Don’t run again, Sheriff Baca…Says the LA Times

On Sunday, the LA Times editorial board called for Sheriff Lee Baca not to run again.

They made their collective opinion crystal clear.

What is the point? they asked. With four terms and nearly sixteen years in office, does Baca really need a fifth term considering the staggering line-up of scandals that has occurred under his watch?

Here’s a clip:

Lee Baca has been Los Angeles County sheriff for nearly 16 years, and the last five have brought an extraordinary cascade of scandals that have exposed the dismal state of the department and the jails he runs. As a new election season begins, Baca should make the best of a bad situation and announce that he will not seek reelection in 2014. Instead, he should focus his attention on reforming the department while clearing the field so that candidates will step forward to run for his job.

What possible argument is there for a fifth term for Baca? Evidence that sheriff’s deputies regularly beat inmates in the jails is mounting, and a wide-ranging federal investigation has been launched, including an FBI probe into criminal wrongdoing.

Give somebody else a chance the Times argued, pointing out that it is nearly unheard of for an incumbent sheriff not to carry the day.

It is extremely difficult for an outside candidate to raise the money or build the campaign organization necessary to unseat an incumbent. In fact, at least since 1932, no incumbent L.A. County sheriff has ever been unseated. If Baca were to announce that he would not run again, it would open up the field and make a credible race by a credible candidate much more likely.

Thus far, however, the sheriff has indicated that he has every intention of running, and he is reportedly already busily fundraising.

Thus the editorial adds:

Even if Baca remains in the race, we hope that a competent, experienced challenger will step forward to run a serious campaign against him.

Of course, as luck would have it, it appears that just such a serious dark horse candidate is on the verge of declaring.

(Likely by the end of this week, or early next, to be precise.)

And, while it’s true that no one has unseated an uncumbent sheriff since 1932, these are not usual times in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

As the Times points out in another story, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte met with the editorial board last week, at which time he said he expected that the federal investigation into alleged brutality in the jails would be wrapped up by the end of the year.

Moreover, according to our sources (and the Times sources, as well), the investigation into the jails is only one part of what the feds are aggressively probing. The FBI also has a string of still-expanding investigations into corruption elsewhere in the department.

As to what indictments might result, and how high those indictments could go…? All this remains to be seen.

But, while he has declined to be specific, Birotte has implied in recent press interviews that he doesn’t expect to do all this investigating without it leading to some meaningful indicting.

Again, these are not usual times.

So how about it, sheriff? If you stopped after four terms, you’d have the time needed to really promote your model program EBI Education Based Incarceration) on a state level. Heaven knows the CDCR could use some firm nudging toward a real committment to rehabilitation. Heck, why not become the national advocate for important programs like EBI that could help reform America’s incarceration strategy? That seems, after all, to be where your heart is, right?

Give somebody else a chance to run the LASD.

It’s time.

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Original, pre-Photoshopped photo from Zev Yaroslavsky’s blog.