Sheriff Bianco: Department Won’t be Bullied

Sheriff Bianco: Gov. Newsom ‘dictatorial,’ department won’t be bullied into enforcing orders

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco released a video Friday afternoon criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying that the department won’t be “blackmailed” into enforcing the pending stay-at-home orders.

Newsom announced the new regional stay-at-home orders on Thursday. The orders go into effect when the ICU bed capacity in a region falls below 15%. The city of Palm Springs issued a news release Friday saying it could happen this month. The orders are not currently currently in effect in any of the state’s five regions, but Newsom said it could be triggered within the “within a day or two.”

“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 towards California residents,” Bianco said.

One of the things Bianco is alluding to is earlier this month when Newsom was caught attending a birthday dinner at The French Laundry in Yountville in Napa County..

Bianco posted the video the same day that the California Department of Public Health reported that California has 1,286,557 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date.

There were 22,018 newly recorded confirmed cases Thursday.

Bianco called the new restrictions and orders “flat-out ridiculous” and the metrics used to determine restrictions “unbelievably faulty.” He added that it is not representative of the actual numbers for Riverside County.

The winter months are typically the busiest months of the year for hospitals during cold and flu season.

This is not the first time the sheriff has taken such an approach. He made a similar statement during a Supervisors’ meeting in May when he refused to enforce the rules, arguing that all jobs are essential to someone.