The Cupertino Courier

Councilmembers log in sheriff endorsements

By Pam Marino

The only woman in the race for Santa Clara County sheriff has persuaded two of the five Cupertino city councilmembers to endorse her in the June contest.

Wally Dean and John Statton are lending their names to Assistant Sheriff Laurie Smith's campaign.

Mayor Michael Chang is endorsing another assistant sheriff, Tom Sing, the only Asian candidate. Councilman Don Burnett is endorsing Sgt. Jose Salcido.

Councilwoman Sandra James, who has numerous contacts in the sheriff's department and has worked with each of the candidates at one time or another, said she is still deciding whether to endorse someone.

"I know all of them professionally," James said. "I admire them all."

Candidate filing closed last Wednesday, leaving six candidates for sheriff. Four are seen as top contenders because of their political and financial backing: Smith, Sing, Salcido and Assistant Sheriff Ruben Diaz. The other two candidates are sheriff's Captain Brian Beck, and former deputy and security analyst Wayne Brown.

The probability of one of the six candidates getting the necessary 50 percent plus one to win the job outright is small; most likely the top two vote-getters will face a November runoff.

In January Chang said the council as a whole would not officially endorse any one candidate. As individuals, councilmembers are not banned from backing a candidate, however.

Statton said Smith personally approached him asking for his endorsement. They spoke for two hours about her law enforcement views, he said, before he agreed.

"I was impressed by her long background with the department," Statton said.

Dean said he had worked with Smith in the past here in Cupertino. Smith lists one of her accomplishments as representing the sheriff's department in developing Cupertino's CityNet on-line system. Dean said he is impressed with her knowledge and involvement in computers as a law enforcement tool. He said he and other city officials had recently met with Smith to formulate new plans to stop graffiti taggers.

Chang and Sing have known each other "for a long time," Chang said. Sing has been attending community meetings in Cupertino, he said, and is well-acquainted with the city's needs. The city contracts with the sheriff's department for its police services.

"He understands our concerns about neighborhood safety," Chang said.

Burnett said he met with Salcido, who described to Burnett what he saw as the problems in the community and how he proposes to fix them. Burnett said he was "really, really impressed."

The five councilmembers said that Salcido, Sing, Smith and Diaz all have qualities that will make for a good sheriff.

"They all seem in general a pretty good crop of candidates," Statton said.

Sing and Diaz each attracted attention over the last two weeks for receiving plum endorsements. Sing got a surprise endorsement from Sheriff Chuck Gillingham, who is not running for re-election to pursue a San Jose City Council seat. Gillingham had earlier said he would not endorse a candidate. Diaz received the backing of Mayor Susan Hammer. Salcido's main backing comes from organizations that represent the rank and file deputies.

A seventh potential candidate, Alexander Rawls, lost his bid to run for sheriff after a ruling by a Sacramento judge on Friday. Rawls, a Palo Alto carpenter and Stanford graduate student, lacked the required law enforcement background to be a qualified candidate, as mandated by a 1989 law.

Rawls argued that voters, not the legislature, should determine whether a candidate is qualified for an elected office.

The judge sided with attorneys for the secretary of state and the Santa Clara County registrar of voters, however, who argued that the legislature has the right to set requirements for candidates.

It is not clear whether Rawls will appeal the decision; if he does, an answer may not come back in time for the June election. Rawls did not return phone calls last week.

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