Voters Will Pick Top Law Enforcer, Rule on Casino

Voters in the Inland Empire will decide the fate of a new desert casino in San Bernardino County, the top law enforcement official in Riverside County and other issues in the June 6 primary.

Among the top political races in the two counties:

* Riverside County sheriff: The race has generated considerable heat, with incumbent Bob Doyle grappling with recent reports of issuing badges to civilians who contributed to his campaign. Although Doyle has discontinued the practice, opponent Rick Sayre, a retired Riverside County undersheriff, has hammered Doyle on the matter.

Overcrowded jails and crackdowns on sex offenders and gangs are key issues for all candidates.

Robert “Bob” Ritchie, a Desert Hot Springs police officer and San Jacinto councilman, trails Doyle, the leader in fundraising and endorsements, and Sayre.

The sheriff’s deputies union’s membership, divided on which candidate to back, declined to support anyone after a recent endorsement vote failed to reach the required 90% participation.

* 80th Assembly District: In Riverside County, Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden, one of the nation’s most prominent gay, black politicians, has thrown his hat into the ring to unseat incumbent Republican Bonnie Garcia.

Oden, a Palm Springs councilman for more than a decade, will face off against fellow Democrat Steve Clute of Palm Desert, who served in the Assembly for 10 years.

Though Clute lags behind Oden in fundraising and name recognition, the head of the Children’s Spine Foundation in Riverside has picked up the support of the state Democratic Party plus union endorsements; labor leaders balked when Palm Springs approved a new Wal-Mart several years ago.

* San Bernardino County assessor:

Incumbent Donald E. Williamson and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus have sparred in mailers, phone calls, at meetings and in court during a rowdy campaign.

Postmus, who represents the high desert, including Victorville, has far outspent his opponents on mailers mentioning the sexual-harassment claim the county settled for Williamson and yard signs and billboards with a logo the assessor unsuccessfully challenged in court.

Williamson scored an endorsement from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, but has been criticized for trying to roll back taxes on 70,000 properties just weeks before the election. Top county administrators, fearing a substantial loss in funds, blocked his office’s computers from changing the appraisals.

Two other appraisers, Alfred Palazzo and Michael Willhite, whom the San Bernardino Sun endorsed, are also on the ballot. If no candidate captures 50% of the votes, the top two will square off in November.

* Barstow Measure H on Indian gaming: This desert city’s experiment with “reservation shopping” -- allowing tribes to build and run casinos far from their aboriginal lands -- takes another turn with this controversial ballot measure.

In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a tentative agreement allowing the Big Lagoon tribe from Humboldt County and the Los Coyotes tribe from San Diego County to open side-by-side casinos in Barstow.

But that left the Chemehuevis, based near the Colorado River and in talks to open their own casino, in the dust. The Los Coyotes-Big Lagoon pact, which awaits approval from the Legislature, says that in most cases, tribes would not have to share profits with the state if another casino opened within 40 miles.

The proposal would essentially block the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon tribes from building casinos, since they would be outside a gaming district the measure establishes. The district, near the city’s outlet malls, would include land the Chemehuevis have pinpointed, according to the city attorney’s analysis.

The Barstow Chamber of Commerce and City Council oppose the measure. Councilman Paul Luellig, among the proposal’s critics, is being targeted for a recall on the June ballot.