Undersheriff Murakami avoiding stress, via COC The undersheriff enhanced his claim of health vulnerability by sending the oversight commission a photo of himself in a t-shirt adorned with what is reportedly the symbol of a deputy clique known as the Spartans that is located at the department’s Century station (although WLA has yet to be able to positively confirm the Spartan reference). Murakami, who was also subpoenaed, sent a similar message saying he could not attend because the stress of testifying at the hearing would endanger his health. He was fearful specifically, he said, because he’d been informed that some of the community members attending previous COC hearings had worn t-shirts adorned with the message: “ F- the sheriff.” Yet, although the sheriff and his second in command were served with legal subpoenas by the COC, which has subpoena power, instead of showing up, Villanueva sent a message through his attorney that he could not comply with the subpoena to testify under oath because he “fears for his safety” at the hearing, which was being held on the Loyola Law School campus.
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The latter item in particular about the sheriff engaging in “obstruction” of investigations into the sheriff’s conduct by any of the county’s oversight entities, could be quite problematic for Sheriff Villanueva.Īs recently as Friday, July 1, 2022, Villanueva and his undersheriff, Tim Murakami, declined to show up at a special hearing called by the department’s Civilian Oversight Commission (COC), one of a series of hearings that are part of the COC’s probe into the department’s deputy gang problem that, despite his contention otherwise, Villanueva has aggressively chosen to ignore. The term “for cause,” as defined in Tuesday’s newly-passed motion, is “ a violation of any law related to the performance of their duties as sheriff flagrant or repeated neglect of duties a misappropriation of public funds or property willful falsification of a relevant official statement or document or obstruction of any investigation into the conduct of the Sheriff by the Inspector General, Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, or any government agency with jurisdiction to conduct such an investigation.” But, if voters give the sitting sheriff a second term, while county voters also give the supervisors the power to remove a sitting sheriff “for cause,” Villanueva-who has characterized the motion as an anti-democratic overreach-likely has reason for concern. Of course, if Luna wins this coming November, Tuesday’s motion will be a non-issue for Alex Villanueva. This is a large turnaround from 2018 when Villanueva’s dark horse run to replace then-sheriff Jim McDonnell was greatly aided by the fact that Villanueva courted and won the support of most of the county’s democratic voter organizations, a smart strategy that was among the keys to his success.
Villanueva election swag via Re-elect Sheriff Alex Villanueva Later on Tuesday, Villanueva’s day did not improve when the Los Angeles County Democratic Party voted by a wide margin to endorse former Long Beach Chief of Police, Robert Luna to replace the incumbent sheriff when the two face each other in the November runoff. The motion, authored by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis, passed 4/1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger the only no vote, although even Barger seemed torn. In other words, if the LA County voters think the change in the county charter is called for, the change will almost certainly stick, legally. Sheriff Gary Penrod, challenged the board’s new power, but got firmly shot down by California’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The concept of a county board of supervisors having the power to fire an elected sheriff has already been tested in San Bernardino County, where the SB board acquired similar powers to remove their sheriff. This past Tuesday, July 12, was not the greatest of days for Sheriff Alex Villanueva.įirst, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion giving the go-ahead for a special election in November to ask county voters to grant the board the authority to remove the county’s sheriff with a four fifths vote if they deem it necessary, “ for cause…”
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