If you get in trouble, you can call your buddy the sheriff." Baca was in Turkey last week attending a conference on global security, but spokesman Steve Whitmore insisted Baca treats everyone the same - regardless of celebrity status. "This is L.
A.," Whitmore said. "The mayor, the City Council and other elected officials all have people in show business who donate to their campaigns.
"And where does the sheriff's jurisdiction lie? Malibu, West Hollywood and Universal City. Where do a lot of successful people in Hollywood live?
Malibu and West Hollywood. And they are obviously pleased with the job he is doing. "As I said before, when all the dust settles, people will see that the sheriff made the right decision regarding this particular inmate and it was made without fear, favor or prejudice.
" Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning and Development, said Baca has long been known as the "Sheriff to the Stars." "Whether or not he consciously gives celebrities preferential treatment, when you link \ the perception is he does give celebrities preferential treatment," Jeffe said. "And in politics, perception is as important as reality.
" A review of Hollywood's campaign contributions to Baca shows they rose from $37,250 - or 5 percent of $703,162 in total contributions in 2005 - to $90,150, or 14 percent of $660,708 in total contributions last year. That percentage is also nearly triple the proportion of campaign donations Baca received from Hollywood in 2004 when he and other elected officials campaigned unsuccessfully to raise the county's sales tax a half-percent. Baca, who spearheaded that campaign, raised $2.
9 million for the effort, with $142,109, or 5 percent, coming from Hollywood that year. Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton, said the amount of contributions Baca received from Hollywood stars, producers and others in the industry is "Maybe all this hobnobbing with celebrities made him sort of get to the point where he does have particular sympathies for celebrities," Sonenshein said. "That raises a lot of hackles with the public.
You start thinking, `They are not such bad folks, these celebrities."' Baca, one of the highest-paid elected officials in the nation with an annual salary of $259,587, also has received $45,632 in gifts since he was elected in late 1998. This includes at least $3,700 worth of gifts from Hollywood stars including singer Chaka Khan, golfing partner Beverly Hills Dr.
Gary Alter, and actors Michael Douglas and Steven Seagal. In recent years, Baca has attended the Academy Awards show, held fundraisers at upscale Beverly Hills locations, issued concealed-weapon permits to celebrities and opened up his department to several reality TV shows including "The Academy" and "The Assignment." He's also ridden on a Church of Scientology float during the Hollywood Christmas Parade, participated in a Scientology-organized fundraiser, written a letter in support of a permit for the Narconon drug treatment program based on Scientology Founder L.
Ron Hubbard's teachings and spoken at Scientology gatherings. Some of Scientology's most famous members include Hollywood celebs Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Lisa Marie Presley. And campaign contributors read like a "Who's Who" list of Hollywood movers and shakers - from DreamWorks executives David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to actor Dustin Hoffman and "All in the Family" producer Norman Lear.
Executive Rupert Murdoch, actress Barbra Streisand, Imagine Entertainment Producer Brian Grazer and Walt Disney Co. If you get in trouble, you can call your buddy the sheriff.
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