Three Challengers Take Aim at Incumbent Block’s Leadership

The three candidates vying to unseat Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block continued to criticize his leadership Monday and called for a break from the status quo.

“There’s a decided need for change,” Bill Baker, former chief of the sheriff’s detective bureau, told 35 people attending a League of Women Prosecutors forum in Los Angeles. “There’s an urgent need for change in what [the media] have described as a downward slide of the Sheriff’s Department.”

Block, in his toughest campaign since taking office in 1982, defended his leadership, telling the group he has been endorsed by dozens of local, state and federal officials.

“It’s a testament to how I perform my duties as a law enforcement officer,” Block said.

The attacks are the latest volley in the hotly contested race between Block and his three challengers: Baker, 60, sheriff’s Chief Lee Baca, 55, and Sgt. Patrick Gomez, 40.

Block, 73, is seeking his fifth four-year term.

In previous campaign events, the candidates have made an issue of Block’s health, noting that the sheriff has survived two bouts with cancer and now suffers from kidney failure. At Monday night’s forum, Block was questioned about his physical condition.

“My health is excellent,” Block said, adding that he has responded well to kidney hemodialysis, which he undergoes three times a week.

The toughest attacks Monday night were launched by Baker and Gomez, who accused Block of being responsible for a series of problems that have plagued the agency and its 13,000-member civilian work force and 8,100 sworn deputies. They cited reports that six murder suspects have been mistakenly released by county jails, which are under the sheriff’s jurisdiction.

Baker noted that the department has been slapped with a $23-million judgment for a 1989 incident in Cerritos in which a group of deputies was accused of brutalizing 36 party-goers attending a bridal shower.

Block, however, defended the department, describing the melee as a “mutual combat situation.”

“Everyone ignores the fact that nine deputies were injured,” Block said.

Block was not the only one on the hot seat. The women prosecutors also questioned Baca about allegations that he offered Block numerous inducements, including a county car, an office and a driver, if he dropped out of the race.

“We’re not talking about something sinister here,” Baca responded. “It was an offer of dignity. One of compassion.”

Baker included Baca in his attacks, noting that Baca has worked in the top management of the department for years.

“If you are content with paying $23-million judgments . . . if you are content with the number of erroneous releases that come out of jail . . . if you are content with food service contract kickbacks, then vote for Block or Baca, because they are the same,” Baker said.

At a debate earlier in the day, attended by 75 people at a luncheon forum sponsored by the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. in Woodland Hills, Block launched a series of salvos at Baker.

He noted that Baker also had a management position in the department for many years.

“Bill Baker has been in the department for 32 years, some of those years in high management positions. Yet he cannot point to a single accomplishment during his career in the department where he left any kind of lasting impression, any kind of legacy,” Block said.

“I must remind Chief Baker that we are still the premier law enforcement agency in the United States.”

If elected, all three candidates said they would expand or improve department programs to keep youngsters out of gangs and away from crime.

Gomez said he would work to increase the Explorer Scouts program for youngsters.

If elected, Baca said he would create a “general plan” for crime fighting that would be reviewed by the police chiefs of each city within the sheriff’s jurisdiction.

He also talked about auditing various departments within the agency to ensure they are running efficiently.

Baker said he would team up with education experts to create crime prevention programs targeting youngsters. He also vowed to develop a long-term planning blueprint for the jail system to keep up with growing overcrowding problems.

Block cited his 16 years of experience and pointed out that he has been endorsed by all five county supervisors along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).