Stanislaus sheriff race is a wild one

By GARTH STAPLEY
The Modesto Bee

In the shadow of Tuesday's fast-approaching ballot, it's tempting to lose sight of June's election for Stanislaus County sheriff, despite recent developments that could play into campaigns.

Whether those moves prove significant might not become clear for months, some political watchers suggest.

On Monday, a newly formed deputies' union snubbed its boss, Sheriff Adam Christianson, by endorsing challenger Rob Jackson, a Turlock police captain.

The next day, county leaders settled a potentially explosive discrimination lawsuit brought by three of Christianson's female employees.

Both generated media attention, while a federal judge's order in another case, also Monday, flew under the radar. That judge dismissed Christianson personally from discrimination and wrongful firing complaints in a nasty lawsuit brought by another woman while allowing it to go forward with sexual harassment claims against one of his sergeants, as well as two due-process complaints against the sheriff.

The county's lawyer acknowledged the "political implications" of Tuesday's settlement, but said politics did not influence his team's negotiating. Christianson refused to discuss the lawsuits, while Jackson decried "seven figures' worth of expenses to the county." Meanwhile, the endorsement evoked memories of a bruising campaign that divided the Sheriff's Department four years ago. But political commentators say it's probably not as important to voters, who might not even remember come June.

"These things are never determinative. But they are all contributory," said University of the Pacific political studies professor Bob Benedetti, speaking generically about the many moving pieces of any campaign.

Accountability of leaders often surfaces in campaign warfare.

One need look no further than the last sheriff's race, when Christianson took on unelected Assistant Sheriff Mark Puthuff, heir apparent to former Sheriff Les Weidman, in the first true campaign for that post since 1990.

In the last week of October -- sound familiar? -- four years ago, The Bee broke news of a disgruntled former deputy suing the department and Puthuff, with allegations of an affair. Puthuff and his attorney questioned the timing, at the beginning of campaign season.

Christianson, then a lieutenant, also was second-guessed about his role in a controversy over 15 deputies posing with a helicopter in a private catalog photo shoot. And both candidates confronted prickly questions about their public and private lives.

In July 2008, Christianson initially was accused of calling two female employees "bitches" when four records clerks sued him and the county. But a month ago, a judge released Christianson from the lawsuit, and attorneys settled the rest out of court Tuesday.

The deal cancels a trial scheduled to start this week pitting Christianson's office against remaining defendants Jackie Bernal, Charmaine Morad-Daniel and Marlena Younan. County leaders agreed to pay the three a combined $545,000, without admitting wrongdoing. The county has spent about $310,000 more on its legal fees, plus more dealing with two other discrimination lawsuits brought by former female employees of the department.

"To settle like that, there had to be some wrongdoing," said Jackson, who worked nearly 20 years for the Sheriff's Department and was chief of police for Waterford, whose unit is staffed by deputies, before he left for Turlock in November 2007. "That tells me there was some level of culpability. What's troubling to me is spending that money at a time when the sheriff's office is so fiscally strapped." Asked if the settlement has become a campaign issue, Jackson said: "I don't want to go negative. I don't want to sling mud. I am going to be critical because I don't think Adam has done the job he's been asked to do." County Counsel John Doering said: "I won't deny the political implications in this; Sheriff Christianson needs to discuss those. But from our perspective, politics was not an issue (in settling)."