Villanueva Talks Nice Nice With Supes, They Table Talk Of Neutering Sheriff’s Powers
Written by 991KBU on October 28, 2020
Conciliatory words yesterday at the LA County Board of Supervisors meeting … as Sheriff Alex Villanueva headed off an effort to significantly clip his wings.
For the time being.
The supervisors voted to table and study a proposal by Malibu Area supervisor Sheila Kuehl … to dramatically decrease the power of the elected Sheriff.
She and fellow supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas we’re talking about impeaching the sheriff … asking the state legislature to remove him from power over most of the department … or other steps.
One possible move would be to remove Malibu and other municipalities from the sheriff’s department … and set up some sort of regional police agencies across the sprawling County to handle local police coverage.
Yesterday … Villanueva stepped before the supervisors and offered to make nice-nice.
NEWSCART 73073 VILLANUEVA IG
“The vast majority of problems which have been raised regarding transparency and accountability can be easily solved with a new memorandum of agreement between the sheriff’s department and the office of the Inspector General.
“I wholeheartedly commit to working with you in good faith to achieve this goal.”
The embattled sheriff also said the budget cuts imposed by the supervisors … are working against the very goals that they have set for his office.
NEWSCART 73069 VILLANUEVA TRANSPARENCY
“Transparency and accountability do not come cheap.
“This is why I fought so hard regarding budgetary issues.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The supervisors decided to table the plan to strip being wave of most of his powers … to see what happens.
