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Life & Times Transcript
07/31/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- He won the election, then suspended his opponent. Is Orange County's sheriff retaliating? Judi Fouladi>> The clear message is being sent to would-be opponents of Mike Carona, "If you mess with me, you will pay." Mike Carona>> There's no vindictiveness going on. If there were vindictiveness, I have the legal authority to reduce Mr. Hunt or to terminate Mr. Hunt going back from the day that he filed. Val Zavala>> And then, Disneyland's unauthorized history is told through the family album of commentator, Cris Franco. These stories and more 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>> Orange County's sheriff has been plagued with controversies, conflicts and allegations of scandal, but everyone thought things would settle down for Sheriff Mike Carona after the election, but they haven't. Maybe that's because Carona suspended the lieutenant who ran against him and now there's talk of a recall. Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, has our story. Roger Cooper>> As political campaigns go, the race for Orange County Sheriff was a bitter battle that got personal. 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>> Sheriff Mike Carona was dogged by allegations of scandal in his department and failed to get the endorsement of the deputies' union. His strongest challenger came from the ranks of his own department, Lieutenant Bill Hunt. Bill Hunt>> To me, politics takes a back seat to public safety. Mike Carona>> There are a number of people out there that want to keep the negative things that have occurred in the headlines. Roger Cooper>> But late on election night, June 6, after all the votes were counted, Carona emerged with a narrow victory, 50.9 percent, just enough to avoid a runoff and give Carona a third term as sheriff. There were calls from Carona for healing and, after a long and hostile campaign, everyone went to bed thinking the fight was finally over. They were wrong. The very next morning, the sheriff placed his chief political opponent, Lieutenant Bill Hunt, on administrative leave. Hunt supporters like Tim Whitacre were stunned. Tim Whitacre>> The men and women agreed, endorsed an individual in the department over the incumbent sheriff, ran a good credible campaign and, less than twenty-four hours after the elections closed on the sixth, he's put on administrative leave. That's wrong. Roger Cooper>> The attorney for Sheriff Carona said Hunt was placed on leave pending an investigation into accusations he made against Carona during the campaign. At issue, whether Hunt's campaign criticisms went beyond protected freedom of speech and into an area that could subject Hunt to employment discipline. What can you say to the people who think there's vindictiveness going on? Mike Carona>> There's no vindictiveness going on. If there were vindictiveness, I had the legal authority to reduce Mr. Hunt or to terminate Mr. Hunt going back from the day that he filed. Roger Cooper>> Sheriff Carona says he waited until the day after the election to put Hunt on leave so as not to influence the vote. Mike Carona>> I chose not to do that. I let the process work through. But during the campaign, there were a number of statements that were made or a number of actions that were taken. All those need to be reviewed to determine whether he should go back into a policy position. Roger Cooper>> But exactly what Hunt said or did is not being made public. Carona says he's prevented by law from revealing that during the investigation. Attorney Judi Fouladi doesn't speak for Lieutenant Hunt now, but did represent him during the campaign. Judi Fouladi>> This is just continuing with a climate of retaliation and a climate of fear and a culture of fear that's being fostered and generated in the Sheriff's Department whereby the clear message is being sent to would-be opponents of Mike Carona, "If you mess with me, you will pay and you will pay dearly." Roger Cooper>> Some of the fallout from Sheriff Carona's suspension of his former political opponent can be felt here in the South County in San Clemente. San Clemente contracts with the Sheriff's Department for its police services and Lieutenant Bill Hunt functioned as San Clemente's police chief. From this substation, Lieutenant Hunt oversaw fifty-six deputies who patrolled the city of San Clemente. Wayne Eggleston>> I think it's viewed by many as political retribution. Roger Cooper>> Mayor Wayne Eggleston is among many in this seaside community who have come to their police chief's defense. Wayne Eggleston>> I know that, in fact, this community has very supportive of Lieutenant Bill Hunt. He's done a superb job for us in San Clemente. He's been very responsive. He's been very community-oriented and people just love him here in San Clemente. Roger Cooper>> The City Council came to his defense. Wayne Eggleston>> Yes, they sure did with a resolution. The resolution says, in effect, that Bill Hunt has done a superb job in San Clemente and we want this issue resolved as quickly as possible and him returned to San Clemente as our police chief. Roger Cooper>> But some say the fallout hasn't stopped with Lieutenant Hunt. A Sheriff's Training Academy instructor claims he was fired because he supported Hunt and two probationary deputies who also backed Hunt say they received reassignments. Mike Carona>> You've cited other than Mr. Hunt two other individuals who suffered their probation not moving forward. It had nothing to do with politics. That's where the probation was. In fact, one of them has been restored. Roger Cooper>> In the midst of all this, even Sheriff Carona's outside attorney came under scrutiny. >> "And this is not about questioning the sheriff in any way. It's more about the Board's relationship with the firm of Jones and Mayer and clarifying exactly what that relationship is." Roger Cooper>> In mid-June, the Orange County Board of Supervisors decided to look into attorney Marvin Mayer's contract with the county. It was Mayer who advised Sheriff Carona that he could put Lieutenant Hunt on leave. The Supervisors meeting drew plenty of citizens with strong feelings for and against Carona's actions. Mary Young>> "And we are here to support the sheriff. We've known the sheriff for fifteen years and he's a good man and he's a great sheriff." Karen Finn>> "This is like an episode right out of "The Dukes of Hazzard". Don't allow Mike Carona to be big Boss Hogg of Orange County. Neither this sheriff or any other elected official should be allowed to waste taxpayer dollars for political retribution. This is an outrage." Stephen Vargas>> "You can have opposing views, but you cannot go out in public and directly smear and take opposition with legitimate public policy that the sheriff is instructed to carry out." Tim Whitacre>> The man's got to know his limitations. I would you as Supervisors to help this sheriff know his limitations when it comes to abusing taxpayer dollars. Thank you." Roger Cooper>> Sheriff Carona himself came before the Supervisors to explain Lieutenant Hunt's suspension, but citing legal limitations that he couldn't disclose exactly what Hunt was being investigated for. Mike Carona>> "There are a lot of things I can't say and it frustrates the press because they say, "Well, Sheriff, tell us what's going on." I can't because I'm precluded by law. However, there are certain things that, vetting it through our attorneys, we can say and I'm very cautious in doing that." Roger Cooper>> In the end, after receiving some clarifications, the Supervisors decided to continue their contract with Carona's outside attorney. But the battle may be opening on a new front. Opponents are angry about Lieutenant Hunt's suspension and, buoyed by Carona's narrow margin of victory, they say they will launch an effort to recall the sheriff. Tim Whitacre>> There is a group of us that are outraged with the lack of accountability and government and it's going to be even bigger than a recall. Yes, we're looking at recall and we've already pulled our papers. Roger Cooper>> And what about San Clemente? In light of Hunt's suspension, will the city renew its contract with the sheriff to provide police protection? Wayne Eggleston>> It's just really too early to tell. I'm just one out of five council members. I would hope that Sheriff Mike Carona sees the light and does the right thing. Mike Carona>> None of this is retribution. It's just the normal process. What's interesting for all of you is that it's taking place on the heels of an election and people out there, because they have their own political viewpoints, are trying to spin that in terms of some type of retribution. It just simply isn't. Roger Cooper>> The twists and turns of this political soap opera have now been extended into a whole new act and television producers, looking for the next "The O.C.", could find plenty of material for a pilot by just reading the headlines. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> Lieutenant Hunt could be disciplined, fired or reinstated. Some kind of action is expected over the next few weeks. 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". Toni Guinyard>> And now for this update of a Life and Times story. In March, we told you about efforts to put an oil company tax on the ballot. The measure would tax every barrel of oil extracted from wells within California with revenues going to fund clean alternative energy research and sources like hydrogen and electric cars, wind and solar power. Now the Clean Alternative Energy Initiative has qualified for the November ballot with about twice the number of necessary signatures. Supporters say it will help cut gas use in California by twenty-five percent over ten years, but opponents say the tax will hurt the state's general fund, create more bureaucracy and possibly push gas prices higher even though the initiative prohibits companies from passing on the tax to customers. Voters will have the final say this November. Val Zavala>> How is it that one winding road in the Hollywood hills became the shared address of rock stars like Jim Morrison, Carole King, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, and others? Well, in the 1960's, believe it or not, they all lived along Laurel Canyon. Well, now a new book reveals that era. Saul Gonzalez talks with journalist, Michael Walker, author of "Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood". Saul Gonzalez>> For a lot of Angelenos, Laurel Canyon is simply a way to get from the San Fernando Valley to West Hollywood and West Los Angeles, but it's also rock and roll's holy ground. Tell us about that. Michael Walker>> Oh, yeah. Starting in 1965 and running up to mid-1970s, this was probably one of the most hottest towns in the world and the amount of music that was created in Laurel Canyon during that time is fairly impressive. When you think of the bands that either lived here in fact or in spirit, I mean, The Byrds and members of The Doors lived here and Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell lived in their sort of enchanted cabin up on Lookout Mountain where the song "Our House" was written. David Crosby and Mama Cass Elliot and the list goes on and on and on. Saul Gonzalez>> In the assemblage of rock and roll greats who gathered here, who came to call this canyon home, how did they change rock music and how did they change American music? What was created here that really changed the music industry as we know it at that time? Michael Walker>> The folk rock movement really kind of got started in Laurel Canyon. There had been early rumblings of this in San Francisco with the Beau Brummels, but it really started with The Byrds. [Film Clip] Michael Walker>> The folk rock musicians were very instrumental in changing American music. They were using some of the harmonies of The Beatles and some of the forces of rock music in melding it with the folk music traditions. They were marrying the folk traditions of sort of the balladeer lyrics with very, very rich harmony, three and sometimes four part harmony. Saul Gonzalez>> And was that Los Angeles's contribution to American rock and roll history? The sound that came out of this canyon? Michael Walker>> Yeah, Laurel Canyon was where all these people came together. It was kind of like the bedroom community for the Sunset Strip. At night, everyone would go down to the clubs on the Strip, especially to The Troubadour. It was like a second home for everybody. But you had the situation where you could live up here or just crash up here. A lot of people were in and out of here like crazy. They didn't really have a permanent residence. Saul Gonzalez>> Kind of like gypsies. Michael Walker>> Yeah, and then you'd write songs together and you'd play together and you'd get high together and do all these things together, fall in love and live together. Then at night, the whole thing would move down to the Sunset Strip. Saul Gonzalez>> This canyon and its community of rock and roll titans had a kind of father figure and it was Frank Zappa, right? Michael Walker>> Yeah. Frank lived here most of his professional life from like his mid-twenties on until he died in -- I can't remember what year he died, but he was very young. He wasn't even fifty yet. But he had his cabin that his wife, Gail, had rented for him. He had been in New York doing sort of a long-term performance with the Mothers of Invention Band. Gail came back ahead of him and found this crazy little log cabin at the corner of Lookout Mountain. It's gone now. It burned in 1981. It became this sort of magnet for everybody. Musicians of all sorts and stripes and levels of sobriety and competence would just sort of tumble in. The irony, of course, is that Frank Zappa was completely straight. He didn't take drugs. I don't think he even drank. Saul Gonzalez>> And if Frank Zappa was kind of the father figure of the canyon, Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Poppas, Mama Cass was kind of the matriarch of the canyon, right? Michael Walker>> Oh, yeah, she absolutely was. She was so important as an artist, first of all, but she would have made a great artist manager because she was this kind of great meddling mother figure, as Graham Nash remembers. They were very, very great friends. He remembers her being this really big beautiful chicken, he said, with these big wings and sort of gathering all the little chicks together at her house up on Woodrow Wilson and making sure that this one cooled down and this one's not mad at this one. So her house up there was this place for these guys who were young, ambitious guys and there was a peace and love mantle, but these guys were ambitious and competitive guys. They wouldn't have admitted it to each other at the time. This was sort of a neutral ground where they could all go, you know, and eat and swim. She was a great hostess and she loved putting people together like when she put together Crosby, Stills and Nash for the first time probably in her living room. Eric Clapton came to town with Cream and didn't know anybody. She would immediately, you know, pull them up to the place and had a party for them. Everybody remembers her very, very fondly as this great mother figure and they were very sad when she died. Saul Gonzalez>> In your book, you certainly don't over-romanticize the place and you write quite honestly about what went wrong here. When did things start falling apart and, in terms of this rock and roll Shangri-La, what caused it to fly apart really? Michael Walker>> It was basically money and drugs. I don't quite know which order they would be in. They were concurrent. The money was problematic in that it allowed people to leave. Saul Gonzalez>> People became millionaires. Michael Walker>> Yeah. This kind of money was unprecedented. No one thought that musicians in Los Angeles could earn that kind of money. Rock musicians? It was inconceivable at the time. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had earned a lot of money mostly for other people. But the money came first. I mean, Gene Clark of The Byrds one time just said, "It split us up like an atom." It just ruined the band in a lot of ways. So the money was there and, with the money, came the bags that come with it at that time. There was a lot of heavy drug use started and, between those two things -- Saul Gonzalez>> -- yeah, you write a lot about -- but there was always drug use in the canyon. But you write about just the effect of cocaine in particular as kind of being the bad drug in contrast to the good drugs of acid and LSD. Why did cocaine have such an effect on these people? Michael Walker>> It was Mark Volman of The Turtles who had a very smart thing to say about that. He said that, in the 1960s, the drugs that most musicians and the people in the canyon and elsewhere were using were sharable drugs like acid and peyote and marijuana and they encouraged people to sit down and talk to each other. Cocaine had the opposite effect on people. It's very expensive. They get secretive about the use. You don't want to share it anymore. It costs too much. So it's down to you and your little retinue and pretty soon it's down to just you and your dealer. A lot of people started putting walls up around themselves and it just encouraged a sort of gray decadence. The colors had been really beautiful. If you think of Laurel Canyon colors, they would have been beautiful paisleys and reds and vibrant yellows, but in the late 1970s, it had just gotten grim and gray. Saul Gonzalez>> Gray and black and dull. Michael Walker>> Yeah. Saul Gonzalez>> What are the lessons that you draw about American music, about the rock and roll scene, about Los Angeles from the experience of these people in those years in this city? Michael Walker>> I think that it just shows that a sense of place is important to creativity. These people that lived and worked here in that time really, really believed in what they were doing. They absolutely worked extremely hard and made very little money and essentially broke when they got here. But they really and truly believed that what they were doing was important and that they really wanted to express themselves. They didn't go out and do market research. They just did it. They really believed in their talent and they weren't afraid to work hard for it. Frank Zappa's incredible work ethic was that you have a finite time to make your art. Some people would say that it's a stretch, but I don't think it is at all. I think it's a great popular culture and it hasn't been equaled in many cases since. Saul Gonzalez>> Michael Walker, author of "Laurel Canyon", thanks so much for joining me and telling us so much about both Los Angeles history and music history. Michael Walker>> It was great. 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>> This summer, the number one tourist destination for out-of-towners will be Disneyland. Now for many of us natives, that means packing Aunt Ferdy in the back seat and heading to Anaheim. But as Life and Times commentator, Cris Franco, tells us, that prospect wasn't an obligation in his family. It was an addiction. Cris Franco>> In my childhood, any time a relative came from Mexico to visit, my dad treated them and our entire family to a day at Disneylandia, as he called it. Coming from a large extended familia, these frequent trips to the happiest place on earth always became the highlight of our relative's visit and today they trigger many fond and fun memories because everything at Disneylandia was fun including the first thing you see upon entering: the parking lot. Yeah! You might end up getting a space in Section D for Donald or G for Goofy or I for I'm Lost. For four year old me in the parking lot, it looked huge. So was the entrance fee. Three dollars and fifty cents for a child and five dollars for an adult. As my dad would say, "Wow!" Our first trips to Disneylandia were just my immediate family. Here's the main cast of characters. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> No, no, no, the other cast of characters. My mom and sisters, Louise, Marta, Maria and me, and baby Rachel. Dad was there too, but he was always behind the lens. The first relative we took to Disneylandia was our crazy Aunt Clara. Here she is on the Utopia. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> Clara never did learn to drive. This first ride aboard the Submarine Voyage is very memorable because, no sooner did we get in, baby Rachel had some sort of World War I U-Boat flashback and she began crying really loud. It was like "Wah, wah, wah." So loud that we all got off right away. Though we begged her every time we went for twenty years, Mom never boarded the Matterhorn. Obviously, she continued to do what mothers continue to do to this day: wait outside while holding all their kids' sweaters and stuff. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> My mom always said that I was an angel as a child, but take a look at this. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> Oh, I remember why I, little angel Cris, punched that little pig. He was the one who kept chasing my sister, Louise, all around Fantasyland. Louise never liked pork. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> According to Dad, no trip to Fantasylandia was complete without the miniature world of The Storybook Canal Boat. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> And at this point, Dad would make reference to my Uncle Sal's diminutive stature by saying, "Hey, if my brother Sal moves to the United States, he can live there." Uncle Sal ultimately did immigrate, but he chose to live in Van Nuys instead. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> That's my sister, Marta, with Dopey. Marta's on the left. Upon my grandmother Estelle's visit to Disneylandia, we kids were cautioned about how old and frail she was. Right. I sat next to her during the Flight to the Moon ride where she became terrified and held on to my arm with a vise-like grip for the duration of the entire five-minute voyage to the moon and back. Once off the ride, I told my mom, "Grandma isn't frail. She almost broke my arm." In 1966, we took my father's mother, Grandma Armalita, and my cousins Javier and Judy, to see the magic sights. Hey, check out Mark Simpson in the background. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> Hey, hey, we're the Monkeys. Dad once astutely noticed that the House of the Future resembled a giant wheel of cheese with a big slice missing. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> We'd never miss Monsanto's ride to Inner Space and, of course, especially the Carousel of Progress. You know, now that I think of it, that ride accurately predicted man's future. Today there are a lot of fake plastic-looking people. By my twelfth birthday, my older sisters were too busy with homework and boyfriends to join our cousin Eva and us for a most memorable Disneylandia visit, our stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Yeah! We got to spend two days in Anaheim heaven to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride which slightly confused my Mexican parents. See, to them, the Caribbean meant Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba. Did they really expect to see Celia Cruz wearing an eye patch singing, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me"? Years later, Dad took my Mom's sister and her three boys all dressed alike. I called them Huey, Dewey and Louie all day. [Film Clip] Cris Franco>> Today, many of the good old rides are gone forever, like the pack mules, the speed boats, Captain Hook's amazing pirate ship, the Skyway, but many favorites still remain. Dumbo still flies over Fantasyland. The wildly spinning Mad Tea Party continues to cause joy, regrets and indigestion, in that order. The rocket ships, though redesigned, still soar high over Tomorrowland. Main Street is still alive with turn-of-the-century entertainment. And the Jungle Cruise guy still tells those same awful jokes, "The hippos are only dangerous when they wiggle their ears. Oh, no! They're wiggling their ears! They're wiggling their ears!" I had to shoot them. They were attacking the boat. And as the years sped by, my dad continued to treat my aunts, uncles and cousins to Disneylandia. It's a shame that the man who made these trips possible is barely seen in these family pictures and home movies. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The best part about those Disneylandia days was watching my hyper-responsible workaholic dad who survived an impoverished, tough childhood finally letting go and having fun. Funny, dad and I went to Disneylandia for the same reasons, to watch each other act like a kid. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Well, Cris, that explains a lot. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, 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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