LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The proponents of an effort to recall the county’s sheriff received approval this week to begin the process of gathering signatures in order to make it onto the ballot later this year.
Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said she notified the recall proponents that they could begin the signature drive to take Sheriff Frank Rivero’s removal from office to a vote. That followed her approval of the format and language of the recall petitions based on state election code.
According to Fridley, the group has 120 days to gather a minimum of 7,026 signatures of registered Lake County voters, with the deadline being Aug. 15. The petitions may only be circulated by registered Lake County voters.
If the proponents want to have the recall election consolidated with the general district election on Nov. 5, she suggested they have the signed petitions submitted by June 17 in order to give her staff time to examine and verify the signatures.
That June date is 91 days before the Nov. 5 election; Fridley said once the Board of Supervisors issues the order of election, it must be held not less than 88 days, nor more than 125 days, later.
The Committee to Recall Rivero and Restore Integrity, www.recallrivero.com , which served Rivero with notice of intention to begin the recall process last month, said it has launched the effort because of his unethical and unprofessional conduct, his failure to keep campaign promises such as forming a citizens’ oversight committee and alienating law enforcement.
However, the group said the main motivation was District Attorney Don Anderson’s decision in February to place Rivero on a list of officers with credibility issues.
Anderson made that decision after spending nearly two years investigating allegations that Rivero lied about a 2008 nonfatal shooting.
Rivero, then a deputy sheriff, shot at a man holding a can of pepper spray, a violation of department policy. According to Anderson’s report, Rivero originally told investigators that he saw the man holding the pepper spray, later changing his story to claim he couldn’t see it.
The recall proponents said that people who want to sign the petitions don’t have to worry about retaliation, as the forms will not be available for anyone to see them.
Fridley confirmed that no one, other than election officials and the committee itself – and in the case of the latter, only if they have insufficient signatures – can look at the forms. She said that is part of the election code and is meant to protect people from repercussions for supporting recalls.
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