Baca Weighing Options in Odd Sheriff’s Race

One day after forcing the first Los Angeles County sheriff’s runoff this century, challenger Lee Baca sounded curiously like a potential Sherman Block supporter Wednesday, declaring that he is undecided about his future and needs time to “reflect” on the vote.

Though he stopped just short of saying that he is considering dropping out of the race, Baca said he was troubled by the divisive primary race against the four-term incumbent and wanted to “evaluate” his future.

“I can’t say where I’m headed for sure,” Baca, a 56-year-old sheriff’s division chief, said in an interview. And, sounding less like a challenger than an admirer of the incumbent, he added that the Sheriff’s Department is “in good hands now and will be in the future one way or the other.”

Baca’s surprising comments came just hours after the 16-year incumbent was forced into a runoff election. Block finished with 36% of the vote, followed by Baca with 32%, in Tuesday’s four-candidate race for the nation’s highest-paid elective office.

The remarks did not surprise Bill Baker, the third-place finisher, who said Wednesday: “This race was unlike any I’ve seen, where you have one candidate constantly flattering another candidate and stating that he was doing a good job.”

Largest Sheriff’s Department

The Los Angeles County sheriff, paid $234,016 a year, oversees the nation’s largest sheriff’s department, with about 13,000 employees, provides law enforcement to almost half of the county’s 88 cities--the ones without their own police departments--runs the jails and safeguards the courts.

As for Block, he spent the day after the election in court defending his department against a lawsuit--an appearance that underscored the challenges facing the sheriff.

Block, 73, must answer questions about his health, defend his management of a department stung by a series of embarrassments--and fight for his political life.

Day 1 of the runoff campaign found the sheriff sitting stoically on the witness stand in Los Angeles federal court as he was berated by an attorney in a lawsuit accusing the Sheriff’s Department of detaining an inmate after a judge ordered his release.

During a recess, Block appeared equally unconcerned about receiving just 36% of the vote.

“I do feel very confident,” he said.

Walking out of the federal courtroom, Block was caught off guard by Baca’s comments to The Times.

“I don’t know what it means,” Block said with a guarded smile. “I don’t know how to read this.” However, he said he didn’t expect Baca to drop out.

He said that he was surprised, and that Baca never gave him any indication that he may be wavering.

“His whole thing was my health,” Block said.

Block said he too regrets the divisions created in his department by this year’s race.

“I agree that the well-being of the organization is paramount,” Block said in commenting on Baca’s remarks.

“I hope what he is saying is that the primary interest is the well-being of the organization,” Block said. “The organization has to go on, after today, after November.”

When asked if his opponent would exploit the department’s problems, Block perhaps offered a sign of his strategy in the impending runoff. Baca “is part of the department,” he said.

Political analysts Wednesday attributed the primary results in part to Latino turnout--15% of the Los Angeles County vote, according to a Times exit poll. Baca is the highest-ranking Latino in the Sheriff’s Department.

“But people weren’t just pulling the lever because he had the proper number of vowels in his last name,” Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at Claremont Graduate University, said Wednesday.

Indeed, although a mostly Latino crowd gathered at Baca’s headquarters Tuesday night, a broad spectrum of support from other ethnicities--Americans of Korean, Chinese, Persian and Armenian descent--said that it was a historic moment for them too.

“He had Latino appeal, but he also appealed to the Asian community,” Jorge Flores, Baca’s campaign consultant, said Tuesday, gesturing toward a group of upscale Asian American entrepreneurs in well-cut business suits as they used cellular phones to call in for the latest figures. “This is a campaign that had an incredibly broad appeal.”

Flores gracefully surfed the multiethnic wave as the numbers mounted for Baca, ushering in a new era of multicultural campaign strategy in Los Angeles.

All night long, he pulled Baca aside for interviews with Los Angeles’ array of ethnic media.

An urgent call came from a 24-hour Persian radio station, which has flooded the airwaves with support for Baca. Another call was from the China Times. Reporters for Radio Chinese KAZN-AM (1300) and the Korean media sought and received comments. There was an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Spanish-language daily, La Opinion, which endorsed Baca.

Baca clearly did not treat these journalists as representatives of small-niche media outlets, but as vital pieces of an important pie.

“It’s not my campaign alone,” Baca said. “I’ve got dozens of advisors from all the ethnic communities with me tonight. All these key leaders will be brought together for the runoff.”

Supporters said his multicultural campaigning approach has reaped big rewards in votes and campaign dollars.

“He’s not a man who will discriminate,” said Latino businesswoman Maria Simms. “Chief Baca is a peacemaker.”

South Pasadena Armenian business leaders, like Vahe Atchabahian, said they were proud to play a role.

“Our community stands behind Baca all the way,” Atchabahian said.

Political analysts Wednesday predicted a very different campaign in the months ahead.

“The sheriff’s race is going to be a very, very nasty race,” said Rick Taylor, a political consultant to third-place finisher Baker.

Taylor said Baca cannot win the race solely by raising questions about Block’s health.

Block, who has overcome two bouts of cancer and now suffers from kidney failure, has released a letter from his doctor saying he is fit to serve, that his lymphoma is in remission and that he is able to work by phone while undergoing dialysis.

Weary of Political Contest

Baca “seemed, during the primary, to be an apologist for the sheriff,” Taylor said. “I can’t imagine how he can continue that strategy.”

But Baca did not sound like a candidate who was ready to take the gloves off Wednesday. Instead, he sounded like a man weary of the political contest.

When asked where his campaign will go after his strong showing against the incumbent, Baca said: “I don’t know. I need to take a period of time and think about all this.”

He said he had no plans to drop out, but added, “everything is an option.”

“The roughness in the manner the primary was waged does not bode well for an organization that is well managed like it is,” Baca said. There is “more at stake than just myself.”

Baca also spoke of his distaste for political battle.

“I’m not a political person, not someone who relishes the political spotlight,” he said. “I’m not a skilled politician.”

Baca said he plans to talk to his family and key supporters to discuss the future of his campaign. Despite his concerns about the direction of his campaign, Baca said he was very pleased with his showing.

Baca, whose office is on the same floor as Block’s, said, “I don’t want to create any awkwardness for anyone. . . . I’m looking at the entire spectrum for what is best for the department.”

Baca manager Flores said, “Being a first-time candidate, Lee is not comfortable using sound bites and is truly assessing how he wants this campaign to go forward.”

Unlike his candidate, Flores seemed overwhelmed by Tuesday’s vote.

“This is unprecedented,” he said. “What happened last night sends a very clear signal that the people of this county want a change of leadership at the Sheriff’s Department. . . . Lee offers fresh leadership, new leadership. This is a man who is the most qualified person to lead the department.”

But Taylor said no one should write off Block because he was held to 36% of the vote.

“I’m the victim of too many political pundits saying you can’t lose,” Taylor said. “Well, the reality is you can.”

Times staff writer Daniel Yi contributed to this story.

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