Baca Rival Patrick Gomez Plans Another Challenge

Sgt. Patrick Gomez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Monday he will again run against Sheriff Lee Baca in next year’s election.

Gomez, who took 12% of the vote when he ran against Baca three years ago, said the sheriff has failed to address serious recruitment, morale and promotion problems in the department.

“All the issues we talked about last time are still there,” said Gomez, 42, who works in the custody training division. “The department is in terrible shape. Within the department, nothing has changed.”

Baca, who was elected in 1998 after Sheriff Sherman Block’s death, has said he will seek reelection. Baca far outspent Gomez in the last election.

But this time, Gomez said, he has pledges of support from all ranks in the department, from commanders to new deputies. According to Gomez, those deputies are angry at Baca for his role in the controversial Carlos Vignali commutation. Vignali was a convicted drug dealer whose father is a political supporter and friend of Baca’s.

Baca has said he spoke to the White House about the elder Vignali but that he did not request any change in the prison sentence being served by Carlos Vignali. President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence on his last day in the White House.