Letters to the Editor: L.A. Democrats did a huge disservice endorsing Villanueva in 2018

To the editor: Kudos on your editorial board’s factual assessment of the out-of-control sheriff handed to us with high recommendations from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

I suggest a small but important clarifying rewrite of the sentence, “Voters chose this sheriff in 2018 in part because they were seduced into backing a supposedly liberal Democrat over the Republican incumbent.”

A more accurate description would be, “Voters chose this sheriff in 2018 because the L.A. Democratic Party failed to properly vet his background, which would have revealed that his past behavior was a valid predictor of his present behavior.”

Stephen Downing, Long Beach

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To the editor: It’s high time for the voters of L.A. County to send Sheriff Alex Villanueva packing.

With his latest gaslighting episode, where he threatened a Times reporter with criminal investigation and then turned around hours later and stated he never said that — when we have the recordings and proof — he has shown us again who he is.

Villanueva is a petty tyrant with dreams of his own personal fiefdom where he is the arbiter of what laws to follow and enforce, and what laws to disregard and ignore.

The corruption inside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is well-known and documented. Gangs of deputies with their own tattoos marking them as members and acting lawlessly should not be tolerated.

It is past time to clean house.

Scott Hughes, Westlake Village

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To the editor: Sheriff Villanueva, please save us the trouble of voting you out of office by withdrawing from your race for reelection.

Or, better still, give the public what it really deserves: your immediate resignation.

Edward A. Ruttenberg, Rancho Palos Verdes