A group of former Los Angeles County employees criticized current leadership in interviews with newspapers. new york postclaimed that incompetence and DEI “hysteria” have already caused fires that have claimed dozens of lives and tens of thousands of acres.
The newspaper spoke with former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, and former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Commander John Satterfield. All three targeted weak local leaders whose incompetence was compounded by their commitment to leftist rhetoric.
“The level of mismanagement is enormous. It's a combination of incompetence and a pernicious ideology,” Villanueva said.
“Diversity is great, but there comes a time when technical ability and meritocracy are desperately needed.”
Cooley, who served as Los Angeles County's chief prosecutor for more than a dozen years starting in 2000, told the Post that he didn't realize how much diversity, equity and inclusion had become ingrained within the Los Angeles Fire Department in recent years. .
“It appears that the fire department leadership's primary focus was DEI rather than firefighting. It's incredible how far things have gone,” Cooley said.
Satterfield disagreed, arguing that DEI “hysteria” has taken over some city and county agencies. “Every appointment in the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles is made with the most far-left agenda imaginable,” he said.
“Diversity is great, but not if every position checks the diversity box. There comes a time when technical ability and meritocracy are desperately needed.” Satterfield he added.
Satterfield explained that members of Congress are currently suffering the effects of this obsession with identity politics and are working around the clock to help during the fire crisis, with “no relief in sight.”
“We're seeing a 30% to 40% reduction in Sheriff's Department stations,” Satterfield told the Post. “The Supervisory Board reduced 1,281 positions in 2020.”
Villanueva, who served as sheriff from 2018 to 2022, argued the problem is widespread. “Both the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the LAPD have over 3,000 officers missing due to events that occurred during what I call the 'Summer of Love' following the death of George Floyd.” he said.
The loss of law enforcement resources has been devastating as the entire Los Angeles area has been thrown into chaos by fires. “You wonder why the looting is happening? Why isn't the looting happening? The criminals probably know it, at least so far. [no penalty or jail time] It’s going to happen to them,” Villanueva said.
“All of this is by design. Even the county board of supervisors has a 'care first, jail last' principle when it comes to criminals.”
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Joe Tyler, meanwhile, has kept a low profile, holding only one press conference more than a week after the fires started, the newspaper reported. Moreover, that only press conference was held in Sacramento, about 600 miles from the site of the fire.
The outlet called Tyler's office on Tuesday, but a spokesperson could not reveal her current whereabouts. A spokesperson only said he was “confident” that he had visited the fire-ravaged Los Angeles area since the crisis began.
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