In June, there will be voting
This coming June there will be elections in Los Angeles County. Three races are of particular interest and while the Centrist Party (dormant, but still alive) is nowhere near ready to make endorsements, it is a good moment to look at the three elections that will put new people into very powerful positions.
Since the year 1900, there have been 11 Popes. During that same time, there have been only 9 Sheriffs of Los Angeles County and that includes one who was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Lee Baca who retired this year.
There is a certain inertia that seems to infect the voters of Los Angeles County when it comes to returning the incumbent sheriff election after election. Sherman Block had been the county's sheriff for 16 years and was expected to win reelection in November of 1988 in the runoff election with Lee Baca. Block died October 29th, 1988. Five days later he still received 1/3rd of the vote. To find a sheriff who wasn't reelected at least twice you have to go back to 1915.
This indicates that whoever wins election to this post this coming November will probably be in that office for a long time, unless of course they are caught doing something really dumb. So while I don't yet know which of the men (no women running yet) are seeking this job is worthy of support, I do know who is not. In my opinion, retired undersheriff Paul Tanaka should not be elected dogcatcher, let alone to run the largest sheriff's department in the nation.
Why not? He was (and probably still is) a member of the 'Vikings' gang of deputies (Lee Baca says that Tanaka still has the tattoo he got when joining the group). There are allegations that he was involved in the problems at the County Jail that were recently exposed by an FBI investigation. A citizen's commission looking into the problems at the jail issued a report that claimed Tanaka had made statements that "deputies could use excessive force against prisoners and that aggressive behavior would not result in disciplinary action."
He became a politician while still a sworn law enforcement officer, and is currently the mayor of Gardena. That report from the citizen's commission also noted that Tanaka accepted campaign contributions from departmental employees, indicating he was participating in and fostering a system of patronage and favoritism.
Back in 1993, there was a secret deal that involved sending 173 new and 300 used ballistic (bulletproof) vests from the Sheriff's department to the government of Cambodia, which were funneled through the Gardena Police department. Only Paul Tanaka fits the profile of the person described by Gardena City Manager Mitchell Lansdale as being both employed by the Sheriff's department and a Gardena City Council member at the time Gardena PD purchased and sold those vests. When the Los Angeles Times did a story on this questionable sale ten years later, Paul Tanaka refused to comment. If the transaction was legal and above-board, why remain silent? Silence raises the specter of something improper.
* * *
The potential pool of candidates to replace Zev Yaroslavsky as Supervisor of the county's 3rd district is being diluted by the race to replace Henry Waxman, who is retiring from Congress. It will probably come down to a run-off between Sheila Kuehl and Bobby Shriver. Wendy Gruel probably chose not to run in this contest with an eye toward what she is doing, trying to replace Waxman.
In the 1st district, with Gloria Molina being 'termed-out' that contest will almost certainly become a two-horse race between former U. S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and El Monte City Council member Juventino Gomez. What makes that race really interesting is that Gomez is a Republican running for election in a district whose voters are mostly registered Democrats. But there is a wild card factor in this race. Mike Antonovich, supervisor of the 5th district is endorsing Gomez. That's no surprise, considering Gomez spent 12 years working in the office of Antonovich as a senior deputy to the supervisor.
These two races are vitally important to the residents of Los Angeles County for 25 billion reasons. That's the size of the county's budget. Each supervisor represents more than 2 million people. It's a huge job. It involves wielding immense power.
Stay tuned.
Since the year 1900, there have been 11 Popes. During that same time, there have been only 9 Sheriffs of Los Angeles County and that includes one who was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Lee Baca who retired this year.
There is a certain inertia that seems to infect the voters of Los Angeles County when it comes to returning the incumbent sheriff election after election. Sherman Block had been the county's sheriff for 16 years and was expected to win reelection in November of 1988 in the runoff election with Lee Baca. Block died October 29th, 1988. Five days later he still received 1/3rd of the vote. To find a sheriff who wasn't reelected at least twice you have to go back to 1915.
This indicates that whoever wins election to this post this coming November will probably be in that office for a long time, unless of course they are caught doing something really dumb. So while I don't yet know which of the men (no women running yet) are seeking this job is worthy of support, I do know who is not. In my opinion, retired undersheriff Paul Tanaka should not be elected dogcatcher, let alone to run the largest sheriff's department in the nation.
Why not? He was (and probably still is) a member of the 'Vikings' gang of deputies (Lee Baca says that Tanaka still has the tattoo he got when joining the group). There are allegations that he was involved in the problems at the County Jail that were recently exposed by an FBI investigation. A citizen's commission looking into the problems at the jail issued a report that claimed Tanaka had made statements that "deputies could use excessive force against prisoners and that aggressive behavior would not result in disciplinary action."
He became a politician while still a sworn law enforcement officer, and is currently the mayor of Gardena. That report from the citizen's commission also noted that Tanaka accepted campaign contributions from departmental employees, indicating he was participating in and fostering a system of patronage and favoritism.
Back in 1993, there was a secret deal that involved sending 173 new and 300 used ballistic (bulletproof) vests from the Sheriff's department to the government of Cambodia, which were funneled through the Gardena Police department. Only Paul Tanaka fits the profile of the person described by Gardena City Manager Mitchell Lansdale as being both employed by the Sheriff's department and a Gardena City Council member at the time Gardena PD purchased and sold those vests. When the Los Angeles Times did a story on this questionable sale ten years later, Paul Tanaka refused to comment. If the transaction was legal and above-board, why remain silent? Silence raises the specter of something improper.
* * *
The potential pool of candidates to replace Zev Yaroslavsky as Supervisor of the county's 3rd district is being diluted by the race to replace Henry Waxman, who is retiring from Congress. It will probably come down to a run-off between Sheila Kuehl and Bobby Shriver. Wendy Gruel probably chose not to run in this contest with an eye toward what she is doing, trying to replace Waxman.
In the 1st district, with Gloria Molina being 'termed-out' that contest will almost certainly become a two-horse race between former U. S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and El Monte City Council member Juventino Gomez. What makes that race really interesting is that Gomez is a Republican running for election in a district whose voters are mostly registered Democrats. But there is a wild card factor in this race. Mike Antonovich, supervisor of the 5th district is endorsing Gomez. That's no surprise, considering Gomez spent 12 years working in the office of Antonovich as a senior deputy to the supervisor.
These two races are vitally important to the residents of Los Angeles County for 25 billion reasons. That's the size of the county's budget. Each supervisor represents more than 2 million people. It's a huge job. It involves wielding immense power.
Stay tuned.
posted by me at 3:35 PM
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