As the California primary election on Tuesday, June 5, speedily approaches, two candidates for the office of Los Angeles County Sheriff hope that one of them can beat conventional odds and make it into the runoff with Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who has done little in the way of obvious campaigning.
The two candidates are retired LASD lieutenant Alex Villanueva, and retired LASD commander Bob Lindsey. We interviewed Villanueva last July,
Our recent conversation with Lindsey is below.
Both acknowledged that beating the head of LA County’s improved but still troubled agency would be difficult. But both made a case for why they believe McDonnell is vulnerable.
Traditionally slim chances
Using the past as a guide, one might logically set the odds of beating an incumbent LA sheriff as somewhere between zilch and zero.
There was one exception to that rule in the last century or so. In 1998, an upstart named Lee Baca succeeded in beating four term LA sheriff Sherman Block. But, the wild card factor in that race was the fact that, for the last five days before the election, incumbent Block was…well….dead. His supporters kept him in the race anyway, hoping that a victory by the late sheriff’s would put the election in the hands of the members of the LA County Board of Supervisors, whom Block’s people felt they could steer away from Baca.
But, the upstart, who had been closing on his 74-year-old-mentor in the waning days of the race, beat the dead guy. For the next fifteen years no one came close to unseating Baca, until he abruptly announced his retirement on January 7, 2014, amid seemingly unending waves of scandal.
Baca’s departure paved the way for the election of a reform candidate. Jim McDonnell, who had risen to be second in command of the Los Angeles Police Department before leaving the LAPD to take over the then-ailing Long Beach Police Department, handily defeated his rivals for the position— including the department’s former LASD undersheriff, Paul Tanaka, who was subsequently convicted of obstruction of justice charges and is now serving a five-year sentence in a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.
Former sheriff Baca was convicted of similar charges, and his sentence of three years in a federal lock-up awaits appeal.
Widespread hopes for change
When McDonnell was sworn in as LA County’s 32nd sheriff on on December 1, 2014, hopes were high among the rank and file who had been through “a long period of uncertainty and trauma….” as McDonnell put it in his post-swearing in address.
Now, nearly three-and-a-half years later, Lindsey and Villanueva both say that the Sheriff McDonnell has failed to deliver on his promises for reform. For this reason, the say, there is room for the right challenger.
Well, maybe, maybe not.
It is interesting, however, that Villanueva has been endorsed by the LA County Democratic Party, the LA County’s Young Democrats, the Chicano Latino Caucus of the California Democratic Party, the Feel the Bern Club of Los Angeles County, and others.
Lindsey has been endorsed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), along with an additional list of local AFSCME chapters. Then Monday, Lindsey was endorsed by the California Reserve Peace Officers Association, which had enthusiastically endorsed Jim Mcdonnell four years ago.
And, in the last fundraising quarter. Lindsey reported that he has out fundraised the sheriff.
Lindsey makes his case
Bob Lindsey, a member of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for 32 years, served in 25 different positions in the LASD, and retired as a commander. He worked with three sheriffs before he retired, Peter Pitchess, Sherman Block, and Lee Baca. Then for much of the seven years since he’s been retired from the LASD, he oversaw the state’s court services operation in LA County.
“So Technically I have 40 years with the agency, so I know a lot about the place,” he said.
Lindsey told WitnessLA that he believes McDonnell’s own lack of up-through-the-ranks experience with the nation’s largest sheriff’s department has been problematic because McDonnell failed to surround himself with the right people, and worse, failed to clear out some of the bad players who had helped the once powerful and feared former undersheriff, Paul Tanaka, drive the department off a cliff.
The matter was further compounded, according to Lindsey, because for the first three years, “Sheriff McDonnell has failed to hire enough deputies.” In part, according to Lindsey, the failure was basic: The sheriff didn’t assign “enough people to do backgrounds and recruitment.”
Not having enough sworn personnel (the department is down more than 1000 positions), has precipitated a long list of other issues, said Lindsey. “When you don’t hire, it causes multiple problems. For one thing, deputies don’t get enough days off. They request days off and they don’t get ‘em. They’re forced to work overtime. And that alone causes a morale issue.”
Overtime also means overspending, he noted, pointing to the department’s approximately $40 million deficit, announced at a board of supervisors meeting in April, that the county CEO largely attributed to unbudgeted overtime (although she wrote that part of the problem was historic).
Lindsey is also critical of other ways in which he said the sheriff has used the department’s personnel.
“For example Internal Affairs is much larger than it used to be.” So is Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau—or ICIB–according to Lindsey. (ICIB looks at cases in which department members are accused of crimes, as opposed to Internal Affairs, which looks at non-criminal policy violations.)
“So if you’ve enlarged those two bureaus, while reducing other community services…if you’re short in patrol, while you’re putting a lot more deputies in IAB…” And morale dives further.
Lindsey and others have claimed that the department has opened an usually high number of investigations on deputies, many of which, Lindsey said, are trivial, while the misdeeds of favored higher-ups go unchallenged.
Lack of proactive policing
The perception that large numbers of deputies are under investigation, even for minor issues, has caused stress and further diving morale among many of the rank and file, according to Lindsey.
As a consequence, he said, a great many deputies, while they do what they have to do at work, have pulled back on proactive policing.
“Deputies believe their careers are endangered any time they use appropriate force,” he said. “This is true in the jails and in patrol. In the jails, if there’s a fight between inmates, deputies don’t want to lay hands on them for fear of being written up. In patrol, they don’t want to take a chance to chase anybody.”
Meanwhile, among command staff, Lindsey said, various people who engaged in corrupt behavior at the orders of Paul Tanaka, have remained high on the hierarchical ladder at the agency, which Lindsey said is another factor that has adversely affected deputy morale.
“I voted for McDonnell. My whole family voted for McDonnell. And he let us down.”
Transparency and community involvement
As to what he would do differently, Lindsey has a long list.
Among other things, he said, he would be much more transparent, citing the LA Times lawsuit filed in March accusing the department of repeatedly denying the paper’s perfectly legal California Public Records Act requests.
“The community deserves transparency, and they aren’t getting it,” Lindsey said.
He would also surround himself with people who would challenge him.
According to Lindsey, those closest to Sheriff McDonnell, “don’t want to be the bearer of bad news because they’re afraid he’s going to be mad at them.” So McDonnell is not hearing what he needs to hear, said Lindsey.
“Unfortunately, that’s not good for anybody.”
On the topic of community relations, Lindsey, whose religion is important to him, said he thinks that deputies should get to know the communities they police, and one way to do that is to stop into religious centers.
Department members should, “go into the church and talk to the pastor. Say ‘hi” to the neighborhood priest. Say ‘hi’ to the rabbi. Say ‘hi’ to the imam. You need to get out of the patrol car, and find out how they thing things are going. This is how you begin making relationships.” And community relationships have everything to do with good policing, he said.
McDonnell isn’t personally spending anywhere near enough time in the communities his department polices, said Lindsey, which means, among other things, the sheriff isn’t “modeling the right behavior” for the rank and file.
Lindsey described a recent meeting he had with a South LA community group during which he said he was asked whether he thought people still got beat up in the county jails.
“I said, ‘Yep. They do.’ And when I’m sheriff, my job will be to investigate those incidents, and when I find out if deputies have beat up someone in the jails,” then he will push for anyone who assaults someone in custody “to be prosecuted.”
At the same time, said Lindsey, “in the community, people need to be upset when someone shoots a police officer.”
But that’s where relationships matter, he said.
Police shootings
Lindsey brought up the controversial shooting by an LA sheriff’s deputy of 16-year-old Anthony Weber in early February. “There was a town hall meeting and the sheriff didn’t go to it,” he says, referring to a highly contenteous emergency community meeting held in a church in Westmont.
“I would have had black pastors out there” meeting with the community. “And I would have gone and sat with that family,” even though, he said, he believes the shooting was likely within policy, and that the kid had a gun. Still sitting with the family in their loss was the right thing to do, he said. “That’s what is not being done. And it needs to be done.”
In conversation about other issues he would improve, Lindsey brought up the department’s loss of the policing contract for LA Metro’s huge transit network, which had belonged to the LASD for more than a decade. Lindsey described ways he said the loss of the contract has cost the department much in the way of collateral damage.
“He should have done whatever it took to keep that contract. And he didn’t.”
The department is also behind in officer training, according to Lindsey, which he said would be high on his list to change.
“I know the conventional wisdom is that you can’t beat an incumbent,” Lindsey told us near the end of our conversation, then repeated his contention he had outraised McDonnell in fundraising in the last quarter.
“My view is this,” said Lindsey. “Jim McDonnell not an incumbent. He’s still a visitor.”
Definitely sounds like a common-sense, practical leader who won’t be afraid to “upset the apple cart”, stand up and challenge, and make “real change” versus superficial, coordinated media blitzes. The BOS and LA political machine don’t want someone like this, but hopefully Mr. Lindsey’s grass-roots approach can reach the voters and lead to an upset.
The Sheriff wortying about uniform shirts, brass uniform hardware and the lettering/font on cars while there are major issues regarding hiring/retention, morale, safety in the jail facilities and poor fiscal management, show either how ambivalent he is, out of touch or basically just doesn’t care. It takes more than just wearing a tan and green uniform, and putting five stars on your collar to run a Department.
…..Remrmber, no one (especially Hillary Clinton) thought President Trump would be sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue either.
Well, today this turned up.. The sheriff gave an illegal order to arrest the Rolling Hills murder suspect,,, who was then released by the D.A. Tanaka gave illegal orders too and people went to prison.. McDonnell is the same corrupt bully we saw under Tanaka and McDonnell is leading us down another rabbit hole…
http://surruo.com/2018/05/22/politics-prompts-sheriff-mcdonnell-to-order-arrest-of-murder-suspect-despite-being-advised-there-was-no-evidence/
Interested in the thoughts of the men and women that have worked with this man in LASD and in court services. Does he have the guts to at least try and clean house and do the right thing?
Or is he more of the same?
@Darius – Ah yes, overriding experienced investigators. He needs to focus more on uniforms and less of cases. Unethical and frightening on a variety of levels.
He promoted 26 people who supported Paul Tanaka who donated to Tanaka.. Including his current under sheriff, who donated to Paul Tanaka…. Does that answer your question?
Old and Jaded…McDonnell said he detanakafied the department, but he didn’t… Read this…
http://surruo.com/2018/03/22/sheriff-mcdonnell-continues-to-re-tanakafi-the-sheriffs-department/
Bob Lindsey, if this information about McDonnell personally ordering the arrest of this second 187 suspect is true, you better call a major news conference for, let’s say, Thursday. And if this is all true, you best get your ass before the cameras and lay your case out. You best better be able to 100% prove these allegations. If you have “the goods” on McDonnell for misconduct, NOT interdepartmental shit, then you better lay all of it out at this news conference. It better be the Mother of All Bombs, otherwise, shut up and sit down.
I thought the Sheriff only arrested innocent deputies for political gain, it appears he arrests innocent transients as well. The DA finally got tired of getting sloppy cases for political gain and rejected the murder case here…https://lasd.news/2018/05/22/homicide-investigation-prostituted-to-mcdonnells-re-election-murder-suspect-just-released-due-to-premature-arrest/
Darius: “He” who? McDonnell or candidate Lindsey? I think you mean the sheriff, but just checking…
Thanks
Mr. Calling it a spade, I sense some animosity toward Bob. All the paperwork I am sure read that it was by Jim McDonnell and someone else’s name after, so for purposes of the law, it was him. Now, he twittered a picture where he is being briefed by his commanders, so there must be some truth to it…see it here: https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/997489851854290945
Another lawsuit, where a little girl died, directly blamed on the sheriff by attorneys for lack of providing training…http://ktla.com/2018/05/22/complaint-against-l-a-county-claims-misrouted-911-call-led-to-11-year-old-girls-death/
Calling it a spade, why does your animosity towards Lindsey appear so angry? He hd nothing to do with the arrest, info, or situation. You should probably be the one to sit down and shut up. Respectfully submitted. Or, maybe be certain of YOUR accusations prior to being so off base.
McDonnell did,,, Read the link because it lists, names.
For the record Mr Spade, Bob Lindsey wasn’t making that accusation. It was the alternate news source, Surruo.com
We all know McBuckles is COMPLETELY incompetent. The question is, “Do the voters?”
maybe the public sees thru McDonnells nonsense
http://surruo.com/2018/05/23/rolling-hills-suffers-100-percent-climb-in-murder-rate-emergency-task-force-formed-by-sheriff-mcdonnell/
McBuckles creates a task force to solve the high crime rate in the Rolling Hills States. I would like to see soup-sandwich chief Stephen Johnson and this other lady Kelly Frazier in a black and white doing the task of finding the murderer in Rolling Hills, as ordered by McBuckles. They should do it just by themselves, they would probably be scared. Wait, they would not detain anyone, because that would violate the constitution, and their boss Diana Teran would be, very, very upset. Well, at least they should drive the area with their windows up waving at people. Who knows, the suspect may throw himself on the hood of their patrol car and say, your brass buckles are so shiny, that I want to confess, yes, I did it, I am sorry. They should take Wolak, for the Twitter picture… http://surruo.com/2018/05/23/rolling-hills-suffers-100-percent-climb-in-murder-rate-emergency-task-force-formed-by-sheriff-mcdonnell/#comment-148
Exactly Joe NoBuckles, and this is the issues with the department. The executives can’t find their own way out of a paper bag. It’s a joke, they both say just get it done.
Worked with both when they were pups, completely shocked at their level in the chain of command.
Maybe the murder will get pinned on a transient homeless person and they can have another look at me press conference.
Even More, you and most of us can detect a fake cop, and I don’t see any real cop at the executive level, even McBuckles, looks and walks like a fake, mall type of cop, a total soup-sandwich. I as well, personally know some of these fake cops acting as executives, a total shame that LASD is run by these clowns. No wonder they are afraid of the CPA because they have no understanding as to what the US constitution, the state law is, how to apply the law, and most importantly, be able to defend their actions based on such law.
While I’m sure we all can agree the individual cases where McDonnell’s lack of steering of the LASD in the best direction has resulted in botches and missteps, can we also agree to join your voices to paint a a grand picture for voters? Rather than squabbling in the comments over cases with details that fly over the heads of most “non-cops,” tell the voters in L.A. whats going on in the sheriff’s department on a grand scale and what you think 4 more years of McDonnell would bring. Why should a person vote for Lindsey?
Sure, low morale can negatively affect organizations, but please tell people why you think voters should even care about who the sheriff is. Residents of L.A. County don’t see McDonnell driving a patrol car down their street, they see officers. What effects does who the sheriff is have on someone who’s only interaction with a cop is a ticket or a police report? If we’re being honest, most voters aren’t the people who are in jail (in fact, I think people who are convicted of serious crimes are specifically prohibited from voting), so it seems like pandering to public outrage/media attention when all we talk about it jail conditions.
Talk to me about what matters to the people. What can the sheriff do to empower his officers to proactively patrol the street and stop or deter crime? What can the sheriff do to empower his officers to catch criminals and make sure they are prosecuted for their crimes? What can the sheriff do to empower his officers to revive the public’s trust? Now, tell me who (based on your “insider knowledge”) you predict would do the best job.
Leave the comments at that, rather than attacking one another in the comments. Honestly, the bickering only further paints cops in a negative light. It’s like being at a restaurant and having the family sitting across from you all yelling accusations at each other and bringing up “dirty laundry.”
I never thought that the administration of Baca, Stonich, Waldie and Tanaka could be wrose. But, alas I was wrong. McDonnell is terrible but if your political platform is vote for me because the deputies don’t like McDonnell isn’t going to fly. Bob should have come out re assisting ICE, putting MS-13 in jail and/or deported an maybe he would have had a chance. Angry voters vote!
I totally agree with you Mr. Sweet, it is not easy to accomplish that fine balance and harmony between the police and the public. I have watched Bob talk to members of the public, to church pastors, to non-speaking English people in the community. The community has some expectations that at times can be challenging to accomplish. I believe there has to be harmony between the sheriff and his deputies first, they need to be on the same page, then make efforts to deliver to the community in unison. I believe Bob Linsey is that person who can bring the department together.
I would suggest that the sheriff would surround himself by actual cops, and somehow, ask for their assistance in the community outreach. Finding real cops who want to do community outreach is difficult because it is not their nature to be involved in politics, but I think they would be the best candidates. As it is right now, it is obvious the current sheriff only has 32 deputies willing to follow, that is not a good number. Bob Lindsey has over 1400.
In the end, for the sheriff to be successful, he first needs to energize his own deputies, and through that energy, empower the community as well. There are some overused words I can say, deputies could do, and that would be to treat others the way you want to be treated, don’t do evil, you would not want upon you, treat people with dignity and respect. It can be done, but it would need to be done by all deputies, a tough, but not impossible task.
Now, the job of law enforcement can be a nasty one as well, and deputies should not be the second-guessed, when they confront evil and defend themselves, or when deputies have to use force or any other type of tactic to de-escalate a situation. Deputies need to be trained as well continuously on all applicable laws, federal, state and department policy, so they fully understand what they can and cannot do, and when they do, be able to defend their actions based on the law. As long as deputies can articulate their actions based on law, coupled with their training experience, and observations, they should be okay. However, that is the problem right now, even when deputies are right, the current regime says they are wrong. I believe Bob Lindsey is the candidate who has a true chance of reforming the sheriff’s department.
To Home Sweet Home
The sheriff’s department has had many issues, most of which probably don’t effect the general public, or maybe it does? The lack of staffing and shortages only happen in one of two places, custody operations, and patrol. While the executives create additional units, and the oversight committees request reports on everything to justify their existence, staff if required to complete those reports. In my 30 plus years I rarely saw a captain or above put pen to paper. Those jobs are for the lieutenants, sergeants, and deputies who are trying to promote. Every captain, commander, chief, assistant sheriff, undersheriff, and sheriff have large numbers of staff to complete, review, and create busy work. Law enforcement has changed from proactive police work, catching crooks before they victimize people, to over documentation and justification of ones actions. Supervisors tell deputies, don’t get involved in anything tonight, I don’t feel like writing paperwork. The inability of McBuckles to hire sufficient numbers of sworn personnel is a direct result of his lack of leadership and proper priorities. He has created an environment that frankly leaves a sour taste in most line staff mouths. The line staff has mandatory overtime positions to fill in order to maintain minimum staffing levels. Those levels continue to shrink and contract cities end up with varying levels of patrol. As the end of the fiscal year approaches stations scramble to create patrol minutes so their contract will be close to compliance levels. Deputies are fatigued, disgruntled, and angry. How do you think their contact with the public may turn out. They are afraid to do police work, they know their actions will be criticized for months. The sergeants and lieutenants have to create force reports justifying the deputies actions. Any error, investigation time. Police work can be ugly. I never met any police office who wanted to get involved in a shooting, its horrible, for everybody. What police officers are exposed to in the middle of the night would make most of the public piss their pants. Chasing a known, armed gang member down a graffiti ridden alley at 230 in the morning, just you and your partner if your lucky, with two working radios, again if your lucky, is simply frightening. Law enforcement officers do it because they have some crazy sense about them. I remember asking myself, while everybody runs from gunfire, why do we run towards it to save somebody we don’t even know. We just do it. That’s whats makes us different. Thank you for trying to understand some of the frustration with the department and why change in necessary.
@Investments – Thank you for what you do and for also explaining to those of us not on LASD what you have been up against. I retired from another agency and sadly, it sounds all to familiar to me. If you are comfortable providing your take, I would value your opinion on who might best lead LASD forward.
Joe and all; absolutely NO animosity towards Bob. To the contrary. You are misunderstanding my intent, if Bob has factual info on the allegation, I want him to go public because this can be a game changer and would provide Bob with solid gold media time.
If this allegation is bogus, then they are doing everyone a disservice. Thank you Darius for clarifying that Bob is NOT making this allegation.
Trojan, see above. No bones against Bob.
The “timber, tone, culture, group-think mentality” of any organization is set at the top and trickles down to the masses. In a private organization, or even the military for that matter, they have systems is place to remove and realign when their leadership looses it’s way.
The LASO Sheriff is a different animal though. The office holder is beholding to to the politicians/BOS and “political money” that controls them and frankly, takes the voters for granted.
The public is either steered to vote by the LA political machine or simply apathetic, and just “checks the incumbent box”. It truly is a “tough row to hoe” for any challenger.
Bob Lindsey understands the culture, has “street credibility” with line staff and wouldn’t be blind-sided by the shenanigans perpetrated by the executive yes men/women and their hangers-on. Mr. Lindsey wouldn’t suffer from the snow blindness suffered by the current Sheriff’s who acts as if he is wearing black-out glasses as it relates to the day to day issues, employee morale and the “nuts and bolts” of running the Department.
Hmm…sounds familiar…former Sheriff Baca was clueless, as his Undersheriff Tanaka ran amok. Of course, we all know what happened in that case.
Remember too, the Sheriffs Department, DA’s office and certain executives went after Mr. Lindsey’s son to get back at him for not “playing ball”. He’s retired, living a comfortable life and only doing this because he hates seeing an organization he dedicated a great part of his life to, go down the drain along with its reputation.
He has everything it takes! He loves the Department and the Deputies!
Why should the voters go against McDonnell when those who knows best
sit silently on the sidelines. I’m specifically referring the “unions” and the masses of “tan & green”. With no depatment outcry, the noted dissatisfaction on this blog is basically “preaching to the choir”. Plain and simple, your unions failed you.
Everything internal affects the public safety… Period
It looks like the “investigative” journalists at LASD.NEWS and SURRUO.COM, Lindsey’s unofficial websites, have taken a break from their duties! Reporting on anything and everything that casts McDonnell in a negative light, they somehow overlooked an article from Variety.com from May 24, 2018:
http://variety.com/2018/biz/news/ryan-kavanaugh-sheriff-bob-lindsey-1202819931/
The article is an interesting read, and doesn’t cast Lindsey in a very positive light. Could that be the reason for not being posted on LASD.NEWS? For those who may recall, Kavanaugh was a FOS and bogus reserve who famously landed his private helicopter on a sheriff’s landing pad, costing him his CCW in the process (2012). Now apparently he has paid Lindsey $215,000.00 to get his CCW back (http://apps1.lavote.net/camp/comm.cfm?&cid=182), possibly violating campaign finance laws in the process. That explains all those glossy signs everywhere.
A closer inspection of Lindsey’s campaign finances reveals a who’s who of Lee Baca enablers and FOS who paid for their CCW via campaign contributions, and now history is repeating itself. No wonder Baca and Lindsey have been seen around town in a weird bromance. This can only help McDonnell’s bid for reelection, as he can tar and feather Lindsey for his association with Baca just like Villanueva has on social media.
Things are getting interesting.
Former Sheriff was Baca “clueless”, reform-minded, vindictive and probably suffering from Alzheimer’s in his latter years. He made the biggest mistake of all, by letting an even more vindictive, cruel egotistical “wolf” watch over the hen house while he was away.
Even if one does tries to paint Bob Lindsey as a Baca “fan-boy”, that’s going to be able 100 times better for the Department’s in the short and for its long-term survival. Otherwise it’s carcass will continue to be picked clean by opportunistic, non-vested short-timers, “outside-reformers”, “flim-flamers”, and “carpet baggers”who just want a line for their resume and to collect a fat, windfall pay check from the LA County Tax Payers.
Regardless of the results in June, the real satisfaction for many will happen in June also. I’m speaking of the SCOTUS ruling concerning Agency Shop. The best and early advice is to get your “drop” cards ready for ALADS. The voice of ALADS has long become a faint whisper. This will be the swan song for ALADS President Ron Hernandez as he leaves with another psuedo war story joining the ranks on memory lane.
Are you afraid of losing your job as McBuckles’ driver? Hey, don’t be afraid of patrol, serving the community, that is why you signed up for….yes being on patrol sucks, but it sucks more under your boss McBuckles…
Your barking up the wrong tree. I’m doing my homework on Bob “CCW” Lindsey, and the more I look the uglier it gets. It just took a few phone calls and some searching to show that he has bought all the support he brags about. This story with Variety has a lot of legs, and will be picked up by the LA DA’s office.
I notice you went silent on actually refuting the story. Interesting.
There is no need for ALADS or myself to fear the SCOTUS decision. The simple fix to people having choices is to provide the best product.
You may not be happy, for personal reasons, but there are a lot of members who actually pay attention to the positive changes.
Pseudo war stories? Spoken like a person who truly does not know me, but wants people to believe otherwise.
As promised, the more we dig the more hollow the Lindsey campaign appears to be. A quick turn to his new endorsement page reveals a hilarious posting of East LA Korean this and that association, which is news to the 99.9% of East LA residents who are NOT Korean. Likewise the AFSCME endorsement, which a local member can’t recall how that came to be without a vote of any sort. In fact, some members are pretty pissed off about it and want action taken because of Lindsey’s support of Trump.
Lindsey’s own website, lasd.news, proclaimed a few days ago that: “Lindsey Endorsed by LA’s Leading African American Newspaper, the LA Sentinel” followed by several acclamations of how newsworthy the endorsement was. It turns out, courtesy of a candidate running for one of the dozens of judge seats, that Lindsey paid $4000 for the “endorsement,” which is as worthless as the slate mail junk we get bombarded with come election season.
Another well-placed informant within the New Frontier Democratic club reveals a lot of internal turmoil over that gem of an endorsement, something about a club officer being a paid staffer on Lindsey’s campaign. Don’t have all the details yet, but a clear pattern is emerging.
The latest lasd.news announces that “97% of Deputies Vote No Confidence In Failed McDonnell; 92% Want Bob Lindsey For Sheriff” but of course you have to read the fine print to understand only a fraction of the members actually voted. Using Lindsey logic, 84% of ALADS members do NOT want Lindsey as sheriff, lol. Apparently online voting, where trainees are called in from the field to vote on their TO’s laptops is a mistake ALADS probably won’t be doing again.
This is getting fun. Would love to hear NoBuckles take on all this…
Speaking of choices, you Ron Hernandez, negated that with your magical threshold of voters percentage denying all choices for endorsing a candidate for Sheriff.
The undeniable back story is quite obvious. Ask the membership of 8000 plus. Truly you’ll go into infamy among other things for your unilateral decision
Me thinks someone has awoken the sleeping giant from its slumber, the wagons are starting to circle and fear is staring to set in. The reality is, Bob Lindsey is reaching out to everyone, even those groups that heretofore, “where deemed irrelevant”, too small to make a difference or “in the political bag”. This seems like the embodiment of a “grass roots” campaign.
The criticism and attempts to “cast doubt” via innuendo and wild leaps of faulty deductive speculation, are indicators that someone or group is starting to notice and is starting to worry.
ALAS; “Infamy” really! Lol!
Next week, all bets will be off for complaints against Sheriff McDonnell. After all, who wants to hear whining for another four years from those who could have made a change. More so internal than external.
Ron,
Can you explain why ALADS apparently doesn’t have the balls to endorse a candidate?
Ownership: If you would like to have a respectful ADULT conversation, call, email me or come to a meeting (there’s one June 6th).
We’ve addressed this several times to those who are not asking ANONYMOUSLY!
FYI: ALADS didn’t endorse until after the primary, for the last election either.
Using the last sheriff’s election in 2014 re: endorsement, has nothing to to with the dynamics of the current sheriff’s election. Also you had no hand in that decision, refer to Jeff Steck. Deputies are getting administratively slammed even at this moment. Furthermore only voting members of ALADS are allowed to attend representative meetings.
Hey Ron, In addition to my former comment, be advised that there are more members who pay dues than those who pay attention to, in your words “positive changes”. Your escape clause will be via retirement which will deem you “off the radar” with parting words of “I did my best” as you ride in the sunset. Nothing says otherwise.
And now this? Same boss as old boss.
http://surruo.com/2018/06/01/supporter-of-sheriff-mcdonnell-got-personal-county-car/
Now would be the time to regroup within the next 4 years. No excuses as to facing the demons in LASD leadership. ALADS needs to be replaced or abolished as there is no lack of funds, only lack of leadership. Their only action was to acquiesce which is equivalent to waving a white fIag. Only the squeaky wheel gets the oil and only the victor gets the spoil only after engaging in battle and not standing on the sidelines.
Fed up, I mean Alex, Just stop with your bullshit dude. You’re snitching on yourself with the same words you’re using when you refer to Lindsey. I’m not surprised because you were never a policeman in your life. While you’re at it, go ahead and sign your waiver of rights admonition form too. Unless you’ve already conceded the race, you need to be focusing on raising more than $20k to run an effective campaign. So what that you have more degrees than a thermometer, you’re still a whining cry baby who’s sniveled and complained his way through his entire career with nothing to show for. Ron, I understand your stance and hopefully if this goes past the primaries, you would stand up for Lindsey. The rank and file will be proud of belonging to ALADS.
If Alex Villanueva really cares about the Sheriff’s Dept., and really wants McDonnell out, he should have conceded the race for Sheriff a month ago and asked his supporters to back Bob Lindsey. With the small amount of money he has raised and the projected percent of the vote he will receive, he is only splitting the vote and forcing a possible runoff between Lindsey and McDonnell. Alex will be out anyway, and asking his supporters to support Bob, would help Lindsey win the Primary, and McDonnell could be out on June 6th. Alex, we are “Fed Up” with your arrogance. You should have humbled yourself and realized earlier on that you have no chance to actually win and thrown your support to Bob Lindsey.
What is it with Lindsey cheerleaders that they can’t stand criticism, pointed and specific, regarding their leader? Instead of addressing the actual issues, they resort to childish insults and ad hominem attacks on Villanueva’s character. Sounds to me like the criticism is spot on. My guess is they probably haven’t even met the man, pretty weak in my book. I don’t see much difference between Lindsey supporters and Tanaka supporters, they are starting to sound alike in both shrillness and desperation.
Thus the continuation of McDonnell’s reign leading LASD.
LATBG, if it were Lindsey with the $20,000 and 6% of the vote, I would be asking him to open his eyes, humble himself, and concede to Villanueva. Either one of them would be better for the Sheriffs Department than LAPD McDonnell. Since Alex is the underdog here, he needed to do what was good for the Sheriffs Dept., which was to concede and throw his support to the other qualified candidate running against the incumbent Sheriff, retired Commander Bob Lindsey.
P.S. I worked around both Lindsey and Villanueva for many years and have witnessed their personalities and have seen their experience, and in my opinion, Bob Lindsey is the best man for the job of Sheriff. But either of them would be WAY better than McDonnell, who only ran for Sheriff for the power when he found out Baca was retiring. He’s got LAPD in his blood and is unfortunately turning LASD into that agency.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!! Truly rich!
You have to do waaay better that. Who are you anyway……public relations or cabana boy for Lindsey?
So if someone who knows all three candidates for Sheriff, picks one of the candidates to endorse because they feel he would be the best man for the job, they are considered a cabana boy for that person by you? Really?
You don’t see what is happening here. McDonnell is in office because in 2014, we had 12 candidates for Sheriff, all who worked for the Sheriffs Dept. except for him. Tanaka had no chance of winning because he had been indicted and was most likely going to jail, and because of his arrogance and ego, he refused to get out of the race, so McDonnell won. But before that, we had a good 10 other Sheriffs Dept. candidates who might have had a chance of beating McDonnell if most of them had gotten over themselves and their egos by coming together and working for a common cause…to help elect one of them to beat the outsider from LAPD who knew nothing about the Sheriffs Dept. and was way in over his head.
We are repeating exactly what happened in 2014. After realizing he couldn’t raise the money and support needed to run for Sheriff, Alex should have swallowed his pride and gotten out of the race and supported Bob to help beat McDonnell. So whatever small percentage of votes Alex will receive, he is only helping the incumbent. So if this makes me a cabana boy for Bob, then you just don’t get it.
So if someone who knows all three candidates for Sheriff, picks one of the candidates to endorse because they feel he would be the best man for the job, you consider them a cabana boy for that person? Really? You just don’t get it…
Sorry for that last repeat. I must have hit post twice…
First of all, P.T. was indicted in May of 2015. Secondly had McDonnell not run for office, P.T would have been Sheriff in 2014, regardless of the “winds of chains” blowing in his face. Factually I know that much hatred towards Villanueva is from “Old Heads” at ALADS for obvious reasons, LASPA. Shall I go on, including management?
Additionally, Check your facts first. There were NOT 12 LASD personnel running for Sheriff in 2014. Even in the group that ran, Lou Vince, also a candidate was from LAPD.
Seriously…Paul’s trouble with the Feds was all over the news. He never would have won that race for Sheriff no matter who he ran against. It just would not have happened. I get what you mean about management’s dislike for Alex, but that has nothing to do with me. I just think Bob would make a better Sheriff for a number of reasons. Also, I should have said approximately in my total, and I admit I forgot there was one other candidate from LAPD, but the exact count was not the purpose of my diatribe. Too many candidates staying in the campaign split that vote to make a run-off between Tanaka and McDonnell, ensuring a win for McDonnell. Get it now?
School is out for the summer, FR. I can’t go back and forth with you. My sentiments of Tanaka are the same as yours, however he was miles ahead of everyone else other than McDonnell. Numbers don’t lie. The FBI already had a takedown date for Tanaka even if he won the election. It would’ve look even better for them if he was on LASD’S top.
Lastly, my curiosity piques me as to who was YOUR choice prior to the primary of McDonnell & Tanaka.
Bob Olmsted…
Ron Hernandez standing up for Lindsey? Obviously you were asleep during the Facebook wars. Truly a spectacle from Ron as his defense mechanism kicked in full gear on all two cylinders. Put on your thinking cap and pay close attention. You’ll either see the big picture or you’ll be mesmerized by all of the B.S. embedded in ALADS.
Same here as for Olmsted. You and I are are not too far apart from our thoughts but to discount Villanueva totally as if he was an add-on was a bit much. Let’s just see how everything goes and hope that LASD is fixed with whomever wins. I do like Lindsey however some of his fan base has been somewhat overzealous with their tactics on scene.
Bob Lindsey is the best man for the job of Sheriff.
We’ll soon see, as no one has a Crystal Ball.
It’s a wrap. McDonnell is in for another four.
No, actually it looks like there is going to be a runoff!
You’re correct. I spoke too based upon the sources in which I read last night.
Attention to ALADS: The numbers are in along with support. You should lick your old wounds, swallow your pride and bury the hatchet to get behind Alex Villanueva for Sheriff. No name calling, pointing fingers or weak excuses……let’s do it!
McDonnel 47%
Villanueva 33%
Lindsey 19%
The biggest news story from yesterday’s Primary Election balloting in Los Angeles County has to be the results from the vote to fill the Office of Sheriff.
In June 2014, with no incumbent running and field of candidates almost 3 times larger to chose from then we have today, Jim McDonnell took over 49% of the total.
June 2018 Sheriff McDonnell has held the office for 3 1/2 years and is challenged by only 2 other candidates, neither who are publicly recognizable beyond their professional law enforcement circle.
Incumbent Sheriff McDonnell wins 47% of the vote and is forced into a November run-off against a challenger whose campaign finances didn’t exceed the cost for one semester of tuition, room and board at the average university.
On top of that, there may have been some glitches at the County Registrar which delivered incomplete registered voter roles to some heavily hispanic demographic precincts where Villanueva should score his most favorable spread.
Rest assured, now is when things start to get very, very interesting.
With that being said, deputies and their associations now have a valid choice. No one can have it both ways. You either pick McDonnell and stop your bitching or go with Villanueva and his plan. Numbers don’t lie and for those who are sitting on the fence, get of pair of balls (even if borrowed) and make a decision. I’m tired of whiners.
Villanueva’s victory yesterday was a high five to the face of the haters. Go Alex!
Now is the time lindsey supporters need to get behind Villanueva. I was going for lindsey, never had a problem with Alex, just liked lindsey more. Us lindsey supporters ha e to support Alex now, it’s the right thing to do. We need buckles gone, good luck mr Villanueva, you now have my vote.
Agreed.
Agreed to Clam Chowder. I hope others do so also.
Clam Chowder is absolutely correct!!
Hold on everybody, this is going to be a wild ride but before you jump on the Villanueva train, just realize, he has always been self-serving and only looked out for himself. He is very Pompous and Vindictive. Yes, I want to see this house cleaned and ridden of the Tanakites as much as he does, but it will come with a price. I am hoping that this is an eye-opener to ole “Fresh Eyes” and he now sees that he has been listening to the wrong people. I encourage everybody to go to the debates. I truly hope both unions have solid questions of each candidate, and we put them both on “Front Street” If you want to be the Sheriff, you better be able to Lead people.
@ CC, Valid point.
….”Self serving, pompous & vindictive” only looking out for himself…… please give citations to back your reasoning.
Surely your opinion of Villanueva varies from my opinion. The Tanakites hated him as well as the corrupt Palace of Thieves, called Alads. If you looking for Christ to become Sheriff, that won’t happen as he’s ruling in Heaven.
As a Armed Forces Veteran and a Retired Deputy, I can vouch that Alex Villanueva is a man of sound character & integrity. He has taken risks at his own expense to do the right thing for the well being of many. Several who comment on this blog want a change in leadership at LASO but they balk and cringe of the vessel that it comes in. In a true democracy, people vote for whom they want. Respect the voices of choice.
Message to surruo.com, since I can’t respond on your page, and I know you read Witness LA, I’ll post my response here, feel free to blame away. You’re 0-2.
I like to read all the “controversial” sites to see the latest rumors, but at the end of the day MOST, NOT ALL, are a bunch of cowards screaming from the bleachers refusing to get involved, but always complaining about the results.
Sites like yours are damaging to moral and progress. Real men don’t sit back and make threats, they get it done.
Attack my work, attack my character, attack my decisions, but what you never some to address is that I’m doing something to try and help and you’re not. You are sitting behind a keyboard crying because you can’t punk me into doing what YOU want me to do.
I KNOW, I KNOW, responding to you is not very “Presidential.”
YOUR TURN!
There you go again Ron, burning Arco fuel on both cylinders. You wear your feelings on your sleeves and it tells. Please don’t bring your social media feud to WLA. When you respond to everything other than the needs of deputies, it shows where your priorities are. We all see the light at the end of ALADS, the headlights of a freight train.
Last Unicorn, wearing my heart/feelings on my sleeve isn’t exactly a put down, if you understand the true meaning. You think it’s a put down, because it sounds wimpy. It’s actually a compliment, so thank you.
“Don’t bring the social media feud to Witness LA.” That’s funny! I guess you’re not in the bleachers, your under a rock! Or, is it just ok for others to do it, but not me!
As far as the needs of the deputies, come on down to ALADS. We’ll talk about what we’ve accomplished and what we’re working on on the numerous deputies who seem to be happy with our services.
Another threat, really! Even with 0-2 record.
I’m confident the deputies who truly know what ALADS offers will be happy to stay, and those who are willing to make drastic decisions (cut off your nose to spite your face) will ultimately realize what your losing.
Why don’t you make this easy on yourself. Quit reinventing your screen name to make it look like you have thousands of supporters. Even an old burned out detective, like myself, can see the patterns.
You and I know we are most likely part of a few goof balls (yes, me included) who come here to argue. If I could get you to disagree with me face to face, I wouldn’t feel the need.
Thanks for the banter. What else you got?
Ron, My schedule doesn’t allow me to make the monthly meetings so here are my questions Have you apprised the entire membership of their option to drop ALADS, should SCOTUS rule against unions? If not, will you? I ask this as a concerned deputy not as one of your combatants. Will dues be modified for those who choose to remain in ALADS? Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Answer #1: No, I believe others are making sure members are aware.
Answer #2: In some way shape or form the members will be made aware of their options.
Answer #3: That is unknown until we see the parameters of the ruling, but right now there is no conversation about dues.
We can assume a lot of folks are pleased that the incumbent Sheriff has been forced to a run-off election in November.
That includes a very exclusive group who must be extremely delighted with their own good fortune that no candidate scored a majority of the votes.
That exclusive group of political campaign consultants who have monopolized their strange professional niche in regards to ballot measures and candidates for election to high profile public office in our region.
They are chomping at the bit to unleash their stylists, wardrobe consultants, make-up artists and personality coaches on McDonnell and Villanueva.
They expect the candidates to devote all their energies in the next 3 months to the fundraising effort required to pay their fees.
Shalman, Shimpock or Skelton. Who will the candidates hire?
Or is it the campaign consultants who divvy up the candidates and consulting contracts among themselves?
Does anyone have the cajones to tell all these 3 greaseballs to pound sand, go away or find a way to make an honest living?
@ M.C. Your last paragraph speak volumes. Don’t know about McDonnell but I hope Villanueva can use someone in or close to his camp as campaign consultant. Villanueva’s campaign is pretty much “grass roots”. If based on his past experience and victories, I’m sure Alex will do well. One battlefield victory in the books. One more to go.