The many sides to Corpus

On the stand, Corpus appeared determined to dominate her testimony, often using a question as a jumping-off point for her own grievances about her predecessor, disloyal staff and county officials who undermined her repeatedly.

It was aggressive victimhood, which her own legal team seemed to emphasize. In an opening statement, one of her attorneys described her as a “petite Latina”; on cross-examination by another of her attorneys, Corpus revisited a history of slights, insults and harassment that she said characterized her climb through the ranks of the Sheriff’s Office.

She depicted herself as a determined reformer, but insisted she was victimized at every turn by county officials and the Sheriff’s Office network of insiders. Oddly, this appears to include the group of well-credentialed outsiders she brought into the office.

She said she had no one she could trust. Except, of course, Victor Aenlle.

As the county’s attorneys asserted in documents, emails, texts and memos, Corpus went to extraordinary lengths to create a position (and substantial pay increases) for Aenlle as both chief of staff and executive director of the office’s Administration Division. She did so despite numerous statements from the county HR department and an assessment from a consulting firm, hired by Corpus, that both jobs were too much for one person, and that Aenlle lacked the credentials or experience for the administration post; there were similar assertions from her hand-picked transition team. She appointed him anyway.

After the county fired Aenlle from those jobs, Corpus appointed him assistant sheriff. But during her testimony, the county’s attorney provided a job posting and noted that Aenlle failed to meet the minimum requirement of four years of full-time law enforcement experience. Corpus was forced to acknowledge the absence of this qualification, but she continued throughout this exchange to ardently defend Aenlle, his credentials and his experience. She has continued to seek ways to bring him back into the office.

Yes, she denied flatly they were romantically involved. But she has a partnership with Aenlle that seems well beyond employer/employee. She made it clear he has been the one advisor upon whom she has relied, almost exclusively.

He used that relationship to insert himself into matters beyond his experience, outside the chain of command and to the detriment of the functioning of the office, witnesses said. And to the destruction of her own credibility and authority. Former Undersheriff Chris Hsiung said it seemed that Corpus and Aenlle frequently were together, often outside of office hours. Jeff Kearnan, a member of Corpus’ transition team, said Aenlle repeatedly would speak for the sheriff, even in meetings where the sheriff was in attendance.

It is a relationship that continues to this day, with exactly the kinds of results.

Even as Corpus was testifying yesterday, Maggie Cornejo resigned as executive director of the Sheriff’s Activities League, citing “the troubling culture of divisiveness and political paranoia that has come to define the SAL organization.” Cornejo added: “(T)he reality remains that the board operates more as a ceremonial body without governance in mind — its agenda and decisions dominated by a single member.”

Sources confirm the “single member” is the good doctor, Aenlle.

One more quote from Cornejo: “My requests for regular meetings with the Sheriff were declined, and I was instead delegated to the undersheriff, who demonstrated little understanding of nonprofit management yet felt comfortable critiquing my personal attire.”

And there you go. One of the more astonishing elements of this whole mess has been the complete lack of political judgment by Corpus and Aenlle as this controversy has unfolded. With the hearing going on, it would seem like a good time for a change in tone, a departure from the heavy-handed assertiveness by Aenlle on the sheriff’s behalf. Nope.

It is an unrelenting shame. When Corpus was elected in 2022, it was a signal that the public believed the Sheriff’s Office was ripe for modernization and reform.

Instead, we have defiance and a new brand of business as usual, affirmed by the insights provided this week — on the stand, in memos, in testimony and in ongoing meetings — of a sadly dysfunctional and tone-deaf arrogance.