Four candidates hoping to unseat Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca are taking a united approach in the final days of the campaign, hammering the two-term incumbent for the early release of more than 150,000 inmates from county jails in the last four years.
Without enough money to buy television ads, the challengers have spent the last several days excoriating the incumbent in speeches to community groups such as the west Glendale Kiwanis and the Hollywood Hilltoppers, a Republican women's group.
Faced with a series of steep budget cuts, Baca started closing jail facilities in 2002 and releasing inmates after less than 10% of their sentences had been served. The sheriff is under federal court order to not overcrowd the jails.
The Times reported three weeks ago that nearly 16,000 of the inmates released early were charged with committing new crimes -- including 16 murders and hundreds of assaults, robberies and sex crimes -- when they otherwise would have been in jail.
"The early release program is a disaster for the county. There is no deterrent effect," said Glendale Police Lt. Don Meredith, one of Baca's challengers, at a recent televised candidate forum.
Political observers said the four challengers were facing steep odds because of the difficulty in getting their message to voters in the nation's largest county. Another obstacle is the name recognition of Baca, who took office in 1998.
"In another world, like a partisan race for governor, [the early release of inmates] would be a very damaging issue. You know what it did to Michael Dukakis," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton. "Beating a countywide elected official is very, very hard. He's been a well-regarded sheriff, though he's had his ups and downs."
Whoever wins the election will direct the nation's largest sheriff's department, with responsibilities that include managing a $2-billion budget, protecting 2.7 million people across 3,000 square miles and overseeing a jail system with about 18,000 inmates.
In addition to Meredith, Baca's challengers include sheriff's Capt. Ray Leyva, retired sheriff's Capt. Ken Masse and sheriff's Sgt. Paul Jernigan.
Baca, for the most part, has appeared disinterested in his rivals. He has declined to appear with them in speaking engagements, most recently refusing to participate in a candidates' forum hosted by KTTV's Fox 11 television news last month.
