Third Man Thickens the Plot in Sheriff Race

The announcement this week by Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters that he’s likely to become a candidate for sheriff in 1998 raises the stakes for the already contentious race and all but assures a November runoff.

Walters made the surprise decision to explore running a week after Sheriff Brad Gates announced he wouldn’t seek reelection to his seventh term and endorsed Assistant Sheriff Douglas D. Storm. Walters was heading a steering committee for Orange County Marshal Michael S. Carona’s campaign for sheriff.

Political observers said Walters’ potential candidacy poses problems for Storm and Carona, and would force them to spend more money as the campaign for the nonpartisan seat stretches beyond the June primary to November.

His entry surely broadens what was shaping into a race focused primarily on the management of the Sheriff’s Department--and a referendum on Gates’ tenure--into other issues, including the role of urban law enforcement and Walters’ record at the county’s largest municipal police department.

Walters criticized both Storm and Carona in announcing his interest in the race. He said Storm represents an agency that Gates used to bully other police departments and that Carona doesn’t have enough law-enforcement experience to run the second largest sheriff’s department in the state.

“This adds a very different element, especially because police chiefs are very popular,” said Eileen Padberg, the Irvine political consultant who guided all of Gates’ winning campaigns. “In years past, we always dreaded a police chief getting in because they’re the toughest to beat. This throws a major dent into the race.”

Gates said Friday that he called Walters last week to thank him for his support over the years. He said Walters was complimentary and said nothing to criticize Gates or the department, as opposed to Walters’ statements this week blasting the sheriff.

“I don’t know what’s changed in his mind about my department since last week,” Gates said. “I do agree that Mike Carona isn’t qualified to be sheriff and, obviously, Paul Walters has more experience. But the best-qualified candidate is Assistant Sheriff Doug Storm.”

Santa Ana attorney John Hanna, a former chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, said Walters would expand the choice for voters beyond a sheriff’s insider representing the status quo and a manager with no cop-on-the-street experience who is backed by the county’s conservative GOP leadership. All three candidates are registered Republicans.

“I think this is good for the race,” Hanna said. “We’re a major metropolitan area. It’s no longer the county that Brad Gates inherited when he took over in 1974. You need someone with a good understanding of urban law enforcement.”

Gates, then a sergeant, faced five challengers when he ran in 1974 with the blessing of his mentor, Sheriff James A. Musick, including then Cypress Police Chief George Savard. Because no candidate got more than half of the vote, Gates was forced into a runoff with sheriff’s Sgt. Loren Rusk.

More candidates are likely to jump into the race in coming months, said Jerry Pierson, former president of the Orange County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. and now a consultant for the organization. Due to a law change in 1988, candidates for sheriff must have four years of law enforcement experience.

“It’s a powerful position and it’s the kind of position that chiefs look at,” said Pierson, who said pagers were “going off all over Orange County” Thursday with the decision by Walters.

The likelihood of a runoff means all of the candidates will need to raise more money and enlist more grass-roots support. Carona, who announced his candidacy in March, said he has raised about $100,000. Storm is expected to catch up by tapping into Gates’ considerable financial support base. The county’s $1,000 per-person donation limit heightens the challenge.

Walters will have the added problem of overcoming a perception that Santa Ana is a crime-ridden city with serious gang and violence problems, said public affairs consultant David Ellis of Newport Beach.

“He may be doing a bang-up job in reducing the crime rate there, but he’s going to have to spend a lot of money to overcome that image,” Ellis said.

Santa Ana has seen crime drop in recent years, including a 17.5% dip in violent crime in the first half of 1997, according to state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s office. It was one of the first cities to embrace community policing, which emphasizes building relationships with local residents.

Paul Hegness, an Irvine attorney, said Storm and Carona have the advantage of being better known to community leaders countywide, though none of the candidates have run for elective office. Hegness, a Gates supporter backing Storm, said Storm also will have the sheriff’s endorsement--a gold mine for voters without firm images of any of the candidates.

“Right now, today, no one has name identification,” Padberg agreed. “The playing field is even.”

Times correspondent Jeff Kass also contributed to this report.