RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KNX) — A retired Riverside County sheriff’s captain plans to run against Sheriff Chad Bianco in the June 7 election.
Michael Lujan, a 31-year veteran of the department who previously commanded the Lake Elsinore sheriff’s station before retiring in 2020, paid a filing fee and received the necessary paperwork to run for sheriff, according to the county registrar.
Lujan told The Riverside Press Enterprise on Monday he intended to file. Thus far, he is Bianco’s only challenger.
Bianco, who is seeking reelection, has courted controversy in recent months for his stance toward COVID-19 health and safety measures, as well as his past membership in a far-right militia group.
Bianco has admitted to paying dues for a year’s membership with the Oath Keepers in 2014. Oath Keepers members have been accused of holding key roles in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
The sheriff also received significant blowback for refusing to release jail inmates early to stop the spread of COVID-19, and has not required employees to be vaccinated against the virus.
Lujan, 55, resides in Menifee. He told the Press Enterprise he’s challenging Bianco because he believes the sheriff needs to be better connected with the community. He accused Bianco of being overly combative and dismissing his critics as anti-police instead of engaging with them constructively.
“I don’t think dismissing them by accusing them of being anti-law enforcement or haters or law enforcement, I don’t think that’s necessarily productive,” Lujan said.
Bianco contested Lujan’s assessment in an email to the Press Enterprise.
“Our department has become an example for community engagement and transparency,” Bianco said. “During a time of increased crime throughout the nation, our efforts have decreased most crimes including a [28 percent] decrease in homicides.”
Shortly before Lujan’s 2020 retirement, he was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. The former said the investigation arose from a Nov. 2020 incident in which five to six off-duty, sworn sheriff’s department employees met at a Lake Elsinore restaurant and consumed two pitchers of beer between them. After leaving the restaurant approximately five hours later, one of the department employees texted his wife while driving and subsequently veered off the road and hit a streetlight.
Two on-duty deputies determined the employee had been drinking, but was not intoxicated. Lujan said he instructed them to write a report on the accident because it caused damage to property.
The former captain said he was placed on leave for failing to notify the department of the incident — an act he described as “unconscionable,” claiming there was no violation of department policy.
“No one in the history of the department has been placed on leave for failure to notify,” Lujan said. “I don’t believe notification of an off-duty, non-criminal collision with city property damage warrants notification to sheriff’s administration” outside of a DUI or injury context, he said. “Employees off duty get in collisions all the time.”
Bianco described Lujan’s recollection of events as “very self-serving.”
“While he does depict the incident broadly, he conveniently leaves off the fact that the investigation was not documented and notifications were not made as would normally have been done if an employee, or any person for that matter, would have caused an accident with substantial damage to city property,” Biano told the Press Enterprise.
Lujan avoided cooperating with the investigation by retiring early, Bianco said.
Bianco has started the race with a significant advantage — almost $617,000 in campaign funds at the end of 2021. He also has endorsements from the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association and several key Republican politicians in and around Riverside County.
Candidates in the race for Riverside County Sheriff have until Mar. 11 to qualify for the ballot. If no candidate receives a simple majority of the vote on June 7, a runoff between the top two contenders would take place in November.
Related
