LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna squared off Wednesday night during a heated, often antagonistic, debate in which they traded barbs over their records in law enforcement and their ability to lead the nation’s largest sheriff’s department.
Villanueva painted his opponent as someone who would be a “puppet” for the county Board of Supervisors, which controls the Sheriff’s Department’s budget, while Luna accused the sheriff of spewing falsehoods about his tenure in Long Beach and blamed him for causing the bitter relationships Villanueva has with other county leaders.
When asked about the controversial raids by sheriff’s deputies last week at the home and office of county Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who is a vocal critic of Villanueva, and others in connection with a corruption probe, Luna said he would have referred such a case to an outside agency.
