‘Teflon Badge’ Shields Gates, Official Says

Orange County supervisors declined to criticize Sheriff Brad Gates after Gates’ courtroom defeat Friday, but three men who have sued Gates and won said it is time to hold the sheriff accountable for his misdeeds.

Three members of the board refused to comment on the jury’s finding that Gates had acted with reckless disregard of the U.S. Constitution, and one supervisor defended the sheriff.

“This guy has a Teflon badge,” said one county official who declined to be named.

Private polls have found Gates to be one of the most popular political figures in the county. Backed by major developers and key Republican leaders, Gates is a powerful fund-raiser who has been visited by President Bush twice this year. He was easily reelected in June to a four-year term.

Gates’ Teflon was much in evidence Friday, when even officials who have clashed with Gates publicly declined to say whether they believe that he wronged brothers Frank and Ty Ritter, private investigators.

But three men who have won damages from Gates in the past called on the supervisors to denounce Gates’ tactics publicly and to hold him personally responsible for the financial consequences of his actions.

“Finally a jury of his peers has found that he arbitrarily abuses his discretion,” said Preston Guillory, who won a $475,000 out-of-court settlement after an 11-year legal battle against Gates. “Once again, I ask myself how many times the Board of Supervisors would like a jury to come back against the sheriff before they will admit publicly that he has got problems.”

George P. Wright, who received part of a county-financed out-of-court settlement after he accused Gates in a lawsuit of ordering spies to monitor his criminal justice classes at Rancho Santiago College, agreed.

“It is about time,” Wright said. “Complaints have been made by numerous people in writing formally to the grand jury and the district attorney to all the things aired last week in the jury trial. But the county has turned a deaf ear. It took the Ritter brothers and a federal jury in Los Angeles to finally get some justice done. . . .

“It’s outrageous that the Board of Supervisors has without comment paid out millions of dollars subsidizing what could be the illegal activities of the sheriff and his intelligence division.”

Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder, Gaddi H. Vasquez and Don R. Roth, the board chairman, all said they could not comment on the case until they had read the decision and discussed the case with county attorneys.

“I can’t make a comment or a judgment on something the court has decreed,” Wieder said. “That’s up to our county and the board to discuss it and see what role we would have--if there is any role.”

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, the board’s senior member, could not be reached for comment Friday night.

However, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton denounced the verdict as “outrageous.”

“I think the sheriff has the right to protect the public safety in making judgments about gun permits,” he said. “The facts of the case as far as I’m concerned do not justify the decision of the court or the award of this kind of damages.

“I object both to the decision and to the amount,” he added.

Stanton declined to comment on whether he believes that the sheriff was in the right in the other three court cases against him.

Roth, who has disagreed with Gates on such issues as the proper location for a new county jail and the appropriate use of money from assets seized in drug raids, said he worries about the costs of the decision.

“I’m sad to hear that he lost the case,” Roth said. “As you know, the county’s in a tremendous crunch financially at this time, and this just adds” more burden.

All four supervisors declined to comment on whether the county would or should pay for any punitive damages resulting from wrongful actions by Gates.

While the supervisors said little, Gates’ foes were gleeful.

“This proves what we’ve said all along--that favoritism runs rampant over there,” said former Orange County Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood.

Youngblood was outspoken in criticizing the way Gates ran the Orange County Jail and opposed the sheriff for reelection in 1980. As a result, Youngblood alleged, he was subjected to unwarranted criminal investigations by Gates for eight years. In 1987, the county paid Youngblood $375,000 to settle his lawsuit.

Gates has maintained that the investigations against Youngblood had been warranted.

Youngblood insisted that Gates himself--not the taxpayers--should pick up the tab for any punitive damages stemming from Friday’s decision.

“The ruling itself is good,” he said, “but if Brad Gates has to reach into his own pockets to pay for his own mistakes, that may put a stop to his shenanigans. . . . I think this is high time.”

Wright warned that if the supervisors agree to pay punitive damages assessed against Gates, he and a group of citizens will consider bringing a taxpayer lawsuit against the county.

Times staff writer Dave Lesher contributed to this report.