Can a county open a fire and build a car behind closed doors? Advocacy group threatens to prosecute visits
An open government advocacy group threatens to prosecute a California county that is preparing to discuss firing its elected sheriff behind closed doors.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, who serves the country’s wealthiest communities, has called for dismissal since an explosive November report by a retired judge found that she may have violated the county’s policies on secretism and conflict relations.
The report said that by 2024, the corpus has “abandoned” the department. This led to a voting measure last year, where voters passed a mandate to remove her from the office by the county board, which they voted to do so in June. The corpus appealed, leading to a scheduled August evidence hearing.
As part of the removal process, Corpus legal team demanded that the removal of the hearing happen behind closed doors.
“The county should refuse,” First Amendment Alliance attorney Aaron Field wrote in a letter to the county board of supervisors. “Unless the sheriff requests, unless the press and the public conduct a dismissal hearing, it will undermine a strong public interest to manage the evacuation hearing transparently, unnecessarily shutting down a critical phase of a process beyond the citizens of St. Matt Dogs.”
The hearing is scheduled to begin on August 18 and is expected to last about 10 days.
Calmatters initially filed a request to open a June dismissal hearing to the public, a request that was denied. The First Amendment Alliance is making the same request to the August recall hearing.
The removal of the corpus – and her struggle with it, including the unsuccessful ban on the litigation – shocked her department and community for nearly a year. Several cities in her county have given her government a vote of distrust, and the union representing her representatives and her sergeant called for dismissal.
A San Mateo County spokesman said the county received a letter from the First Amendment Alliance and would announce the decision soon.
“The county has been saying it should be a completely transparent process, including dismissal at the August appeal hearing,” said San Mateo County spokesman Effie Milionis Verducci. “But the sheriff stopped it.”
The sheriff’s department is still in turmoil, and Cops recently took San Mateo County Sheriff’s sergeant off. The sergeant testified extensively in the second county’s investigation of the corpus. The coalition representing the San Mateo County Sheriff’s opposition, accusing Sgt. of being asked for leave in revenge on his testimony.
Corpus denied that her actions were related to reports in a statement posted to the Sheriff’s Office website.
“His temporary administrative leave is entirely unrelated to any comments or collaborations that may be provided in the Keker report,” Corpus said in a statement.
Duara writes for Calmatters, the article appears for the first time.
