BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — “Anything you’re going to miss about the office?” asked 23ABC.
“Everything,” responded Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. “People keep saying congratulations. I keep saying ‘it’s condolences.’”
As Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood prepares to retire, he sat down with reporters Wednesday to discuss his decision and his hopes for the future of the office he long held.
Youngblood first assumed the office in 2006 and has held it, winning contested and uncontested elections, for nearly 20 years. Now, as the longtime Sheriff looks to make his exit, Youngblood was candid about why he wants to step away.
“The truth of the matter is, when you get up every day and go to work, it requires 100 percent. And when you get to the point where you're not giving 100 percent, or you don't feel like you are, it's probably time to retire. And I was – I was getting there,” said Youngblood.
Youngblood also noted that when he originally ran for re-election in 2022, it was for a four-year term, not the six-year term that was passed under Assembly Bill 759 in 2022, which brings Sheriff and District Attorney elections in line with Presidential election years.
“The governor and the legislature extended it for two years, which I did not agree to. So, the [Board of Supervisors] will appoint a new sheriff January – sometime between now and January 8.”
Now, the clock starts on the Kern County Board of Supervisors as they start the process of trying to replace the long-time Sheriff. When asked if he plans on giving his input on who to hire next, Youngblood did not mince words.
“I'm going to be all up in their ear, and I hope they listen,” said Youngblood with a smile as laughs filled the room.
Though as he continued on the same train of thought, Youngblood noted that his successor needs to think less of the past and more about the future.
“Whoever it is, they can't – you're not replacing Donny Youngblood. That's – you build your own legacy, and it is what it is, and the public will judge you by that how you operate,” said Youngblood.
Across the near 20-minute conversation, Youngblood fielded a variety of questions about his career in law enforcement and when asked if he’s leaving any unfinished business, he referenced a stipulated judgment that was recently extended by the California Department of Justice.
“DOJ is my only unfinished business, and honestly, in my opinion, they have not been fair to this organization. But we still are going to do what we have to do, and the men and women of this organization will make mistakes, as long as they're not terminal mistakes and intentional mistakes. We can deal with it,” said Youngblood.
During the press conference, Sheriff Youngblood was asked in a variety of ways if he had any advice for the incoming interim Sheriff, and to one he answered, “Good luck, be careful what you ask for,” presumably in jest, but later added his key to the job: honesty.
“If you're honest with yourself and you're honest with your community, the job really is easy.”
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