Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz did the right thing Friday by
dropping his $5 million lawsuit against San Benito County.
Hopefully, it will provide the catalyst needed to improve the
political climate of San Benito County.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz did the right thing Friday by dropping his $5 million lawsuit against San Benito County. Hopefully, it will provide the catalyst needed to improve the political climate of San Benito County.
The suit – in which De La Cruz alleged the former supervisors conspired to keep him from being seated on the Board of Supervisors for political reasons and because he is Latino – dragged out the ugly political battle that started with the March, 2004 District 5 election. But De La Cruz recognized it was doing more harm than good and was contributing to hostilities in the county.
In stark contrast, former Hollister Mayor Brian Conroy is the presumed leader of an mostly-anonymous recall attempt against De La Cruz, a new effort that threatens to draw out the year-old election controversy. Conroy has the recall’s Web site, www.recallcriminal.com, registered in his name, but the rest of the group has yet to come forward to say who they are, giving the bogus excuse that they fear retaliation.
One of the reasons they say they want to recall De La Cruz is because he was suing the county. Now that De La Cruz has dropped his lawsuit, we urge the people considering the recall (presuming there are any) to give De La Cruz a chance to proceed with his duties as a public servant before trying to cast him out of office.
De La Cruz did the responsible thing and dropped the lawsuit – a key step to setting a more civilized tone in county politics. Now, those attempting to recall the supervisor should do the responsible thing and let De La Cruz accumulate a track record in office before deciding whether he needs to be tossed out.
In the meantime, members of the group could focus their efforts on making positive changes that would serve the community as a whole. One area that clearly needs some improvements is the local election system, and there are opportunities to make a difference. Elections Official John Hodges hopes to have a $500,000 grant to replace the county’s outdated voting equipment.
The recallers should team up with De La Cruz and Hodges to ensure adequate training for poll workers and candidates to prevent the problems that cropped up during the District 5 race. It would do the community, which has suffered through a lot of mud slinging at the hands of our local politicians, a lot of good to see them work toward positive reforms that would prevent such problems in the future.
De La Cruz on Friday asked his constituents to forgive him for the lawsuit, and to judge him by his actions from that day forward. That seems fair, and should be how the recallers proceed.
