For the second time in two years, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is contemplating appointing somebody to guide a district that they've lived in for lower than a month.
On Tuesday, the board will interview candidates to function District 2’s latest supervisor, a place that has been vacant since Supervisor Richard Valle handed away in February. One of many main contenders is Ariana Casanova, a political coordinator and subject consultant for the Service Workers Worldwide Union.
Since Casanova threw her hat within the ring in March, questions have been raised about her eligibility for the place. On her utility, she said that she has solely lived in District 2 for a month. Casanova moved to the district, which covers Fremont, Hayward and Union Metropolis, on February 19.
Jason Bezis, an legal professional for the Alameda County Taxpayers Affiliation, filed a public touch upon March 26 arguing that the board was violating its personal guidelines, and that Casanova shouldn't be thought of. Alameda County Administrative Code requires candidates to have lived of their district for at the very least a yr to be eligible to run in an election. Though the board is appointing the brand new supervisor, Bezis argues that their votes represent an election.
“She is ineligible to be appointed,” Bezis wrote in his remark.
In 2021, an identical controversy arose when the Board of Supervisors appointed David Brown to serve the rest of District 3 Supervisor Wilma Chan’s time period. Brown had solely lived within the county for 4 days when he was chosen to function county supervisor.
“With Dave Brown, it was a distinct state of affairs; he was chief of employees for Wilma Chan,” District 1 Supervisor David Haubert mentioned in an interview. “It was an ideal caretaker state of affairs.”
Though Richard Valle’s time period extends one other three years, whoever is appointed by the board must run within the subsequent election in March of 2024. The winner of that election would then serve two years earlier than one other election is held in 2026 for a full four-year time period.
Casanova can be eligible to run within the 2024 election.
“I’m conscious that the County has already examined the difficulty of residency, as have authorized groups retained by my supporters and my candidate committee,” Casanova wrote in a press release. “My authorized crew has offered me with a written opinion that I'm eligible to be appointed and to run and I assume County Counsel concurs—in any other case I wouldn’t be persevering with within the interview course of. If there may be additional elaboration wanted, I'm pleased to direct my authorized counsel to contact the County Counsel’s workplace so any lingering questions might be addressed in a factual, complete and clear method.”
Haubert mentioned the board’s counsel has suggested them that there's a distinction between working for election and being appointed, and that candidates are eligible so long as they're residents of the district on the time they're chosen.
“We have been suggested that David Brown fulfilled that requirement. I consider we have been suggested that proper now Ariana Casanova fulfills that requirement,” Haubert mentioned. “So I’m pleased to have her be thought of.”