Paul Tanaka makes his campaign announcement for LA County Sheriff on Thursday. Photo from the Tanaka campaign.
By Brian Hews
(Los Angeles) – Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka officially confirmed at a press event on Thursday that he will indeed be taking on his former boss Sheriff Lee Baca in next year’s election that is still 10 months away.
Tanaka made his declaration at a press conference in Griffith Park, flanked by several law enforcement officials who are already committed to his election against Baca.
Dressed in a suit and tie, it didn’t take long for Tanaka to lob salvos at Baca at the press event that was attended by several journalists including a number of television news crews.
Tanaka slammed Baca by stating: “Our County’s Sheriff’s Department is in desperate need of new leadership.”
“As one of the most complex police agencies in the country, our Sheriff’s department’s responsibilities to the community require a leader that is engaged, trustworthy and dedicated to the future of the department,” Tanaka continued.
“It is crucial, now more than ever, that our department’s leaders are unified in their goals to maintain safety within our jails, decrease crime in our communities and preserve a fiscally transparent department budget. When I am elected Sheriff, I will ensure our employees have leadership that is clear, consistent and sensible.”
Tanaka also announced that he has been endorsed by several top personnel inside the LA County Sheriff’s Department including Commander David Waters, Captain Merril Landenheim, Captain Kevin Hebert, Captain Robert Tubbs, Captain Duane Harris, Captain Louis Duran, Captain Chris Nee, Captain James Ritenour, Captain Chuck Antuna, and Captain Crystal Miranda.
Tanaka is also the current mayor of Gardena and said that Gardena Police Department Chief Ed Medrano would be supporting his effort as well as Huntington Park Police Department Chief Jorge Cisheros.
Tanaka and Baca are two longtime, close associates who recently turned into fierce opponents.
“We used to have this saying amongst the top executives that our greatest job is to manage the sheriff and make sure that he doesn’t do anything that we can’t clean up,” Tanaka told ABC 7 Reporter David Ono in an interview earlier this year.
Critics of Tanaka have told Hews Media Group-Community News in past interviews that Tanaka “ruled the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department” by building a system of favoritism and only “rewarded his friends” with key jobs and penalized those who “challenged his authority.”
Electing Paul Tanaka would be a huge mistake. This man is not trustworthy and is a thug. LCCN needs to investigate the gun purchase the City of Gardena made that was nothing but a front for gun trafficking.
Lee Baca may not be perfect, but at least he’s honest. When something goes wrong, and things always go wrong when you oversee 18,000 employees, at least Baca takes responsibility and corrects the problem. Tanaka would turn the Sheriff’s Department into a gang that would one day take the feds to clean up. Please let’s not make that mistake. Not for a guy as slimy as this.
Baca has led in times of major distress. As a leader, there is no comparison; Tanaka and his groupies would be self serving and will take us down. Baca trusted Tanaka and Tanaka turned on him.
NO ON TANAKA
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Keeping Baca would be a continued mistake and replacing him with Tanaka would be simply changing the faces without changing the underlying problems. Both are responsible for the problems facing the Sheriff’s office and neither is worthy of a vote.
So who else is running?
Where’s Rifkin, Guyovich and the others?? I guess Napolean needs to keep some double agents on the inside to feed him info and dirt. I gotta admit, Tanaka learned history lessons well……install your supporters at all of the key positions in the organization and if the leader opposes you, overthrow him from the inside…….Everybody saw it coming except Sheriff Co Co Puffs.
I like some of the folks standing behind the little tyrant. I guess they owe their promotions to him and they want to demonstrate loyalty. True reform will only come through the removal of BANAKA.
Olmsted is the only real choice!!
Tanaka is a little man with Napoleanitis. He always builds a small circle and is not a team player. He is the reason we have the jail problems. Lt Thompson who has been fired, was his executioner at the jails. Be careful of this guy he is a person the Sheriff trusted and now a critic. The people he has promoted are followers. This was the guy who went to all the stations telling us to work in the grey area. Small man with a big ego.
Bob Olmsted for Sheriff 2014!