Drown Is Ambivalent on Duffy’s Support

One day after saying he welcomed all the help San Diego County Sheriff John Duffy could give him in next year’s sheriff’s race, Jack Drown began Tuesday to distance himself somewhat from his boss and said he would consider shedding Duffy’s support should it prove harmful.

“We’d sit back and think about it and reflect upon it,” said Drown, an assistant sheriff who has worked closely with Duffy for 20 years.

“But,” he added, “I’m not going to sell out my own personal beliefs and trade them off. People are going to vote for me because of who I am and what I stand for.”

Drown, asked whether he would urge Duffy to stop backing him if that support backfired on his campaign, said: “I’m not saying that entirely. What I’m saying is that you will never see me disloyal to John Duffy.”

Drown announced his candidacy for sheriff Monday, only an hour after Duffy announced he was pulling out of the race.

The back-to-back press conferences did not surprise too many political observers, who have long considered Drown to be Duffy’s personal favorite as his successor. But, on Tuesday, Drown attempted to depict himself as more than just Duffy’s candidate.

“You know, there’s been a lot of talk about my being a hand-picked candidate,” Drown said. “But there’s only one way that people get hand-picked to be the sheriff of San Diego County, and that’s by the voters.”

He said that, although he has worked for years under Duffy’s close supervision, he does not consider himself a rubber stamp of the sheriff.

“John Duffy and I have had disagreements before, believe me,” Drown said. “Duffy has not always been the easiest man to work for. That is safe to say. And we will have disagreements in the future over things.”

Drown made his remarks after a noon luncheon before the Lions Club of San Diego, to whom Duffy gave a long and rambling speech about his version of the history of the press and how he believes the media--including the Los Angeles Times--have placed his personal life in danger and forced him to withdraw from a run at a record sixth term in office.

Also in that speech, Duffy several times singled out Drown in the audience and commended him for his work in the department, such as setting up what Duffy called a model program for the department’s public affairs unit.

Drown was asked afterward if it appeared that Duffy was already campaigning for him.

“It sounded like that, didn’t it?” he said, adding that it “remains to be seen” what will come from Duffy’s support.

But, he said, “At this early stage in the campaign, I’m not one to be turning down anyone’s support.”