Baca’s Thorny Quest for a Parade Float

Although it is still early in his first term, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is no stranger to the novel and the controversial.

But nothing in his brief but unconventional tenure has been quite like the intense campaign Baca is running to fund and build the department’s first Rose Parade float, a $220,000 entry designed to honor heroic and fallen deputies.

It is a task that is proving as eyebrow-raising--and as costly--as Baca’s grass-roots campaign against the late Sheriff Sherman Block. With less than two months left before the Jan. 1 parade, Baca and members of his special float committee are in an intense fund-raising mode--scrambling to secure the money for the massive parade entry, which will feature a 32-foot-high genie with a magic lantern.

The committee was late in paying a $50,000 installment last month to the builder, Fiesta Parade Floats, because the fund drive got off to a slow start. But officials say things are picking up. Baca and his crew are selling everything from tiny $20 replicas of the sheriff’s badge to the vials that will hold the flowers on the float.

“It’s the 150-year celebration of the Sheriff’s Department,” Baca said. “To me, this is our one time to send the message to the world that the men and women of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are world-class people who deserve world-class recognition. It’s my way of honoring them.”

Baca has asked two departmental heroes, as well as the families of deputies killed in the line of duty, to ride on the float. He also plans to include on the float a list of all the law enforcement officers killed in Los Angeles County over the last 150 years.

“It’s not a memorial float, although it has a memorial component to it,” Baca said. “We just think honoring the fallen heroes gives a very important message about our character and strength.”

Even so, critics question the amount of time and money Baca is spending on something as whimsical as a parade float.

While some cash-strapped cities are content to enter small floats--ranging in price from $30,000 to $60,000--sheriff’s officials opted for a full-size model designed by artist Raul Rodriguez.

In addition to the genie and the lantern, the 55-foot-long float will include five flying carpets and a “domed fairy tale cityscape.” Riders on six camels will accompany the float down Colorado Boulevard.

“What do they need a float for?” asked businessman Jay Grodin, the chairman of Block’s campaign. “With all the issues facing the Sheriff’s Department, why would Baca invest so much time personally and of his department to get a float? The money would be better spent on a new youth activity center.”

Department spokesman Doyle Campbell said he initially had concerns about the idea but has changed his mind.

“It’s going to be more valuable than any of us thought it would be,” said Campbell, who is on the float committee. “The only thing people worldwide see of law enforcement is something like the Rodney King [beating] tape. For one time on Jan. 1 . . . they are going to see law enforcement in a positive light.”

For the brief time the float is in the spotlight, officials are hoping that TV announcers will tell 350 million viewers worldwide about the department’s heroes. Featured will be Deputy Dale Ryken, 32, the first officer in the agency’s history to win the Medal of Valor for two separate incidents.

Also riding will be Sgt. Ron Blyleven, 52, who more than 20 years ago responded to a report of a baby not breathing. He performed CPR and took the infant to the hospital in his squad car--red lights flashing, siren blaring. The baby, Trisha Navarro, grew up to be a deputy sheriff. Navarro, 26, is set to stand next to Blyleven on the float.

The loved ones of the fallen will include Deputy Jennifer Parish, whose fiance, Deputy Shayne York, was killed in 1997 after two gunmen stormed into a Buena Park beauty salon owned by Parish’s sister. The assailants ordered the three to the back of the business, where they searched their pockets and, after discovering York’s badge, shot him execution style. Two suspects were later arrested and charged with murder.

In an effort to defuse criticism about the float, Baca has decided not to ride on it.

“We don’t want this to be seen as anything but the Sheriff’s Department’s float,” said Daniel Bryant, Baca’s longtime friend and head of the float committee. “It’s not the Lee Baca float.”

Shortly after taking office last December, the sheriff expressed interest in participating in the parade. At first, there was talk among his inner circle of having Baca lead the procession on a horse--like sheriffs of the past. But that idea didn’t go over well with Tournament of Roses officials.

So Baca enlisted the help of Bryant, who runs a Prudential real estate firm in Pasadena and vicinity, to get permission for the department to sponsor a float.

The competition was intense. Some 50 corporations and organizations, about three times the norm, jockeyed for one of six open slots in the first parade of the new century.

Ultimately, the department--which for years has provided security for the parade--got approval from tournament officials, who scrutinized the public images of all the applicants. In addition to the Sheriff’s Department, Subway, Boeing Co., William Wrigley Co., Panda Inn restaurants and Legoland California were tapped.

However, each of the entrants had to agree to participate for three consecutive years. It is a promise that has some officials at the Sheriff’s Department a little worried.

Unlike the participating corporations, the law enforcement agency cannot reach into its coffers to pay for the float. The funds must be raised privately.

“I’ll tell you, it’s going to be harder getting the next float, because of the way the money has to be raised,” Baca said. “I’m trying to set up a foundation where we will over-raise the amount of money necessary for this year’s float so I don’t have to kill myself with this [next year].”

In addition to paying for the float, Baca said, money raised by the committee will be used to fund department programs that will benefit at-risk children. The committee, headed by Bryant, has set a fund-raising goal of $1 million.

In a recent meeting with his commanding officers at ranks of captain and above, Baca asked them to consider making a donation equal to their car payment, according to sources in attendance.

Some commanders believe that the project is good for the department and did not question the request. But others said the request and the overall fund-raising effort are inappropriate.

To be sure, Baca is familiar with adversity. He faced a strong incumbent in the election and raised nearly $500,000. Using the same tactics of persuasion that won him support in the campaign, he has been meeting with community groups to make his pitch for the fund-raising drive.

“The theme of the parade is ‘Children Are Our Future,’ ” Baca told students at a Pepperdine University leadership conference. “Our float will be a genie. The idea behind this is: Genies are people who grant dreams.

“When you see that float, I want you to take time to wish a dream on that genie. And you know I’m going to be thinking about you, and I’m going to pray for you that those dreams you have will come true.”