Now might be a very good time to recollect John Casper Cline, who 99 years in the past turned the one L.A. County sheriff to be thrown out of workplace by the Board of Supervisors. To date.
The precedent comes up as a result of the supervisors of 2020 appear to be itching to fireplace Sheriff Alex Villanueva. They don’t at the moment have that energy, though final 12 months no less than just a few of them quietly reviewed a draft ballot measure, modeled on a San Bernardino County ordinance, that will give them the authority. It’s been shelved for now.
However final month, two supervisors and several members of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission referred to as on Villanueva to resign, echoing calls by numerous organizations sad along with his efforts to weaken the deputy disciplinary system, his defiance of fee subpoenas and a number of different counterreform practices. The fee was set to take up a decision on the topic Thursday, nevertheless it seems to have misplaced its nerve, and now members will as an alternative take into account a motion that merely expresses “grave concerns” relating to Villanueva’s management whereas wishing him success in reforming the division.
So how did the board of 1921 do away with Cline? And why?
Born in Australia to American mother and father (in accordance with his up to date, L.A. Occasions columnist, historian and poet John Steven McGroarty), Cline slot in effectively with Southern California’s vanishing Wild West tradition however ultimately turned a sufferer of adjusting instances and his refusal to vary with them. He additionally, apparently, had a knack for rubbing different elected officers the improper means.
He was elected in 1884 to be constable of Los Angeles township, a subdivision of what was then a a lot bigger Los Angeles County. He actually rode the vary, from the San Fernando Valley to what’s now East Los Angeles. He was solely 24.
When he was elected sheriff in 1892, his duties included monitoring down rustlers and different outlaws and transporting them to and from jail, conserving the transport funds for himself — which was accepted follow in these days. He additionally freely distributed badges to a whole bunch of supporters, swearing them in as particular deputies. That they had to purchase the tin badges from Cline-Cline Co., a sporting items retailer owned by Cline’s prolonged household.
After he served his two-year time period, native Republican Occasion leaders switched their assist to John Burr, who gained the election and instantly went into hiding to keep away from the throngs of people that needed him to nominate them as deputies. As a result of he was nonetheless in hiding when it was time for him to take the oath, Burr technically forfeited the workplace, and Cline insisted on conserving the job. Finally, although, the Board of Supervisors declared the place vacant and appointed Burr.
For the supervisors, it was an early style of energy over the independently elected sheriff. For Cline, it was only a prelude of clashes to come back.
Within the meantime, President William McKinley appointed Cline to be collector of customs for the district of Los Angeles, and he served in that capability for eight years, then turned his consideration to different issues — till 1914, when he once more ran for sheriff.
By that point, Los Angeles County was now not the Wild West. A wave of progressive reform had swept California, and as a part of that motion L.A. turned the nation’s first home-rule county, adopting its own charter in 1913. The doc prohibited a few of Cline’s outdated practices, like hanging on to fines and costs. The workplace was now nonpartisan. And the incumbent sheriff, William Hammel, bought alongside fairly effectively with the Board of Supervisors and was operating for reelection.
Cline beat him and started his second, longer and rockier tenure as sheriff.
The supervisors, though indignant at dropping their ally Hammel, raised Cline’s wage so he wouldn’t have to line his pockets with the inmate transport charges to which he was now not entitled. However he saved doing it anyway. When the supervisors put the charges into the county treasury, Cline sued to get them again. And amazingly, he gained.
Cline was additionally accused of embezzling from the inmate meal fund, and he was mentioned to be adept at fixing site visitors tickets and discovering causes to take division automobiles on private journeys. The supervisors finally had enough.
Though the board couldn’t fireplace the sheriff outright, it instructed Chairman Jonathan S. Dodge to file an “accusation” towards him for misfeasance in workplace over misuse of public funds. The choose upheld the costs and eliminated Cline. The supervisors appointed a sheriff to succeed him — and ended up appointing almost every other sheriff throughout the remainder of the 20th century, though all of them went on to win election to further phrases.
The Los Angeles Occasions authorized of Cline’s ouster. An editorial referred to as him “too high-handed and defiant.”
So if the Civilian Oversight Fee or the supervisors need to fireplace Villanueva, why can’t they merely file an accusation towards him, like their distant predecessors did towards Cline?
In idea, they may. Underneath California Government Code Sec. 3060, anybody can current an accusation of “willful or corrupt misconduct in workplace” to the grand jury, which might then ship it to the district legal professional, who in flip would take it to court docket for a trial inside 10 days.
And what constitutes “willful or corrupt misconduct in workplace”? There’s the rub. The physique of legislation on the subject just isn’t massive, however there most likely needs to be some self-dealing concerned, or a refusal to carry out the job. The decision earlier than the Civilian Oversight Fee recites a protracted invoice of righteous complaints towards Villanueva, together with refusing to cooperate with the inspector basic, however nothing that quantities to self-dealing or failure to carry out the job.
Checks and balances in county authorities are weak. Sheriff Lee Baca (at the moment in jail for obstruction of justice) made that clear in 2012 when requested how he’s to be held accountable for his conduct in workplace. “Don’t elect me,” he replied.
The final decade has seen quite a few makes an attempt to do higher than merely “Don’t elect me.” Los Angeles County adopted San Diego County’s lead in creating an oversight fee, nevertheless it has no removing energy. Final month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a invoice to particularly allow each county to create such a fee. San Bernardino County has its removing ordinance and an accompanying constitution provision, however they’re untested in court docket.
For the current, then, the one strategies to take away a sheriff from workplace seem like Baca’s answer (though it needs to be famous that he resigned earlier than his time period was concluded); voter recall; or a grand jury accusation of the sort that led to Sheriff John C. Cline’s eviction from workplace almost a century in the past.
After dropping his job, by the way in which, Cline bought on along with his life, which was lengthy. He died in 1954 on the age of 94.
