After being charged with four felony counts stemming from his
2003 campaign for supervisor, Jaime De La Cruz claims a dispute
over three signatures that saved him 75 cents in filing fees could
land him in jail for up to four years or strip him of his political
ambitions for life.
Hollister – After being charged with four felony counts stemming from his 2003 campaign for supervisor, Jaime De La Cruz claims a dispute over three signatures that saved him 75 cents in filing fees could land him in jail for up to four years or strip him of his political ambitions for life.
One day after District Attorney John Sarsfield charged De La Cruz with illegally signing a nomination petition circulated by someone else, the supervisor-elect said the charges stem from a petition with three signatures worth a 75 cent discount toward his filing fee that he mistakenly signed and submitted to the elections office.
De La Cruz made the comments while attending a protest outside the District Attorney’s office with about 10 supporters Thursday who said the DA trumped up superficial charges. De La Cruz and his campaign adviser, Ignacio Velazquez, filed a $5 million lawsuit Thursday against the county claiming corruption within the current Board of Supervisors and that some supervisors violated their civil rights.
De La Cruz’s opponents in the March race were pleased with the charges, while incoming supervisors said the timing of the struggle is unfortunate for the county.
De La Cruz said that in October he had a friend circulate a nomination petition for him, but he only gathered three signatures before giving the paperwork back unsigned. De La Cruz snagged one signature on the same petition, which is what created the confusion, he said. When he turned in the petition in question, an election clerk noted it needed signing, he said. De La Cruz said he spotted the signature he had gathered and assumed it was his petition and signed it.
“I looked at the last signature and said, ‘This (form) was mine,’ so I turned it over and signed my name and I gave it to her,” he said. “All this is over three signatures.”
Each signature is worth a discount of 25 cents off the filing fee, which is 1 percent of the Supervisor’s annual salary of approximately $42,000, De La Cruz said. He said he turned in more than 400 signatures to offset the fee.
Elections clerk Phyllis Lanini, who accepted the petition, said she didn’t remember the incident because it was over a year ago and declined to comment further.
Sarsfield said Thursday he stands by his previous statement that he believes there’s enough evidence to show De La Cruz committed the crimes he’s charged with.
He wouldn’t comment on whether the felony charge stems from three signatures or what other evidence he has showing a crime was committed.
“I’m not in a position to discuss the details of the case,” Sarsfield said. “He’s free to continue to say whatever it is he wants to say and it will be resolved in court.”
De La Cruz and his campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez claim corruption within the Board of Supervisors coupled with a personal vendetta Sarsfield has against De La Cruz fueled the charges. They believe Sarsfield is bitter about affair allegations between Sarsfield and his officer manager aired by the two men and their attorney, Michael Pekin.
Sarsfield adamantly denies the affair, conspiracy and corruption allegations.
“Jaime didn’t realize those signatures were collected by someone else,” Velazquez said. “Every campaign makes those little mistakes. This guy is totally fishing.”
De La Cruz has until today at 4pm to accept a deal that would whittle the felony charge down to a misdemeanor charge of filing false election papers if he resigns from all of his political offices – including his Supervisor seat. He said he “absolutely” refuses to be part of any deal to escape prosecution, and believes the charges are part of a larger conspiracy by current Board members to conceal long-standing county corruption and keep him from taking office to expose it.
The charges are the latest development in a conflict that began when De La Cruz beat Supervisor Bob Cruz by only 10 votes in the March 2 race. Shortly after the race, the Board of Supervisors launched an investigation into claims that De La Cruz and Velazquez broke election laws. In addition, Cruz’s wife filed a lawsuit against De La Cruz challenging the election results, but dropped the suit when she realized there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the 10 votes and change the outcome of the race. Cruz did not return phone calls Thursday.
De La Cruz and Velazquez’s attorney, Pekin, who learned Tuesday he is the target of a criminal investigation by the Grand Jury, has said the charges are related to a suit he filed against Supervisor Richard Scagliotti a year ago.
But the new charges have sparked the De La Cruz camp’s fire. The supervisor-elect, Velazquez and about nine other people serenaded motorists driving past Sarsfield’s office on Fourth Street Thursday afternoon with protest signs claiming “DA For Sale” and “John Sarsfield is a DA Done Awful.”
Hollister resident Rebecca Jones said she was protesting because she believes Sarsfield’s priorities are out of place and she’s disappointed with what she called corruption in Sarsfield’s office.
“He’s spending an enormous amount of time on what I think is a personal vendetta,” she said.
Her mother, Reba Jones, said she’s known De La Cruz for three years and believes he’s an honest man who deserves to take his place on the Board of Supervisors.
“He’s a good person. If he did anything wrong he did it inadvertently,” she said. “And I don’t think he did anything wrong.”
Sarsfield wasn’t phased by the protesters and said “it’s a free country.”
Ruben Lopez, Bob Cruz’s campaign manager, said Thursday he was “so happy I can’t tell you” that Sarsfield charged De La Cruz.
He said De La Cruz’s corruption allegations are ridiculous and the only corrupt person is De La Cruz himself.
“Four years wouldn’t be too bad – he broke the law. But as long as he can’t run for office again, that’ll do,” Lopez said. “I have no mercy. They cost the seat of an incumbent. (Cruz) worked very hard and did it fair and square all the way, and then to (lose) by 10 absentee ballots, that’s hard to swallow.”
Supervisor-elects Don Marcus and Anthony Botelho refused to comment in detail on the events, but both called it unfortunate for the Board and the community.
“I feel confident that the Board members will work together to do what’s best for this county,” Marcus said. “Mr. De La Cruz’s position will be something we’ll work through.”
Botelho conceded there’s a lot of issues the new Board has to resolve, but he also said he believes the members can get through it.
“I’m looking forward to start working on them (the issues) one by one,” Botelho said. “I have faith in the process and hopefully it comes to a quick resolution.”
De La Cruz is still scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 4 and is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment nine days later. If he resigns from his position or is convicted and unable to resume his political career, the governor has six months to appoint a supervisor. If he fails to do so, the new Board can either appoint a supervisor or hold a special election to fill the seat.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
