Democrats, take the win!

Hello fellow Democrats, this is your Sheriff Alex Villanueva with a message to the Party Endorsement Committee.

A lot has happened since our historic win in 2018. Historic because I am the first Democratic Sheriff in 138 years. Yet, the temperature has risen so much concerning my administration and my re-election.

I am the only life-long Democrat in this race and a 20 year and now a lifetime member of the Sierra Club. I am the first Spanish-speaking Sheriff in 100 years. I have implemented historic reforms. My opponents speak of reform that they have yet to institute in their current positions or when they held influential roles in our Sheriff’s Department.

All Deputies wear body cameras. ICE transfers are permanently banned. We have begun extensive use of force training to reduce incidents of force. Violence in jails has gone down dramatically. We have instituted the first-ever policy banning illegal deputy cliques and activity, the foundation of AB 958, which I sponsored.

Tackling the homeless crisis head on, I expanded the sheriff’s department’s Homeless Outreach Services Team that is now the national model for best practices. We initiated the efforts to clean up the Venice Boardwalk, the veteran’s homeless encampment on San Vicente, Olvera Street, and dozens of locations throughout the county. In each location we succeeded in getting the homeless the shelter and services they needed to transition out of homelessness, and we did so without a single arrest or use of force. That is true progress.

We have raised the standards for new hires. Applicants to our department must now have at least an Associate’s Degree from a community college.

We ended the good-old-boy network of cronyism that, frankly, benefited my opponents. They climbed the department ladder with the help of their relationships with Lee Baca and Paul Tanaka, our convicted felons and former Sheriff/Undersheriff. We leveled the playing field for promotions with a fair and inclusive process. As a result, we have promoted the most Women, Asian, African American, Latino, and LGBTQ deputies in our department’s history.

Our department is now 50% Latino and 19% female, the highest ever. We have more senior and command staff from historically underrepresented groups than all previous administrations combined, truly reflecting the diversity of Los Angeles County.

We have also held deputies to a higher standard for conduct and use of force. We fired, disciplined, or transferred dozens of members of deputy cliques. To date I’ve terminated 131 employees for serious misconduct or criminal actions, and have disciplined another 800 employees, facts my critics refuse to acknowledge. Bottom line I believe in accountability and hold employees accountable to the highest standards of the profession.

In addressing some of the concerns raised by Democrats, I want to say this.

There is a double standard regarding my administration compared to non-Latino law enforcement leaders. Take, for example, my position on the County’s vaccine mandate.

• My position is identical to both Governor Gavin Newsom’s and President Joe Biden’s positions, which are vaccines or weekly testing. Terminating deputies who risked their lives during the pandemic to protect us all, who choose not to be vaccinated, is unfair.
• Another example is shootings or claims to excessive use of force. Accusations of deputy misconduct lead to calls for my resignation. Yet, in many incidents of use of force by members of the Los Angeles Police department, few if anyone calls for the resignation or firing of White Police Chief of the LAPD.
• In the case of the Guardado shooting, we finished our investigation over a year ago. We invited the state Attorney General to monitor the case and it has been with District Attorney Gascon for over a year. While we wait on Gascon, I have taken action. The two deputies involved in the Guardado shooting have been relieved of duty. Facts my paid critics fail to mention when they disseminate the misinformation against me to further their careers and clients’ interests.

The truth is everything my critics think they know about my record was given to them by the federally indicted former chair of the Board of Supervisors and his cronies. My opponents are trying to hide their association with convicted felon Paul Tanaka and what they failed to do to oppose his reign of terror over the LASD. You are poised to vote on endorsing someone who was responsible for deporting over 27,000 inmates from the county jail and who sold out the undocumented inmate database to immigration authorities in exchange for $25.3 million in blood money. As your endorsed candidate in 2018, I made a permanent moratorium on ICE transfers and ended the unethical practice of selling out the inmate database. THAT is progressive reform, and that was a national leading effort that drew condemnation from the Trump White House.

It is time for the adult Democrats in the room to take over. The residents of Los Angeles County have soured on their District Attorney and have no stomach for a like-minded sheriff, more so in light of a historic surge in violent crime and homelessness that is impacting everyone’s life. My message is simple; take the win! Our reforms are as much yours as they are the department’s and THEY ARE WORKING.

The 2022 elections will be a national referendum on public safety, something the GOP is poised to exploit in every swing state and district to their advantage. You can embrace my candidacy as a moderate Democrat in the tradition of JFK or FDR. Conversely, you can shrink the tent and purge Los Angeles of all moderates in the party, it’s your choice. After hosting 83 town halls throughout the county, I am confident my vision for public safety message is what the community wants. They do NOT want the extreme political ideologies of the radical left to force them to be in fear of their own safety.