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During a contentious debate Wednesday night, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna squared off.
Villanueva insinuated that Luna was a "puppet" for the county's Board of Supervisors when "the Board of supervisors recruits eight candidates to run against me they did it for one reason only."
"They want a puppet and we have the person right here as that puppet."
When Sheila Keuhl's controversial sheriff probe was brought up, Luna disputed it by saying:
"The sheriff had no business investigating this from the very beginning," Luna said. "You cannot investigate your political opponents or enemies."
Villanueva then after refuted and eluded that Luna was:
"not going to touch public corruption. He won't touch it with a 10-foot pole because his job as puppet is to look the other way."
Luna disputed and challenged the sheriff for his combative demeanor, alleging that he is unwilling to get along with local authorities, particularly the Board of Supervisors.