Judge ousts Nutting from supervisor seat
By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee
Ray Nutting was stripped of his seat on the Board of Supervisors in a dramatic sentencing order Friday that will shake up El Dorado County’s political leadership and force an election to fill his job.
Three weeks after the embattled supervisor appeared to emerge victorious when he was acquitted of felony charges of political malfeasance, a judge declared that Nutting must forfeit his elected office because of misdemeanor convictions over how he raised his bail money.
Declaring that Nutting had committed “misconduct in office,” visiting Superior Court Judge Timothy S. Buckley issued a notice to the county that Nutting’s seat is now vacant. He also sentenced Nutting to 30 days of community service in lieu of jail time.
Suddenly, Nutting’s political career appears to be over with 2 1/2 years remaining on his board term. He is out of office as a result of his actions in the frenetic moments after he was ordered to surrender on felony charges that he had failed to disclose more than $70,000 in state grant income for brush-clearing on his family ranch.
A jury acquitted Nutting on May 14 on three felony counts and deadlocked on a fourth felony count of submitting false paperwork when the work was completed. But he was convicted of six misdemeanors for accepting loans from two county employees and a construction contractor to bail himself out of jail on May 28, 2013.
Will we see nutcase picking up garbage along the highway? Maybe justice has been served… or possibly picking up dog poop at his local dog park? Maybe fighting fires putting out illegally set property fires…..
Just so I understand, there are still folks hereon who believe that El Dorado County should replace the City of South Lake Tahoe.
For all its issues, and they are many, The City of South Lake Tahoe remains an actual governing entity rather than the clown act that El Dorado County continues to be.
Bah-bye Ray, you little whining nuisance.
Thank you Judge Buckley. This a good decision.
Mr. Nutting has shown so many times how poor his judgement has been in running his personal life, so how could he be trusted to make decisions for the public?
El Dorado County just might be headed toward a time when redneck tea party tendencies don’t basically define it.
Nutting seems to be seen in a favorable light by more than a few people currently in positions of power and authority in Placerville, according to what I have read. If this is true, maybe the D.A. might yet have a few targets for his investigative spotlight.
That being said, I think the D.A. might stand a little scrutiny too, for (as I have read also) using his office to frighten/persecute etc his own political opponents.
The old saw that says “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” remains true as always.
I bet his replacement is worse.
go figure has the best idea for Nutting’s community service. Putting out fires! Afterall, thats what got him into hot water in the first place. I would say not a one time stretch of 30 consecutive days but spread out over our high fire danger season . A day marked off for every day he’s out fightin’ fires.
Sounds good to me, OLS
Ray… Na na na na, na na Na NA, Hey HEY HEY, GOODBYE!