Michael Schroeder a political consultant and adviser to both Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Mike Carona is believed by the Attorney General to have allegedly tried concealing illegal solicitations.

The state attorney general's office filed court papers Tuesday claiming that  prominent political consultant and adviser working for Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona attempted to cover up alleged illegal solicitations of campaign contributions.

The documents presented were filed in the pending criminal case of Capt. Christine Murray, who was indicted by the attorney general two months ago charging 16 misdemeanor counts of soliciting donations illegally from Orange County Sheriff's Department officers and other employees.

According to the L.A. Times Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Gary W. Schons said in the papers that he had concluded that after his office began investigating the fundraising, Murray engaged in a cover-up with the help of Michael Schroeder, the former chairman of the California Republican Party who serves as a spokesman and advisor to Carona.

Schons based his allegation on a statement Schroeder gave to the Orange County Register in May, when the newspaper reported that the attorney general's office was investigating Murray's fundraising. It's illegal for government employees to solicit campaign contributions from fellow employees.

In the Register article, Schroeder said Murray's activities were independent of Carona's reelection campaign and that she was asked to stop when the campaign heard about it.

"I caught wind of it and called her," Schroeder is quoted as saying. "She confirmed she had asked for money. The situation was addressed and corrected."

Conflict in stories surfaced three months later during the AG's investigation where Schroeder signed an affidavit stating he had been misquoted by the Register. In the affidavit he said Murray had actually told him she asked employees if they wanted to endorse the sheriff but had not asked them to make a monetary contribution.

Schons said he "viewed this as a clumsy and transparent attempt by Mr. Schroeder, in league with Murray, to cover up what had become an embarrassment for the campaign and for Murray," the motion says. Further, Schons found it "dubious that a responsible news outlet like the Register would have so grossly misquoted Mr. Schroeder."

"Surely, if Mr. Schroeder, a savvy political operative, had been misquoted by a newspaper reporter accusing a high-ranking sheriff's officer and Carona campaign supporter of committing a crime," either Schroeder, Murray or a representative would have immediately sought a correction, and not have waited three months to finally set the record straight, "when a criminal prosecution was imminent."

Schroeder responding dismissed the allegation as baseless. He maintained that the Register misquoted him but that he didn't seek a retraction because "I typically don't in something like this."

He said he found it regrettable that Schons "has elected to engage in such irresponsible speculation and conjecture." He said Schons didn't contact him about the matter.

Schroeder is a well-known political consultant in Orange County and considered a longtime leader in local Republican Party circles. He served as chairman of the state GOP in 1997. 


Murray's attorney, Jennifer Keller had filed a motion requesting the case against Murray be dismissed. In opposition to Murray's request that the case be dismissed the AG's office filed documents contending that an internal sheriff's review found that Murray had improperly downloaded an employee list with home addresses and telephone numbers from a computer in  sheriff Mike Carona's own exclusive executive office. Murray apparently then used the information to solicit donations illegally.

The AG's office agreed to investigate the case after they learned of the potential conflict of interest created by Schroeder himself playing such key dual roles as an advisor to Carona and Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas.

According to the attorney general's investigator 48 officers and employees were contacted as part of the on going investigation. Of those, 18 said they'd been asked for a contribution by Murray. More witnesses are expected to come forward.

Schons claimed he tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to get Murray's side of the story, the court document goes on to say. One of her attorneys finally sent him a letter that included Schroeder's affidavit and nine identical "form" affidavits that Schons believes were drafted by someone other than the employees who signed them.

Each affidavit attested that Murray had called seeking an endorsement for Carona but did not ask for cash and that she had advised those she called that the sheriff would not accept contributions from employees.

Schons noted that this contradicted the sheriff's own campaign reports, which show that Murray and at least one other employee had each donated $100 to Carona.

He also concluded that Murray did not appear apologetic and was "prepared to mislead if not outright lie to avoid responsibility."

For related stories click the following:

ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF AND HIGH RANKING ELECTED OFFICIALS UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE FEDS AND THE CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL