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Life & Times Transcript

11/13/07

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

The rise and fall of Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona.

Peggy Lowe>> There was talk that Mike Carona would be a United States Senator. I mean, the future was so bright for this charming, talented, young guy coming out of Republican Orange County and now, of course, all those dreams are dead.

Val Zavala>> And then, she used to be the muse. Now she's an influential Latina artist. The amazing world of Patssi Valdez.

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> He has served in Orange County law enforcement for nearly three decades and he was considered a rising star, but now Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona is facing corruption charges serious enough to land him in jail. Roger Cooper takes a look back at the events that have gripped Orange County ever since federal indictments were handed down against their top cop.

Roger Cooper>> It was 2003 and, as Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona appeared on the Larry King Show, King hailed him as America's Sheriff for the quick capture of the man who murdered five year old Samantha Runion. But today four years later, Mike Carona is facing criminal charges and possible prison time.

Peggy Lowe>> This is a huge event in Orange County history. Essentially, people here have been comparing it to the 1994 bankruptcy, so it's that big a deal. We have a sheriff who has been indicted by the Feds on public corruption charges. That's huge. He's the county's top lawman.

Roger Cooper>> Orange County Register reporter Peggy Lowe has covered Sheriff Carona since he was first elected nearly a decade ago.

Peggy Lowe>> Also, of course, they had him, his wife and his alleged mistress -- long-time mistress is what the indictment said -- in belly chains in court the other day. So it was certainly an amazing day in Orange County when the sheriff is sitting in Federal Court in shackles.

Roger Cooper>> Following the arraignment, flanked by his wife, Sheriff Carona was vehement in proclaiming he is innocent.

Mike Carona>> "It's only been six days since the indictment was unsealed. It's only been a few moments ago when Judge Goldman finally said something that I've been waiting to say over those six days and that is not guilty."

Roger Cooper>> Lowe says that federal prosecutors spent a long time putting together a case that had to be approved at the highest levels in Washington.

Peggy Lowe>> Carona is charged with sort of a vast array of public corruption charges. These include accepting bribes essentially and then returning favors to his deep-pocketed friends because of these bribes. He's also charged with witness tampering because he tried to persuade his former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl to lie to the government. That's huge. He's also charged with conspiracy, along with his wife and his alleged mistress. So he faces, if convicted, a hundred years in jail, large legal fines, so it's very serious charges.

Roger Cooper>> Many were demanding that Carona resign. At first, he refused to even step down temporarily. Meanwhile, the Orange County Board of Supervisors was getting bombarded by the public demanding they do something.

Chris Norby>> "We're getting emails every day running about nine to one saying to do something about this, do something about the sheriff, make sure the sheriff is no longer in office. Of course, we're limited in terms of what we can do."

Roger Cooper>> Supervisor John Moorlach did try one thing. He proposed putting a measure before the voters giving the Supervisors power to remove a sheriff, but the measure failed to pass the board.

John Moorlach>> "I'm getting reports that Sheriff Carona has already requested or stated he would take a voluntary leave of absence."

Roger Cooper>> Then under mounting pressure, Carona announced that he was placing himself on paid administrative leave for sixty days. He named Under-Sheriff Jo Ann Galisky to run the department on a day-to-day basis. Moorlach is just one of a number of Orange County officials who now say that they have lost faith in Carona. You know the sheriff quite well over the years, a friend. What was your reaction to the indictment?

John Moorlach>> Just a lot of sadness, Roger. Michael and I do go way back many years we worked together.

Roger Cooper>> But Moorlach believes that Carona should go further and leave office.

John Moorlach>> If an elected official as a department head has this kind of activity going on in their lives, they're going to have a very difficult time dealing with the distractions and running their departments. If you're in this situation, I think it's best you resign.

Roger Cooper>> Carona will use his leave to prepare his defense. The case is being watched with great interest by former Sheriff's Lieutenant Bill Hunt. Hunt ran against Carona in 2006, losing a very close and bitter race.

Bill Hunt>> I think this is a ploy to buy time to try to stop the outcry for his resignation so that he can hide behind the department and use it and his office as a bargaining chip to secure a better plea arrangement.

Roger Cooper>> During the campaign, Hunt raised the issue of corruption.

Bill Hunt>> It's the issues and the scandals and the problems within the department that our people are being picked on for and that's unacceptable. It needs to be changed.

Mike Carona>> We've had other allegations that have been made against me. All those will prove to be false and everybody behind those has a political agenda.

Roger Cooper>> After his narrow victory, the re-elected Carona demoted and suspended Hunt who chose to leave the department. How does Hunt feel now?

Bill Hunt>> I feel vindicated in some sense that now people are paying attention to me and I'm a credible person to talk to. The things that I said, obviously, came to fruition.

Roger Cooper>> Hunt says that, in light of Carona's indictment, he will run again for Orange County Sheriff. Former candidate Ralph Martin may try again as well. In the meantime, the indictment remains the talk of Orange County.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer>> "I don't know anybody who doesn't know the sheriff who either considers him or have considered him a friend or somebody they respected who is a leader in this county. So to then open up the indictment and read the allegations, I have to tell you, I personally was floored."

Roger Cooper>> Moorlach and other supervisors say that they will keep looking for a way to exercise greater power over the Sheriff's Department.

John Moorlach>> We've gone through enough corruption here over the last, you know, hundred-plus years of our county's history. What have we learned and what can we do so that our successors have a tool in their tool chest to deal with some of this embarrassment? Otherwise, I am just as impotent as any voter here in the county. I'm a Supervisor running a county, but I can't do something about an elected official that's in legal criminal problems.

Roger Cooper>> There is also talk of a campaign to recall Carona.

Bill Hunt>> And this is a national embarrassment for us here in Orange County. I think we need to stop it and, if a recall is the only mechanism to do that, then I think it's a good thing.

Roger Cooper>> Peggy Lowe looks back and is amazed at how Carona's long enforcement career and promising political future could unravel so quickly.

Peggy Lowe>> Sheriff Mike Carona was the rising star in Orange County in 1998 when he was elected. He was quickly the darling of the media because of the Samantha Runion case. He became very popular with the Bush administration, for instance. President Bush put him on homeland security task forces.

Arnold Schwarzenegger became a buddy and there was talk that Carona would be the Lieutenant-Governor to Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was talk that Mike Carona would be a United States Senator. I mean, the future was so bright for this charming, talented, young guy coming out of Republican Orange County and now, of course, all those dreams are dead.

Roger Cooper>> But not everyone would agree. Dean Steward is Carona's attorney. He was asked recently whether Carona would resign or accept a plea bargain.

Dean Steward>> "But you've seen his resolve. I don't think so, given his demeanor. I mean, this is a man that wants to fight these charges with a capital "F"."

Roger Cooper>> And Carona had a reminder for the residents of Orange County and anyone who has heard the charges against him.

Mike Carona>> "In America, all of us has Americans, even the Sheriff of Orange County, has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Roger Cooper>> In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> The future of King Harbor Hospital, formerly King-Drew, is moving along. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week will narrow down the list of companies willing to take on the troubled medical center. As you recall, King-Drew was closed down after it was revealed that patients were mistreated and some even died. So will the new managers avoid the mistakes of the past?

For a frank discussion about what went wrong, we brought three people together at our Kitchen Table. Larry Aubry is a long-time Watts resident and activist who's been watching the decline of the hospital for years. Joe Hicks is a commentator and critic of the way King-Drew was run. And our moderator is David Lehrer of CommUnity Advocates.

David Lehrer>> What do you think it meant not only to the African American community, but generally to Los Angeles as a community, the closing of King-Drew and why did it happen?

Larry Aubry>> I think it meant for Los Angeles that Los Angeles doesn't really give a damn about poor folks and it means that poor folks don't even give a damn about themselves. It's a top to bottom deal that's a problem. It's not even one thing, although I think, frankly, the Board of Supervisors and, more particularly, Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, hold the major responsibility in this regard. I really do.

There's another dimension to this thing which many people don't realize. The community is more disadvantaged than we realize. For example, in the old days, everybody was in the same place working on stuff. Now the black middle class is essentially absent from this process.

Joe Hicks>> I actually agree with much of that. I mean, I think that Watts-Willow Brook community in South Los Angeles -- I mean, everybody knows the history. The hospital came in existence because there was no hospital there. That was one of the things that came out of the 1965 riots. There was no hospital for that vast expanse of territory called South Los Angeles and the hospital was put in Watts-Willow Brook. The tragedy, of course, is that community needs a hospital.

David Lehrer>> How did it get to the point where, you know, when the Los Angeles Times in its series of 2004, they chronicled case after case of people who were killed, who were maimed, who were just treated with terrible medical care. How was it allowed to fester so long? It's not like black leadership doesn't have a voice. It has a voice. How did it tolerate that kind of a hospital?

Larry Aubry>> The short answer is that the black elected officials are not held accountable except at the ballot box, okay? They were silent as lambs on this piece here.

Joe Hicks>> Right.

Larry Aubry>> I'm going to tell you something. Black elected officials said nothing, nothing.

Joe Hicks>> See, I think it wasn't so much that the leadership was silent. I think they were vocal in all the wrong issues. I find it astounding that some of the -- I've been a critic of the way the hospitals function because my standard was, damn it, that hospital needed to serve that population's needs and it was being called "killer King" for very specific reasons.

It wasn't being called "killer King" by people up in Brentwood. It was being called "killer King" by people living in the neighborhoods around that hospital, so they knew what the deal was. We had people defending the hospital when they should have been on the other side of the barricades saying, "Make this hospital work."

David Lehrer>> You wrote a letter to The Times saying that their series was racist. You wrote a letter to The Times when they wrote their series on King-Drew.

Larry Aubry>> I don't recall saying that. I very well could have because I felt -- see, what happens at the end of the line, you're talking about people -- I mean, I thought it was very biased, number one. I don't recall using racist then, but I may have and I will stand with that. Let me tell you something, if you don't know. Burke had staff that was assigned to Health Services to King specifically, etc.

Joe Hicks>> That's right.

Larry Aubry>> Do you know that that staff was so inept that they couldn't even deal with poor folks? I know the people on both sides. I know the community people that were involved who had complaints and I know the staff who really couldn't do it.

Joe Hicks>> That's right, that's right.

Larry Aubry>> What I'm saying is, I'm giving you a concrete example of a much broader, much more substantive, issue and the issue being service to those most in need. That's the issue. I'm telling you --

David Lehrer>> -- which one would have assumed would have been the priority. If you're an elected official covering that jurisdiction, one would assume that that's your priority, the kind of medical care that your constituents receive.

Larry Aubry>> But, my friend, you got to understand. Education is horrible in that area, horrible. It has been. I was on the school board adjacent to this place for nine years. I've been out there. I was education consultant for the county Human Relations Committee.

Education is as bad now in South Los Angeles as it was when I was there, when I was working there. So what I'm saying is that my point being the dynamics of King-Drew are all over the place. Education, housing, employment, police, name it. I'm telling you that, in my opinion, there's no substantive change out there.

Joe Hicks>> I think the problem started when the hospital got viewed as being a black hospital. It was kind of a prize of the riots, viewed as a black hospital to be run for black people --

Larry Aubry>> -- and the largest employer in South Los Angeles.

Joe Hicks>> And it got viewed as a JOBS program. You had a buffer of these racial politics that insulated the hospital from then being held accountable to the same kind of standards that all the other hospitals in the county chain were held up to. So rather than being viewed as a hospital to serve people that lived in the neighborhood, it took on another kind of atmosphere as being a political/medical institution representing something. Something might have been this plum from the Watts riots.

David Lehrer>> So if you were writing the script, what would you do now?

Larry Aubry>> You have to have a buy-in as to the cause or the purpose of this whole thing. I know that's difficult. You say, look, we want the hospital. You say you want it? Then you got to act like you want it. So you will not do the kinds -- you will be held accountable. If you're working at the hospital and you mess up, you're gone. You know, that type of thing, which means that maybe you'll have to bend the county rules a little bit in that area. I don't know.

But what I'm really saying is that it's almost like this was a non-priority, although you described it accurately as being that it came out of the ashes of 1965, blah, blah, blah, blah. The fact of the matter is, it was not a priority. It was a non-priority.

David Lehrer>> Well, clearly, the quality of the medical service wasn't a priority. Maybe the jobs were.

Joe Hicks>> But maybe it was never seen as a hospital. It was seen as a JOBS program. It was seen as an icon of the civil rights movement. I mean, after all, it had Dr. King's name all over it. So maybe it was seen as being all the wrong things as opposed to a damned hospital that needed to take care of sick people that got brought in the doors.

I think all this other stuff got hung around the hospital that I think, in some ways, combined to prevent it from being just a hospital. We don't think in political terms of Olive View. It's just a hospital sitting there. If you get sick, you go in and they take care of you.

David Lehrer>> Who is going to pay a price for what transpired? For this hospital being closed, whether it's for twelve months or eighteen months, people aren't going to get the services they need. People tolerated it for an awful long time. Is somebody going to pay a price for this politically?

Larry Aubry>> Unfortunately, I don't think so. I'm simply saying that it has not been a priority for those in positions of power. It has not been.

Joe Hicks>> But the first thing is the need. There is clearly a need. There's no way you can say we can't ever re-open a hospital in that community. It clearly needs it because otherwise you got people traveling too far. I mean, if you're in a car accident on the Harbor Freeway, you know. Do you want to get taken to USC Medical Center the other way down Harbor? That hospital needs to be re-opened in one way or another.

Then you got to figure how do you deal with the unions? A lot of them with civil service protections and SEIU protecting incompetent people. They weren't doing their jobs. I think that's going to be toughest charge. How do you avoid, you know, people saying, "Well, I'm a fifteen year county employee. Put me back to work." How do you deal with that?

Larry Aubry>> And if you remember, when the trauma center thing hit and they closed it down, since then, there's been no alternative plan put on the table by the community, by elected officials, by black elected officials, by health officials, no one. I know it's a complex issue, but you know what I'm trying to say? There was no alternative.

David Lehrer>> Well, we have no alternative, but to thank you both for joining us at the Kitchen Table. Thank you.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> Sometimes it takes an artist to know an artist, so we thought we'd ask one kind of artist to introduce us to another. Dan Guerrero is an actor, writer and producer. His father was the famous singer and songwriter, Lalo Guerrero.

When I asked Dan who one of his favorite Los Angeles painters was, he said without hesitating, "Patssi Valdez." Patssi Valdez is an internationally acclaimed artist. Her work is part of the Cheech Marin Chicano Collection. This self-portrait is featured on the catalog cover.

Dan Guerrero>> "Hey, Patssi. Anyone home?"

Patssi Valdez>> "Hi, Dan."

Val Zavala>> We tagged along with Dan Guerrero for a visit to Patssi's Silverlake studio.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Patssi's work expresses her idea of the essence of Mexican American home life, a rich environment alive with movement and deep colors.

Dan Guerrero>> Now one of your signatures, and you have many really because you're so multi-talented, but it's the swirling floor design which is so incredible. Where does that come from?

Patssi Valdez>> Well, basically, I started actually working with a healer and learning more about energy. Then I decided that I want to imbue the work with motion and movement and then I started to come up with these floors, with these swirls on the floor, and it added a lot of motion. People are always calling it topsy-turvy or turbulent, but --

Dan Guerrero>> -- well, it's not turbulent. It's very fluid.

Patssi Valdez>> No. It's just energetic.

Dan Guerrero>> This is incredible. Ceramics. When did you start this?

Patssi Valdez>> A couple of years ago. The reason I started is because I needed a break from the painting. Sometimes the painting is, I mean, really intense and very serious. So I actually just started doodling on these ceramics. They come out of a mold, so I don't sit there on a wheel, you know, throwing pots or anything (laughter).

Dan Guerrero>> (Laughter) You make it sound like a bad thing.

Patssi Valdez>> Well, it's just not my thing. I'll get too dirty. As in here, I started using real silver.

Dan Guerrero>> Can I pick it up?

Patssi Valdez>> Sure.

Dan Guerrero>> I drop it, I bought it, right?

Patssi Valdez>> I started using real silver and I have to wear a respirator and work outside. Then the firings, there's like about four firings here.

Dan Guerrero>> And you fired everything right here? You have a kiln?

Patssi Valdez>> Um-hum. Because I'm adding luster, you have to fire, then gold, and fire again, so it's many layers in here. Then I started experimenting with matte gold.

Dan Guerrero>> I'm noticing something here. I know you've told me before that, well, this is one of your paintings obviously, but that's a kind of self-portrait.

Patssi Valdez>> Definitely a self-portrait. Actually, my uncle was a Hollywood photographer and he used take pictures of me from early on. This is an exact photograph he took.

Dan Guerrero>> Really?

Patssi Valdez>> I found a little black and white in the family photo album. I just added the fissures on the floor and the ball.

[Film Clip]

Dan Guerrero>> Are you ever going to do an updated version of the little girl in the yellow dress? I mean, maybe who she grew up to be?

Patssi Valdez>> I don't know. I never really thought about that.

Dan Guerrero>> Well, you should think about it (laughter). It would be interesting.

Patssi Valdez>> It was interesting how popular she became.

Dan Guerrero>> Well, sure, and especially now that she's on the cover.

Patssi Valdez>> And she became a metaphor for a lot of Latinas somewhat in my age group. When they saw that image, they'd say, "That's me. That's me in that dress."

Dan Guerrero>> I'd like to see the little girl all grown up and especially if a lot --

Patssi Valdez>> -- dating and married (laughter)?

Dan Guerrero>> (Laughter) Oh, no. Maybe she's got a house by the sea. It has touched so many Latinas you say who say "That was me", it would be interesting to see who you would depict.

Patssi Valdez>> Yeah, maybe we'll take her into junior high next. I don't know what I'll do, but that's something for me to think about.

Dan Guerrero>> You know what I'd like to see? Because I know you're into filmmaking, you were doing that in the Asco years. But now with the new technology, you're kind of revisiting that. Can we take a look at that?

Patssi Valdez>> Sure, definitely. Let's come over here.

Dan Guerrero>> Filmmaking today, I mean, it's a whole different world. You're not out with a camera in the streets doing these things. That's you, I know, but how are you doing this?

Patssi Valdez>> What I did is I got a lot of still photographs because I was a photographer also. So I took a lot of my still photography and then I inputted it into iMovie and I animated it and added soundtrack and these special effects. I've been making these little short films.

Val Zavala>> Patssi's adventurous nature goes back to her youth. She went to Garfield High in East Los Angeles known as a hotbed of Chicano politics. In the 1970s, she met fellow artists, Harry Gamboa, Willie Herron and Gronk. They formed an avant-garde artist group called Asco, which means nausea in Spanish. As part of Asco, Patssi was a performance artist, costume designer, photographer and a muse for her creative colleagues.

Dan Guerrero>> So let me ask you how this sweet little girl in a yellow dress becomes this wild woman?

Patssi Valdez>> Dan, I wasn't wild. I was a creative artist experimenting with costume design.

Dan Guerrero>> You're telling me those high heels aren't wild (laughter)? This was --

Patssi Valdez>> -- no. Right here, I was acting out a role because I actually had aspirations to become a movie actress. But in my youth, there were really no roles for movie actresses.

Dan Guerrero>> There are barely roles for Latinos today, let alone --

Patssi Valdez>> -- exactly, so I would act out some dramatic scene that I wished I was playing.

Dan Guerrero>> One of my favorite photographs. Tell me about that photograph.

Patssi Valdez>> Well, this was one of the last photographs that I allowed Harry Gamboa to take of me. I actually was turning thirty years old.

Dan Guerrero>> You look like a baby.

Patssi Valdez>> I went in my back yard. We cut this leaf off. My mom grew these enormous flowered plants. I just draped some cut fabric on myself. This photograph became very popular, actually. I think Harry sold quite a few of those.

Dan Guerrero>> Thank you so much for letting us invade this beautiful little hallowed ground where you create all your fantastic images.

Patssi Valdez>> Anytime. You're always welcome back to the hood (laughter).

Dan Guerrero>> How about a week from Tuesday (laughter)?

Patssi Valdez>> (Laughter) Well, that's a little too soon. I'm leaving town.

Dan Guerrero>> Thank you.

Patssi Valdez>> Bye.

Val Zavala>> If you'd like to see more of Patssi's work, you can go to her website at patssivaldez.com. That's p-a-t-s-s-i. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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