Sheriff Decides Not to Seek Post of Lt. Governor : Politics: Although encouraged by local Republican leaders to launch campaign for the statewide position, Brad Gates will instead run for reelection to county job. He cites personal and professional reasons for his choice.

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, mentioned repeatedly in recent weeks as a possible candidate for lieutenant governor, announced Wednesday that he has decided not to seek that post because of personal and professional concerns.

Instead, Gates said in an interview, he will seek reelection as sheriff-coroner, a post he has held for two decades.

“I’m really a cop before I’m a politician,” said Gates, 54, a onetime guard in the County Jail who rose through the ranks and was first elected in 1974 with the backing of outgoing Sheriff James A. Musick.

Gates said he was “pleased and flattered” that unnamed leaders in the Orange County political community had encouraged him to seek the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

The timing appeared to favor a possible run by Gates in the wake of the statewide role he played in helping secure passage last November of a half-cent sales tax extension measure for law enforcement.

He would have been able to run as a tough law-and-order candidate at a time when crime has gained critical importance among voters. Several early polls showed that he could have fared well against other potential Republican and Democratic challengers.

But after several weeks of talks with political leaders around the state and with his family, Gates said he was concerned that a term as the state’s second-highest-ranking elected official could prove difficult on his wife of 33 years and his two children. The job would probably have forced him to live apart from his wife because of her business, he said.

In addition, Gates said, the lieutenant governor’s job appeared to offer him only a “limited” role to carry out his chief interest--law enforcement--and that the sheriff’s job held more influence in helping ease growing public fears over crime.

Particularly disturbing, Gates said, have been recent high-profile criminal trials in which juries have either deadlocked or convicted defendants--who claimed that they were justified in committing acts of violence--of lesser charges.

Specifically, the sheriff referred to the Los Angeles murder trials of Lyle and Eric Menendez, who blamed past acts of molestation for driving them to murder their parents. The juries could not reach verdicts after weeks of deliberation.

“We’ve all had tough backgrounds,” Gates said. “But when you start to use them as justification for committing a violent act, that’s scary.”

One deciding factor in Gates’ announcement Wednesday, several political figures said, may have been the enormous campaign war chest that Gates would have had to amass in order to mount a successful campaign.

“The word on the streets has been that the price tag was too high,” said one prominent political consultant who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It was going to be $3 million just to win the (Republican) primary, if not more.”

Orange County Republican Party Chairman Tom Fuentes said he was one of “dozens” of people Gates sought out for advice before announcing his decision.

Fuentes said he warned the sheriff that as an Orange County-based candidate he would have difficulty getting his campaign message to a statewide audience because of the “parochial nature” of the local media.

“Orange County candidates live in a media ghetto,” Fuentes said. “There is no dominant television or radio and Orange County news doesn’t always run in the full circulation of the Los Angeles Times. Orange County candidates are not known beyond the borders of Orange County.”

Orange County Marshal Michael S. Carona, who had indicated his intention to run for sheriff if Gates sought higher office, said Wednesday that his candidacy remained “a possibility.” Carona oversees security in the county’s court operations.

“It will be important for me to sit down with people who offered some very important encouragement and discuss this development,” Carona said. “Frankly, I’m surprised that Brad is not running for lieutenant governor. He spent his time in the county, but he’s got to make the decision on his own. I’m sure it was a painful personal decision for him to make.”

Carona said he has already raised about $10,000 toward a possible run for sheriff.

Gates said Carona had assured him last month that he would not run for sheriff if Gates decided to seek reelection. Gates said he knew of no real opposition in his reelection bid and felt confident running on his record.

But the past year has not been an easy one for Gates and his department. He sustained run-ins with the Board of Supervisors over his accessibility and attentiveness; a national tabloid television show aired an embarrassing videotape of a strip dancer at the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy; and on Dec. 25 a deputy was shot to death by a fellow training officer in an incident now under investigation by prosecutors.

Even the lack of any declared opposition may not be enough to guarantee Gates a smooth road to reelection. Four years ago, Fullerton City Councilman Don Bankhead--running a relatively low-profile campaign that relied on a fraction of what Gates had raised for the race--managed to garner 44.5% of the vote.