Orange County narrows its finalists for sheriff to 2
Either Sandra Hutchens, a retired official with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, or Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters will be named next week to replace disgraced former Sheriff Michael Carona.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors today selected two finalists to become the county's next sheriff -- retired Los Angeles County sheriff's Division Chief Sandra Hutchens and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters.
Supervisors voted to have background checks conducted on each finalist before making their final decision June 10. The new sheriff will succeed former Sheriff Michael S. Carona, who resigned in January after he was indicted on federal corruption charges. Carona, who has pleaded not guilty, said he needed to focus his attention on his upcoming corruption trial.
The decision comes as a blow to Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson, who had lobbied hard to take over the state's second largest sheriff's department. Anderson will continue to run the department for the next two weeks. He had been one of nine finalists seeking the supervisors' endorsement to become the next sheriff.
Supervisor Chris Norby unsuccessfully argued that the board should make its decision today, to avoid a continued leadership void in the department.
"I believe that Paul Walters is the superior of the two finalists. I think it's time to move forward," Norby said. "I'm ready to move forward. To fail to do so is to continue a worse situation in that department than we've had before."
Norby added: "Acting Sheriff Anderson is not going to be the next Orange County sheriff. We owe it to him and the department to know who he's going to work with as a successor."
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