Sheriff to Be Off Work for About a Month : Law enforcement: Hernia surgery puts Gates on shelf at a time of budget woes and new intensity in the crisis on overcrowding in the county jails.

At a time when his department is furiously grappling with budget woes and a new flare-up in the jail overcrowding crisis, Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates said Thursday that he will probably be off work for about a month while he recovers from hernia surgery.

“I’m stiff and sore, but otherwise I’m fine,” said Gates, who underwent a double-hernia operation Monday and is recuperating at home. “This is the first time I’ve had anything like this, and I don’t like it at all.”

Doctors say it could take several weeks or even months for Gates to fully recover from the surgery, which involved repairing two hernias in the sheriff’s lower abdomen and stomach. Although the procedure is not complicated, it usually leaves the patient sore for some time, and doctors advise patients to avoid lifting and other strenuous exercise for several months.

The sheriff--who informed a few aides and top county officials that he was planning to undergo the operation, but did not make it widely known--said he was out of bed and walking around Thursday. He added, however, that he does not expect to be back to the office before late August or early September.

Meanwhile, responsibility for the Sheriff’s Department has been handed to Undersheriff Raul Ramos.

“There’s no trouble adjusting to Sheriff Gates’ absence from time to time,” Ramos said. “We always keep in touch with him, and he always keeps in touch with us. Sheriff Gates is always close to a phone.”

Gates, who said he spent several hours on the telephone Thursday catching up on business, agreed.

“I’m never very far away,” he said. “And I’ve got tremendously competent staff people. They handle 60% to 70% of it anyway. I’m very, very comfortable with leaving things in their hands.”

Still, Ramos takes the reins during a period of turbulence in the Sheriff’s Department. A Municipal Court judge last week sentenced Gates to 30 days in jail for illegally releasing prisoners from jail to relieve overcrowding.

The judge said that if the county can produce a plan to halt the releases by Nov. 1, he would let Gates avoid the sentence, which also includes a $17,000 fine. The Nov. 1 deadline has sent the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff’s Department officials scurrying to pursue their options, which include appealing the ruling and rushing expansion of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange.

Gates said he spent more than an hour Thursday discussing his case with County Counsel Terry C. Andrus. During a closed session this week, the Board of Supervisors authorized its attorneys to pursue an appeal, but asked that no action be taken until the attorneys and Gates consulted on the matter.

“They’re still pulling together all the information, and they hope to have it ready by the first of next week,” Gates said. He added that county counsel is considering filing appeals in both Superior and federal courts.

Even as they try to deal with that issue, Sheriff’s Department officials are battling to protect their turf in the county’s budget discussions. The department has been targeted for more than $5 million in budget cuts, including the elimination of its helicopter patrol, a favorite program of the sheriff’s.

Sheriff’s officials have accepted that they will have to absorb cuts, but object strongly to having them dictated by the county administrative office. Rather than accept that office’s proposals, the department is preparing a budget proposal of its own, which Ramos said officials hope to present next week.

“We’re trying to hang on to those projects that the sheriff feels are essential to protecting the public safety,” Ramos said. “The (county administrative office) is playing hardball with all the departments, but we’re hoping that they will let the sheriff manage his own department.”