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Yet Another Former Elections Commissioner Explains Why the Commission Should be Abolished

Brad Garbutt

Brad Garbutt

Where do I start?

Shasta County Election commissioners are bound by oaths, rules and bylaws they agree to follow prior to serving. First, there is the oath of office, which includes the promise to defend and uphold the State and Federal constitutions. Second, there are the commission bylaws, which clearly state that the commission will only make lawful recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. Third, there are the Rosenberg’s Rules of Order, which governs how the commission will conduct meetings and treat fellow commissioners. Lastly, there is the Brown Act, which governs how commissioners communicate with each other and the public.

During my short tenure on the Shasta County Elections Commission, I observed all these laws and rules being violated by the commissioners appointed by District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye, District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom and District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones.

Prior to my appointment by former District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert, the commission recommended in February 2024 that the Board of Supervisors instruct the Elections Office to ignore AB 969, a law that prohibits hand counting any election where there are more than one thousand registered voters. They wanted the March Primary and all subsequent election hand counted. This recommendation violated their oath of office and commission bylaws. Shortly after my appointment, the commission recommended to the board we go back to limited absentee ballots and one-day voting, eliminating the method 90% of voters choose to vote, which is vote by mail. Again, this recommendation violated their oath of office and the commission bylaws. Then there were two violations of Rosenberg’s Rules of order. Both Chairperson Lund and Commissioner Hansen dressed me down personally during their time to give commissioner reports. I was called a criminal and a liar for disagreeing with them and pointing out lies spun by Partrick Jones during his interview on One America News. This violates the section of Rosenberg’s Rules of Order regarding decorum. Lastly, I witnessed Patty Plumb violate the Brown Act when she attended the evening meeting of the Board of Supervisors following the November election. Without saying she was speaking as a private citizen, she told the board and the public the election results should not be certified unless there was a full hand count. By default, she was speaking for the entire election commission even though she may have been expressing her private opinions.

The commission has succeeded at two things. One, wasting tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and countless hours of county staff time, particularly of those employed at the County Counsel’s and County Clerk’s offices. No election commission recommendations forwarded have been placed on agenda for a vote by the Board of Supervisors other than changing the name from Advisory Commission to Election Commission. Their recommendations never saw the light of day, likely due to County Counsel determining the recommendations were unlawful, unenforceable and unconstitutional.

Two, they have succeeded in forming 19 ad hoc committees that have never reported back with any recommendations. Most of these ad hoc committee terms expired before any report was brought back for discussion. Either the ad hoc committee members didn’t like what they discovered, or they never researched the issues they targeted for investigation.

It is time to abolish the platform former Supervisor Patrick Jones created to perpetuate baseless conspiracy theories and stop wasting precious taxpayer dollars of Shasta County citizens. If supervisors Crye and Kelstrom wish to continue the election commission circus, then Supervisors Corkey Harmon, Allen Long and Matt Plummer should consider not appointing anyone to replace those who have quit, or had their terms expire. Then the commission would die quietly for lack of a quorum.

Brad Garbutt,
Shasta County Realtor

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