The sheriff of Riverside County, California, blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom and his new coronavirus restrictions while also announcing his deputies will not be enforcing them.
“These closures and stay-at-home orders are flat-out ridiculous,” Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a video message Friday. “The metrics used for closures are unbelievably faulty and are not representative of true numbers and are disastrous for Riverside County.”
Bianco continued, “When the medical field is so split about this virus, it might be time to employ a little common sense. Keeping money and support from our hospitals who are struggling with normal seasonal increases in patients, coupled with COVID-19 patients, is irresponsible.”
He accused Newsom of attempting to “shift attention” away from his own “do as I say not as I do behavior” by turning public opinion against sheriffs’ departments in California.
“He is expecting us to arrest anyone violating these orders, cite them and take their money, close their businesses, make them stay in their homes, and take away their civil liberties, or he will punish all of us,” Bianco said. “I believe that all jobs are essential to someone. Leaders do not threaten, attempt to intimidate, or cause fear; bullies do.”
Bianco also acknowledged Newsom’s threat to withhold funding from jurisdictions that don’t enforce his new order by suggesting the governor was being “extremely hypocritical.”
“Ironically, it wasn’t that long ago that our same governor loudly and publicly argued how wrong it was for the president of the United States to withhold federal funding from states not complying with federal laws,” he said, referring to a disagreement between Newsom and President Trump earlier this year over federal wildlife relief funding.
Bianco added, “The dictatorial attitude toward California residents while dining in luxury, traveling, keeping his business open, and sending his kids to in-person private schools is very telling about his attitude toward California residents.”
He encouraged residents of his county, the fourth-most populous in the state, to act responsibly by wearing masks and practicing social distancing but said his department will not be “blackmailed” by the governor to be used as “muscle” against residents.
Sheriffs in nearby Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, and Orange County also said this week they will not be enforcing Newsom’s latest orders that mandate closures if ICU bed availability falls below 15%.
“I want to stay away from business [sic] that are trying to comply,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said earlier this week. “They bent over backwards to modify their operations to conform to these orders, and then, they have the rug yanked out from under them. That’s a disservice. I don’t want to make them more miserable.”
