LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wants to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva as the head of the county’s emergency operations center.
Villanueva told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday night that the move being pursued during the coronavirus outbreak is a “pure power grab at the worst possible time.”
Villanueva again blasted the proposal on Thursday, calling it a misguided effort.
“Some people just don’t want to be told what the limits of their authority are or what their role is, and as the elected sheriff, I have a role as the director of emergency operations,” Villanueva said, adding that people want to hear emergency messages delivered from law enforcement and fire officials.
Villanueva said the coronavirus pandemic is not just a health crisis but a humanitarian emergency, saying the proposal to remove him as the emergency operations director “has nothing to do with somehow making emergency management somehow better.”
If the board removes him from the emergency command position, Villanueva said, “The Board of Supervisors will be the one dictating the outcome of every single incident, which they definitely don’t understand how to manage properly. They’re not trained for this. It takes a lot of time, takes a lot of energy, takes a lot of years of experience in the field doing emergency management.”
Three supervisors told the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the board’s intent, the potential move has been in the works for months and is tied to the center’s response efforts during the Woolsey fire, which killed three people and burned nearly 97,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in 2018, before Villanueva took office.
But Villanueva said the timing of the move is payback for his decision Tuesday to close gun shops during the coronavirus pandemic, a move he initially reversed but reinstated Thursday after Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would defer to the sheriff on the gun shop issue.
“After the governor’s clarification yesterday of what my authority was on this subject, we definitely let it be known that we’re going to proceed forward and we’re going to shut down gun sales and ammunition sales outside of law enforcement and private security organizations within the county,” Villanueva said.
Earlier Thursday, during a daily update on the coronavirus from the Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Barger said “there’s really nothing to respond to” regarding the sheriff’s position on the emergency management role.
“We’re all in this together, and now is not the time to argue about who’s in charge, because all the people in our communities want to know is that we’re working together collaboratively to make sure that we control the spread (of the virus) and do what’s right for our constituents,” Barger said.
The motion to replace Villanueva as the head of the county’s emergency operations center was introduced in November, and it was supposed to be heard at the supervisors’ March 17 meeting, but that meeting was canceled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
“I was equally surprised about the response given that this has been in the workings for months and … the sheriff was given the opportunity to provide input in November,” Barger said.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas told The Times the board is not interested in “petty conflicts” with the sheriff and, instead, is focused on managing the coronavirus threat.
Villanueva and the board have clashed over issues such as hiring and spending since he took office in December 2018.
The proposal is scheduled to go before the board on Tuesday, March 31.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story was updated to include additional comments from Sheriff Villanueva and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
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Rob says
Here in Lancaster our mayor told us to carry guns without a permit and to shoot the homeless if they try to rob us. What would the Villanueva say about that?
EX-Lancaster says
So glad I no longer live anywhere close to LA County.
Laughing says
And we are glad you moved away too.
Kiki says
No one cares where you live now but it looks like you still have temptation about how the a.v. is doing.
Bob says
Never liked him
Strip the Badge says
He has been a problem from the very beginning. Even those that voted for him can see it.
Robin says
This baby Hitler supported releasing over a thousand inmates in one breath while demanding that gun stores close deeming them non essential. Get him out now!
surfside 6 says
Boy liberal supervisors love defiance until somebody throws a little their way! The Sheriff is still as much against county residents becoming armed as those stupid supervisors. The only reason the guy backed down is because if the lights go out he knows has no practical ability to protect millions of them anyway.
Alexis says
I think they all need to be grabbed and powered at the worst possible time.
Pissed of Citizen says
Go figure. These idiots already take hours to show up sometimes when theres a problem. Imagine when all hell breaks loose. Who you gonna count on then to save you. Sure as hell isnt gonna be the cops. Corona virus and guns are a little different to be taking one away during the other. Its the first thing they try to take from us no matter what goes on.
Alby says
I cant judge him in my own mental courtroom like I already have with most deputies and the orchestrated silent coup that likes to grab power by the worst possible time. But, eventually, everything will play out and time will tell.
Tko says
Wasn’t a supporter of Villanueva is being share so but I know what happened in that fire and I’m sure they wouldn’t have said they had something on the table in November if they didn’t have proof so I’m not sure who’s doing the power play if it was already in the works before the coronavirus but since we’re here now I have a problem closing down gun shop if you are a single person with a child at home and things get bad how do you defend yourself look what happened to Hurricane Katrina in that Stadium shaking my head and if it’s come down to this may God bless America in every country in the world
Alby says
To hell with being a registered gun owner. These stupid morons havent figured out that 2nd ammendment believers will bypass their horse shit with zipguns and “IEDs”. The very citizens that pay their taxes to put food on these fascist fat ass tables are bound to end up policing these turds if unnecessary oppressions continues. The truth is that these turds are gonna get retired, older and weaker. They know that they are bound to reap the mental and physical abuse that they’ve done to inmates and when that happens, these moronic cowards are gonna grab hold of their 2nd ammendment rights and guns like if their penis never existed. As for Villanueva, he’s better than Caca… I mean Baca. but time will tell how i really feel about him and all.
Ker-plop says
It’s time to flush this turd.
Edward McCloskey says
Agree 1000! Dump him and open the gun stores.