Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has been sued by a fellow candidate for California governor who claims Bianco campaigning while wearing his sheriff’s department uniform and badge violates state law, intimidates voters and county employees and confuses campaign donors.
Stephen J. Cloobeck, a businessman and Democrat, sued Bianco last month saying the sheriff’s use of the uniform and badge during campaign events and media interviews about his campaign is a violation of California Government Code 3206. That law, addressing political activities of public employees, indeed states: “No officer or employee of a local agency shall participate in political activities of any kind while in uniform.”
Cloobeck is asking a Riverside County Superior Court judge to prohibit Bianco from continuing to wear his uniform and badge, including a white shirt that appears to have an embroidered badge on it, while campaigning. The complaint also asks a judge to require him to delete such images from his campaign website and social media handles where he regularly makes political statements advancing his personal campaign. It was not immediately clear when a judge would rule on Cloobeck’s requests.
Bianco has been posting campaign announcements and attacks on political rivals using an X account titled “Sheriff Chad Bianco” and an Instagram account titled “sheriffbianco.” The X account bears a uniformed photo very similar to the one on the sheriff’s department’s public website and links to Bianco’s campaign website. The other shows him in uniform riding a horse.
“The people of Riverside County and all Californians need to know that their elected sheriff is misusing public funds and is perpetuating the culture of Republican corruption in law enforcement,” Cloobeck said in a prepared statement. “Bianco has broken the law by wearing his uniform as a campaign prop. He needs to be held accountable for bending the law for his personal campaign.”
Bianco’s campaign has dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to garner political attention, but didn’t directly address the allegation that campaigning in uniform violates state law.
“If Democrat Stephen Cloobeck thinks that Stephen Cloobeck can increase his name ID and Democratic bonafides by using lawfare against the Sheriff Bianco campaign, then Stephen Cloobeck is sorely mistaken,” Bianco’s campaign wrote in a press release.
It isn’t the first time Bianco has stirred controversy for blurring the lines between his official law enforcement job and his personal political beliefs and ambitions. He released a video last year endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump for president. Bianco in his sheriff’s uniform is recorded in the video saying: “It’s time to put a felon in the White House.”
Bianco has diverged from traditional practice in the county, where for decades previous sheriffs almost always did not conduct political campaign business in uniform, and has purged his department of its previous taboos against working law enforcement officers serving in political office. Sheriff’s department employees have recently run for and been elected to city councils and higher office, even in cities where the sheriff’s department has public safety contracts.
Sheriff or candidate
In his lawsuit, Cloobeck cites Bianco wearing a white sheriff’s department uniform shirt which reads “Chad Bianco Sheriff” over the right shirt pocket and a badge over his left pocket during his campaign announcement event in February and at multiple other campaign events since. He also cites Bianco’s appearance on the YouTube show “Piers Morgan Uncensored” in a tan Riverside County sheriff uniform, again with a badge over his left pocket. During that appearance in June, Cloobeck called Bianco out about his uniform, saying it was illegal and inappropriate.
Bianco responded that it was “hilarious” Cloobeck brought it up. When Cloobeck pressed on, asking whether Bianco was on the show as the sheriff or as a candidate, Bianco replied, “It’s going to be both.”
Without providing details, Bianco then claimed that the state and federal government had cleared him to wear the public uniform while campaigning for higher office.
Piers Morgan allowed the two to debate the topic briefly, but ultimately said that the public should decide for themselves.
Cloobeck’s suit seeks to push the issue from public debate to legal ruling, claiming Bianco’s actions are a misuse of taxpayer money that imply the county has endorsed his run for higher office and that the arrest authority and other powers that come with the badge he wears are meant to intimidate voters and competing candidates.
“Not only are Sheriff Bianco’s actions an undisputed violation of California law, but they also create a danger of voter and donor confusion, and the potential for coercion and undue influence of other officers and employees of Riverside County and elsewhere,” the complaint reads.
Bianco has repeatedly cited his law enforcement career in interviews and communications for his campaign, and secured public endorsements from other law enforcement leaders and unions he works with in his current public office.
The Cloobeck campaign released in Orange County last week several political advertisements attacking Bianco for campaigning in uniform and other issues to coincide with the California Republican Party Convention held there.
Cloobeck’s attorney Craig Marcus argues in the suit that Bianco’s use of the badge and title of sheriff is no accident, but a calculated political strategy by him and his campaign advisers.
“No one is above the law, we expect our elected officials to comply with the law they are responsible for enforcing, and we will hold them accountable when they fail to do so,” Marcus wrote in an email.
Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Chad Bianco accused of breaking law by campaigning in sheriff’s uniform
Reporting by Christopher Damien, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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