Sheriff’s Deputies Protected From Political Firings

SAN FRANCISCO —  Sheriff’s deputies doing ordinary jobs can’t be fired for political reasons, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in reinstating a lawsuit by a Tehama County officer who lost her job after backing the losing candidate for sheriff.

Only policymakers, whose political loyalty is a reasonable job requirement, can be dismissed for their political affiliations or off-duty campaigning, said the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Deputies who have supervisory control, who speak in the name of the department or who substantially influence department policy may be policymakers, the court said.

It ordered a federal judge to apply those standards to Sherol DiRuzza’s former job before deciding whether to let her take her case to a jury. She is suing for damages and does not want her job back.

“This is a significant victory for police officers and deputy sheriffs that want to participate in the political arena without retribution from their bosses,” said David A. Prentice, a lawyer for DiRuzza.

Inside information helps voters in elections, Prentice said, and “the most knowledgeable people in a sheriff’s election are sheriff’s deputies.”

The county will probably seek a rehearing, said its lawyer, J. Scott Smith. He said DiRuzza’s campaign activities, which included appearing in a television commercial for the sheriff who was seeking reelection, were particularly harmful to a law enforcement agency in a rural county.

“She was one of a very limited number of sheriff’s deputies, and she was appearing in TV ads, questioning [the opposing candidate’s] management, questioning his ideals,” Smith said. “The sheriff has to be able to rely on those people.”

DiRuzza, who was hired in 1992, supported Sheriff Mike Blanusa in his losing reelection campaign against Robert Heard in 1994.

Before Heard took office, DiRuzza had a fight with her fiance, who she said threatened to kill her. She fired her gun out the window, saying later she was trying to scare him. Blanusa suspended her for 30 days.

The district attorney charged DiRuzza with firing her gun with gross negligence, a felony. After Heard took office, DiRuzza was allowed to plead guilty to disturbing the peace, an infraction, on condition that she quit her job. She said Heard influenced the charge and the plea bargain for political reasons. Heard was defeated for reelection in 1998.

Heard and his undersheriff, Jerry Floyd, denied they had retaliated for political reasons. They argued, however, that they had the right to fire any deputy for political reasons. U.S. District Judge William Shubb ruled that deputies are policymakers and dismissed the suit.

The appeals court said a judge must examine a deputy’s job duties before deciding whether “political loyalty is appropriate for the effective performance of the job.” DiRuzza spent most of her time at the jail. There was little evidence that she was a policymaker, said Judge William Fletcher in the majority opinion.