Election 2018: Chad Bianco elected in heated Riverside County Sheriff's race

Sam Metz | Palm Springs Desert Sun

Show Caption Hide Caption Coachella Valley voters explain motivation to get to polls Voters across the Coachella Valley explain why they voted on November 6, 2018 in the midterm election.

In January, there will be a new sheriff in town.

With 100 percent of Riverside County precincts reporting, Lt. Chad Bianco defeated 11-year incumbent Sheriff Stan Sniff in a heated intra-agency struggle for control of the county’s expansive law enforcement agency.

Bianco won by 13 points, collecting 56.5 percent of the vote to Sniff's 43.5 percent. Bianco won by 41,617 votes.

"From the time the numbers were posted," Bianco said after the first set of returns were published, "people in the department realized the past 11 years and the fear they've been living under is over."

In a statement to The Desert Sun, Sniff acknowledged that, with the result, the voters had sent a clear message.

"The public has spoken and decided upon a change in direction," he said. "It has been an absolute honor to serve our public as Riverside County's 13th Sheriff over these past 11 years and the period has been the highlight of my four-plus decade of public service."

Sniff's campaign did not host an election night gathering but Bianco packed the house at his election night party held at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.

The ambiance was akin to a tailgate. Supporters of the incoming sheriff wore Bianco t-shirts, collared shirts and trucker hats, drinking beers and eating tacos while a classic rock soundtrack blared on the speakers in the airplane hangar where the party took place. Partygoers said Bianco's candidacy had engaged them in politics like never before.

Hours before the first returns came in, the mood was already celebratory. Bianco wore cowboy boots and, underneath the vintage aircraft on display, he thanked his supporters and acknowledged the unparalleled nature of this Riverside County Sheriff's election.

He said his campaign consultants, Gilliard, Blanning and Associates, told him they had never seen as many volunteers get involved in a local election.

Throughout the night, in several addresses to his supporters, Bianco mostly steered clear of mentioning Sniff. But early in the evening, he chided Sniff for his campaign tactics, which he called "nonsense."

Although both men identify as politically conservative, in campaign materials and the media, Sniff attacked Bianco for allegedly harboring "extreme" views on LGBTQ issues and immigration hoping to swing Democrats and moderates into his camp. Bianco denied the allegations, promised to recruit from the LGBTQ community and walked in last weekend's Palm Springs' Pride Parade, less than 20 feet away from Sniff.

With the contentious election now over, Bianco will have to determine how to mend the fractured department and ensure Sniff's supporters -- both Sheriff's department employees and Riverside County residents -- how he plans to lead.

Sniff opponents have accused him of treating Bianco supporters vindictively. Sean Freeman, a department deputy who appeared in a Bianco campaign commercial, filed a lawsuit in October alleging Sniff retaliated against him.

Like Sniff has, Bianco will face difficult choices about the direction of the agency and its $700 million annual budget. His management experience is limited to serving as a Lieutenant at the Hemet Station. Leading the behemoth department, and the criminal justice reform policies it has to adapt to, will be a new challenge. He will have to decide whether to keep Sniff's top-level managerial staff, all of whom are at-will employees.

Once he takes office, Bianco said he planned to foster better ties between public safety officers and the communities they serve.

On the campaign trail, Bianco promised to speed up the opening and staffing of the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, clear the concealed-carry permit backlog and approach both the department’s unions and the Board of Supervisors diplomatically, as more of a partner than Sniff has.

County residents, Bianco said, could evaluate his performance as sheriff based on his ability to cut costs internally in order to reallocate funding to patrol services.

Bianco's election night party drew members of Riverside County's political elite, including District Attorney Mike Hestrin, Assemblymember Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, and Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.

Bianco's supporters vacillated being feeling anxious and excited throughout the evening.

"Out of any election in 43 years, this is the only one that matters to me," Jesse Nunez, a Bianco supporter who grew up in western Riverside County, said.

Dave Brown, who ran against Sniff and Bianco in the primary election, said he was excited about the early returns that showed Bianco about seven points ahead of Sniff.

He said Sniff's struggles with his department's employees and the unions who represent them compromised his ability to lead the department.

"There's no question: When people turn against you, you lose your ability to lead," said Brown, who led the Hemet Police Department until his retirement last year.

"This is the reason we were in this race, to make sure Sheriff Sniff wasn't reelected. If I had known Chad Bianco before, I would never have been in this race," he said.

Bianco's triumph over Sniff was a stark contrast from 2014, when Sniff earned enough of the electorate to win outright in the June primary election. In June 2018, Bianco emerged 5 percentage points ahead of Sniff, forcing a run-off between the two candidates.

Unlike in 2014, Bianco's 2018 bid enjoyed hefty financial backing from the union that represents the department's deputies, the Riverside Sheriffs Association. The 3,800-member union funneled more than $850,000 into Bianco's campaign coffers, allowing him to spend money on campaign consultants, mailers and television spots.

The association's animus toward Sniff took root over the past several years. The organization feuded with the sheriff for more than three years over how the department implemented new policies regarding body-worn cameras and drug testing after officer-involved shootings. The union’s leaders accuse Sniff of not taking into account the concerns of his employees and not partnering with the union on policy changes that affect department personnel.

Despite his struggles, looking back on his tenure, Sniff said he was proud of how the department has navigated the difficult circumstances the department faced since last decade's recession.

"The Sheriff's office has done an outstanding job in a broad range of areas – increasing diversity, professionalism and educational levels department-wide, and enhancing the use of technology to make our department one of the very best in the nation – at a time of profound change to our state's criminal justice system," he said.

Sniff took office in 2007 and, throughout his tenure, has had to navigate the dire financial straits the county faced since last decade’s recession. He repeatedly clashed with the county’s Board of Supervisors, which decides what the agency’s annual budget will be.

With a decreased budget, the Sheriff’s Department has had to cut patrol staffing in the county’s unincorporated areas. Even though prison overcrowding has forced the county to release inmates early, insufficient funds have also prevented the department from opening and staffing the county’s $300 million John J. Benoit Detention Center.