San Juan Bautista
– San Juan Bautista Vice Mayor Charles Geiger filed an objection
to the recall attempt leveled against him because he believes the
San Benito County Elections Office violated a federal court order
when it failed to require recall proponents to circulate bilingual
petitions when gathering signature
s.
San Juan Bautista – San Juan Bautista Vice Mayor Charles Geiger filed an objection to the recall attempt leveled against him because he believes the San Benito County Elections Office violated a federal court order when it failed to require recall proponents to circulate bilingual petitions when gathering signatures.
The federal decree, instated last year, requires all election information disseminated by San Benito County in English that relates to the electoral process also be provided in Spanish, according to the decree.
Geiger is hoping to render the recall attempt against him and Mayor Arturo Medina invalid if the county violated the federal court order by not requiring recall proponent Rebecca McGovern and her supporters to disseminate petitions in both languages.
However, Geiger’s attempt to halt the recall with the notice of objection could be futile because recall petitions are not required to be bilingual under state election law, according to Karen Daniels-Mead of the California Secretary of State’s Office.
While United States Attorney spokesman Luke Macaulay said he “can’t speak to whether that specific action was a violation” because the matter has the potential to end up in court, Daniels-Mead said she doesn’t believe disseminating the petitions only in English would be a violation of the decree. Because the petitions are not distributed by San Benito County government but instead by the recall proponents, the decree doesn’t apply, she said.
“If the government were providing it (it would), but the proponent does not have to,” Daniels-Mead said. “If it goes on the ballot it would be a whole other question because the government would be providing it.”
Geiger forwarded a copy of his notice of objection to San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield, who said he sent it to the Secretary of State’s Office and United States Attorney’s Office to review Friday.
Sarsfield said if it’s decided the recall petitions do need to be disseminated in Spanish and English, it would apply to every recall effort in the county – including the one against him.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz also is facing a recall effort by supporters of former Supervisor Bob Cruz – who De La Cruz beat in March 2004 by 10 votes.
“If it covers one, it covers them all,” Sarsfield said. “But if there’s a violation, it’s not against the person, it’s against the county. This could be really, really bad if it’s a violation.”
If the Elections Office violated the decree, Sarsfield said a federal judge could place a federal administrator in charge of the Elections Office, levy a fine on it or impose additional remedial efforts to rectify the problem.
But San Benito County head elections official, John Hodges, says it’s not so. He believes his office didn’t violate the federal decree in any way because the recall hasn’t gotten to the election phase yet.
“I’m not involved until the city of San Juan and the city council pass a resolution wanting the county to put on a special election,” Hodges said. “Until then, no.”
Ignacio Velazquez, who is spearheading the recall effort against Sarsfield, said he never received any materials in Spanish from the Elections Office for his recall efforts, but agrees with Hodges that he isn’t required by law to circulate bilingual petitions. He believes this is an attempt by Sarsfield to sabotage the recall against him.
“This is not an election yet. That’s how Sarsfield plays the game,” Velazquez said. “I never saw anything in the election code about it.”
But Geiger disagrees.
He believes that although state law doesn’t require the petitions to be bilingual, due to the federal decree the county’s election’s department would be in violation of it by not requiring the petitions be disseminated in Spanish and English.
“This is being reflected through a judgment consent at the federal level, which I believe says it does have to be,” Geiger said. “I heard from the DA… that people in Washington are very concerned about it and are working on it. I heard it will be discussed by the next week or two.”
McGovern initiated a recall attempt against Geiger and Medina in March because they voted, along with City Councilman George Dias, to fire former City Manager Larry Cain. She delivered 296 signatures to recall Geiger and 285 signatures to recall Medina to the city clerk’s office on Tuesday.
However there is also speculation that a technical mistake, separate from the possible federal violation, could render her work null and void. McGovern didn’t list the 10 proponents’ mailing addresses or post office box numbers on the notice of intent to recall the city leaders, although state law states that if a proponent cannot receive mail at their home they must provide an alternative mailing address – such as a post office box.
Hodges received the signatures Tuesday and has 30 days to verify the validity of each. He said if the mailing address, resident address and signature don’t match up, the signature would be deemed invalid.
In the meantime, McGovern believes this is a vain attempt by Geiger to thwart the recall before it gets to the election phase.
“(Geiger) is going to keep trying, and try everything he can think of,” McGovern said. “He’s totally wrong on this one.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
