850 at Banquet Laud Gates at End of Reign as Sheriff

Calling him “Orange County’s John Wayne,” admirers of retiring Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates on Wednesday feted the politician who in 24 years built the county’s largest police agency into a technologically advanced force with a national reputation.

A banquet at an Irvine hotel, the event took place two days after the county’s top lawman and inveterate cowboy walked out of his office for the last time, “at high noon,” as Sheriff’s Department employee Irma Levy put it. The tribute drew 850 people, and if anyone there didn’t think Gates is a big man in the saddle, they weren’t talking.

“Brad Gates leaves a legacy of self-assurance and achievement in this organization that is going to require tremendous effort to maintain after he’s gone,” Assistant Sheriff Tim Simon said. “He took this organization to places where it wouldn’t have gone without him.”

Gates, 59, who began his reign in 1975, did not seek reelection last year. He turned his badge over to former County Marshal Mike Carona, whom he has criticized as ill-trained to run the 2,700-member department. Carona, 43, had called Gates resistant to change.

But Wednesday night was not for discord. Gates fans--including John Wayne’s son Michael Wayne, high-tech entrepreneur Al Cosentino and luxury-car dealer Roger Miller--cited his accomplishments.

“It’s really kind of overwhelming to walk in and see so many of my friends and associates of all walks of life,” Gates said at the banquet, standing in front of a saddle given as a gift. “They have been part of making the Orange County Sheriff’s Department one of the best in the country.”