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By Matthew Cunningham 12/17/09

Craig Hunter, who has thrown his hat into the ring for Orange County Sheriff, joining appointed OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and former OCSD Lt. Bill Hunt. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with him and discuss his background, experience and why he has decided to challenge the sitting Sheriff. It's a fairly long interview, so I will be posting it in several parts over the next few days. [In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I have endorsed Craig, and will expand on my reasons in the near future]. Here is Part I of the interview:

Cunningham: All right, Craig, why don’t you start off by telling me – why don’t you give me a little background on yourself as the Deputy – or your background with the police department in Anaheim, and how long you’ve been in law enforcement.

Hunter: I’ve been in law enforcement for 30 years, the last 27 plus years at the Anaheim Police Department. I was born and raised in Orange County, but spent my first three years in law enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff in Riverside County. Since coming to Anaheim, I have worked in virtually every Division. I worked a lot of undercover assignments and also some more traditional detective jobs. I have been supervising or manging for the past 20 years and had had some great command experiences as well.  Currently, I’m the Deputy Chief of Police, which in our department is the number two position. In corporate America, I would be the COO. My assignment is to oversee all daily operations of the police department.

READ MORE OF THE INTERVIEW HERE.
 

Read the interview here >>>

Brian Calle: Star treatment

Orange County's hottest race in the June 8 primary election quite possibly is the competition for Sheriff-Coroner. Given the previous elected sheriff was the disgraced Mike Carona, emotions are high as voters consider which candidate will do the most to restore integrity to the county's top law enforcement post.

The candidates: the appointed sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, Anaheim Deputy Police Chief Craig Hunter, and former sheriff's Lt. Bill Hunt.

This election will mark the first time voters will elect a new sheriff since Carona first won the job in 1998. Let's hope this time around they choose more wisely.

Last Tuesday, The Orange County Register, the Orange County Forum and Gen-Next gave the three candidates an opportunity to square off in a 75-minute debate showcasing the differences in their approaches to law enforcement. I moderated the debate, which helped me conclude who is the most promising candidate and, perhaps more importantly, who is the most objectionable candidate, from a freedom perspective.

Hunt, who ran against Carona in 2006 and then retired as a lieutenant when Carona moved to demote him after the election, has an uncomfortably aggressive style of communication, which made some members of the debate audience, the moderator included, a little uncomfortable. It seemed like he was hopped up on one too many Red Bulls.

Hunt's message, as Hutchens noted, was long on platitudes and short on substance. But his impassioned populist appeals seem to be resonating with at least the Tea Party crowd and perhaps a broader segment of county voters. He portrays himself as a Sheriff Joe Arpaio-type of law enforcer but his priorities are misguided. And he rose in the Sheriff's Department under Mike Carona.

My biggest concern with Hunt is that he is the union candidate. He was endorsed by the ultra-powerful Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, the deputy's union. When criticized at the debate for having union backing, Hunt gave a fist pump to the audience, acknowledging, apparently, that he was quite proud of that fact.

What likely comes with union support is hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending and the understanding that he will defend union priorities, such as protecting unsustainable pension benefits for county deputies, which Hunt says the sheriff has no control over.

He places responsibility for pensions on the Board of Supervisors, and he is partially correct. The Board has ultimate authority to end pension abuses in the county. But the sheriff sits on a number of boards and commissions and can use the position as a bully pulpit for pension reforms.

While Hunt has the union, Hutchens has become the choice of the political establishment, or at least, that is how her candidacy appears. She has amassed an impressive list of local elected-official endorsements: Supervisor Bill Campbell – the only supervisor to make an endorsement – Rep. John Campbell, R-Irvine, South County state Sen. Mimi Walters and the OC Taxpayers Association. She has taken little union money (she says from only the firefighters union, which is promising), but she sought the deputy union's endorsement, as did Craig Hunter.

Hutchens' biggest drawback is her perceived softness on the Second Amendment, evidenced by her policy decision to revoke many CCWs. She aggravated the situation by arranging for a large show of force by deputies at a Board of Supervisors meeting where gun permits were discussed.

Hutchens has shown she is generally adept, and the department is much better off under her leadership, certainly than under Carona. And on the pension issue she is pretty good though not ideal, arguing their needs to be a two tiered system — meaning new employees should not be hired in with the same overly generous pensions deputies have now under current provisions.

The other guy

Hunter, the deputy chief in Anaheim, is less well-known in county politics than his opponents, though his experience in law enforcement is impressive. His career spans more than 30 years, starting on the streets of Garden Grove. He has worked in jail operations, undercover, narcotics and SWAT. He has a far less aggressive style than Hunt, coming off as tempered and grounded in data and offering reasonable approaches to problems facing the Sheriff's Department. He has a strong stance on the Second Amendment and has a broader interpretation of gun permit laws than Hutchens.

Hunter says he would approve more CCW permits than has Hutchens. He is the only candidate who signed the Orange County Republican Party pledge not to accept public-employee union money for his campaign, and he has kept to that promise. Hunter has the best position on pension reform, stating that a two-tiered system – where new hires receive less-generous benefits – is not enough; the department needs to move to a 401(k)-style plan.

Hunter doesn't have political endorsements to match those of Hutchens and Hunt, though he has some, and he does have the support of nearly a dozen former police chiefs.

One shortcoming is that Hunter does not have the same familiarity with the Sheriff Department's budget as Hutchens and Hunt. But that learning curve is not insurmountable, especially for someone who has helped to run one of Orange County's largest police departments. The Anaheim department's purview includes Angel Stadium, the Honda Center, the Anaehim Convention Center and Disneyland.

My colleagues and I on the Register's Editorial Board spent considerable time debating qualifications for a sheriff. Honesty and integrity are top of the list, followed by:

•A philosophy that incorporates community policing and keeping citizens involved;

•A workable approach to dealing with illegal immigrants;

•Strong philosophical grounding in support of the Second Amendment and an open policy towards concealed weapon permits;

•A desire to reform the unsustainable pension program for public safety employees;

•A fiscally conservative approach to budgetary issues;

•A clear strategy for management of the county jails.

Applying these criteria to the candidates, it became clear to me who would make a better sheriff. Craig Hunter has a clean track record in law enforcement, adheres to the Second Amendment and has the best approach to pension reform.

The next elected sheriff will have a lot to deal with, but if the most important issues in this election are pensions, unions and the Second Amendment, the choice is clear.

Read the full story here:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/-248993--.html

Editorial: Craig Hunter for O.C. sheriff

Sandra Hutchens comes to the race for Orange County sheriff with a firm grasp of the inner workings of the

Sheriff's Department, having served in the role for almost two years. She has proven a capable administrator with

a keen eye for dealing with the budget, and she has stayed mostly clear of the political fray.

One of her rivals, Bill Hunt, worked in the department under since-convicted former Sheriff Mike Carona and at one

time worked as the Sheriff's Department's San Clemente chief of police services. Rounding out the field is

Anaheim Deputy Chief Craig Hunter, a 30-year police veteran with experience in many aspects of the job,

including administration, in one of the county's largest and most diverse cities.

 

Orange County sheriff candidate Craig Hunter.

 

We compared thWhile Ms. Hutchens has, at the very least, rehabilitated the stained reputation of the department,

and Mr. Hunt has a "tough cop" energy about him, the Register endorses Craig Hunter.e candidates' positions on

six issues: community policing, pension reform, immigration, budget management, jail management and gun

permits. Mr. Hunter's and Ms. Hutchens' outlook most closely aligned with ours on the first three categories. Mr.

Hunter expressed a stronger reform approach on pensions and new ideas for jail management. Ms. Hutchens

has done a credible job of improving practices and policies at the once-troubled Theo Lacy jail facility and she

supports a two-tiered pension system. Mr. Hunter manages a sizeable but arguably relatively stable budget; Ms.

Hutchens has overseen cuts to a much larger sheriff's budget.

Mr. Hunter has a long history in the county and is respected by the greater law enforcement community,

demonstrated by endorsements from a number of retired police chiefs. He is even-tempered and measured in

his leadership style and is the only candidate to abjure contributions from unions. On the issues, Mr. Hunter is a

strong advocate for the Second Amendment and exhibits the desire to buck the status quo and advocate for

sensible yet hard-to-achieve pension reform in the form of a 401(k)-like system for new deputies instead of

current unsustainable, defined-benefit pension plans.

Though we support Craig Hunter, Sheriff Hutchens is a close second. If it weren't for her misguided policy on gun

permits and the political missteps in the aftermath – the unnecessary show of police force at the Board of

Supervisors meeting where the issue was discussed – we might find our Editorial Board supporting Sheriff

Hutchens.

though we hope Mr. Hunter will make the cut.