The LA County Sheriff and the LA County Board of Supervisors haven't gotten along since Villanueva was elected.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is taking steps to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva as the head of the county’s emergency operations center during the coronavirus outbreak, a move he called a “pure power grab at the worst time possible.”
Three supervisors reached late Wednesday said the proposed change is months in the making and stems from the need to centralize disaster operations after a fragmented response during the deadly Woolsey fire, which killed three people and burned nearly 97,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in 2018.
But Villanueva said the timing suggests retaliation for his decision to close gun shops during the pandemic, viewing them as nonessential businesses.
“This is pretty much a silent coup, what they’re trying to orchestrate,” Villanueva said. “We should be worried about masks, about test kits, and I have [Supervisor] Kathryn Barger worried about guns and ammunition.”
Ron Hernandez, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said the public and deputies are “sick and tired” of the political tussles between the sheriff and the board. “I believe the community is focused on keeping their families safe during this pandemic, and our deputies share that sentiment. These petty squabbles over power during a crisis are exactly what we don’t need,” he said. “To the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors, we say: Try acting like adults and focus on the emergency.”
After Villanueva announced this week that gun shops needed to close their doors, he said he learned that the county’s legal counsel had issued an opinion that such stores were essential businesses. Early Wednesday, Villanueva tweeted that the Sheriff’s Department’s “efforts to close nonessential businesses have been suspended” and that Gov. Gavin Newsom would “determine what qualifies” as one. When asked about the back-and-forth during a news conference later Wednesday, Newsom said he would defer to the sheriff on the issue.
Villanueva said he had sought to minimize the threat posed by first-time gun buyers panic-purchasing weapons at a time when homes are crowded, raising the possibility of suicides and domestic violence. “We’ll have to mop up the mess left behind,” he said.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... oronavirus
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