Roth, Vasquez Rally Against Jail Proposal

ANAHEIM — Taking sides in an increasingly heated debate, two county supervisors emerged from the wings Saturday to take center stage in a rally against Measure J, a proposal on Tuesday’s ballot calling for a half-cent sales tax hike to build a new jail.

Supervisor Don R. Roth and Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez appeared for the first time at a public event to oppose the ballot measure, stepping up to a microphone on a yellow flatbed truck at Peralta Canyon Park and addressing a late-morning rally of about 50 Measure J foes.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that I am a conservative Republican, and I am pro-law enforcement--but with some sense,” Roth declared. The county needs “to go back to the drawing board” to find new, less-costly solutions to the jail overcrowding problem, Roth said.

Vasquez agreed, saying that officials should “leave no stone unturned” in a hunt for “alternatives” to building a $1-billion jail in Gypsum Canyon, which is the centerpiece of the Measure J campaign.

Although both supervisors have long opposed construction of a jail in the canyon, neither has openly campaigned against the ballot measure previously. The board’s three other supervisors support the ballot measure.

The appearance at the rally by Roth and Vasquez came one day after an Orange County Municipal Court judge criticized county supervisors for allowing the jail overcrowding issue to languish for more than a decade. Presiding Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr. lashed out at the supervisors as he ruled that Sheriff Brad Gates was guilty of 17 counts of contempt for illegally releasing prisoners to relieve jail overcrowding.

Gates was ordered to prepare a plan for the court showing how he can avoid releasing such prisoners in the future.

Several speakers at the rally attacked Stanford, saying he had misused his position on the bench to promote the Measure J campaign. Mayor Fred Hunter of Anaheim, a leader of the Measure J opposition, suggested that the judge was “in cahoots” with Gates, who has spearheaded the initiative effort.

Vasquez also took issue with the judge’s remarks, saying that Orange County is providing more funding for jails today than ever in history and noting that 600 new beds will soon be available after an expansion project at the county’s Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange.

In his comments Friday, Stanford denied that his action was intended to influence Measure J, saying that the judges had been upset with Gates’ release of prisoners for more than a year.

Saturday’s appearance by Roth and Vasquez pitted them squarely against Gates, who has campaigned heavily in favor of the jail tax. The sheriff said Saturday that he was surprised that the two supervisors had decided to attack the measure.

“To have them step out now in the forefront is a little bit surprising to me,” Gates said. “What they indicated to me is they would let the people decide at the ballot box, and then we’d all go from there. I guess they’re campaigning against a safe Orange County, against putting drug dealers in jail, against putting gang members in jail. I’m surprised and sorry to see that.”

Vasquez said, however, that he never made any promises to Gates about refraining from a campaign to defeat Measure J.

“Over the years I have appeared at a number of events relative to Gypsum Canyon, so this really is not inconsistent with that,” Vasquez said. “Part of the political process is certainly public awareness, and I think that was part of the program today--to enhance public awareness on this issue.”

In addition to the supervisors, several other public leaders also took the stage to attack Measure J.

“The voters of Orange County are to rally and rise up together,” declared state Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who is also on Tuesday’s ballot as a candidate in a special election for the state Senate. “They’re going to say ‘No!’ to new taxes and they’re going to say ‘No!’ to back-room deals.”

Yorba Linda Mayor Mark Schwing said the proposed Gypsum Canyon jail will force Orange County residents to pay a hefty rate to put prisoners in jail.

“You can send your son or daughter to Yale for $20,000 a year or you can put an inmate in Gypsum Canyon for $50,000 a year,” Schwing said. “I don’t think that seems very equitable.”

Anaheim Mayor Hunter, meanwhile, said approval of Measure J would amount to “giving a blank check to Sheriff Gates and three members of the Board of Supervisors” who support the Gypsum Canyon jail.

Reacting to comments at the rally, Gates said the county has exhausted all alternatives to building a jail. The county now makes extensive use of community work programs to ease the jail burden as well as halfway houses and special electronic bracelets for keeping track of inmates who are released, he said.

“We’re literally doing everything we can do,” Gates said. “There is no magical answer, no alternative other than building a jail.”

Gates also suggested that opponents of the measure who claim they’re pro-law enforcement are “people who don’t have the guts to do their job.”

A Gypsum Canyon jail would cost $14,000 a year to house an inmate, he said, making it among the cheapest in California. Said Gates: “I believe it is the proper kind of plan that is fiscally responsible, and done at the least cost it can. . . . But jails are expensive, the criminal justice system is expensive.”