Diaz levels race bias charges against Sheriff

By Jeff Kearns

Even though Laurie Smith and Ruben Diaz were both proposing to eliminate the three assistant sheriff jobs if they won the top spot in the 1998 sheriff's race, Diaz has now filed a lawsuit against Smith for making good on her promise. But in the suit, Diaz alleges that Smith didn't cut the jobs because of administrative reasons, but rather because he is Latino and ran against her.

Smith and Diaz were both working as assistant sheriffs under then-Sheriff Charles Gillingham when they became the top two vote-getters of the five candidates in the June 1998 primary. Either way, the winner of the November 1998 runoff would have made history by winning a post that, until then, had only been held by white males.

Diaz's suit, filed Dec. 20 in Superior Court, charges that Smith "terminated" him in July because of his race and because he ran against her in the election. The suit says Smith's move violated Diaz's rights under the state Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Labor Code provisions that employees can't be fired for engaging in political activities.

Smith couldn't be reached before press time because she was on vacation. Diaz Attorney John Cardosi told the The Courier that his client has been advised not to talk to the media.

County Counsel Ann Ravel says her office will be representing Smith and the county in the suit. Diaz also named the county as a defendant. The Board of Supervisors approved the restructuring in May.

Ravel says the county will deny Diaz's allegations in the suit, which seeks unspecified compensation for lost pay and benefits.

"There is no merit whatsoever to the complaint that the sheriff has discriminated against Diaz because of his national origin or heritage," Ravel says. "There was a neutral re-organization of the office which was part of the sheriff's platform in order to achieve efficiency in the office."

Ravel says Diaz was laid off, not terminated. "His job didn't exist anymore." The county will file an answer to the complaint by the end of this month, Ravel says.

The suit also charges that former Assistant Sheriff Tom Sing, who is Asian American, was fired because he ran against Smith. Before the last election, Smith, Diaz and Sing all served as assistant sheriffs.

The complaint doesn't say anything about why Diaz believes the restructuring was connected to race bias, but Cardosi says that there is substantial evidence of that charge which hasn't been submitted to the court yet.

Diaz was hired into the Sheriff's Department from the Foster City Police Department nine years ago, after Chuck Gillingham became sheriff.

When the assistant sheriff position was eliminated, Sing was offered a chance to return to his former rank of sergeant, but he decided to retire instead. But Diaz didn't have the same option to revert to a former position with the Sheriff's Department because he didn't have one.

Undersheriff Robert Wilson, former commander of the Westside Substation, was formally named to his position in September, after county officials finished the months-long process of creating the position. In the current department, the undersheriff is second-in-command and oversees Internal Affairs and the intelligence unit. Serving under Wilson are two commanders, Michael Bernal and Steve Cushing.

The organizational structure is now the same as it was in 1990, when Gillingham created the assistant sheriff positions.

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