A month after an attempt to recall District Attorney John
Sarsfield officially died, the embattled DA was served with a new
notice of intent to recall him Tuesday by one of his most vocal
critics, restaurateur Ignacio Velazquez.
Hollister – A month after an attempt to recall District Attorney John Sarsfield officially died, the embattled DA was served with a new notice of intent to recall him Tuesday by one of his most vocal critics, restaurateur Ignacio Velazquez.
Velazquez, and 20 others who signed the notice, want to recall Sarsfield because they say he has mistreated crime victims, continually lied to the public and violated residents’ civil rights by launching investigations into people because he personally dislikes them, according to the notice filed at the Elections Office Tuesday.
“People are angry. People want to see justice, not injustice,” Velazquez said. “Everybody I’ve talked to feels John Sarsfield has gone too far. If he continues it’s just going to cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits.”
The notice was signed by former Assemblyman Peter Frusetta, former county Planning Commissioner Dennis Madigan and former Hollister Councilman Leonard Poletti, among others.
Sarsfield said he wasn’t surprised by the latest recall effort or that it is being spearheaded by Velazquez. Velazquez was the campaign adviser for Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz who Sarsfield recently charged with election forgery and who will be arraigned on the charges Thursday.
Sarsfield acknowledged the recall attempts are a distraction, but said this attempt won’t get any farther than the last one. While the last one started off with a bang, a couple weeks into it Sarsfield’s dogs died after being poisoned with antifreeze, dousing the recall supporters’ fire.
“One thing I will say is that I’m getting a really thick skin,” Sarsfield said. “Things that used to make me crazy really don’t bother me anymore.”
Sarsfield dismissed the eight accusations listed on the notice of intent as Velazquez’s way of hiding the real reason he wants Sarsfield out of office.
“What are they going to say? We don’t like him because he’s prosecuting James De La Cruz?,” Sarsfield said. “That would be a little more straight-forward, though.”
But Velazquez said his endeavor isn’t in response to De La Cruz being charged, but because Sarsfield isn’t doing the job he was elected to do and has cost the county an exorbitant amount of time and energy by getting entangled in litigation. Sarsfield has been embroiled in a harassment lawsuit with two women in the Victim Witness Department who claim an affair the prosecutor allegedly had with his office manager led to a hostile work environment, among several other lawsuits.
Still, the recall attempt is the latest salvo in an ongoing struggle between Velazquez and Sarsfield, which dates back to the March supervisor election in when De La Cruz beat incumbent Bob Cruz by only 10 votes. Accusations of voter fraud against Velazquez and De La Cruz arose after the election and Sarsfield, at the Board of Supervisor’s bidding, obtained a Santa Cruz inspector to investigate the District 5 election.
The inspector recommended 11 felony counts against Velazquez and De La Cruz. Sarsfield commissioned the criminal grand jury to look into the charges, but canceled it when their attorney, Michael Pekin, filed a motion claiming the prosecutor had a conflict of interest because he was allegedly having an affair with his office manager, who is the niece of a Cruz supporter.
Now, however, De La Cruz said he isn’t involved with the recall attempt, and that as a supervisor he needs to stay impartial about the matter.
“I’m not going to play any role in this,” he said. “But if the public wishes to recall him that’s the public’s will and I will support that.”
The news of a latest recall didn’t come as much of a surprise for newly-seated Supervisor Anthony Botelho However, he said the timing is unfortunate because the board is trying to settle a multitude of lawsuits pending against the county – several of which Sarsfield is involved in. The county needs to heal it’s financial wounds, not open a new one that could cost thousands of dollars and continue to split an already divided community, Botelho said.
“It seems like one thing after another,” he said. “I’d like to allow local department heads to do their jobs rather than focus on whether the next lawsuit or recall is coming around the corner.”
The notice of intent is only the first step in a lengthy process to get a recall on the ballot. Velazquez must gather the signatures of 5,150 registered voters in 120 days for it to qualify. The last recall effort never got past that stage, but Velazquez is confident he and approximately 30 volunteers can initiate a special election sometime this year . His group plans to put up signs, go door-to-door, send out mailers and have weekly meetings to keep the process moving.
Head elections official John Hodges said a special election could cost the county at least $100,000, “give or take,” and that’s if all the stringent guidelines to recall an elected official are met along the way.
Hollister resident Derryl Cooper said he voted for Sarsfield two years ago but signed the notice of intent to recall him because he doesn’t agree with how the prosecutor handled the District 5 election the and De La Cruz situation, and that his actions are motivated by politics instead of justice.
“I don’t think we need people like that in town,” Cooper said. “I thought he might do us some good, but it doesn’t seem like he has.”
Sarsfield has seven days to officially respond to the recall notice, and he said he will file a written response with the elections office.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
