Los Angeles County Sheriff

Alex Villanueva is 105,036 Votes ahead of LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell With only 185,000 Ballots Left To Count

Celeste Fremon
Written by Celeste Fremon

Well, technically, Los Angeles County still has one more round of vote tallying left, which will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday, November 26, after which time presumably all the county’s ballots will be officially counted, and a winner will be declared for the office of Los Angeles County Sheriff.

According to the latest vote tally posted on Friday evening (as those readers who are doing their own check-in with the relevant page of the county’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s site already know), challenger Alex Villanueva is now 105,036 votes ahead of incumbent sheriff Jim McDonnell, with only 185,000 votes—give or take– left to count.

In other words, short of an asteroid arriving in, say, Lancaster on Sunday carrying with it a large cache of previously uncounted ballots, or some other unexpected force majeure of that nature of that nature, Villanueva, the once dark horse candidate who, at the beginning, few gave much of a chance, will be the 33rd Los Angeles County Sheriff.

More on Monday!


The photos above of Villanueva with Mayor Eric Garcetti, and of McDonnell with singer Pharrell Williams, were taken at the annual Thanksgiving dinner on Skid Row sponsored yearly by the Los Angeles Mission, and were featured on Villanueva’s and McDonnell’s respective Twitter feeds.

35 Comments

  • Congrats Sheriff Villanueva. You did it! Sheriff McDonnell and his executive staff were not only disrespectful to you, they underestimated you (as they did others). On behalf of LA County, thank you for being courageous and taking up the fight. You should have been a Chief, Assistant Sheriff or Undersheriff long, long ago. Now, you are the Sheriff.

    Well deserved!

    P.S.- Please clean house of all Captains, Commanders, Chiefs, A/S’s and U/S who are spineless (blow with the wind), corrupt employees. Thank you.

    It is time.

  • 4 Good things that everyone should know about soon to be, Sheriff Villanueva.

    1) He is not a bully
    2) He is not a puppet
    3) He has a long memory
    4) He’s getting the last laugh from those who previously shunned him but now support him

  • Hahahahahaha. That’s what you get McBuckles. You dismissed everyone. You played politics and used them to Burn people, good people. Now it’s time for you to get Burned. I loved that sad look on your face on channel 7 on Monday. Like a weak coward of a man you will hold on until the bitter end as a testiment to what you care about most, yourself. Man up and concede! So The Real Sheriff can start getting up to speed with how you fucked this Department up. Maybe he will be nice enough to let you stick around while he gets all his training and certifications.

    Funny how the drivers always vouched for this guy. “It’s not him, it’s the brass under him firing people and handing out days off like candy.” BS. It’s him. Ask LBPD, the line not the brass or city government. Maybe your next step should be FIDM, since you fancy fashion and looks so much.

  • Sheriff Villanueva, that does have a good ring to it. Knowing that there are so many past and present executives that are reeling from this election, sends excitement to every past and present Lieutenant/Sergeant that were passed over becuause they never sold their soul. Some will say that not all executives sold their soul, and they are right but how in the world would somebody like Sharp become a Chief? She was a Captain that failed miserably with one of the lowest ALADS raitings ever, yet becomes a Chief? Sheiriff Villanueva is finally here to do what Buckles never could do. We all look forward to your first day in office. Clean This House.

  • Please clean house. Some of the people leading the department can’t find their way out of an open bag. Send them to Lacera.

  • I hear there are several Chiefs lobbying themselves to the new Sherif’s transition team. Mr. E. Parra, who was on McBuckles campaign and cheer team, is one of them. It will be interesting where he sits in this new regime,,,,,,

    if at all.

    Good Times..

  • “Not Again” and the hilarious thing about it is she actually thinks she’s a Chief. All she does is yell at everyone and make horrible decisions. She a laughing stock.

  • Where are they now?
    Dick Shinee, Floyd Hayhurst, George Hofstetter and Mark Claahsen among other robots in ALADS who are anti Alex. I would pay $1000.00 cash to see their tired ass faces now. LMAO!

  • This is very good news that McDonnell was a one-term Sheriff and will be gone soon. He has gotten what he has deserved…KARMA! Time to start job hunting Mr. McDonnell. You can start with LAPD, but they didn’t want you. Oh yeah, there’s LBPD, but they already have a Chief. Maybe the world can now see you were pulling the wool over their eyes that you were actually a leader, a manager, fair, and compassionate. You were a fake. Bye bye

  • The Sheriff and his so-called Constitutional Policing lawyers managed to destroy the careers and livelihoods of many good employees during their four year reign of terror, all in the name of reform. The Sheriff and his minions are just plain horrible people. Good riddance Sheriff. You can take the next TST bus to hell.

  • Now that you have who you want for leadership, no whining, crying, bitching or backstabbing.

    Oh how I wish that would be true.

  • I am proud to say Congratulations to Sheriff Villanueva!

    Alex and I formed LASPA 20 years ago by mortgaging our houses… First time I have revealed that. I about fell off my chair when Alex received ALADS endorsement.. Shows just how bad things have gotten even after the Baca / Tanaka debacle.

    I would love to be back on the Department now just to watch … So many careers and lives were destroyed by Tanaka and his ass kissers. I unfortunately know first hand and left after Tanaka and Les Robbins ruined my career and retirement.. I have learned Karma is a Bitch!

    I understand LACERA has been having a booming Black Friday rush and Cyber Monday should be busy too!

    Congratulations again Alex, you deserve this for all the shit you have been through and for those of us who are watching from the sidelines..

  • Scott McKenzie, Even though your career was ruined, you and Alex saved many many careers by forming LASPA. ALADS has only changed faces with the exception of Bud Treece while continuing with cashflow being unaccounted to their membership. Thank you and Alex for having a pair of “Big Ones” to go against corruption in LASD and ALADS. Yes, Karma is a Bitch and comes when one least expects it.

  • Congrats to the many hard working Deputies and civilian personnel on LASD on the soon to be departure of McBuckles. It sounds like Sheriff Villanueva knows where the demons are and that he has the ability and will to eradicate them. Given the sheer size of LASD, this is no easy feat, so please give him some time. Here’s to strong leadership, fair investigations/outcomes and better times for you in 2019.

  • Alex, Please read:

    You are not even in office yet and you are stepping on it. You are gonna win, but please be a little smarter. Here are your mistakes so far:

    LA Times did a story about a straw donor and you immediately came out and said nothing wrong, I won’t be refunding any donations. You have less than 200 donors and I know you have looked at every donor with scrutiny. This straw donor is a former Reserve who illegally used County cars under Baca and was subject to a Times story. His numerous hamburger stands have given you the Max donation. All legal. There are eight of his employees who have given you the max of 1500.00. Can you honestly believe that thier listed occupations of cook, cashiers can honestly afford that let alone want to? You did nothing wrong legally, but your donor will more than likely face charges. Ethically you should return all of his donations and his employees who no way supplied the money. It will be interesting what you do with this 20,000.

    Recently you said you would eliminate the constitutional policing advisors. Why don’t you just say your going as black face to a Halloween party? This does not give a good optic of where you want policing to go. Agreed, their responsibilities need to be redefined and have no input on discipline etc. The concept is great, the people need to be changed. You want to change it to review deputy terminations? that is what civil service is for and Superior Court. Your the Sheriff now, not a union rep.

    You have stated you will clean house. Agree somewhat, but you need some of those people to help guide your people. Bring in your top people but don’t cut any chief until April 1. Allow them to pass on knowledge and retire with dignity. Be the bigger person here and not the bully. Rumor is out who you are bringing in. Good people but baggage that will hurt you. How do you explain an Assistant Sheriff with a Reaper Tatoo who was the shot caller of Tatoos at Lennox? Your reported Undersheriff medically retired as a Commander and reaps the benefits of a majority tax free retirement But now can miracously come back as a civilian and do the same job as he said he couldn’t do. The taxpayers will be incensed over this double dipping scam.

    The Office of the Sheriff has been tainted, Don’t continue it. But I am afraid your ego and vendettas will prevent that.

  • It is apparent that Brian the Megalomaniac leader of PPOA is in a completely delusional state where he has no room in his mind for anything but his own thoughts, ideas, values, concepts, etc. He seeks to impose them on others by any means necessary. He needs to leave PPOA before he completely destroys this mediocre union even more.

  • Brian is the President of PPOA that is ran by a Board of Directors. Those who have a problem with Brian should also have a problem with PPOA’ S Board. Your personal hatred is ever so evident with an identical post in a previous thread. Better yet, drop PPOA and get legal representation elsewhere which is now optional. You keyboard princesses are only good for space fillers, geez.

  • All is Lost:

    Good Post.

    If he is indeed “stepping in it” as you describe it’ll be hard to keep as a secret and, like his predecessor, he is likely to be a one-term Sheriff.

  • It is not against the law to have anyone, who retired with a medical, to work again. I don’t know who you are writing about, but obviously it’s someone you don’t like. I pray that race is not your problem, if race is the issue. It appears you have a personal vendetta you need to work out. As I wrote the swamp animals won’t want to leave and will support the swamp leader who will lose this race. Maybe it is no so strange that when Baca and Waldie left with medicals you said nothing? This is really a non issue.

    I don’t see how anyone can prove if anyone can afford to give money? Truly, if someone gave you money to run for office you would first ask;Can you afford this? Will the DA be checking on donors for your buddy McD? Are felons allowed to donate? I don’t think so-but….

    So, oh great and magnificent OZ; how would you handle the tat issue?

  • @ Scott Mckenzie: I’m not surprised that in addition to Tanaka, Les Robbins was cause to ruin your career/retirement. All those who know Les knows about his not so stellar career as Deputy & Sgt, aka the “milkman” for obvious reasons. No doubt another ALADS connection who made a guest appearance as Executive Director in 2014- 15. Ka-Ching!

    Don’t know if this is possible but it would be great if Alex could bring you back as part of his staff which would be a tag-team dose of payback.

  • Welcome Sheriff Villanueva.
    Looking forward to the changes. Hopefully station morale will get better. People who are in positions of leadership with no experience kill morale and are only looking out for themselves. Hold your Captains accountable for their actions. Deputies are tired of lip service.

  • Alex:. If Mannis is still around….plz let me be present when you demote/retire that POS. I have a few words for that coward!

  • Regarding the All is Lost post, I think he/she has a good point regarding the constitutional advisor position. The idea is good, but it is nothing new. During the Block era there was a contracted County Counsel who advised on such matters. It just was not “advertised” and made a big deal. I would suggest the position is valuable, as All is Lost points out, perhaps McD probably has the wrong individuals fulfilling the roll. And if Alex or someone is advising him does read these posts I have a suggestion:

    It is clear that McD lost the trust of the line personnel who perceived an unfairness of the decisions being handed down. Right decisions or not, it did not matter because it was perceived as wrong or unfair.

    Before Baca ran things aground and I escaped, one of the things that was done was bringing in experienced line personnel to sit in the room and sometimes participate in I know force reviews and I believe downtown disciplinary discussions (I don’t know about the latter because I was never part of those). The idea was to allow them to see the process and to “carry back” what they had observed to their colleagues on the line level – the individuals who were being discussed were not identified by name so there was not a privacy issue. The units sending an observer were not involved in the cases being discussed and were asked to send an observer who was a peer group leader and a person who was not afraid to voice their opinion, if asked.

    I believe Sheriff Alex could do himself and the Department a big favor if he would include the lower rank, line personnel as observers as I describe and perhaps in other “big guy/gal” activities – like the EPC. Let them see how decisions are made, who the players are, the thought that goes in to some of the hard choices and the way the big folks behave/misbehave. And then let them take what they have seen back to their friends and co-workers and spread the word. Good (hopefully) or bad, at least they can say “I saw it with my own eyes.” And, I believe, 9 times out of 10 you will have someone who will be a voice of reason when the wild rumors start to circulate.

    Perception and reality aren’t one and the same, but perception is what counts. And the need for a positive perception is what McD did not seem to grasp.

  • If my memory serves me correct, Mannis is gone as is most with 35 or more years of service. Mentioning names of Waldie, Stonich and those who reigned in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000 are in the wind with newer personnel not having a clue of who they are. Funny how time flies.

  • Totally laughing right now. Did you know Villanueva failed the Lieutentant’s test 4 times?? This is he person you want to run the Sheriff’s Department. Can’t wait until everybody starts complaining.

  • To all the “executuve leaders” who are or plan to go out IOD, good riddance. Your arrogance, lack of “real leadership”, fairness and concern for those outside “your Facebook circle”, was a true disservice to many idealistc hard working and honorable people.

    Please forgoe the retirement fliers and JDIC messages, and please limit the announcement to your inner circle since the majority of the Department doesn’t care.

    Give up the keys to the Charger and don’t let the door hit you as you leave.

    Brown nosers, wipe your mouth and slither back under the crevices you now so we’ll. Some of you may figure out “the new game” and find a new leg to hump, but now you will actually have to produce and show competence, all the will without a protector.

    All you posers had a good run while your team was king of the heap, now steap aside and let the work begin to restore the honor, morale, “moral base” and sense of fairness within the Department.

    Good luck LA County Sheriff-elect Villanueva.

  • On the lighter side, has McD been a democrat, he would have won. As we all know the dead always vote democrat! LOL Come on Celeste now that’s funny.

  • Let’s hope Alex clean house from the top to the very bottom and brings this Department back to the greatest law enforcement agency in the world.

  • Factoid:. I am very disappointed. I had really planned on attending her retirement party. Already had my speech prepared. Oh well. I can always send her a Christmas card.

  • Dear Ms. Diamond, I am a journalist trying to find people who knew/worked with the late Deputy Steven Belanger and saw you had posted about him earlier this year. My article is about people who lost their lives on the job (or as a result of their occupational hazards) this year, and I wanted to pay tribute to Deputy Belanger. I wondered if I could speak to you about him. Thanks, Amy DePaul, 949 823 7838, depaula@uci.edu

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