San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield is not
surprised the latest recall effort against him failed, and he and
other local leaders say they are ready to put the recent political
negativity behind them and move on with county business.
Hollister – San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield is not surprised the latest recall effort against him failed, and he and other local leaders say they are ready to put the recent political negativity behind them and move on with county business.
Supervisor Pat Loe, who came out against the recall from the get-go because of the cost, said Tuesday she’s ready to put the hostility that has run rampant throughout county government behind her and move on to issues that benefit the community.
“There are so many needs in this community, I’d hate to see money spent on a recall when we could put it to something like a homeless shelter or the Emmaus House (for battered women),” she said. “Let the money go to something good for a change.”
Proponents of the recall, which officially failed last week, turned in only 4,420 valid signatures, which was 876 short of the needed number of registered voters to prompt a special election. And while it was the second full-fledged recall attempt against him in the past year, Sarsfield doesn’t believe it reveals anything about the public’s view of him or his office.
The effort, Sarsfield believes, was masterminded by Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz, who he charged with election fraud in the 2004 District 5 supervisor’s race, and put into action by his campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez. De La Cruz has said he supported the recall, but that he wasn’t involved in any way.
“No matter what I do there’s going to be someone unhappy, I understand that. That fact that Mr. De La Cruz doesn’t like the way I do my job, that’s fine,” Sarsfield said. “But people need to understand who was behind this. It was Mr. De La Cruz and his adviser, Mr. Velazquez’s vendetta, it was nothing more than that.”
Sarsfield also believes most of the people who signed the petitions were supporters of his opponent in the 2002 district attorney race, defense attorney Arthur Cantu. During that race, Sarsfield got 7,735 votes and Cantu got 3,548, according to San Benito County Registrar John Hodges. Cantu did not return phone calls Tuesday, but he has said he plans to run again for district attorney in 2006.
Velazquez believes the fact that supporters gathered nearly 7,000 signatures is enough to cast doubt on the public’s faith in Sarsfield. Of those signatures, 1,546 were declared invalid because they were of nonregistered voters.
Velazquez is undecided whether he and his group will launch another recall before the prosecutor is up for re-election.
And he said that because almost 1,000 more people signed a petition to recall Sarsfield than voted for Cantu three years ago, Sarsfield’s claims carry no weight.
“Sarsfield needs to understand that this is not about him and Cantu,” Velazquez said. “It’s about him violating people’s constitutional rights and people are fed up and he needs to stop hiding behind that.”
Velazquez filed a notice of intent to recall Sarsfield claiming that he continually lied to the public, violated residents’ civil rights by launching investigations into people because he personally dislikes them and mistreated crime victims. Sarsfield has repeatedly denied Velazquez’s allegations.
But Velazquez is not the only person who has spoken out against Sarsfield. San Benito County Supervisor Reb Monaco recently said he has no confidence in the prosecutor’s abilities, although he never came out for or against the recall. Monaco said Tuesday he met with Sarsfield and both men decided to cease criticizing each other in the press.
“I have no comment. Him and I met, we discussed, and I left the meeting feeling we’ve settled our differences,” Monaco said.
Monaco also said he hopes the reign of recalls in San Benito County has come to an end. Two San Juan Bautista city councilmen also faced a recall, which failed.
“I’ve never been a supporter of them. They’re expensive to the county,” Monaco said. “I think the democratic process works.”
Sarsfield’s also ready to put the issue behind him, although he said this recall attempt – the first one began last July but failed after the prosecutor’s two dogs were poisoned and died – hasn’t affected business in the district attorney’s office because he’s used to heavy criticism being leveled at him.
However, Velazquez has another theory.
“He’s blind to it, he just doesn’t get it,” Velazquez said. “He could care less about what people think.”
And in a way, Sarsfield doesn’t care – about anyone connected with the recall against him, that is.
“I just do my job,” he said. “I can’t worry about it, and I don’t.”
Sarsfield also believes neither of the recalls will affect the way he campaigns or his chances for re-election.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
