Where’s Sheriff in Race He Cared So Much About?

Maybe Brad Gates would have lost the election for sheriff this year. Rather than take on a well-financed opponent in Orange County Marshal Mike Carona, Gates retired undefeated and announced last year he wouldn’t run again.

Oh, what a campaign it would have been. After all, Gates said of Carona last December, “If he were a deputy, he would not be qualified to become a sergeant, let alone the leader of a department of 2,800 sworn officers and employees.”

Without Gates, we’re left with a race that doesn’t seem to interest anyone. A Times Orange County Poll released this week put the undecided vote at 67%.

And Gates, the one man who could have made it interesting--even from the sidelines--has been invisible despite casting a large shadow over the county for nearly 25 years and becoming, arguably, its most recognizable public figure.

In more ways than one, Gates is The Man Who Isn’t There in this year’s race, which will be decided in the June 2 primary because only Carona and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, who got in after Gates got out, are running.

Why is Gates playing the Sphinx?

His public silence is notable for at least two reasons. First, he said last December he would “do all I can” to defeat Carona, a darling of the county’s political conservative power structure. Second, Gates was anointed in 1974 as the successor to longtime Sheriff James Musick and, not surprisingly, became quite proprietary toward the department.

In fact, Gates had tapped Doug Storm from the departmental ranks as his favored candidate. But Storm dropped out in December after a short run at campaigning, leaving Carona and Walters to duke it out.

When Storm bailed, so did Gates.

That has left Gates’ longtime campaign manager Eileen Padberg, who is now managing Walters’ campaign, disappointed and miffed.

“I think Brad’s ego is very involved here,” she said, when I asked where Gates has been. “Since his guy didn’t stay in the race, he’s not supporting anybody. He dislikes Carona immensely [on a professional level]. With regard to Paul, it’s simply that Paul is a chief of police, and Brad wanted one of his own, not a police chief. And it didn’t help that Paul made the comment about Brad always trying to take over the chiefs.”

I asked Padberg if it pained her to say that about her longtime friend. “I’m so disappointed,” she said. “I’ve talked to him about it. To me, he spent 24 years of his life building a wonderful department and now, he’s not providing it any leadership on where it’s going for the rest of its life span.”

A spokesman said Gates was unavailable for comment. But when I asked Padberg what Gates has told her, she said he told her, in so many words, “I’m not getting involved in this.”

Given Gates’ antipathy toward Carona, Padberg might logically have expected Gates to help Walters raise money and support from among his longtime backers. “I didn’t take it for granted,” Padberg said of Gates’ help. “There’s hardly anyone who knows Brad better than I do. I knew when he couldn’t pass down the leadership. . . . “

Is it that simple? I asked. “It’s that simple,” she said. “It’s that it’s not his person, that he’s not continuing the Musick-Gates management style. I think Brad is hurt, plain old hurt.”

Among those whistling Dixie over Gates’ clam-up is Buck Johns, a member of the politically active Lincoln Club and a Carona backer. Johns makes no apologies to those who say the sheriff’s race has become politicized.

“The guy who is sheriff is the most powerful politician in the county,” Johns said. “He becomes the most powerful guy. His endorsement is critical to seeing people get elected.”

The Lincoln Club members who support Carona would, indeed, consider themselves “law and order” advocates, Johns said, and have no problem backing Carona over Walters, who would seem on paper to have more law enforcement experience. “It is a political job, pure and simple,” Johns said. “You have to be an administrator in that job. You’re running the biggest piece of capital [the department’s budget] in our megalopolis. . . . We’re not picking somebody to give out tickets. We’re asking a guy to administer a [huge] budget.”

Part of the “politics” is that Carona favors expanding privatizing jails, and Johns currently is representing statewide interests who want to do just that. Gates fought privatizing, but what grew increasingly offensive to local conservatives was his support of sales-tax increases in 1991, 1993 and 1995 and his department’s mushrooming budget.

Carona would have been an underdog to Gates this year, Johns said. “It’s kind of interesting,” Johns said. “We were all geared up for a race against Brad. Brad steps down and that changes the whole complexion of the campaign. . . . Gates is just not part of the equation. It’s a little surprising he’s not more involved in it. I think he looked at it and said, ‘I’m done with this thing.’ He’s on to other things. He probably knows Carona is going to be the next sheriff.”

Last December, that statement would have sent Gates howling.

Nowadays, it only seems to prolong his silence.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com