Sheriff Gives Himself A for Management

In the latest salvo of the battle between the sheriff and tax collector, Sheriff Brad Gates awarded himself and his staff an A for managerial skills and challenged county supervisors to disagree in a letter released Friday.

Gates said in the letter to supervisors and the county administrative officer that Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, who last week called Gates a “mediocre” manager, “appears to be speaking for some members of the board and the CAO (county administrative office) about my managerial ability.

“I would assume those are his words and not yours. If your position is the same as Citron’s, I would appreciate hearing it from you.

“After what we have all been through in the last year with jail overcrowding, especially my staff, I feel we all deserve an A grade for managerial ability.”

The public feuding between the two elected officials, an unusual spectacle in county government, began in May, when Citron and Auditor-Controller Steven E. Lewis said the county could save $1.5 million a year by grounding the Sheriff’s Department’s two helicopters.

In June, Citron accused Gates of operating “a con game” aimed at getting more personnel for the Sheriff’s Department when budgets were so tight that the county was considering layoffs.

Gates responded with a letter to Citron, accusing him of “sheriff bashing” and contending that his comments were “half-baked, ill-advised and misinformed.”

That prompted a Citron rejoinder that there was a consensus in the offices of the supervisors and the CAO that “you are a poor or mediocre manager, although a good policeman.”

Gates and the supervisors were convicted of contempt in 1985 for not heeding a federal court order to end overcrowding in the main men’s jail in Santa Ana. Since then, the county has spent tens of millions of dollars on new jail facilities and extra deputies to staff them.

Gates’ latest letter, dated July 1, said staff and equipment provided in the fiscal year ending last Tuesday were additions approved by him, the CAO and the supervisors to reduce jail overcrowding.

“One must wonder why Mr. Citron didn’t criticize the CAO and the board for providing the equipment and the personnel?” the sheriff said.

The supervisors open hearings on the $1.7-billion county budget for the current fiscal year on July 29. Gates, who is also coroner, may be forced to make layoffs in his offices. The Social Services and Health Care agencies, as well as the Probation Department, also are facing layoffs.