The state attorney general's office suggests in court papers filed Tuesday that a prominent political consultant working for Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona tried to help cover up alleged illegal solicitations of campaign contributions.
The papers were filed in the case against Capt. Christine Murray, who was indicted two months ago by the attorney general on 16 misdemeanor counts of soliciting donations from fellow Sheriff's Department employees.
Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Gary W. Schons said in the papers that he had concluded that after his office began investigating the fundraising, Murray engaged in a cover-up with the help of Michael Schroeder, the former chairman of the California Republican Party who serves as a spokesman and advisor to Carona.
Schons based his allegation on a statement Schroeder gave to the Orange County Register in May, when the newspaper reported that the attorney general's office was investigating Murray's fundraising. It's illegal for government employees to solicit campaign contributions from fellow employees.
In the Register article, Schroeder said Murray's activities were independent of Carona's reelection campaign and that she was asked to stop when the campaign heard about it.
"I caught wind of it and called her," Schroeder is quoted as saying. "She confirmed she had asked for money. The situation was addressed and corrected."
But three months later, Schroeder signed an affidavit saying he had been misquoted by the Register. He said Murray had actually told him she asked employees if they wanted to endorse the sheriff but had not asked them to make a monetary contribution.
Schons said he "viewed this as a clumsy and transparent attempt by Mr. Schroeder, in league with Murray, to cover up what had become an embarrassment for the campaign and for Murray," the motion says. Further, Schons found it "dubious that a responsible news outlet like the Register would have so grossly misquoted Mr. Schroeder."
"Surely, if Mr. Schroeder, a savvy political operative, had been misquoted by a newspaper reporter accusing a high-ranking sheriff's officer and Carona campaign supporter of committing a crime," either Schroeder, Murray or a representative would have immediately sought a correction, and not have waited three months to finally set the record straight, "when a criminal prosecution was imminent."
