After serving District Attorney John Sarsfield with a notice of
intent to recall him last week, Ignacio Velazquez will have to
re-serve the prosecutor because one of the people who signed the
notice didn’t include her complete address.
Hollister – After serving District Attorney John Sarsfield with a notice of intent to recall him last week, Ignacio Velazquez will have to re-serve the prosecutor because one of the people who signed the notice didn’t include her complete address.
Velazquez and 20 others have to re-sign a notice and file it with the elections office to start the recall process again, he said. Velazquez, who was informed of the setback Tuesday morning, spent the afternoon collecting signatures and said he plans to re-serve Sarsfield and file the amended notice at the elections office today.
“We knew something would be wrong someplace. There’s so many details,” Velazquez said. “I checked every little piece and I just didn’t see it.”
Velazquez’s notice, which comes more than a month after the first attempt to recall Sarsfield officially died, claims the district attorney continually lied to the public, violated residents’ civil rights by launching investigations into people because he personally dislikes them and mistreated crime victims, according to the notice.
Sarsfield filed a written response with the elections office Tuesday stating the allegations are all false and retaliatory for him charging Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz with election forgery. Velazquez was De La Cruz’s campaign adviser in the 2003 District 5 race for supervisor, and Sarsfield said in the notice Velazquez wants him out of office before De La Cruz could be convicted, according to the response.
However, De La Cruz signed a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office Tuesday that dismissed all the charges against him, and pled no contest to one misdemeanor charge of interfering with an investigator. In accordance with the plea he must pay a fine of about $1,000 and do 40 hours of community service.
“At the time I filed it, it was accurate,” Sarsfield said of his response. “I’ll change my answer to be current if and when they serve me in the future.”
Velazquez and about 15 other recall supporters disseminated approximately 5,000 fliers detailing the complaints listed on the notice to Hollister residents over the weekend, he said.
“We just wanted to get the public informed about our government and the corruption that has permeated over the last decade,” he said. “And that it’s culminated since John Sarsfield took office.”
In his response letter, Sarsfield said in his two years in office his team of attorneys have aggressively prosecuted gang members, enforced school truancy laws and extend every courtesy to crime victims.
Velazquez also said he’s received about $5,000 in donations to support the recall campaign from about 15 community members since serving Sarsfield the first time last week.
Because Velazquez must file another notice of intent, Sarsfield has seven days after he is served to file another official response with the elections office.
After Sarsfield files a response, Velazquez has to publish the notice of intent and submit it to the elections office as proof. He then must submit a copy of the petition he plans to circulate to collect the 5,150 signatures to put a recall on a ballot.
Once the preliminary paperwork is cleared by the elections office, which Velazquez said could take about three weeks, he has 120 days to collect enough valid signatures. If that happens, the county would have to hold a special election, which could cost taxpayers upwards of $100,000, according to the county registrar.
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Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
