Calaveras County Board of Supervisors recalls, California (2018)

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Calaveras County Board of Supervisors recall
Officeholders
Jack Garamendi
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2018 Recalls in California California recall laws County commission recalls Recall reports

Efforts to recall Jack Garamendi, Dennis Mills, and Gary Tofanelli from their positions on the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors in California were launched in October 2017 and January 2018. All three recalls did not go to a vote. Signatures for Garamendi and Tofanelli were not submitted. Signatures were turned in for the Mills recall, but the threshold for valid signatures was not met.

The recall against Garamendi began in October 2017 and was initiated due to his support for the commercial cultivation of cannabis. Garamendi was elected in November 2016 to represent District 2 on the county commission. He took office in January 2017.

Mills and Tofanelli were served recall notices in January 2018 due to their support for banning cannabis. Mills represents District 4 and Tofanelli represents District 1. Jeremy Maddux and Joan Wilson, who initiated the efforts against Mills and Tofanelli, are both licensed growers of marijuana.

Supporters

Garamendi recall

Proponents of the recall against Garamendi said that violent crime had increased since marijuana began to be cultivated and distributed in the district in 2016. "Supervisor Jack Garamendi has shown by his support of the Commercial Cultivation of Cannabis a total disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the inhabitants of Calaveras County District 2," read the recall petition. In a separate allegation, they said that Garamendi had failed to report meetings he had attended with the California Fish and Game Commission and a group called Foothills Rising.

Mills recall

Jeremy Maddux said he wanted to recall Mills because "he has not been telling the truth about effects of the regulated commercial cannabis industry, and he has been lying with false reports and propaganda like Silent Poison, that’s an example."

Tofanelli recall

Joan Wilson said she wanted to recall Tofanelli because "he has wasted county time and taxpayer money. He could have come in and banned right away. When he ran for office I could not get it out of him whether he was for a ban or for regulation."

Opponents

Garamendi recall

Garamendi's response

Garamendi denied all of the allegations against him. "The entire premise that I have a disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the residents of the county is ridiculous," he said. In a statement in response to the recall, he said that he supported a regulated cannabis industry because the taxes collected from legal growers could be used by law enforcement to investigate illegal growers. "A ban without enforcement is no ban at all and will harm our environment and community," he said. Garamendi also denied the allegation that he failed to report meetings that he had attended.

Foothills Rising

Anne Kel-Artinian, a founding member of Foothills Rising, wrote an opinion piece in the Calaveras Enterprise about Garamendi's attendance at one of their meetings. Kel-Artinian said Garamendi gave a talk called "Running for Local Office and Why You Should Do It" on June 25, 2017, which "inspired more than 100 attendees to examine the critical importance of direct participation in local government." She also said, "Garamendi’s 'involvement' with Foothills Rising is not suspect in any way." On its Facebook page, the group said its mission was "to protect our democracy, inspire civic engagement by organizing for the common good, and build communities of trust and solidarity."

Mills recall

Mills' response

In response to being served the recall notice, Mills said, "This will be another opportunity for the voters of District Four to decide how they want to be represented. There is so much more we have done in the past year to help make our communities safer, working with constituents on issues that affect them and keeping the environment of Calaveras County protected."

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

A notice of intent to circulate a recall petition for Garamendi was turned in to the Calaveras County Elections Office on October 11, 2017. It was approved for circulation on January 19, 2018. Recall proponents had until April 19, 2018, to collect 1,319 (25 percent of registered voters in the district) valid signatures. Signatures were not submitted by the deadline.

Petitions for Mills and Tofanelli needed 1,555 and 1,396 signatures, respectively, in order to trigger recall elections. The petition for the recall of Mills was approved for circulation on March 8, 2018, and had to be submitted by June 6, 2018. Signatures were turned in for the Mills recall on the day that they were due. The number of signatures submitted was 2,125, but only 1,462 signatures were deemed valid by the elections office. The petition for the recall of Tofanelli was approved for circulation on March 30, 2018, and was due on June 28, 2018. Signatures in the Tofanelli recall were not turned in.

See also

• Recall campaigns in California
• Political recall efforts, 2018
• County commission recalls
• Steve Kearney recall, Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, California (2016)

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