NEWS ANALYSIS : O.C. Sheriff’s ’93 Could Hurt at Polls in ’94

It could have been a scene from “Naked Gun,” the police spoof starring Leslie Nielsen. Surrounded by caterwauling recruits, an exotic dancer minced and sashayed at the knee of a popular training officer at the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy.

She was a birthday present from the guys. No problem, except someone leaked a videotape of the episode to the tabloid news program “A Current Affair.” It aired nationwide.

The bad press over the striptease was the least of Sheriff Brad Gates’ worries last year while at the wheel of the county’s largest law enforcement agency. For months, the number of controversies surrounding him seemed to grow in both seriousness and size.

In June, members of the Board of Supervisors scolded Gates for being inaccessible and inattentive while they grappled with proposed cuts in the sheriff’s budget. Months later, Gates was accused of improperly lobbying to secure a lucrative county contract for a communications company that employed one of his friends and political allies.

In December, law enforcement officials and county supervisors, both publicly and privately, expressed dismay at Gates’ decision not to join a widely supported gang task force in the wake of record gang violence.

Finally, tragedy struck. Deputy Brian Scanlan shot and killed fellow officer Darryn Leroy Robins on Christmas Day during an impromptu training session behind a Lake Forest movie theater. Although other police departments require guns to be unloaded during drills, Scanlan had live ammunition in his gun.

When asked by the news media to explain what happened, the Sheriff’s Department could not keep its story straight, creating a public relations headache and the impression that no one in the department knew what was going on.

From frat house hi-jinks to the death of Deputy Robins, 1993 was a trying year for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department--one that has dented the agency’s image and generated considerable baggage for Gates to haul into the upcoming election year.

Whether any of this will stick to the sheriff is unclear. He’s politically resilient and no stranger to controversy, having weathered far worse attacks and travails during his lengthy tenure as head of the 3,000-member agency.

For almost two decades, Gates has been reelected by generous margins, except for 1990 when a retired Fullerton police captain garnered about 45% of the vote with a small campaign chest and little name recognition.

Privately some law enforcement officials say that in 1994 Gates might be particularly vulnerable at the polls should a well-known police chief from one of the county’s bigger cities decide to challenge him.

That has been said before, and, so far, no strong contender has emerged. There had been talk of a possible candidacy by retired Anaheim Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy. But that prospect perished with Molloy’s sudden death from a heart attack last year.

“Brad has done a very good job. I don’t think there will be any opposition,” said Eileen Padberg, a political consultant who has worked on Gates’ election campaigns. “He takes a lot of heat and in the end he is respected in the community.”

Over the years, law enforcement officials have applauded the sheriff and his department for lasting contributions to the community that will forever outweigh the current round of negative publicity.

On the list of achievements are the sheriff’s tireless campaign work last year to secure sales tax revenue for financially strapped public safety agencies; the Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, a cooperative effort of local police agencies created in the mid-1980s to combat drugs; and the Drug Use Is Life Abuse program, a popular drug education effort once heralded by then-President George Bush.

“There have been these tough situations that have been controversial, but on balance I would have to say that the Sheriff’s Department and Brad Gates in particular have had many successes this year,” said Orange County Supervisor William G. Steiner. “To just look at Brad Gates in black and white does a disservice to him.”

Some police chiefs also credit Gates for running the county jail system in the face of overcrowding, growing inmate violence, limited funds for new facilities, and federal court orders to improve living conditions for inmates.

“He has worked hard to try to meet on a middle ground with the competing factors involved in the jail,” said Orange Police Chief John R. Robertson. “There is tremendous pressure and it takes a tremendous toll. In all this, he has never turned and tried to point the finger at other people. He has simply met the challenge.”

Nevertheless, Gates’ achievements might not be able to dispel the current perception by some public officials and citizens that something has gone awry within his department. How the problems are dealt with, particularly the Robins shooting, could be pivotal in preserving public confidence, they say.

Gates’ difficulties began in June when his relationship with the Board of Supervisors grew increasingly strained amid budget talks. County officials said they found the sheriff so inaccessible that it stalled important deliberations about reductions in spending.

“Baloney,” Gates said at the time. “My general is the people of Orange County.”

While Gates sparred with the board, murky allegations surfaced involving staff at the James A. Musick Branch Jail in Irvine. Sheriff’s officials began investigating a complaint about the theft of firewood by department employees, and sexual liaisons between deputies and inmates. Two senior officers were transferred, but sheriff’s officials at the time defended the reputations of the deputies and said no evidence of wrongdoing could be found.

The investigation was triggered by a letter sent to the jail which charged that female prisoners were offered early releases in exchange for sex. Investigators say the letter was a fake and bore the forged signature of a local newspaper reporter.

In the fall, “A Current Affair” confronted Gates and embarrassed his department with a videotape of an exotic dancer who performed in April, 1991, at a sheriff’s training facility. An internal affairs investigation ensued, and the lieutenant in charge of the facility said he expected to be disciplined for allowing the stripper to perform. Sheriff’s officials could not be reached to discuss the outcome last week.

More than a month after the videotape aired nationally, a senior county official said Gates had lobbied for an $80-million county contract on behalf of a communications company which had hired Gates’ friend and political ally, Gary L. Hausdorfer, as a consultant. Hausdorfer is a councilman in San Juan Capistrano, Gates’ home town.

The sheriff denied making any improper overtures during the competition to build a state-of-the-art radio system for all law enforcement agencies in the county. Also, Hausdorfer has said he never talked to Gates about his work for the company.

Perhaps the most serious problems for Gates have surfaced in the last few weeks. First, he decided not to commit his department to the county’s new anti-gang task force, then Deputy Robins died at the hands of Scanlan, his friend and fellow officer.

“This was an incredibly bizarre incident. I mean, how could this have happened?” civil rights attorney Christopher B. Mears said of Robins’ death. “What is Gates doing to assure and satisfy the community that this was an isolated, random incident? Or is it a sign of more pervasive problems? The tone must be set by Gates and not be lost or take a back seat to the district attorney’s investigation.”

Scanlan, a field training deputy, apparently shot Robins in the face while re-enacting a traffic stop to capture a felony suspect. Sources close to the investigation said the shooting appears to be an accident.

In the wake of the shooting, the Sheriff’s Department released little information about the incident, which eventually prompted some Lake Forest city officials to question the safety of field training.

The day Robins died, a sheriff’s spokesman told the news media that he had been killed with his own gun and that no one else was involved. That version of the events was withdrawn the next day. Since then, Gates has declined to comment on the case, citing a district attorney investigation.

A high-ranking county official who requested anonymity said the handling of the shooting by the Sheriff’s Department underscores Gates’ independent streak. The official noted that the county Board of Supervisors has not been briefed about the tragedy.

“It just seems like department policy has been totally violated. It’s been very awkward in terms of not giving information out to the press or anyone else,” the official said. “Gates has a reputation for always running his own show.”

That independence and desire for control, some county officials say, contributed to the sheriff recent decision’s not to join the new $2-million gang task force proposed by Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi and widely supported by local law enforcement.

A former deputy district attorney and other public officials, who requested that their names not be used, say they believe Gates refused to commit any resources because he could not run the operation.

“As others have said, I believe the sheriff has always put himself first and everything else second,” said county Treasurer Robert L. Citron, who has criticized Gates in the past. “He furthers his own ego at the expense of everything else. He alone cost this county $3 million in legal fees and court settlements three to four years ago.”

Citron, who worked on the gang proposal, was referring to several civil rights lawsuits that accused the sheriff of improperly issuing concealed weapons permits and bringing spurious criminal charges against a critic of his department.

Despite repeated phone calls to his office in the past week, Gates could not be reached for comment. But he has said in the past that the new gang program would duplicate what his department is already trying to do in some of the cities it serves.

As far as the Robins shooting and other perceived problems with the Sheriff’s Department, some say that Gates might not be at fault. What is important, they say, is how the sheriff addresses the situations.

“I don’t think the public understands how difficult it is to run the type of operation he runs,” Chief Robertson said. “Some of the things that have occurred occur in society at large. We hire human beings and human beings make mistakes. As the head of a large law enforcement agency, there are many things you cannot foresee, and many things are beyond your control.”

Padberg, Gates’ longtime supporter, blamed human error and bureaucratic problems for the release of incorrect information about the Robins shooting. Law enforcement officials also say that confidentiality is required when the district attorney investigates an officer-involved shooting.

“I don’t know what he can do to have an effect on some of these things except to properly investigate the matters,” Padberg said. “I think he has done that. I think he has handled things appropriately.”