The L.A. TACO Voter Guide: A ‘Progressive Sheriff’ Candidate and a ‘People’s Judge’

Our native elected officers speak about holding the police and Sheriffs departments accountable for breaking the legislation, terrorizing communities, being in gangs, and taking a lot of our tax {dollars}. Nonetheless, there’s usually a variety of discuss with minimal motion to again it up and do one thing about it. However on a regular basis people have some quantity of energy to carry a minimum of the Sheriff’s Division accountable by voting on who will lead the division and who would be the judges of the legislation in trial courts all through the county by voting on trial courtroom judges. 

Listed here are these candidates for this yr’s main:

Sheriff Candidates

Karla Carranza

Carranza is a supervisor on the Twin Towers Correction Facility, the panopticon hellscape jail downtown {that a} county well being care employee known as a “human rights catastrophe.” When chatting with LAist for a narrative in regards to the horrible situations within the jail, Carranza needs extra personnel within the LASD. She additionally needs to recall L.A. District Legal professional George Gascon. Nonetheless, she additionally intends to switch most of the supervisors within the LASD.         

April Saucedo Hood

April Saucedo Hood is a Lengthy Seaside College Police Officer, the identical division that employed Eddie F Gonzales, who shot and killed Manuela “Mona” Rodriquez, an 18-year-old mom, final yr. Saucedo Hood needs extra cops patrolling “hot-spots” all through the county and begin a program the place deputies have meals and care packages to present to unhoused folks. She needs to disband the division’s Public Corruption Unit, provides their caseload to the FBI or the state’s Division of Justice, and provides their price range to the Sheriff’s division. Oh! With fewer watchdogs and oversight watching out for the rampant corruption in L.A., possibly a brand new corruption scandal can erupt, and L.A. TACO and Neon Hum could make a second award-nominated season of The Sellout!  

Robert Luna

Luna is the previous chief of the Lengthy Seaside Police Division and one of many main contenders on this race. Luna is working because the liberal reformist to present Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s fascistic macho powerful man in cowboy hat pose. He calls out Villanueva’s management as chaotic and dysfunctional and chastises him for not recognizing that there are, the truth is, sheriff deputy gangs and doing one thing about them. He doesn’t help the recall of Gascon. 

Luna wants to “promote a tradition throughout the Sheriff’s Division that promotes a reverence for all times and well-being for everybody that we encounter, particularly these affected by psychological well being points, substance use, or homelessness,” in addition to name within the state and the feds to research deputy gangs. Lengthy Seaside group teams and activists are fast to level out. 

Nevertheless, these a number of scandals surrounded LBPD beneath Luna’s management. Like LBPD officers and Luna’s use of a self-deleting messaging app known as TigerText to cover their conversations from the general public eye and public information or the division spending hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on surveillance know-how like license plate readers (whose data was shared with federal immigration enforcement companies). A Could 2020 Lengthy Seaside Metropolis Legal professional Workplace’s report stated town spent greater than 31 million {dollars} since 2014 to settle 61 extreme pressure and wrongful demise fits in opposition to the police division, a few of which occurred earlier than Luna’s management.

Cecil Rhambo

Rhambo is the LAX Police Chief with a really massive bushy mustache such as you think about a cop would have within the 70s. Rhambo just isn’t supporting the Gascon recall effort, and he additionally needs to beef up the division’s Murder and Gang Bureaus. He additionally needs to extend public belief within the division by dismantling the deputy gangs. Okay, one drawback, although, Knock LA’s Cerise Fort found a picture of him allegedly exhibiting Rhambo throwing up a gang signal with Paula Tanaka, former undersheriff and alleged member of the white supremacist deputy gang the Lynwood Vikings. To not point out that Rhambo was an assistant sheriff in command throughout Sheriff Lee Baca’s administration, an administration famous for its hyper-violent abuse of inmates in LA County Jails, which Rhambo was put in control of.        

Throughout his time within the Sheriff’s Division, Rhambo was additionally concerned in three shootings in three years. Two concerned pleasant hearth incidents with different LASD deputies, and one concerned a botched theft occasion in opposition to Rhambo the place Rhambo shot however didn’t kill the robber. 

Matt Rodriguez

Rodriquez is working to the fitting of Villanueva. He’s an LASD captain that’s a giant recall Gascon man. He doesn’t help the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for LASD and different authorities workers, plus he needs to rent 700 extra deputies for the division. 

Britta Steinbrenner 

Steinbrenner retired from the County Providers Bureau a few months in the past, the place she served as a captain. She was additionally the Incident Commander through the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Steinbrenner needs to get rid of deputy gangs by having anti-deputy gang coaching classes for deputies. She needs to show county services into psychological well being and drug and alcohol rehab facilities and make patrol stations extra like group facilities. She believes that homeless folks need services in jail, not housing, first. One thing as merciless because it additionally doesn’t work in getting folks housed. 

Eric Sturdy

Sturdy is the one candidate within the race working as a a lot completely different—some would possibly even name progressive—or left-of-center candidate for sheriff. Sturdy has been in legislation enforcement for over 30 years. First within the Compton Police Division after which the LASD, he’s now a supervisory lieutenant. Very important not solely needs to ban deputy gangs, however he additionally needs to close down Males’s Central Jail and for the county to not rebuild one other jail instead. Sturdy has talked about working with the FBI and the state and federal DOJs to conduct investigations on deputy gangs and use his place to fire deputies identified as gang members. He additionally supports a constitution modification to have the ability to impeach elected sheriffs.        

Eli Vera

Vera has spent 32 years in LASD, and now he’s working just a bit bit to the middle of Matt Rodriquez, however not by very a lot. He needs to extend funding for LASD, and he needs to recall Gascon. Oh, and in 1999 he was considered one of two deputies that shot and killed 16-year-old Julio Castillo. 

Alex Villanueva

Final however actually not least, Alex Villanueva, the present Sheriff. Villanueva got here up via the Democratic Get together’s political machine and was elected in 2018 as a reformer to the pervasively corrupt, hyper-violent, and out-of-control Sheriff’s Division. Nonetheless, in his 4 years of workplace, he’s risen to the event by by some means being much more corrupt, hyper-violent, and uncontrolled. Itemizing his many scandals would take pages and pages of area to checklist in full. Nonetheless, to checklist just some, Villanueva refuses to acknowledge the existence of deputy gangs, a lot much less do something about them, to the purpose the place he’s repeatedly refused to cooperate with the LASD inspector normal. 

He’s additionally repeatedly lied about covering up allegations of abuse in opposition to jail inmates, and he’s viciously gone after journalists who reported on these abuses. To not point out the excessive profile deputy killings of Angelenos like Dijon Kizzee, David Order Jr., Andres Guardado, and plenty of others, with some members of the family alleging that deputies stalk and harass the households of victims of police violence. Then there’s the very seemingly unconstitutional and racist stop and frisk of Black and Latinx bicyclists that Villanueva’s administration has pioneered. Villanueva’s administration is so unhealthy that the state’s Legal professional Common, Xavier Becerra, launched a civil rights investigation in opposition to the division final yr to find out if the LASD “engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing.” That’s a variety of shit for simply 4 years in workplace, and possibly that’s sufficient.  

L.A. Superior Courtroom Decide Candidates

Workplace No. 3

Your three candidates for this seat are Frank Amador, a chapter lawyer who doesn’t have marketing campaign materials. Tim Reuben, a enterprise lawyer who’s pro-COVID vaccines, and Hon. Sherilyn Peace Garnett, the present superior courtroom choose. Knock LA beneficial Reuben.  

Workplace No. 60  

The candidates listed below are Abby Barron, a baby molestation prosecutor for the L.A. County District Legal professional’s Workplace. Barron volunteered with crime victims advocates and was endorsed by the L.A. Times.  Deputy District Legal professional Sharon Ransom can also be working. She says she’ll convey “progressive values” to the place. Anna Reitano is a deputy public defender who needs to convey awareness and care to folks battling psychological sickness and within the courtroom into consideration. Knock LA recommended her. Mark Rosenfeld is a DUI protection specialist working for the place who says that if he had been to be elected, he would “stay far away from politics and politicians.” Troy Slaten is an administrative legislation choose who was once a baby actor that now helps legal justice reform and desires to be a superior courtroom choose. DUI legal professional Craig Sturm can also be working, however he doesn’t have any marketing campaign materials.           

Workplace No. 67

LA County Deputy District Legal professional Fernanda Maria Barreto is working for this seat. SH was endorsed by the L.A. Times, however she solely has a short paragraph with not a variety of precise content material. Ryan Dibble, one other Deputy District Legal professional, is endorsed by the San Pedro Democratic Membership, the Torrance Democratic Membership, the L.A. County Skilled Peace Officers Affiliation, the Lengthy Seaside Police Officers Affiliation, the Los Angeles Police Protecting League, and the Affiliation for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes is a deputy public defender aligned with The Equal Justice Initiative who believes in ending mass incarceration and extreme punishment, ending racial and financial disparities within the formal justice system, and advocating for options to incarceration. She’s beneficial by Knock LA  and former L.A. Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez.

Workplace No. 70

Renee Yolande Chang is a Deputy District Legal professional working for this place. She’s endorsed by the L.A. Police Protecting League and former D.A. Jackie Lacey. Randy Fudge is an assistant metropolis prosecutor in Lengthy Seaside who can also be working. Fudge is endorsed by the Lengthy Seaside Police Officer’s Affiliation. Additionally, he has an amusing sounding internet tackle for such a uninteresting race, fudgeforjudge.com. Holly Hancock is a deputy public defender who says she believes in an alternative choice to incarceration to “hold households collectively and ease the transition again into society which retains our communities protected.” She’s beneficial by each the L.A. Occasions and Knock L.A. Eric Alfonso Torices is an legal professional and an adjunct immigration legislation professor in Cerritos School’s paralegal program who has a terrific gif on his website. Matthew Vodnoy is a legal protection legal professional who says on his website that “there was a second I noticed that making a distinction just isn’t achieved by merely placing folks in jail,” he doesn’t elaborate on that.  

Workplace No. 90

Leslie Gutierrez is working for this seat on the bench, a deputy district legal professional with a number of endorsements from all kinds of police unions. Naser Nas Khoury is a legal protection legal professional endorsed by Antonio Villaraigosa. Melissa Lyons, a deputy district legal professional in control of juvenile prosecutions on the Superior Courtroom’s Compton model, can also be working. She has been endorsed by the L.A. Occasions. Kevin McGurk is the one public defender working. McGurk says he believes in a “smart different to incarceration throughout the confines of the legislation.” McGurk is beneficial by Knock L.A. and the Los Angeles County Democratic Get together. 

Workplace No. 116

Solely two candidates are working for this seat on the bench, the Hon. David B. Gelfound, the present choose of the superior courtroom for this seat, and Public Defender Lloyd E. Handler. Handler’s difficult Gelfound partially because Gelfound refused to self-discipline Judge Michael O’Gara, a choose beneath his supervisory place, for posting and taking part in an anti-Gascon Fb group. Gelfound is endorsed by the Los Angeles Police Protecting League and the Affiliation for Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs. Handler is endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Get together and Supervisor Holly Mitchell. On his web site, Handler talks in regards to the significance of getting affected person judges who anticipate translators for folks of their courts to allow them to totally articulate and talk in courtroom, the necessity for rehabilitation for some folks as an alternative of all the time incarcerating them, and the necessity for courts to have numerous jurors that extra totally replicate a cross-section of communities. His website features a image of him standing on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, with a t-shirt on that claims “public defenders for Black lives.” Gelfound was endorsed by the L.A. Occasions, whereas Knock L.A. beneficial Handler. 

Workplace No. 118

Melissa Hammond is our first candidate for this seat. Hammond is a deputy district legal professional who additionally, previously, practiced civil legislation, legal protection, and prosecution. She’s endorsed by the L.A. Police Protecting League and the L.A. Occasions. Georgia Huerta is one other deputy district legal professional working. She said she want to see extra group education schemes and self-help assets obtainable for the general public to study in regards to the legislation. Keith Koyano is, you guessed it, one other deputy district legal professional. Koyano is endorsed by a complete host of native police unions. Klint McKay is a supervising administrative legislation choose working for this seat. McKay notes that his top priorities embrace treating everybody in his courtroom with respect, together with utilizing their most popular pronouns and ensuring folks can totally current their case with out regard to language boundaries. Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park is an legal professional and former Service Workers Worldwide Union workers legal professional working for the seat. Park’s priorities embrace bringing elevated variety to the courtroom, like ensuring judges and juries replicate the variety of L.A., and getting a “folks’s perspective to the bench” of an legal professional, not a prosecutor, which many judges had been earlier than changing into judges. Park is beneficial by Knock L.A. Lastly, Deputy County Counsel Shan Thever can also be working. Thever doesn’t have a lot of any marketing campaign concepts or endorsements, however he does a terrific image of himself with former Governor Jerry Brown on his website.  

Workplace No. 151

First up, we bought Thomas D. Allison, an legal professional, and authorized professor, working for this seat. Allison has run a collection of free authorized clinics and academic packages to show the legislation to folks. He’s beneficial by Knock L.A. Karen A. Brako is a deputy district legal professional in Lengthy Seaside and Catalina working for this seat as effectively. Brako says she needs to extend variety within the superior courtroom and guarantee public security “together with a commonsense method to different sentencing.” Patrick Hare is a public defender who states on his website that “justice shouldn’t look completely different for those who stay in Brentwood or Boyle Heights, West LA or East LA, the South Bay of South Los Angeles” and that he’s considering “the type of justice that restores our group to wholeness, not just for these victimized by crime however for these accused of crimes as effectively” and the way race, class, and gender impression the justice system. He’s endorsed by the L.A. Occasions. Lastly, Richard Quinones, a deputy district legal professional, is working. He’s endorsed by L.A. Metropolis Councilmember Gil Cedillo.

Workplace No. 156

Lastly, simply two candidates right here, the Hon. Carol Elswick, the present superior courtroom choose on this seat, and Albert Robles, an legal professional and educator. In 2018 the state’s Fee on Judicial Efficiency found that Elswick “disregarded the basic rights of defendants, abused her authority, conveyed the looks of bias and prejudgment, and violated the Code of Judicial Ethics” by being discourteous to legal defendants in her courtroom and improperly referencing her private life within the courtroom. Alternatively, Robles violated state law by being each the mayor of Carson and a member of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California board on the similar time. Oy. Elswick is endorsed by the L.A. Occasions, the Los Angeles County Democratic Get together, and the Pasadena Republican Membership. Knock L.A. suggest Robles.

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