Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz and his campaign adviser Ignacio
Velazquez have no immediate plans to drop a $5 million lawsuit
against the county and believe statements made by a former
supervisor validate the suit’s allegations of corruption in county
government.
Hollister – Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz and his campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez have no immediate plans to drop a $5 million lawsuit against the county and believe statements made by a former supervisor validate the suit’s allegations of corruption in county government.
After District Attorney John Sarsfield dropped all the felony charges against De La Cruz, who pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor charge as part of a plea bargain regarding the District 5 election, local politicians expressed a variety of sentiments over the outcome.
Some were relieved the 10-month debacle was finally over and others were disappointed with the anticlimactic finale and thought De La Cruz should never have been able to plea bargain. But former Supervisor Ruth Kesler, who was on the board that asked Sarsfield to look into allegations of elections irregularities in March, said the prosecutor had promised her and former Supervisor Bob Cruz that De La Cruz would see jail time. De La Cruz beat Cruz by 10 votes in the March 2 election and was facing four felony counts of election forgery that could have sent him to jail and banned him from politics for life. Cruz did not return phone calls Friday.
Kesler was named in a $5 million civil rights lawsuit De La Cruz and Velazquez filed in December alleging Sarsfield and the former Board of Supervisors had conspired to keep De La Cruz off the board. Kesler said last week that she was very disappointed with Sarsfield for accepting a plea bargain, and although she had supported him in the past, “wouldn’t support that man for anything” in the future.
“He promised so many people that he was going to do something about this and he didn’t do diddly-doo,” Kesler said then. “He made a lot of promises to Bobby Cruz and myself, and you don’t do that and turn around and stab them in the back, and he did that to Bobby Cruz.”
Kesler declined to elaborate on the statements on Friday because she said she wasn’t feeling well. Until she’s up to putting her boxing gloves back on she would like to be left out of it, she said.
Sarsfield on Friday wouldn’t speak about Kesler’s comments because he said he had no knowledge of them being said.
“I don’t know what Ruth did or did not say,” he said. “I didn’t read it and I haven’t talked to her in a few weeks.”
He directed all questions about Kesler’s comments to Deputy District Attorney Denny Wei, who prosecuted the De La Cruz case.
Wei said he could talk about the conditions of the plea bargain, when it was entered into and when the next court date is, but not about Kesler’s comments because he didn’t know anything about them.
“I can talk about the case but the question isn’t dealing with that so I don’t know,” Wei said. “I don’t know what to say about that.”
De La Cruz, who said he’s received numerous calls and comments from people about the statements, believes Kesler validated the allegations of corruption in the lawsuit and that they could help his case if it goes to trial.
“If we do go to court, she will definitely be one of our star witnesses,” De La Cruz said. “It puts some doubt in people’s minds that there wasn’t some type of corruption between certain Board of Supervisors members and the District Attorney’s Office.”
The county has until Feb. 7 to respond to the men’s lawsuit, and although board members have reviewed the suit, they’re still waiting for direction from their attorney in the case, Special Deputy District Attorney John Picone.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho said he doubts Sarsfield would make a promise such as the one Kesler claims he made, but wouldn’t comment further except that the current board is trying to unravel the web of lawsuits it’s tangled in. While the new members have faced a number of obstacles in their first several weeks as supervisors, Botelho said he believes they can work through it.
“We do have some issues we’ve got to resolve,” Botelho said. “I knew it was a lion’s den to begin with, and I wanted to be part of a solution to create a better San Benito County. We knew the job was dangerous when we took it.”
Supervisor Don Marcus also declined to comment on Kesler’s comments because he believes it would be inappropriate for him to respond to prior supervisor’s statements. But he did say he believes both the board and the county would be better off without the $5 million suit hanging over their head.
“It will be up to Mr. De La Cruz how we can work together under the circumstances,” Marcus said. “Hopefully in the weeks to come we’ll be able to form a good, cohesive group and the county will benefit from it.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
