The OC's Weiner Controversy

Posted by CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - By now, those who do know  the Greek tragedy-like plot of how Representative (D) Anthony D. Weiner, a once-promising politician whose Brooklyn roots and scrappy style made him a leading candidate to be the next mayor of New York, resigned his seat,  ending a three-week scandal over his lewd online behavior most probably live undeer the proverbial rock.

Then there is the Chinese Weiner:  a Chinese government official, Xie Zhiqiang, head of the Liyang City Sanitation Bureau, was fired  after he was discovered using Weibo, a Chinese Facebook-like, to arrange an illicit rendezvous with a woman presumed to be his mistress, apparently unaware that messages posted to the site were visible to the public.

In Orange County, retired Police Chief  Paul Lawrence Wadley pleaded guilty yesterday, June 22, 2011, to misdemeanors for prowling and vehicle tampering, for which he was sentenced to three years of formal probation, 150 hours of community service, and fines, according to the Orange County District Attorney's (OCDA) office.

In a statement released today, the OCDA disputes disputes an OC Weekly story alleging hypocricy in the department:

 "  the OC Weekly published an online story by reporter Matt Coker entitled "[UPDATED with Limp Wrist Slap:] Paul Lawrence Wadley, Retired Police Chief, Left Nude Photos and Exposed His Junk on Park Trails." This story falsely states that the Orange County District Attorney's Office (OCDA) negotiated a plea agreement with a retired police chief, Paul Lawrence Wadley, who was prosecuted by the Anaheim City Attorney's Office.   The OC Weekly erroneously claims that the OCDA gave the defendant a "wrist slap" because he was a Caucasian former member of law enforcement and that the defendant would have received a greater sentence if he had been "young, black and/or undocumented." 

For his part, Mr. Coker responds to the OCDA's statement in essence standing by the story.

In this particualr case, it appears that the substantive public safety issue is that the disgraced Chief recevied a much tougher sentence than Representative Weiner.   Further, we continue to argue that public safety is more a function of local governance than enforcement, and in this respect we applaud the OCDA for his support local governance.