RIVERSIDE

 

By Mary Shelton

It came down to the last vote.

And when Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione cast that final vote, former Riverside County Assistant Sheriff, Stanley Sniff became the next sheriff.

Before Tavaglione announced his choice, the board was split 2-2 between Sniff and current under sheriff, Neil Lingle.  Supervisors Bob Buster and Roy Wilson cast votes for Lingle while their colleagues Marion Ashley and Jeff Stone voted for Sniff.

Tavaglione praised Lingle. He also expressed his shock in the announcement that Sheriff Bob Doyle had allegedly told Assistant Sheriff Valerie Hill that if he promoted her to that position, she had to promise to retire by the end of 2007. Hill was one of the five applicants interviewed for the sheriff's position.

"I was shocked and disappointed," Tavaglione said, "Not in her, but in the system."

It had been an eventful as well as a historic proceeding taking place inside a chamber packed full with people including many Sheriff's Department employees.

Earlier in the meeting, the five candidates including four who worked or had worked in management positions under Doyle addressed the board on what they would bring to the position and were later questioned by each supervisor. What emerged from the process was a disturbing portrait of the department's administration and some pretty strong criticisms of that administration made by several supervisors. It overshadowed the contributions and ideas that each candidate proposed to bring to the department that were mentioned in their presentations before the board.

Not surprisingly, supervisors asked Sniff to talk about his firing from the Sheriff's Department last year.

"I've became the poster boy in the removal of 'at will' positions in the Sheriff's Department," Sniff said.

Sniff said that he waived his right to appeal any future termination like other employees in his category which was created for the Sheriff's Department's management positions in 2002. He said that he was given two hours notice of his termination by Doyle's office after 28 years of service and received it because he wanted to run for sheriff in the next election.

"At will individuals would have it exercised against them if they wanted to run for office," Sniff said.

When contacted to answer questions about the board's appointment of Sniff, Doyle's office referred all questions to the Media Relations Division of the Sheriff's Department.

Deputy Herlinda Valenzuala, who was the public information officer who responded upon hearing the information requested said that "all those inquiries are being directed to the county's PIO".

The county's public information's office released a statement on its Web site by Tavaglione.

"Stan is the right choice to improve morale and camaraderie, and to help heal the sheriff's department," said Tavaglione. "He's a man of integrity and will do a tremendous job."

Hill said during her time at the podium that when she had taken the promotion with the caveat of retirement, she had told Doyle that if he changed his mind about those terms, he should tell her. She also said she had wanted to continue the work she had started in the department's correctional system which several candidates and supervisors alike said needed to be the focus of the Sheriff's Department's attention due to overcrowding and federally mandated population limits in the county facilities. That's why she took the promotion even if it would shorten her career, she said.

Hill is the Sheriff's Department highest ranking female sworn employee

She also expressed her concern that there were not enough facilities to treat people who were addicted to drugs and said that there were 22 inmates in the county jails who should be at Patton or other mental facilities which had closed their doors to them.

There were a lot of discussion and even more questions asked the candidates about ethics and a department in turmoil.

Supervisor Jeff Stone said that he was not sure how ethical it was for employees in the Sheriff's Department to contribute to candidates running for sheriff. What alarmed him, he said was that Doyle promptly promoted his political supporters in the department.

Stone asked Lingle, who both served as under sheriff and had worked as Doyle's campaign chairman whether he would give promotions based on qualifications or loyalty.

Lingle said that there was a difference of opinion between him and Doyle in balancing loyalty and competency. He added that on the last round of promotions, he had not been consulted at all.

Tavaglione and other supervisors expressed concern in the direction that the Sheriff's Department was going and the events occurring in the past 2-1/2 weeks.

During that time, an alleged memo titled, "Talking Points to Discuss with Directors" typed under a Riverside Sheriffs' Association letterhead was leaked outside the agency.  It included statements that Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, Stone and Ashley were working "behind the scenes" to support Sniff and that Sniff would "clean out the 2nd floor administrative team". Under the category, "Be Strong", the following was included.

"Sniff will end the investigation of the RSA and Rod Pacheco will back his play," the memo stated.

The investigation in question is one of several being conducted by both county and federal agencies to determine whether the RSA leadership misappropriated or misspent funds entrusted to it by its members when it spent them on the legal defense of a deputy who had been terminated by the department. Earlier this year, the FBI conducted a search of the RSA headquarters but no criminal charges have been filed by either agency against anyone associated with its either investigation. 

The RSA's leadership responded to news of the allegedly leaked memo with a letter signed by its president Pat McNamara and three other board members and sent to the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 10. The letter stated that the leaked memo that was allegedly written by McNamara was not written by him at all but was a false document.

The union's letter addressed a statement included in the memo where McNamara had allegedly said that he was up for reelection two weeks before the new sheriff would be selected. However, the RSA's letter stated in response that McNamara had been reelected to serve as union president in July.

The turmoil between three of the department's labor unions and Doyle's administration spilled over into the appointment process of his successor, leaving the supervisors to make a difficult situation. All three of the bargaining units in the department had endorsed Sniff as the new sheriff. Doyle had endorsed Lingle to replace him.

All five of the supervisors agreed on one thing, which was to set their lobbyists loose to ask the state legislators to pass an emergency measure to allow for a special election in March so that the county's voters would be able to pick the sheriff. None of them appeared to believe that would possibly happen. As it stands, the board's appointment will serve out the remainder of Doyle's term which expires in 2010.

Buster cast a vote for Lingle and said that there had been improvements in the Sheriff's Department in recent years and the communities in the county are happy with the department.

"He's already doing the work," Buster said, "Put him in the position."

Wilson agreed, telling the board that the "under sheriff should take over." Wilson called the decision by the board one of its toughest because they were making one that should be left to the voters. In the last election, about 73% of votes cast were in favor of Doyle. 

Stone countered, and said the county faced "a department in turmoil," including inappropriate promotions, the selling of badges and other alleged problems. He added that lawsuits had been filed against the county that it would pay millions of dollars to settle. He proposed Sniff as sheriff instead.

"Let the healing begin," Stone said. 

Stone said he believed that Lingle's appointment would cause further turmoil.

"The bottom line is that the 3,500 members of the Sheriff's Department will see him as the status quo," Stone said.

Ashley agreed adding that there needed to be a "change in the culture" and that "fresh eyes are needed."

Tavaglione broke the tie finally by casting the vote that will determine the course that the beleaguered agency will now take. Whether it will become a smoother path towards healing is a question that only time can answer.