An Arresting Change: Vasquez Quitting Job to Be Beat Cop Again

After only three months on the job, former Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez is leaving an executive position with Southern California Edison to become a beat cop in Orange.

Vasquez will officially leave his Edison post as division vice president Jan. 31, and is expected to be sworn in as a police officer in early February, Orange Police Chief John R. Robertson said.

Vasquez, who had backed out of rejoining the Orange Police Department full time in October, told Edison officials that “personal family considerations” prompted his departure from the Rosemead-based public affairs position.

Vasquez added that the lengthy commute from his home in Orange to his Los Angeles County office stole too much time from family and community involvement. When he accepted the job, Vasquez said, he thought he would be able to work more often in Orange County.

“It was a tough decision,” said Vasquez, “but it became increasingly clear the demands of the job were going to require a full-time presence in Rosemead [and] I was not prepared to make that commute everyday.”

An Edison spokesman expressed regret over Vasquez’s decision.

“We are very sorry to see Gaddi leave, but fully understand his reasons for doing so,” said Kevin Kelley, an Edison spokesman. “In the short time since he has returned to Edison, Gaddi has made some meaningful contributions to our department and to the company’s overall utility deregulation efforts.”

Vasquez, 40, stepped down from the Board of Supervisors in September after months of intense criticism over his handling of the county’s bankruptcy. He said then that he was leaving office after eight years to spend more time with his wife and teenage son.

The job change will mean a considerably lower salary for the former politician, once viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party who was invited to address two national party conventions. As an Orange police officer, Vasquez will make around $48,750 per year, although an exact salary will be determined later, Robertson said.

That figure pales in comparison to the reportedly $120,000-plus annual salary Vasquez was receiving from Edison, sources said, and well below his county supervisor’s annual base pay of $82,056.

“I’m one of those individuals that believe in the considerations of fulfillment, family and a balanced life,” Vasquez explained. “Compensation issues are not prominent in ultimate [career] decisions.”

“I love law enforcement,” said Vasquez, who had remained active as a reserve officer in Orange but has not served as a full-time police officer for more than 15 years. “It’s an honorable profession.”

Under the terms of his resignation from the utility, Vasquez will remain available to Edison to work as an “independent consultant.” The utility company would not say how much he would be compensated for that.

The Orange police chief said he was not surprised by Vasquez’s decision to return to police work.

“Forget about the bankruptcy, forget about the past few years,” said Robertson, who has known Vasquez for 15 years. “He’s always talked about becoming a police officer again. Some people didn’t view him as sincere, but I always did.”

But the news caught others off guard.

“I’m stunned,” Supervisor William G. Steiner said. “I spoke with him yesterday and he didn’t mention it to me. His first love has always been law enforcement and he’s found a very supportive fraternity with the police officers of the Orange Police Department.”

“To some extent, I guess I’m not surprised,” Steiner said, “because I thought he would go back when he left the Board of Supervisors. But I think an attractive corporate offer pulled him in another direction.”

Vasquez was the first supervisor to become a casualty of the county’s bankruptcy. Before it tarnished his political career, Vasquez was one of the more prominent Latino officeholders in the state, and was widely regarded as a candidate for higher office.

After he resigned from the Board of Supervisors, many of his friends expected him to rejoin the Orange police force last October. But Vasquez later asked the department for a week’s extension to reconsider, ultimately deciding instead to take the position with Edison, the utility company where he briefly worked in public affairs in 1984.

Vasquez’s career started at the Orange Police Department, where he served full time from 1975 to 1979. At 19, he was the department’s youngest office ever and was the academy valedictorian. Even after he left for politics, he remained a reserve police officer.

“Gaddi truly believes in public service in his heart, and I don’t know if all politicians feel the same way,” Robertson said. “Being a police officer satisfies his inner drive to serve. And the bottom line is he’s really good at it.”

When he rejoins the force, Vasquez said he will patrol his hometown streets in a patrol car.

“I grew up here. I know the streets and the neighborhoods,” he said. “I’ll get the gratification of helping people and providing them with a safer community.”

Vasquez, who has never ruled out returning to political office, would not speculate on a professional life beyond the Police Department.

“I’m going to take it one day at a time,” he said. “Right now, I’m just looking forward to coming home.”