Emboldened by a recent court victory and the narrowly successful recall of San Benito County Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, a group of local voters has targeted another elected supervisor for removal from office.
The effort to recall District 2 Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki can move forward with signature gathering, if elections officials sign off on the text of the petition submitted by a group of proponents that call themselves The Committee to Recall Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki.
The group has tried in vain for several months to keep the process moving to recall Kosmicki, but has been held up by their own faulty paperwork submissions and elections office oversight. However, the group—led by Stacie McGrady, who was also a leader of the Velazquez recall initiative—earlier this month scored a key court victory that allowed the effort to move forward.
On July 7, Superior Court Judge Thomas Breen ruled that the proponents’ petition to recall Kosmicki can proceed, despite their initial paperwork lacking details required by the state elections code.
McGrady said after Breen issued the ruling, the committee submitted the full text of the recall petition to the county elections office. She said after reviewing the first petition draft, elections officials sent the document back to the proponents to make corrections.
The first draft, posted on the registrar’s website, is marked up with red pen ink from elections office staff suggesting corrections, including detailed direction on how to rewrite certain sections of the petition.
The proponents resubmitted the petition, with corrections, on July 13, McGrady said.
Chief Deputy County Clerk Ana De Castro Maquiz said the elections office staff now has 10 days to review and approve the updated petition. If approved, McGrady and proponents can begin collecting signatures to place the recall on an upcoming ballot.
Election officials said the proponents do not have enough time to place a recall on the Nov. 3 ballot, and it would likely require a special election.
The recent court action—filed against the county by McGrady, Celeste Toledo-Bocanegra and Jill Bambace—challenged the elections office’s previous rejection of the proponents’ paperwork. In March, a notice of intention—the first step in a citizen-initiated recall—was rejected by the elections office after Kosmicki challenged the paperwork.
The notice did not include the full physical addresses or zip codes for several of its signatories—details that are specifically required in the state elections code.
The proponents then sued the county for rejecting the notice, resulting in the July 7 ruling from Breen.
“The court upheld that the petition was acceptable even though it was missing zip codes,” McGrady said. “The court also found that the proof of posting in the newspaper was accepted and Supervisor Kosmicki had exceeded his time allotted for a response so we were able to move forward with submitting our petition to the elections office.”
Kosmicki said on Monday he is “disappointed” in the judge’s ruling and is considering his response options. He called it “completely outrageous” that the judge ruled that his seven-day response period—also a provision of state elections law—had lapsed because the notice was initially filed in March.
McGrady said the group wants to recall Kosmicki due to “failed leadership” and a list of countywide challenges that they blame solely on the District 2 supervisor. The petition draft blames Kosmicki for traffic on Highway 25, a county budget deficit that “threatens public safety” and an unspecified lawsuit that cost the county “nearly $1 million” for “hiding information from the public.”
Kosmicki said the petition is full of “false claims” and misinformation. Regarding public safety, he noted that he has led successful efforts to give pay raises to San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies and jail staff—including a reclassification of jailers that resulted in a salary increase and a recent proposal to provide supplemental and incentive pay for deputies.
On roads and traffic, he added that since he took office for his first term in 2021, he has “been a leader” in advocating for county road repairs. As a result, he said, “We’ve had more road improvements (since 2021) than we had in decades.”
Kosmicki said he is “just going to keep doing my job,” and urged voters to stay alert and educated on local issues.
“It’s really unfortunate that this particular group has gotten away with so much misinformation, and they are constantly negative on social media,” he said. “I encourage the public to call me, email me if they have any questions. It’s the world we live in now, where people are very negative and they twist the truth and the public has to do more to figure out what’s true and what’s not.”
Recall proponents listed on the petition draft are Darlene Boyd, Ken Cunningham, Joseph Devito, Renee Harvey, Rhonda McKendree, Martha Ocampo, Marlon Torres, Toledo-Bocanegra, Edwin Sapathia and Luis Silva.
McGrady said the group is not exactly the same committee that recalled Velazquez, although it has many of the same supporters.
