No such word as gratitude in the world of politics

ROBERT GARDNER

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Pilot has agreed to republish The Verdict,

the ever popular column written for many years by retired Corona del

Mar jurist and historian Robert Gardner, in exchange for donations to

the Surfrider Foundation. This particular column was originally

published Jan. 9, 1993.

The recent death of former Sheriff Jim Musick brings up memories

of the biggest political flap in pre-World War II Orange County --

the “Fools Rush In” imbroglio of the 1938 election.

For background, the big seats at stake were those of sheriff and

district attorney. Sheriff Logan Jackson was being challenged by

Santa Ana Marshall Jesse Elliot, while Dist. Atty. Bill Menton faced

a number of opponents, including Anaheim City Attorney George Holden.

Other offices were on the ballot, but these were the two big ones.

Just before the primary, an anonymous pamphlet entitled “Fools

Rush In” appeared. It discussed all the candidates but obviously was

aimed at supporting Menton and Jackson and tearing down Elliot and

Holden. It said nice things about Menton and Jackson and bad things

about Elliot and Holden. Actually, it was very well written, and it

contained some amazingly accurate evaluations of some of the

candidates. It also was highly libelous concerning some of the people

discussed.

It didn’t take long to unearth the printers of the pamphlet, who

were promptly arrested. But the big search was for the anonymous

author.

For some mysterious reason, that part of the investigation fell

into the hands of two recent USC graduates, Deputy Sheriff Jim Musick

and Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Gardner. We had been friends from college

days. I do not know just why we were assigned this particular

investigation, but we surmise that Jackson and Menton decided we were

so young that we would be above suspicion and too dumb to identify

and locate the author of the pamphlet. If we did, and it turned out

to be someone in their political camp, they were dead.

From the writing style, Jim and I were fairly sure we knew who was

the author, a deputy in the sheriff’s office. However, our suspicions

hardly qualified as proof.

The pamphlet discussed in some detail an old Los Angeles bribery

case as its background for its basic premise that former Orange

County Dist. Atty. S.E. Kaufman was the underworld boss of Orange

County and controlled both Elliot and Holden. Kaufman knew the

charges were ridiculous and thought the whole thing was funny. Elliot

and Holden were not amused.

So, junior G-men Musick and Gardner trotted up to Los Angeles and

to the newspaper morgue of the Los Angeles Times for a bit of

detective work. And who do you think had been up there making copies

of news accounts of the old bribery trial? Our suspect, the Orange

County deputy sheriff.

Next we went to the county clerk’s office and discovered that the

same Orange County deputy sheriff had been there and had made copies

of some of the records of that old case. Interestingly enough, much

of that court record from the old Los Angeles case was quoted

verbatim in the offending pamphlet.

When we returned to Orange County with our information, Jackson

and Menton had no choice but to arrest the deputy sheriff. However,

the damage was done, and both Menton and Jackson were defeated in the

election.

And what do you think happened to the two fearless investigators,

whose efforts had ensured the elections of Elliot and Holden? Well,

newly elected Sheriff Elliot promptly fired Musick and newly elected

Dist. Atty. Holden dealt the same fate to Gardner. Now that’s

gratitude.

Oh, well, after Jim and I returned to Orange County after World

War II, Jim Musick defeated Jess Elliot for Sheriff and shortly

thereafter I became a Superior Court judge. I seriously doubt that

either of those things would have happened had we stayed in our

respective jobs. I liked being a deputy D.A., and Jim liked being a

deputy sheriff. We probably would have stayed on and finally retired

after sufficient years in office to qualify for a certificate and

maybe a gold watch.

Jim Musick was elected sheriff six more times and set a standard

of honesty, integrity and efficiency that is the standard for all

public officials in Orange County. This county benefited greatly from

that, which at the time appeared to be a great injustice to a fine

young man.

But I still think it was a dirty trick for Elliot and Holden to

give us the shaft, when we were so instrumental in getting them

elected. I must say that Jim Musick and I learned a valuable lesson,

though -- there’s no such word as gratitude in the world of politics.

* ROBERT GARDNER, a Corona del Mar resident, is a retired judge

and a longtime observer of life in Newport Beach.