Roache Sues to Be Able to Run Against Duffy

Frustrated because he cannot “bad-mouth” San Diego County Sheriff John Duffy over issues concerning next year’s sheriff’s race, Capt. Jim Roache on Wednesday asked a Superior Court judge to allow him to skirt a policy that prohibits staff members from running against the incumbent sheriff.

Roache, one of four veteran law enforcement officials considering a run against longtime Sheriff Duffy, said in a lawsuit that he wants the policy voided soon in this case so he can file a formal notice of intent to seek the office and then begin raising campaign funds for the election in November, 1990.

“In order to become a viable candidate, I need to begin to solicit and accept political contributions and begin to put together a campaign organization,” Roache said.

“For a race that involves a countywide election, that takes considerable time and effort. And any time I’m delayed, it impairs my ability to become an effective candidate.”

Duffy, who has reportedly ignored two of Roache’s letters asking for the policy to be set aside, did not return phone calls from The Times on Wednesday.

Dan Wallace, chief deputy in the county counselor’s office, said his office will represent Duffy when the case goes before a judge Monday.

“We haven’t developed our position as yet,” Wallace said. “But we will be defending the sheriff in this lawsuit.”

Roache first asked Duffy in September to rescind the policy, and a second request followed in October, but said he never received a direct reply from Duffy.

Instead, in a Nov. 3 letter from his immediate supervisor in the Sheriff’s Department, Roache was told that he must work an eight-hour day, take one hour for lunch and refrain from politicking or saying anything negative about the sheriff’s operation.

Roache also was reminded in the letter from sheriff’s Cmdr. Myron A. Klippert “not to bad-mouth the sheriff or the Sheriff’s Department.”

Roache said he believes that such admonitions violate his rights to free speech and to campaign for elective office. He said he is equally concerned that his superiors, working on Duffy’s behalf, may be watching him closely, trying to catch him engaged in politics on county time.

“They might be monitoring my activities,” he said.

At the same time, Roache noted, the sheriff has frequently announced his own intention to seek reelection and has already begun fund raising, two steps that Roache has been prevented from taking.

“The fact that Mr. Duffy has already commenced fund raising verifies my concern that he recognizes (that) an election of this magnitude requires considerable time,” Roache said. “And, if I’m restrained, it negatively impacts upon me.”

He added that, should his lawsuit fail, he might have to resign from the Sheriff’s Department in order to wage a campaign against Duffy.

“I will have to monitor this thing as it goes along,” he said. “I’ll have to be to some degree flexible and prepared to make a very difficult decision.”

Other candidates who might file for the election include former San Diego Police Chief Ray Hoobler, who has announced that he will run, and Escondido Police Chief Vince Jimno and San Diego Deputy Police Chief Manny Guaderrama, both of whom are considering the race.