Political Fallout Likely to Turn Up Heat on Incumbents

The release this week of a report that is highly critical of the county Sheriff’s Department and the announced resignation of county government’s top administrator are likely to further wound incumbents and provide more fodder for their opponents in two of three runoff elections for county offices, political analysts said Tuesday.

Political insiders and outsiders largely agreed that the two events would heighten voters’ awareness and skepticism, particularly in the race for district attorney and for the seat on the Board of Supervisors held by Deane Dana.

“The issue of accountability is sort of coming home to roost,” said Supervisor Gloria Molina, the board’s newest member and its most persistent critic of the Sheriff’s Department and County Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon. “You’re going to see a lot more questions of these candidates about bringing government out into the sunlight.”

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who faces a tough runoff against Deputy Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, came under strong criticism in the report issued Monday by Special Counsel James G. Kolts.

Dana, who had been a longtime supporter of Dixon, was forced to reverse his stance and call for Dixon’s resignation after a grand jury report found the county’s top manager had spent millions of dollars in public funds without notifying the board.

Dana’s turnaround, one analyst said, could backfire in the hands of his opponent, Gordana Swanson.

“She can . . . point out that he’s a Dana-come-lately,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior associate at the Center for Politics and Policy at Claremont Graduate School.

Indeed, Swanson issued a statement Tuesday in which she alleged that Dana held “direct, personal responsibility” for Dixon’s “questionable” fiscal practices because he appointed himself to oversee Dixon’s office in February. Dana, in turn, said he only learned of the practices after the grand jury completed its investigation.

The only county race expected to be relatively unaffected by the announced resignation and critical report is in the 2nd Supervisorial District, in which there is no incumbent. Both candidates in that race--state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) and former Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke--had previously called for Dixon’s resignation and for civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Department.

It was clear Tuesday that Watson and Burke would incorporate Dixon’s decision to step aside into their campaigns. Both said Dixon’s replacement would never be allowed the kind of autonomy he enjoyed, although that would require the board members to take on more responsibility. Each said she was better qualified to meet that challenge.

Political analysts predicted the outcome of the investigation of the Sheriff’s Department--which documented a pattern of excessive force and brutality by deputies, particularly against minorities--would be especially damaging to Reiner’s efforts to hold on to his job as district attorney.

Reiner’s office was sharply criticized in the report for prosecuting only one of 382 questionable shootings documented in the study.

“My personal opinion is Reiner is yesterday’s newspaper for a whole myriad of reasons and issues,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican political consultant. “But this certainly doesn’t help him.”

When asked if he thought the report would have a negative impact on his campaign, Reiner shot back: “Of course not, the quality of the work in this office is outstanding and these cases were given a great deal of serious attention.”

Garcetti, Reiner’s opponent, had already adopted a sound-bite-sized response to the report Tuesday, saying it was an indication that “no one seems to be trusting Ira.”

Hal Dash, president of the political consulting firm Cerrell Associates Inc., said Reiner could lose significant support in the black and Latino communities as a result of the report. Watson and Burke, who are seeking to represent the South Los Angeles area, agreed.

“If you were living in that community, you’d probably feel you’d been betrayed,” Dash said.

The impact of the Kolts report on the Dana-Swanson race was expected to be minimal unless community reaction approaches the outrage that followed release of the Christopher Commission report, which leveled similar charges against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Dana has been endorsed by Sheriff Sherman Block, which political observers said would be gunpowder for Swanson were it not for the largely conservative and Anglo composition of the 4th District. The U-shaped district stretches from Whittier to Wilmington to Westchester and includes most of the areas served by the new 310 area code.

“If I was running Gordana Swanson’s campaign, I would touch that issue very gingerly,” Hoffenblum said.

In an interview, Swanson said it is unfortunate that it took the grand jury and Kolts reports to trigger action. “It seems maybe these are problems that could have been prevented by the supervisors,” she said. “I have a sense that there’s just no feeling of responsibility there.”

Times staff writer Kenneth Reich contributed to this story.