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LA Sheriff race: Tanaka surfaces, tweets he’s off for the summer
Paul Tanaka, seen here as he prepared to testify in front of the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence in 2012, is a candidate in the race for L.A. County Sheriff.
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LA Sheriff race: Tanaka surfaces, tweets he’s off for the summer
Paul Tanaka, the beleaguered candidate for Los Angeles County Sheriff who shut down his campaign headquarters and dumped his political consultant, resurfaced Tuesday – in 140 characters.
That one tweet appears to contain all he’s willing to say. Calls to Tanaka remained unreturned. Same for his campaign manager and fundraising coordinator.
KPCC was the first to report last week that Tanaka appeared to have stopped campaigning after the June 3 Primary Election. He's posted nothing on social media, sent out no campaign emails and held no campaign events.
Tanaka, the powerful former second in command at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, finished a distant second in the primary to Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell. Tanaka garnered just 15 percent of the vote. McDonnell won 49 percent.
Tanaka's reputation was hurt by a scathing 2012 report from a citizen’s commission that blamed him and former Sheriff Lee Baca for condoning or failing to stop the abuse of jail inmates by deputies.
Tanaka denied the allegation, but he has acknowledged he is the subject of a federal investigation into corruption and civil rights violations at the department.
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The latest campaign fundraising report shows waning support for Tanaka. From May 18 to June 30, he raised $32,634 in contributions. McDonnell raised $201,135. It’s unclear how much the two candidates have raised since the June 3 primary.
Tanaka began campaigning a year ago. He’s raised a total of $524,873. Tanaka has $35,172 in cash on hand, but he's $16,000 in debt, according to his latest finance report.
McDonnell began campaigning in January and has raised $962,714. He has $104,531 in cash on hand, according to his last finance report.
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