Voters seek to recall EDC supervisors
By Kathryn Reed
A group of residents disgruntled with how the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is working is attempting to recall all five elected officials.
Today at their meeting in Placerville, Supervisors Sue Novasel and Michael Ranalli were served with the notice of intent for their recall. Supervisor Brian Veerkamp was not at the Oct. 27 meeting, but petitioners said he would be served upon his return.
The group is calling themselves El Dorado County Total Recall, and has said the intent is to recall every member of the board.
“Last year’s battles over a rural or urban future for El Dorado County pitted grassroots community groups against the huge financial backing of special interests. As a result, it is clear that citizens must rise up together from all over the county to fight for better representation,” a press release from the group said. “This may be our last opportunity to save our most important asset, the rural character of El Dorado County.”
County resident Kevin McAllister, who is quoted in the release, is part of the State of Jefferson movement that would like various counties to secede from California.
The actual notice says, “Whereas the voters of El Dorado County are a people of fairness, but when money or influences take precedence over the wishes of its citizens, we the people have a right to remove any or all of the elected officials.
“We the voters are seeking relief from the tyranny of our elected officials. They have failed to effectively and efficiently operate county government.”
Dan Kelly, spokesman for the recall group, did not return a phone call.
“This isn’t about anything specific. They don’t like our processes and our processes are working,” Novasel told Lake Tahoe News.
She believes some of the complaints people have relate to things before she was elected a year ago.
Novasel said she has been meeting with people, listening to concerns, but said it’s impossible to do what everyone wants because there are always multiple sides to an issue.
At least 20 verified signatures were required for the recall process to have gotten to this point. They must be from people in the supervisors’ respective districts.
Signing Novasel’s notice of intent were:
JoAnn Conner (South Lake Tahoe City Council member), Kenny Curtzwiler (defeated supervisorial candidate), Judy Clot (Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District member, and Recreation JPA member), Pam Curtzwiler, Marshall Curtzwiler, Jennifer Quashnick, Moya Sanders, Diane Verwoest, Ermel Herrmann, Matthew Adams, Tyler Baldwin, Luke Adams, Julie Ann Cavanaugh, Dov Shafer, John Oney, Mary Oney, Wayne McBride, John Adamski, Francesca Dionne Duchamp, Monica Givens-Day, Vincent Tanzi, Constance Hinton, Sue Abrams, Andrea Marion, and Dave Marion.
Novasel and Ranalli have seven days to respond to the petition in 200 words or less. The same will go for the other supervisors if and when they are served. (Ranalli did not return a phone call.) Those responses will go on the official petition. However, they are not required to respond.
The proponents then have 10 days to get other documents to the county Elections Department. The county works with the proponents to ensure a legal petition with both sides’ arguments is crafted. The proponents then have 120 days to seek the required number of signatures.
For Novasel, that is approximately 3,545 signatures, and for Ranalli it is 4,597. The figures are based on a percentage of registered voters.
Assuming the correct number of certified signatures is obtained, the recall election is then set for between 88 and 125 days after certification. The cost of the election comes out of the county’s general fund. The Elections Department could not provide what that figure might be. The next regularly scheduled election is the June primary, which if the recall could be on that ballot, would make the process less expensive.
“There was an attempt to recall a supervisor some years back, but it failed. It failed to get the requisite amount of signatures,” Linda Webster with the county Elections Department told Lake Tahoe News.
As for the supervisors, business goes on as usual.
“All I can do is concentrate on the job I am doing,” Novasel said.
Taking back local control from developer influenced and/or bought Supervisors is not a bad idea. If they oppose the new state movement it is also a reason to remove them, and I am sure there are many other good reasons such as the lack of disclosure issues as well.
What a waste of tax payer money. I hope this effort gets no signatures.
Good luck with that…
Seems like there is a war going on in our county and town led by the infallible JoAnn. JoAnn (who is innocent, and has never verbally abused anyone….yeah right) is on the war path… Is it 2016 yet? Can we recall her instead? PEOPLE THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
This effort will not be getting my signature.
Funny that all these people are the JoAnn cronies that took to the forums to defend her abusive behavior. Can you say conspiracy. There is obviously a group in town (little chamber) that is behind all this. Is it it illegal for non profits to advocate for political recalls? Lobbying ok, but recalls and political action? I’m not so sure. Maybe it is.
What disappointing behavior from sore losers (Joann & Kenny). Can you just act like professional adults for once? This is a waste of time, a waste of money, and frankly embarrassing for each of those who signed this farce. Joann, please just do your job and stop with the public malarkey. Kenny, you lost, by beyond a landslide, move on. Both of you – do something productive for this community instead of propagating this divisive bs that is only attempting to slide Tahoe back to the stone ages.
What a waste of time and energy.
I will sign up to recall county supervisors from EDC..We have no voice here in South Lake Tahoe for some important issues. A special election is needed.
Bob Rockwell, (OLS)
Recalls: Joke
State of Jefferson: HUGE joke!
Specifics would be helpful. How are these elected officials’ records tied to the battle of rural vs. urban future of El Dorado County. I wasn’t aware that the county was at a crossroad of one or the other. Based on geography, it would seem that the county has both rural and urban constituents. As a result, the interests of both will need representation. Without knowing how these supervisors are failing to represent their voters, I would not be able to support a petition for their recall. If there is evidence of illegal, or improper influence by special interests, please identify them and their agenda. Otherwise, I tend to believe that this recall effort is not about El Dorado board supervisors, but an attempt to further the agenda of a special interest group known as State of Jefferson.
I urge those unhappy with board supervisors to take advantage of the dozens of avenues available to them to advocate for their vision of the future of out county. These include contacting their supervisors directly and making concerns know to them. Recall is an option to be used when all other options have been exhausted.
Again, without knowing details of how these supervisors are being unduly influenced by special interests, recall seems premature at best.
OLS, pretty sure Sue is our voice here in district 5. If you would like to recall her for her doing the right thing and recusing her self from the Myers Plan discussion, maybe you should also recall Tom Davis for recusing him self from the VHR Ordinance vote. Or is there another reason that I’m missing here? Please enlighten me.
OLS, how is Sue not representing district 5? Don’t give me that crap about the Myers area plan. She had to recuse herself because it is the right thing to do. If you have an issue with that, you should ask for Tom Davis to resign. He recused him self from the VHR stuff. So how is she not representing us OLS? Because I think she’s doing a great job.
Yea, just great having a supervisor that knowingly gets elected, knowing that she will have to recuse herself from doing the job she is paid and obligated to do. Can you say doing a half ‘asssed’ job . (pls excuse the bad language )
In the meantime, when we really need someone to represent, we have no one and get steamrolled by developers to destroy yet more wildland for their own pockets.
The proponents of this recall lost all credibility with me when it was pointed out that they are affiliated with the state of Jefferson movement, if you can call it that.
Joann Conner signing a petition to recall a fellow elected, and wonders why people say she is difficult to work with? Apparently Joann thinks recall is the way to go, we ought to try it on her. She clearly doesn’t care about the cost of election on the tax payers, so much for thinking about wasted government. If there was any doubt she’s vengeful, this ought to prove that point. More proof don’t challenge Joann, she’ll either attack you or try to recall you. Next she’ll cry victim when the council says recalling fellow electeds doesn’t bode well for building good working relationships with e county. Joann, stop, just stop. Try disproving the accusations instead of making the case against yourself so obvious.
Leave Sue and Mike alone, other 3 are only out for themselves.I would sign a petition in a heartbeat.
That’s the beauty part of elections.
EVERYONE that is eligible to have a say ie taxpayers, has a VOTE. To erase all doubt about SPECIAL INTERESTS….VOTE. Unless of course you think the voting in Eldorado Co is also crooked.
Hiker, you are excused for using “bad” language (half assed job), Just as a side note…I had no opinion on the bad language issue until Ms Kerry used the full “C” word in her publically written language…and LTN’s published it. That little maneuver sealed her fate with me personally.
Classless and vulgar not to mention unnecessary. She used simply F bomb for subsequent wording
Interesting that my previous comment was not published?…the reason for that would be what I would like to know.
Not that an explanation is required by the publisher, however, simply that Ms Kerry was referenced seems a bit more than coincidental.
P.S. My reference to Ms Kerry was about the article she wrote and was published by LTN on Oct 20, 2015.
It included my acceptance of tahoeahiker’s apology for using ‘bad’ language in the above comments.
they are all corrupt,
that’s how the game is played here in America.
the folks behind the curtain will not allow the recall to happen.
that’s how the game is played here in South Shore.
There is strong support for a new state in the rural northern counties and in this county and since the Board didn’t want to support this it is a big issue and is big enough to have the support for a recall. Some of the other issues are the bought and paid for developer pawns on the Board and the lack of disclosure during their campaigns and the rezone issues all tied to developers have many who live near them supporting the recall. They don’t want thousands of new homes dropped on them with nothing in place like new roads or water and sewer and no known funding for them except massive new taxes. If this vote can be placed on the 2016 primary as it should be, the cost will be small. People should always have the right to change their elected people when they want to and there is cause and there clearly is. Time is of the essence in this case.
I attended several of the previous Tahoe Paradise Park board meetings and was very impressed by the leadership that Sue Novasel demonstrated. Under her leadership transparency has been restored and many good things are happening there.
We need to afford her the time to begin to unravel the many dysfunctions of this county so they can be appropriately dealt with.
It is unfortunate she can’t represent the community regarding the Meyers plan, but she is doing the legally and morally correct thing in abstaining.
I fully support Sue Novasel.
Agree with Justice: “People should always have the right to change their elected people when they want to and there is cause and there clearly is. Time is of the essence in this case.”
Sue can not represent the Meyers community. The public should have a right to try to find someone who can. That’s called democracy. Whether people support keeping or recalling Sue, people should support our right to a democratic process. If they don’t get enough signatures, or a vote is held and the Supervisors are not recalled, so be it.
District 5 is more than Meyers, sorry to break it to everyone that can’t seem to get out of their bubble. Sue Novasel has done her best to represent Meyers in a way that does not include conflict of interest – that is the opposite of corruption. She has represented the ENTIRE district well in her short time in office. The people that are pushing for this are just plain pathetic. There are so many other avenues to pursue to have a voice in government, but this group just goes straight to bullying…not surprising considering JoAnn is involved. She just sealed her case in my mind. And Kenny, seriously, move on. If you were in public office, you be corrupt before the ink was dry.
Robin Smith:
“I had no opinion on the bad language issue until Ms. Kerry used the full “C” word in her publically written language…and LTN’s published it. That little maneuver sealed her fate with me personally.”
Do you have an opinion as to JoAnn Conner’s actual use of the “C” word (not the hyphenated spelling of the word or an abbreviated version) as her only method of referring to former City Council Member Brooke Laine?
Review of the October 19th City Council Special Meeting on the City’s website with the clock timer at 2:59 (2 hours and 59 minutes) through to 3:00 (three hours) provides the actual details to which you refer and apparently have taken such great offense. It’s worthwhile watching that segment.
Look at what’s been going on around Meyers for the last two years and what’s been going on in Placerville, Shingle Springs, El Dorado Hills, for even longer. This isn’t about the State of Jefferson. Maybe that group supports the recall but what has gone on in Meyers alone is reason enough to pursue this.
4-mer-usmc:… “Go Navy!” :)
In these Teabagger times, whenever a group uses the word ‘tyranny’…i get nervous about them.
Robin Smith:
Certainly no surprise as to your response. After all, why be informed when you can make up unfounded statements as you go along. What a pathetic bunch—and all because your cronyism isn’t being permitted to fit your own agendas.
I’m guessing Ms. Conner does not understand that any effort to run again for CC has been extremely undermined by her signing the petition to remove Ms. Novasel. Ms. Novasel’s supporters who live in the city will not vote for her because of what is being viewed as retaliation. Not to mention her personal network through the Wildlife Center, school board, Bear League, etc.
Ms. Conner, I am not sure your reputation can much lower, but you are certainly working hard at getting it into the sub-basement level. You might consider dummying up for the next 6 months so that there is something left of your reputation and business interests.
4-mer-usmc…”you can make up unfounded statements…” quote me one unfounded statement… please
name a “crony”… please
my “agenda/s” is…please
You’ve lost me as I do not ‘do’ politics, race or religion.
So if this frivolous recall effort were to by some insane twist of fate succeed to the point of actually being decided at the ballot box, how much of the cost incurred would those pushing it and the State of Jefferson wingnuts be willing to pay out of their own pockets?
This is just another excellent example of the Tea Party folks advocating for more government while out of the other side of their mouth they pretend to be advocates of less government.
I just have to point out that, the nasty commentary aside, this “process” is part of our civil society. Recall is just one of the tools available to taxpayers for redress. It isn’t an evil plot, it is simply citizens exercising their rights. Unfortunately, it is just another reaction to the perception of inept government. If the County did have so many fiscal issues, this would never have been brought up.
Give the jefferson whackos texas…no rules, no roads, poop in an outhouse, shower in the barn, cook meth without the fear of big brother or gvnmt being an issue. Go ahead, take texas and invite all your cousins to join you. Wo Hoo!
There is another recall effort to remove El Dorado District Attorney Vern Pierson and El Dorado Auditor-Controller Joe Harn, just google “Vern Pierson recall” to see the actual documents and contacts.
Robin Smith:
I don’t believe it’s possible to conduct an intelligent and a rational discussion with you, and I’m not going to waste anymore of my time. You’re not worth it.
4-mer-usmc: Whoaa! horse…pretty heavy language there jar head:)
You mentioned in your article, that Kevin McAllister, in relationship to State of Jefferson.
The El Dorado County Committee for the State of Jefferson, voted and is on record, that we do not support or are involved with this recall or any other recall, that may still come forward for other county elected.
We cannot prevent individuals who wish to sign the recall petition. This vote was taken two weeks ago, with a heavy majority voting not to support recall.
The majority of the people that come to El Dorado County want to live in rural environment. Our Board of Supervisors wants to change that, their economic groups want to change that – it’s interesting that to do that they need funding from the public for their infrastructure and bonds become necessary to “grow” . Many of us came here for a more natural economy, without debt and a rural quality of life, without stack and pack crazy incompatible zoning. When these people ran for office they should have told us they were running to change our rural environment – then having them in office may have been more defensible. Nice job with the name calling on this site, it really distracts from the issue and works to intimidate others from making comments.
Nicely put Sue. I agree.
To clarify, this is not an effort by the MeyersResident ad hoc community group. Some community members were asked if they wanted to sign the Intent to Recall as individuals, and some chose to do so.
The ad hoc group has never advocated for/against anyone in office, never endorsed a candidate, etc. All efforts have been related to the public process for the Area Plan.
What the hell are you people smokin’ in Meyers?! Can we start a petition to have some of the citizens forced to leave El Dorado County? There is more to El Dorado County then Meyers.
They sent out thousands of flyers on the Meyers “plan” and dozens showed up for the meeting. Could it be that only a few dozen people really give a rats @ss about any plan or idea in Meyers?
And the “environment” in Meyers is so “pristine” and all with the sub-divisions, Highways, golf courses, Little Norway, Tveten Town and that three story building behind Lira’s. Heck, reminds me of Desolation Wilderness… NOT!
This “if I don’t get my way I am going to take my marbles home” attitude is so childish.
The “notion” to create Jefferson State started in 1941. The idea was to merge 3 counties from Southern Oregon, Curry, Josephine, Jackson, and 3 counties from Northern California, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc.
So far, Glenn, Modoc, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehema and Yuba have had County Supervisor Votes to leave California. All of these counties have one thing in common, they are all in the bottom 20 for per capita income, household income and family income in the State. Which means that most of the other counties or top 20 in incomes are subsidizing them now.
The “plan” to split California into 6 Separate States is the “brain” child of Tim Draper, son of Bill Draper, who invested in Hotmail Marketing, Skype and Bitcoin.
Tim tried to push for School Vouchers in 2000 with Prop 38 and spent $20 million; Prop 38 was defeated by 70% of the vote. So now, he is trying to split the State into pieces.
Kenny! This is why you lost the election! BTY. California had the most Casualties in the Iraq War of any State at 478 killed. I am not sure these Men and Women went over to Iraq to fight so some venture capitalist could try to split California up; IMO anyway.
JoAnn signs the recall petition then posts “waste of taxpayer money” ???
just when you think people can’t be any dumber…… Nature bats posts again. No wonder mountain folks are known as backwards yokels without teeth. Just read these comments! Wow!
Ps kenny didn’t lose the election, his ponytail did. I’m positive he would have won if he would try to look more like a grown up.
I have wondered if being unable to represent the community in the Meyers Plan was an oversight or a strategy.
Methinks EVIL is not the real JoAnn we know…..
Printing the names of those who signed unfortunately facilitates name-calling and distractions instead of serious discussion about the issue at hand. This is an example of why people are afraid to speak up in public. Also curious how the list got to the media so quickly? Regardless, we hope people can get back to the issue.
Stop. Stop it now. This list of NIMBYs and grudge holders (South Tahoe Chamber board of directors on this petition, I’m looking at you) clearly don’t realize how close the last election was for District 5. A recall makes our community vulnerable to have someone from Pollock Pines elected as our county representative. Sue got the people’s vote and won in a landslide. Period. Although his heart is in the right place, the only other local candidate didn’t have the breadth of experience to make him electable. You guys, we almost had that creepy uncle type guy, Kevin Brown, elected to represent us. Wake up. A recall is divisive and distracting for South Lake Tahoe. If you want to effect some serious change, take this energy and form a citizen’s political action committee to attend El Dorado County BOS meetings, start a letter writing campaign to support the issues you care about, or something that doesn’t make us laughing stock.
Amen Stop the madness! Manny of the recall folks are in pollock pines. It would seem that the South Tahoe Chamber (or people from) is leading the charge to get signatures in Tahoe. Talk about loosing support in Tahoe. I’m getting sick of hearing about bullies. This entire group, all they understand is bullying. Mr. Wallace please tell me your chamber isn’t behind this.
-I will happily sign the petition, as it is about time the BOS learns that you have to work for your district after you get elected.
For instance I cannot believe Novasel was not aware of the various conflicts her widespread family holdings would cause. If disclosed before the election, I would have voted differently. I voted for her, to my ultimate disgust. Very reminiscent of the similar experience with Santiago.
I too doubt that a recall will be successful, but you have to shoot at a target if you want to hit something. And what a rush to do a clean sweep. We could do no worse.
“At least 20 verified signatures were required for the recall process to have gotten to this point.”
Seems like a pretty low bar to get this mess under way. Let’s waste time and money because a few people are disgruntled because the election didn’t go their way.
“Dan Kelly, spokesman for the recall group, did not return a phone call.”
What, Dan’s not doing his job? recall him, I can come up with 20 signatures in an hour or two.
Life….get one.
Cranky; You are the only one to hit the nail on the head as to the reason there is a recall effort. That is the only reason I am responding and I am responding to you. Out of the 21 people who signed the petition 20 were from Lake Tahoe and 1 from Pollock Pines. This has nothing to do with the State of Jefferson movement. The following cut and paste statement is directly from the website that has been started by folks on the west slope to explain the situation. I am a disgruntled resident as well as a (defeated supervisorial candidate) as Kae continues to harp on. This is not personal as I like Sue as a person but she cannot represent us. Yes I know there is more to El Dorado County than just district V but I live here not there and their concerns are not necessarily mine. We need to look out for Numero Uno or Numero 5 as the case may be. I hope this clears up some misconceptions. Kenny
“Grounds to Recall Sue Novasel
Supervisor Novasel’s conflicts of interest run throughout the County. She owns property and/or has business interests in South Lake Tahoe, Meyers, and Placerville. She knew of these conflicts before the election, but that didn’t stop her from running. Since taking office, she has recused herself on several items, including votes regarding the Meyers Area Plan, Heavenly Mountain Resort, and the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Center. She cannot even discuss the Meyers Area Plan with other Supervisors, thus leaving the Meyers area without any directly elected representation on a new Plan that may change the face of their community forever. Some people wonder exactly what she’s getting paid to do.
The public has expressed their concerns. Some have called for her to step down so someone else can truly represent our communities. Many have reached out to Sue, with no reply. She has, in fact, been fairly quiet when it comes to many concerns – especially, as it would at least appear – from people who do not support the large, high-density growth called for in several new plans. We need a Supervisor that can represent our interests and fight for our community, not sit back on the sidelines and let the development interests call the shots.”
It is obvious from reading these comments that Sue N was well aware that she would be unable to represent areas where she had personal financial interests.
The fix was in and she was put in there as a ‘PLACE” holder so to speak.
Kenny. The public expressed their concerns in a VOTE in 2014! The constant whining from Meyers is just sad considering how few really care about a “plan” that has been in the works for years.
Did Tom Davis step down because of his various “conflicts?” No.
The recall folks are the State of Jefferson folks. You can say it’s a separate, which it is, but it’s all the same folks.
So now JoAnn, Kenny and the South Tahoe Chamber are in bed with these folks?
Only you know if your Supervisor represents your interest as a tax payer of El Dorado County or SPECIAL INTEREST poised to profit in El Dorado County. I will be voting in my district. Will you BE VOTING?
Ernie Louis