WHEREAS Sheriff Alex Villanueva became Sheriff of Los Angeles County on December 3, 2018 and has, since inauguration, demonstrated flagrant disregard and disrespect for the law, hubris, and obstruction to reasonable oversight and accountability of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department when truth, accountability and justice are under unprecedented assault across our nation and world as leaders brazenly lie, obstruct justice and obfuscate their record while rewarding loyalists and refusing to be held accountable, making it all the more important to denounce such threats to our safety and our democracy within our midst; and
WHEREAS Sheriff Alex Villanueva has re-hired former deputies discharged for misconduct because they volunteered on his campaign, withheld information and refused to comply with lawful subpoenas issued by the county inspector general, launched retaliatory tactics against oversight bodies, elected officials, and media personnel who attempt to do their duty with regards to providing transparency and accountability to the department, gave repeated inaccurate statements regarding the physical assault of KPCC journalist Josie Huang, and has stonewalled independent investigations into the deaths of Dijon Kizzee and Andres Guardado at the hands of Sheriff's deputies, among others; and
WHEREAS elected and appointed leaders across Los Angeles County have joined the call for Sheriff Villanueva to resign, including County Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission members Robert Bonner and Patricia Ocen, views encapsulated by Robert Bonner’s comments that “he's demonstrated on multiple occasions that he lacks the judgment needed to be the sheriff and that he's unable to provide the leadership needed by the Sheriff's Department” and Sheila Kuehl’s comments that “he has done nothing about deputy cliques within the department and that the county pays out millions of dollars in response to claims of excessive force by deputies”;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Valley Grassroots for Democracy calls for Sheriff Alex Villanueva to resign his office due to his failure to uphold his oath of office to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the State of California, due to his abdication of his duties to ensure transparency, trust, and accountability within the Department he now leads, and due to his rejection of the values of the Democratic Party of Los Angeles County.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to Sheriff Villanueva.
Written by: Original Author Nick Greif, Elected Member, AD50
Valley Grassroots for Democracy
Date: October 17, 2020