Why Democrats Must win the LA Sheriff’s Race.
We get it, we get it, we get it. It is all about the #BlueWave. Go Blue. Go Dodgers. Yup. But it is also true that we face an imminent threat to our livelihood, freedom and liberties each day Donald Trump is in office. Many calculated for years that the Republican Party, ever moving to the right, needed to include people of color and women into its ranks in order to not end up gasping for power. Oh, how wrong we have all been on that one. The Republican party is as White as my High School water polo team. But not as cool.
The monolithic nature of the Republican party is not JUST about race, gender or sexual orientation. It is about ideology. It is about old ideas that have caused great pain and suffering for so many in communities of color and for the working class in general. Electing Alex Villanueva Sheriff is not just about ushering in a new era of progressive law enforcement, it is about defeating old ideas of law enforcement. But it ain’t so easy because few give a shit. That needs to change.
Jim McDonnell knows how to survive politically in Los Angeles County — the home of lefty hollywood, strong Civil Rights activism, tens of thousands of liberal hipsters from across the land, and a gigantic Latino working class. McDonnell does not wear a cowboy hat, chew on straw, or speak with the bravado and insensitivity of other Sheriff voices nationwide. McDonnell would not survive here if so. Instead, McDonnell moves his conservative law and order ideology in a boring, rhetoric-filled, fancy-dancy talk no one is used to paying any mind to. But there are things to pay attention to — and now.
Sheriff McDonnell is a conservative. He has spoken at Pete WIlson’s Legal Justice Foundation about speeding up the death penalty. McDonnell did not just oppose SB 54, limiting CA law enforcement cooperation with ICE, he was the leading opponent on a Kevin Hart-like media tour. In fact, the ACLU issued a damning report about not just McDonnells high number of deportations, but about how casual and unprofessional the relationship is with ICE, even allowing them to hang out in the parking lot and waiting rooms. Why? It is simple, McDonnell is a deportation guy.
McDonnell talks about criminal justice reform, but he opposed every single major reform to the criminal justice system in Sacramento including bail reform, and reducing of sentencing for nonviolent offenders of long ago. He says the same BS — crime will go up. McDonnell even said straight up that the period of mass incarceration in California history was the “greatest reduction of crime” in recent history. He talks about mental illness in the county jail and the need for treatment, but he also wants a new $2.4 billion dollar jail to lock em up faster and more efficiently. If CA and LA voters clearly vote that they want alternative sentencing, rehabilitation, drug treatment, bail reform, why is McDonnell against us? It’s easy. McDonnell is a mass incarceration guy.
McDonnell says he knows the voters have sent a clear message that they want to decriminalize marijuana use. But McDonnell ‘boogie mans’ us all when he says he fears “federal raids” on dispensaries. Even Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he will not do so in communities that have voted for legalization. McDonnell even conducts his own raids on unlicensed dispensaries. Hard to argue against raiding the unlicensed spots, but hard to understand why you don’t use those resources to catch the sniper in Malibu? It is simple — McDonnell is a war on drugs guy.
McDonnell says he is about justice for the public. But he has not only promoted Sheriff’s with tainted histories, he has engaged actively in racial profiling of Latinos and failed to address the high levels of use of force in the department. He even shamed himself when he refused to apologize to an African American mother he wrongfully held in jail for a murder she had no connection to. Sexual misconduct in the department is rampant and he has no immediate plans to implement any of the reforms civil rights and other community leaders have asked for. Why? McDonnell is a father knows best cop que ya sabe todo (he already knows everything).
Few voters spend the amount of time we have looking into this and learning about who is McDonnell. For sure, it’s boring and frustrating. But once you see the information you realize not only what a slick politician he is, but also what a right-winger he is. Perhaps in the past, McDonnell fit in LA. Perhaps still today he fits in the South. But Sheriff Jim McDonnell: this is not Alabama and you, my friend, are no Jack Kennedy. On November 6th, stand for Jim the same way he stands for us — not at all!
