What kind of political race puts the challenger on the defensive? Exactly the kind of contest you had until recently for the highest-paid law-enforcement job in the county. In the battle for the almost $250,000-a-year post of sheriff, the hound – insurgent Lee Baca – seemed to be running from the hare – Sheriff Sherman Block.This wily role reversal by Block is probably the best argument to date that he remains sharp enough to keep his job. His four-term tenure has been surpassed locally in modern times only by former Mayor Tom Bradley and former county Supervisor Kenny Hahn. Both men had the good sense to die with their boots off, having reluctantly retired from public office several years before their deaths. But if Sherm Block gets his way, it may well be the county coroner who escorts Block from office for the last time.Block is now as old as Bradley was in 1992, when the mayor finally decided to hang it up. And if the sheriff lacks a latter-day Bradley debit – like the Rodney King riots – he has many lesser but significant professional disgraces to live down: felonious corruption in his senior procurement staff, reports of unlawfully aggressive deputies, the early releases of dangerous prisoners, and a custody arm – including the Twin Towers lockup – that looks almost out of control. These flaws are sufficient, you would think, to provide lethal campaign ammunition to the mildest of challengers.
Source: Sheriff’s Tariff | L.A. Weekly