Carona was nominated for Best Local Scandal on the Duke Award for TPM last year. From the pressure from the public and his office, he had to step down.
Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona said this morning that he was resigning effective today to concentrate on fighting federal corruption charges that he sold access to his office for thousands of dollars in gifts and kickbacks.
Carona's longtime political advisor and attorney, Michael Schroeder, said at a news conference this morning that Carona's resignation was in no way an indication that the three-term sheriff intended to plead guilty and that "no new evidence had popped up" to cause him to step down.
Schroeder said that in addition to Carona being able to devote himself full time to his defense, his resignation would put to rest the question about whether he could accept free legal help from a prominent law firm. The state attorney general's office said last month that it was looking into a complaint that legal aid donated to Carona could violate a ban on expensive gifts to elected officials.
Schroeder said Carona was "looking at hundreds of thousands in legal fees, fees that will exceed his net worth." He said the resignation was "absolutely not" part of a plea bargain and that the defense expects the trial to get underway in June as scheduled.
In one of Carona's final actions last week as sheriff, he fired Assistant Sheriff Dan Martini. Schroeder would not say why Martini was fired, only that the sheriff did not need a reason because Martini was an at-will employee.
"It was part of the reorganization that needed to occur," Schroeder said. More on the story.
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