Chico City Clerk Fails to Comply with Election Code

Dec 16

Chico is still a pretty small town and it's to be expected that the city clerk has a specific point of view and local friends who share it. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.

We've had concerns about the city clerk's office going back to when nothing was done about Kami Denlay living in Red Bluff while serving as a Chico City Councilmember, and admitting she lied on her election documents, using "decoy addresses" instead of her actual residence. (Kami is also pictured here along with Debbie and multiple notice signers) Nonetheless, we were still stunned by Wednesday's release of the 2019 Stone/Ory Notice of Intent to Recall documents.

The exact same things that were given a pass on a filing by friends of Chico City Clerk Debbie Presson were cited as a reason to reject the notices in the latest recall.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐤 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧.

The reasons Presson gave for rejecting the notices for recalling Coolidge and Morgan included:

1. Names and addresses of signers pre-printed
2. Names and addresses filled in by one person and signed by the named person
3. Names (printed and written) do not match the signature

In addition, the consequence for the one error Presson identified on her friends petition was quite different.

1. Presson accepted an "amended" document and did not require the group to re-serve the affected councilmember.
2. The aforementioned ‘paperwork error’ was also not broadcast to the various media outlets as it was for the Coolidge/Morgan rejection. Instead, it was quietly, and illegally, corrected.
3. The ‘correction’ of this ‘paperwork error’ was to simply white-out the names, addresses, and signatures on the Notice. This is another violation of California Election Code.

Asked to comment on the discrepancies in application of election law, Ms. Presson completely ignored the question of her own behavior, instead nattering on about how "I can’t help it if there were errors on their [Morgan and Coolidge recall proponents] part." Thursday, Ms. Presson told the Chico ER, “In regards to the 2019 (notices of intent) containing typed in names and addresses in the attempted recall of Ory/Stone, the same rules would have applied,” Presson said. “However, that issue was not brought to my attention.”

Don't take our word for it. You can review the documents below, along with a picture that clarifies the nature of the conflicts of interest here.

Hope you are ready for change in 2022. We sure are.