Deputies Vote to Back Cooley Over Garcetti, 777-156

In another blow to incumbent Gil Garcetti, members of the union representing deputy sheriffs have voted overwhelmingly in favor of endorsing challenger Steve Cooley in the November election for Los Angeles County district attorney.

The advisory vote--777 to 156--does not constitute an official endorsement, but it appears likely to lead to one after the endorsement committee of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs meets next week. The group represents more than 7,000 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators.

The vote comes on the heels of a decision by the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs to withdraw its endorsement of Garcetti pending a debate between the two candidates. In addition, the powerful Los Angeles Police Protective League intends to reconsider its endorsement of Garcetti, spokesman Geoffrey Garfield said.

“It looks like he’s in a free fall in terms of law enforcement support,” Cooley said Thursday. The challenger said the deputies’ vote proves that he has “really broad, grass-roots support from the men and women who are in the front lines, doing the job every day, and I’m very heartened by it.”

Garcetti’s campaign manager, Eric Nasarenko, said too few deputies took part in the balloting for it to be meaningful. However, he added that he wasn’t surprised by how lopsided the results were, “because the district attorney is aggressively and forcefully investigating police officers, and that is certainly going to have an effect on the views of peace officer associations.”

Although the final decision on the deputy sheriffs union’s endorsement will be up to its board of directors, union President Roy Burns left little doubt of the outcome: “The results of the balloting indicate a clear . . . preference for Steve Cooley.”

Before the March 7 election for district attorney, Garcetti seemed to have a near lock on law enforcement support, with endorsements from the Police Protective League, the state police group, the Los Angeles County Chiefs of Police Assn. and Sheriff Lee Baca, among others. The deputies union had endorsed him in his last reelection bid.

But with the withdrawal of the state police group’s endorsement, the loss of the deputies’ endorsement and the potential for losing the Police Protective League endorsement, Garcetti suddenly looks like a fisherman with a hole in his net.

Garfield, the Police Protective League spokesman, noted that there have been “really extraordinary circumstances” in recent months, including Garcetti’s handling of the Rampart scandal. Garcetti also lost ground with his second-place finish in the March 7 election, forcing a November runoff, and in a recent Los Angeles Times poll that showed him badly trailing Cooley.

Cooley was endorsed early on by the California Narcotics Officers Assn., in which he has long been active. The organization’s president, Walt Allen, said he believed it was the first time the organization has ever endorsed a candidate for district attorney.