Special election set to fill Nutting’s seat
There will be a special election Sept. 9 to fill the seat of Ray Nutting; the El Dorado County supervisor ousted from office because of his conviction related how he raised bail money.
A judge on June 6 ruled Nutting should be removed from office. On June 17 the Board of Supervisors set the special election.
Estimated cost for the special election is between $80,000 and $100,000.
Candidates for supervisor must be registered voters of district two for at least 30 days immediately preceding the July 29 filing deadline. The nomination period will open June 30.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Why can’t they wait until November when there is an election instead of scheduling a special election at the cost of $80,000-$100,000.
I think nutcase should have to pay for the special election since he is the one that screwed up. Hasnt he cost our county enough? Or maybe add on some more community service time?
The county charter requires the election to be held in 90 days so they can’t wait. Had the supervisors considered this they may have timed their actions differently but I doubt the extra expense to the taxpayers was considered. Also if the court decision is appealed and overturned after the election then Nutting would return to his seat, even after holding an election to replace him. Who needs fiction with this kind of reality!
Hi Dave, I think if they didn’t call for an election the govener could appoint, and they wouldn’t want that.
Lou, that part of the charter was added because when Pat Lowe resigned it took many months for the governor to fill the seat so the charter commission (I was on it) felt that the public deserved representation so this is the way the county is now obligated to handle it and the charter can only be altered by the voting public. The last time there were proposed changes to the charter the citizens actually voted down a proposal to correct some punctuation!