A mix-up between the county election’s office and the Secretary
of State’s has caused another set-back in the second attempt to
recall District Attorney John Sarsfield. Ignacio Velazquez served
Sarsfield with a notice of intent to recall him for the third time
in two weeks Friday after he learned the form he was using to
collect signatures was inaccurate.
Hollister – A mix-up between the county election’s office and the Secretary of State’s has caused another set-back in the second attempt to recall District Attorney John Sarsfield. Ignacio Velazquez served Sarsfield with a notice of intent to recall him for the third time in two weeks Friday after he learned the form he was using to collect signatures was inaccurate.
Velazquez, who is one of Sarsfield’s most vocal critics, served the district attorney with a notice of intent to recall him last week. On Tuesday he learned he had to get 20 more signatures and re-serve the prosecutor because one person left out her complete address on the original notice.
In collecting the second batch of names, Velazquez got a signature from lawyer Bill Marder, who is representing two women in the District Attorney’s Victim Witness Department who sued Sarsfield for harassment. Marder put his business address, along with his name, signature and phone number, on the form instead of his home address, said Registrar John Hodges.
On the form, which is issued by the Secretary of State’s Office to county election departments, it specifically says a person may put down their home or business address. However, the law was changed in 2003 prohibiting someone from putting their business address on the notice, but a new form was never issued to local election departments, he said.
“Even on the petition it says business address, but the new law supersedes the Secretary of State’s paperwork,” Hodges said. “The state hasn’t made the correction – even on their Web site it’s still wrong.”
The change is designed to ensure that people who sign the petitions are registered in the county and that the address they put down matches their home address on their voter registration card, said Joanne Reynolds at the election legal division of the Secretary of State’s Office. Although the change went on the books in October of 2003, the state is still in the process of updating the recall handbook and recall notice of intent form, she said.
“We’re working on it,” she said. “We’re having a huge budget crisis, so it might just be on the Web site.” Reynolds said within the next six months the new information should be updated online. She wasn’t sure if there are other laws pertaining to the recall process that have been changed or modified other than the one prohibiting the business address.
“I’m sure there probably is,” she said. “I just don’t know right off the top.”
After conferring with the state, Hodges decided to allow Velazquez to take out the word “business” from the notice of intent and require him to get 20 more signatures, all of them including only their home address.
“These things are so complicated. But the (Gray) Davis recall took like eight or 10 times to get it right. I’m just hoping that’s it – that there’s no more changes from the state,” Velazquez said. “It doesn’t bother me at all, though. I’m not going anywhere until he’s recalled.”
Velazquez’s notice, which comes a little more than a month after the first attempt to recall Sarsfield officially died, claims the prosecutor has mistreated crime victims, continually lied to the public and violated residents’ civil rights by launching investigations into people because he personally dislikes them. Sarsfield has denied all the allegations and has seven days to file an official response to this notice with the Elections Office.
Sarsfield did not return phone calls Friday.
Hodges said the notice of intent the first recall group submitted never included a business address, so the issue never came up. If the group had gotten enough signatures to put a recall on the ballot and the mistake had been caught, Hodges said a judge would have had to decide whether to let the recall proceed.
To put a recall on a special ballot, which could cost the county upwards of $100,000, Velazquez must get 5,150 signatures. The first recall group only collected about 1,000.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
