One hundred and thirty days since the county ordered a probe of
the District 5 election, it’s still unclear if Supervisor-elect
Jaime De La Cruz will take an oath of office come January.
One hundred and thirty days since the county ordered a probe of the District 5 election, it’s still unclear if Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz will take an oath of office come January.
With a lawsuit from incumbent Bob Cruz’s wife apparently off his plate of worries, De La Cruz has one roadblock keeping him from taking a seat at the dais for the next four years – a slate of potential felony charges for alleged elections violations.
And for now, the number of authorities who know the scope of that final obstacle can be counted on one hand, maybe one finger – as other county officials and residents wait.
District Attorney John Sarsfield has declined to comment on the status of an investigation of De La Cruz and his campaign adviser. The two men are accused of elections violations, including illegally returning ballots to the Elections Office. Sarsfield also declines to say whether the Attorney General’s Office has given him the go-ahead to oversee the probe.
“I understand your interest in the status of the election investigation,” Sarsfield wrote in an e-mail Thursday to the Free Lance. “However, I do not believe that it would be appropriate to comment on it at this time, as this is an open matter.”
Even Cruz, who rarely criticizes other public officials, has expressed displeasure this week, albeit briefly, in the lack of urgency displayed in closing the book on the controversy.
One question has caused the two-month delay: whether Sarsfield can be objective in overseeing the investigation. That’s because the De La Cruz camp, two weeks before a grand jury was scheduled to consider indicting the two men, entangled Sarsfield in a snowballing scandal.
They filed a court motion alleging he’s having an affair with his office manager, which Sarsfield has denied. Still, with such a personal accusation being floated, he asked the attorney general if he could still handle the case without there being a perceived bias against De La Cruz.
The state office two weeks ago said it responded to his inquiry, but the district attorney has yet to publicly announced his intentions.
Some wonder if the accusations will get resolved – whether by state or local prosecutors – before the new board’s installation in January.
De La Cruz expressed that concern this week, as did Marian Cruz’s lawyer, former District Attorney Harry Damkar. Others, such as Supervisor Reb Monaco, have sympathized with the 10,000-plus residents in District 5.
“I really don’t know what will occur next,” Damkar said Thursday. “I think a lot will depend on whether or not the attorney general decides to exercise its discretion and file a case. If not, I don’t know what will happen.”
He’s clearly not alone.
“I don’t have any idea. I really don’t,” said Supervisor Ruth Kesler. “This thing is such a fouled-up mess.”
Cruz didn’t return phone calls Thursday. His campaign adviser Ruben Lopez also couldn’t be reached for comment the day after Damkar announced the Cruz suit would be dropped.
They’re dismissing the suit because there isn’t enough evidence to overturn the 10 votes needed to nullify the race, Damkar said. Plus, the timetable for elections contests allowed under the stringent state code passed by, so a judge could potentially toss it out regardless of merit.
But De La Cruz still has the unsettled criminal investigation hanging over his head.
Many people in the past four months have asked him what’s happening with the District 5 race controversy, De La Cruz said
“Anytime anybody wants to talk, I tell them what’s going on,” he said. “Anybody can make an accusation.”
Some of the charges, if he’s convicted, would carry a lifetime ban from serving office in California, according to a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office. And if the seat became vacant, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger would have to appoint a replacement, the spokesman said.
The other supervisor-elect from the March primary, Don Marcus, offered a congratulations to De La Cruz for “crossing this hurdle,” in reference to the civil suit’s pending dismissal.
And if a criminal probe continues, he hopes the allegations are found to be false, he said.
“I’m saying this for the benefit of the county. I think what would be best for the people of this county would be that Mr. Cruz could now focus on the business and problems at hand,” Marcus said, adding that De La Cruz could then start preparing himself for his tenure on the board.
De La Cruz’s campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez has expressed an air of confidence since the suit’s filing, even now facing pending recommendations of five felony charges against him.
“It doesn’t matter what he’s going to do,” Velazquez said. “What matters is that the truth is going to have to come out. We know the truth. We want that informncenews.com.
