District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon. Photo by R.V. Scheide.
This is an open letter to Shasta County District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon, from whom I believe to be the majority of the citizens of Shasta County when it comes to the recent vacancy in the Registrar of Voters/County Clerk Office.
In case you missed the news, ROV Thomas Toller announced he was stepping down from the position earlier this week due to health issues.
Normally, I would hesitate to speak for Shasta County’s majority, preferring my own peculiar point of view.
But after attending Thursday afternoon’s special meeting on this topic, I’m convinced that the majority of Shasta County citizens prefer that Joanna Francescut, a 16-year veteran of the ROV/Clerk’s office, take her rightful role at the head of the department.
When I say Francescut has a right to the ROV/Clerk position, I’m referring to the hierarchy of meritocracy, which as the owner of Mountain Gate Quarry and Stimpel-Wiebelhaus Associates, I know you appreciate, Mr. Harmon.
If you have to delegate authority, you want the best man or woman for the job. That’s often the person who’s been standing by your side, just like Francescut stood by former ROV/Clerk Cathy Darling Allen’s side for 16 years.
Promoting Francescut to ROV is the natural order of things, as is the election she’ll face next year.
That’s why the audience that gathered at the special meeting held in the Redding City Council chambers Thursday overwhelmingly supported the direct appointment of Francescut to the ROV/Clerk position.
That roar you heard in the chambers wasn’t against you, it was for Francescut.
However, there are those who would defy this natural order. I call them election deniers, they call themselves election integrity specialists, and they’ve been mucking up Shasta County’s election works since at least 2020.
Corkey, if I may call you Corkey, as a journalist with more than three decades of experience, I depend on reliable information. That’s why I have a personal policy of not reporting anything our local election deniers say, because 99 percent of it is bullshit.
For example, one denier at Thursday’s special meeting insisted that just because someone has experience, does not mean that they’re not a part of swamp cronyism which is exactly the opposite of meritocracy.
Another speaker claimed that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was simply a ruse, an attempt to convince people that they were being denied the right to vote.
Mr. Harmon, this is a bald-faced insult to not just all of your employees, but to women, Latinos, Blacks, and other minority groups who were once denied voting rights across the United States.
As the late great Rodney King asked, “Can’t we all get along?”
The answer is apparently no, and in this case it all boils down to your colleague, District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye.
As one speaker noted Thursday afternoon, Chair Crye doesn’t want solutions. He’s a dictator who feasts on chaos.
When District 2 Supervisor Allen Long courageously made a substitute motion to appoint Francescut to the ROV/Clerk position at Thursday’s meeting, Crye immediately attempted to shut Long down.
“I have to say, Supervisor Long, I’m really shocked,” Crye screeched, freaked out that Long would dare to challenge him.
A lengthy back-and-forth between Crye and Long erupted that need not be mentioned further here, mainly because Crye’s responses were completely incoherent.
Corkey, if I may call you Corkey, I was watching your face as a vacuum formed in the room waiting for you to fill it. You were ready to step in and offer your own two-cents just like you did at that last board meeting.
At the last board meeting, you supported Supervisors Plummer and Long’s request for a strategic plan consultant because in your own extensive business experience, you’ve come to value business consultants.
This time around, perhaps the timing wasn’t right, since District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer was absent. It’s OK to keep your powder dry.
But you can still be a hero, Mr. Harmon. You, Matt Plummer and Allen Long can form a formidable common sense alliance that moves beyond the insane politics of our recent past.
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