Could an unqualified applicant take charge of SLO County’s elections? We may get a clue today

The conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors is not satisfied with the three strongest applicants in the running to replace former County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong.

They voted last week to discuss adding more names to the roster of candidates who will be interviewed for the appointment. They’ll do that at today’s board meeting.

Supervisor Debbie Arnold was particularly adamant about having at least seven candidates to interview — and she chided the selection committee for forwarding only three names from the list of 44 applicants.

Three of the five members of that committee have since announced that they are done.

“Attracting three very qualified candidates is a very good outcome. ... This outcome should be celebrated, rather than considered a disappointment,” they wrote in a letter to the board.

Good for them.

Who might be added?

The question now is which of the remaining unqualified candidates will the board choose to add to the list of finalists.

It seems almost certain they will pick attorney Stew Jenkins, who is not only hoping to be appointed to the job, he also is already running to be elected in 2022.

Jenkins has experience as a civil attorney and public defender; he’s been involved in local partisan politics (he was the Democratic candidate for state Assembly in 2004); and he’s served on the Port San Luis Harbor Commission. But he has zero experience running a county clerk-recorder’s office.

Jenkins has registered voters and has volunteered at polling places during elections, but so have dozens of other San Luis Obispo County residents. That doesn’t qualify them to be in charge of the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

Jenkins also points out that election law has been a “special focus” of his practice.

Indeed, he represented Supervisor Lynn Compton in her court fight to prevent Gong from giving voters the opportunity to correct signatures that didn’t match those that were on file with the elections office. One possible reason for the discrepancy: voters’ hands may have gotten shaky as they aged.

Jenkins argued that those ballots should not be counted. He lost in court, but Compton still won the election. Barely.

Now Compton has the power to appoint Jenkins to be county clerk-recorder — a man who argued against giving voters every opportunity to have their ballot counted.

Another person who could get the nod: David Evans, who served as vice president of a Redwood City auto center up until August. He’s also a former mayor of California City (AKA Cal City) in Kern County, and he’s been a flight instructor, a CPA and a real estate broker, among other positions. An impressive resume but, again, no actual experience in a clerk-recorder’s office.

Lena Legg, assistant city clerk of Bakersfield, has relevant experience, but not nearly as much as the three finalists chosen by the review committee. Still, she’s a possibility.

Other applicants include a police sergeant, the general manager of a hotel, a nanny, a customer service agent with an airline, a rural postal carrier, a plumber, a receptionist and a graphic artist.

These candidates may have admirable qualities, but some would not even qualify for an entry-level position in the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

Minimal qualifications required

Unfortunately, the conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors chose to waste their time — and the time of the review committee — by requiring only that applicants be at least 18, a resident of California and a registered voter.

And now they may very well appoint someone who has no experience as a clerk-recorder, bypassing three exceptionally qualified candidates:

• Jeffrey Barry, a former chief deputy clerk in Yolo County who had a role in 16 elections. Among other duties he “ensured standards in determining voter intent were adhered to.”
• Elaina Cano, Santa a Barbara County elections division manager; former assistant clerk-recorder-registrar in San Luis Obispo County; and former city clerk in Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo.
• Helen Nolan, deputy county-clerk recorder of San Luis Obispo County, who is currently acting clerk-recorder. She knows every function of the department and has conducted six elections.

Yet again, three well-qualified candidates aren’t enough for the board majority. They’d rather add unqualified candidates to the mix.

They are implying that someone with no knowledge of the day-to-day workings of the clerk-recorder’s office could easily take over the job.

Would they do the same if they were filling a department head position in, say, planning or public works or public health? Of course not.

And here’s the frightening part: The applicant they ultimately choose will have a leg up in the 2022 election, because that person will be the clerk-recorder — not the acting or the interim, but the clerk-recorder.

Election law

The sole consolation is this: That person cannot be listed as the incumbent on the ballot; that’s forbidden under state law, according to County Counsel Rita Neal.

Still, there’s no question the candidate will have an advantage, which brings us to another applicant we hope the board will consider today.

He is W. Frank Triggs, a former business manager for the First Assembly of God Church in Bakersfield. He also was a sales rep for the Oregon State Motor Association and a material damage adjuster for an insurance company.

And he has no desire to run for any public office.

“My appointment would assure that there would be an open election without an incumbent on the ballot,” he wrote in his application letter.

If the Board of Supervisors isn’t willing to appoint a qualified candidate, the next best thing just might be to appoint W. Frank Triggs.