Allegations of voter fraud. Of a sexual affair compromising the
district attorney’s objectivity.
Allegations of voter fraud. Of a sexual affair compromising the district attorney’s objectivity. Of extortion. Of supervisors trying to steal an election.
Many San Benito County residents are awestruck, embarrassed and outraged over the whirlwind of accusations involving the contested District 5 supervisor’s race. And they’re confused over swerving daily developments.
A criminal grand jury probe of fraud allegations is scheduled one day and canceled the next – twice. And still, there’s an unsettled Board of Supervisors seat more than two months after the race was supposed to end.
“It’s like a game, and they’re putting Hollister through the wringer,” said Rose Ortiz, owner of The Rose Hair Salon in downtown Hollister.
The array of accusations has snowballed since Jaime De La Cruz unseated incumbent Bob Cruz on March 8 for the District 5 seat.
This week, the De La Cruz camp’s recent skepticism of District Attorney John Sarsfield’s fairness led to the most staggering accusation. They claimed in court documents the prosecutor was having an inner-office affair that further compromised his objectivity.
The alleged mistress is related to a leader of LULAC, the organization that started many of the accusations against De La Cruz.
De La Cruz lawyer Mike Pekin last week gave Sarsfield the option: drop the criminal grand jury probe or he would file a motion containing the embarrassing claim.
Sarsfield agreed. Then he reversed course on the deal. De La Cruz’s campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez followed suit by filing the embarrassing motion. And Sarsfield sent the probe to the state anyway because the affair allegation created its own conflict.
“I just think it’s a sorry state of affairs for our county when the DA can be blackmailed into dropping an investigation, or even consider dropping it,” said resident Barbara Brookshire. “I also think it’s a sad state of affairs when the defending attorney resorts to this sort of action.”
Outside the San Benito County Free Library on Tuesday, resident Ruth Erickson chuckled when asked about the election scandal.
Erickson, who often voices her opinion at Hollister City Council meetings, said local politicians need to get more professional.
“To me, this is making the county look like a school yard fight,” Erickson said.
Councilman Robert Scattini acknowledged that the District 5 mess has rubbed off on the entire political scene.
Scattini has lived here nearly his whole life, and he’s never seen such a bizarre episode. He hopes things go back to normal, and soon.
“Why waste all that energy, money and time on stuff like this?” Scattini said. “It’s just ludicrous.”
Local architect David Huboi, also outside the library Tuesday, said the most recent story line “is getting to be a stigma.”
Drawing on recent history, Huboi, a nine-year resident of Hollister, hasn’t been surprised by the scandal and its absurdity, he said.
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” Huboi said.
For 72-year-old Leonard Poletti, a former Hollister councilman, political disputes never have taken so many vicious twists and turns.
“We’ve got a nice community,” Poletti said. “Let’s get back to the way we were.”
The recent scandal has tarnished the county’s image, he said.
“Everybody’s looking at us, and we can’t be proud of what they see,” he said.
Hard Times Cafe owner Terence Woodard said he knows Sarsfield and called his family beautiful.
Woodard called Pekin’s actions blackmail, and said Pekin was “tampering with the legal process.”
“He’s way out of line,” Woodard said of Pekin. “This guy should be taken and be disbarred. We’re all related to someone.”
“That’s not right,” said 56-year resident Kirk Tognazzini of the accusations that are flying. “I thought only the big political officers did all that mudslinging. You’d never think you’d see mudslinging here.”
