wife and his former mistress by trading official favors for cash and gifts, stepped down Monday. All three have pleaded not guilty.

In interviews, supervisors and their top aides said they were troubled by the appearance of the sheriff’s last-minute reshuffling of the department command staff.

“It’s a legitimate question,” Supervisor Chris Norby said. “I think the board is concerned about that.”

Still, they said they wanted to instead focus on finding a candidate to serve the remainder of Carona’s term, and that they trusted Anderson’s ability to lead the department in the short term.

Holding the job for now, supervisors and aides said, would not give Anderson an advantage in being named the permanent replacement.

Anderson, 47, has spent 21 years with the department and most recently served as operations commander, overseeing more than 1,000 employees, including patrol deputies in 12 stations and the department’s SWAT and hostage negotiations teams.

In brief remarks to the board, Anderson said he was honored to hold the interim position and said he supported several initiatives underway at the department, including establishing a civilian review board to examine law enforcement incidents involving the use of force -- an effort that Moorlach said would be a litmus test for supervisors’ approval of the permanent replacement.

“The business of the Sheriff’s Department will continue uninterrupted,” Anderson said.

As Anderson sat for interviews on his first day as acting sheriff, he was accompanied not by aides from the Sheriff’s Department but by Adam Probolsky, a member of the county GOP’s executive committee, who handed out a list of Anderson’s references that included state Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine. Probolsky said he was there in his role as a Sheriff’s Department volunteer.

Anderson said he had no immediate plans to change department policies and would continue to issue concealed-weapons permits to private citizens as Carona did. He said he did not plan to take any immediate steps to improve morale in the department because he did not believe deputies’ morale had been affected by their former leader’s criminal indictment.

“The impact of what has been going on with Mike Carona has been somewhat separate from the rank and file,” Anderson said. “Those people do their job every day and are not impacted. They read the newspaper. It’s disturbing sometimes, but they kept it in perspective and continued to be professionals. The day-to-day operations have not been impacted with regard to what’s been happening with Mike Carona.”

Anderson said he would ask supervisors to appoint him sheriff and that he intended to campaign for the job in 2010, whether or not the supervisors appoint him to fill out Carona’s term. He said his experience with the department made him the best candidate for the job.

“I worked my way up through the ranks of this department. I have an intimate understanding of the department and will be able to best serve the citizens of Orange County as a result of that,” he said.

Board members talked about establishing a process to vet candidates for a permanent replacement but were barred from taking official action because Carona’s resignation Monday did not give them enough time to place the issue on the agenda, as required by law.

In comments in the blog Red County www.redcounty.com late Monday, Carona acknowledged appointing Anderson to the position because he wanted Anderson to replace him permanently.

“Jack wanted to run for sheriff in 2010, and he and I have had those conversations,” Carona was quoted as saying. “I would have been very supportive of him.”

Carona said in the blog that he was not able to elevate Anderson to undersheriff because Anderson did not have the minimum years of experience in subordinate positions to qualify.

The maneuvers did not sit well with Carona’s political opponents and Democrats. Bill Hunt, a former Orange County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant who ran against Carona for sheriff in 2006 and finished second with 26.5% of the vote, said the moves appeared intended to maintain Republican control of the sheriff’s office.

“It’s just more of the same,” Hunt said. He plans to apply for the sheriff’s job.

One thing that won’t happen in Anderson’s administration is any gesture to Hunt, who was demoted by Carona following the election. Hunt retired and is now suing the department, calling his demotion retaliation for running against the sheriff and a violation of his First Amendment rights.

Anderson said he couldn’t discuss Carona’s decision to demote Hunt because of the pending lawsuit. But he said he would not offer him his job back.

“We are always accepting applications. He can go to our website and apply for a position with our organization.”

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christian.berthelsen@latimes.com

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com