Candidates trade barbs, revive scandal at first debate
Smith at Evergreen Valley College forum: ‘This is something my opponent doesn’t want to talk about’
SANJOSE » In her first runoff debate in 20 years, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith repeatedly and methodically revived a racist texting scandal in an effort to rattle her upstart challenger, retired Undersheriff John Hirokawa.
It turned the Wednesday night candidate forum at Evergreen Valley College into a public rehashing of the waning controversy with Smith, the five-term incumbent, and Hirokawa, her former second-in- command, ex- changing barbs and blame for the recent shameful chapter of the Sheriff’s Office’s history.
“This is something my opponent doesn’t want to talk about,” Smith said in her opening remarks, before portraying Hirokawa as meekly backing the perpetrators of the scandal.
Smith continually referenced the illicit texting, which led to the firing or resignation of the previ-
ous presidents of her agency’s two labor unions.
Smith pounced on the lengthy exchanges of vile messages denigrating people of color — first reported by this news organization and further reported by Metro — on nearly every turn, even whenasked about the notion equipping jail deputies with Tasers.
Hirokawa, at f irst, gamely adhered to the debate format moderated by San Jose State University associate professor William Armaline, pushing his mantra of bringing “trust, transparency and reform” to the Sheriff’s Office, where he spent his career spanning four decades. As Smith flexed her political savvy, he sought to convey his novice status as a strength.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Hirokawa said. “I’m not a politician, I’m just a public servant.”
Hirokawa touted his relationship with the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, and sought to characterize Smith as being out of touch with her ground-level deputies.
“The best ideas come from the rank and file,” he said. “I will engage you … I will not relegate that. I will be there for you.”
Over the course of more than an hour, Smith and Hirokawa sparred but generally agreed over issues such as bolstering resources to address sexual assault on college campuses, introducing clinicians as first responders to mental-health crises that often lead to violent police encounters, and drawing a bright line between themselves and federal immigration agents looking to interview jail inmates.
They also both pledged support of independent oversight for the Sheriff’s Office and jail operations, which was approved earlier this year by the Board of Supervisors and spurred largely by the beating death of mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree in 2015 that led to murder convictions for three jail deputies.
The two also debated how the office issues concealed- carry weapons permits in the county. Smith has been accused of playing politics when deciding who receives the hard-toget gun privilege.
Hirokawa said he “wants to take politics out of concealed- carry permits,” while Smith defended her practices, saying she has been judicious and doles them out based on an applicant having a “good defined need.”
Despite working for years as the top two leaders in the agency, they both sought to characterize each other as ineffective.
“That could have happened over 20 years,” Hirokawa said, referring to the improvements Smith pledged in the current campaign. “It won’t take me 20 years.”
Smith pushed back with the contention that Hirokawa was an absentee undersheriff.
“He doesn’t have anything he can actually take credit for,” she said, adding that “I don’t know why he did not seem to be involved.”
The discussion often returned to the racist texts, which led to the resignation of Don Morrissey as DSA president and the firing of former county Correctional Peace Officers’ Association president Lance Scimeca, both of whom were implicated. The scandal surfaced in varying degrees when Morrissey appealed his demotion from sergeant to deputy for not doing more to stop the behavior despite being included on many of the exchanges. He contends his involvement was at most passive.
Smith, who has often tried to tie the disturbing episode to Hirokawa by virtue of his support by the DSA, said the texts were emblematic of a troubling segment of her agency that she is working to purge.
“It’s the kind of thing we need to get rid of in the Sheriff’s Office,” she said.
Hirokawa pointed out a contradiction in how Smith portrayed him, questioning how she could accuse him of not being present while also blaming him foragency’s troubles. He maintained that Smith had the power to make more changes than what she did.
“It stops with her,” he said. “She’s responsible.”
The opponents appeared together for the first time since the June primary resulted in Smith’s first runoff election since she first ascended to the post in 1998. In June, Smith garnered about 43 percent of more than 292,000 votes cast, while Hirokawa drew 32.8 percent.
Smith is heavily endorsed by the county and state political establish- ment and the county Correctional Peace Officers’ Association. Hirokawa’s campaign is endorsed by the DSA and most of the region’s police unions.
They’re bringing comparable financial resources to the home stretch to November, though by different avenues. Smith’s campaign had at least $163,000 in its funds after spending about $149,000 on the race in 2018, according to the latest campaign disclosure forms. Hirokawa’s campaign had at least $107,000 and had spent about $34,000 as of June 30, and over the summer he loaned the campaign about $75,000, according to filings.
Any appearance of a financial disparity evens out when factoring ancillary spending by their respective union support. Filings show that the DSAsponsored political-action committee backing Hirokawa has spent at least $250,000 in 2018, and a PAC sponsored by the correctional officers union has spent $100,000 supporting Smith.
Rev. Jethroe “Jef f ” Moore, president of the San Jose- Silicon Valley NAACP, which hosted the forum, looked to re- center the energy in the auditorium around what he said needs to be the focus of the race as November approaches.
“The Sheriff’s Office has a lot of issues,” he said. “We’re putting one of these two in charge, and changes are necessary and needed. The next sheriff has to understand that they’re sheriff for all of us.”