Just after Orange County supervisors selected Sandra Hutchens as the first woman ever to lead the county's troubled Sheriff's Department, Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante sidled up to a conservative blogger with a joke.
"I kept telling the chief," he said, referring to Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, who narrowly lost the sheriff's job, " 'Maybe we should get you some implants. Or a water bra.' "
In the immediate aftermath of Hutchens' selection Tuesday, some of Orange County's politicos and commentators -- particularly Republican men -- have openly asserted that Hutchens was chosen on the basis of gender over qualification. The conservative Red County blog said it was a "gender-driven appointment." The editorial page of the Orange County Register called her selection "an affirmative-action hire."
Their positions are based in part on the fact that two of the supervisors who voted for Hutchens are women and that members of a Republican women's group with ties to the two female board members launched an aggressive -- and ultimately successful -- lobbying effort to get Hutchens appointed.
Despite Orange County's reputation as a conservative stronghold, Hillary Clinton was the top vote-getter in the county in the presidential primary this year. But to some, the comments about the new sheriff dredged up stereotypes of what they thought was a bygone era of Orange County politics, in which Republican men called the shots and were loath to share power.
"You'll always find a few die hards out there," said Marian Bergeson, a former county supervisor, state legislator and education secretary under Gov. Pete Wilson.
Joan Irvine Smith, the heiress to the James Irvine land fortune and one of the most powerful women in Orange County, said, "Well, you do have people that are averse to women holding responsible jobs."
Steve Wilkinson, a 26-year veteran sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles County who once worked for Hutchens, said he was surprised by the comments. "It's time for Orange County to get away from this good-old-boy syndrome," he said.
Bustamante, contacted Wednesday, denied making the joke about Walters needing implants, though the remark was clearly heard by a Times reporter during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
