Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who’s operating for a spot on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, mentioned Monday that his major account on X, previously Twitter, was shut down after somebody allegedly reported him for harassing his opponent within the race.
“This morning I came upon that my X or Twitter account was briefly suspended,” Villanueva mentioned in a video posted to Instagram. “That is straight soiled politics 101.”
Spokespeople for his opponent, incumbent Janice Hahn, mentioned the supervisor and her marketing campaign had nothing to do with Villanueva’s account suspension.
“That is laughable,” mentioned Dave Jacobson, a marketing consultant with Hahn’s reelection marketing campaign. “It’s merely extra proof of a mendacity, disgraced and failed former sheriff but once more trying to mislead the general public with baseless claims.”
ONLY USED WITH VILLANUEVA TWITTER SUSPENSION STORY: Early on Feb. 19, 2023, former Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s major X account was suspended.
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On X, @AlexVilanueva33 bore an “Account suspended” message Tuesday.
“X suspends accounts which violate the X Guidelines,” the message mentioned. It didn’t specify which rule the account violated or whether or not it was associated to harassment of Hahn’s account, which is considered one of a number of that Villanueva frequently tags in combative posts.
The positioning didn’t reply questions from The Occasions in regards to the causes behind the account suspension. A message despatched to an electronic mail tackle for media inquiries was met with what gave the impression to be an automatic response: “Busy now, please test again later.”
When reached for remark, Villanueva mentioned he didn’t have proof that the suspension was in response to his interactions along with his opponent.
“The notification didn’t supply a purpose, however based mostly on the content material it appears almost definitely the place the criticism got here from,” he wrote in an electronic mail to The Occasions. “Criticism of the efficiency of elected officers ought to all the time be protected speech.”
Villanueva inspired individuals to observe him on Instagram, Fb and his new X account, @SheriffV33.
“We’re going to maintain harassing with the reality,” he mentioned on Instagram. “The reality will proceed to come back out it doesn’t matter what Janice Hahn throws our means.”
This isn’t the primary time Villanueva has grappled with accusations of harassment. Final month, The Occasions reported that an oversight panel really useful Villanueva be deemed ineligible for rehire as a result of he discriminated towards and harassed Inspector Normal Max Huntsman, repeatedly referring to the county watchdog by his foreign-sounding beginning identify and at one level telling The Occasions editorial board — with out providing proof — that Huntsman was a Holocaust denier.
On the time, amid his unsuccessful 2022 bid for reelection as sheriff, Villanueva promised he would supply proof to help his claims “in due time.” He has but to take action.
After Huntsman reported Villanueva to the county in March 2022, the Sheriff’s Division investigated the allegations and in October 2023 the County Fairness Oversight Panel met and located that Villanueva had violated a number of insurance policies towards discrimination and harassment. By that time, Villanueva was now not sheriff, however the panel really useful that he “ought to obtain a ‘Do Not Rehire’ notation’ in his personnel file. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division confirmed to The Occasions final month that it adopted the advice.
Villanueva beforehand described the end result of the Huntsman case as a “brazen try by the Board of Supervisors to have interaction in electioneering to affect the end result of the race for 4th District supervisor.”
Additionally in October, the panel discovered that Villanueva had harassed, discriminated and retaliated towards one other county worker. These data got here to mild this month, after The Occasions submitted a proper request for copies of any findings relating to allegations that the previous sheriff discriminated towards both the inspector basic or the justice deputy for Supervisor Hilda Solis. After producing in depth data referring to Huntsman’s case a number of weeks in the past, in early February the county produced six pages of data referring to the case involving the justice deputy, Esther Lim, although officers redacted her identify.
It’s unclear from data reviewed by The Occasions what the precise allegations had been in that case, however the County Fairness Oversight Panel once more really useful Villanueva obtain a “Do Not Rehire” notation. Lim didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark Tuesday.
Along with once more describing the case as a “brazen try at electioneering,” in an electronic mail Tuesday, Villanueva questioned the timing of the discharge.
“This new report from October, 2022, conveniently held on for max impact within the March 2024 major, quantities to defamation and I’ll pursue authorized cures towards all events accountable for this retaliatory act,” he wrote.
He additionally identified that he and the justice deputy had sparred earlier than, when he filed complaints about her that he mentioned “had been ignored.”
In response to county data reviewed by The Occasions, in 2021 the county declined to analyze a declare that Lim had behaved unprofessionally when she allegedly questioned the competence and impartiality of legislation enforcement in her tweets. The declare was deemed exterior the scope of the County Coverage of Fairness criticism course of, data present.