The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will interview six applicants for appointment to the open county clerk-recorder/elections chief position, including one from their own board’s ranks and two high-ranking officials in the Clerk-Recorder’s office.
Those interviews, which will be public, are set for Jan. 21 in the supervisors’ chambers in the main County Administration Building at 651 Pine St. in downtown Martinez. Each interview will probably last 20 to 30 minutes, and will begin after the board’s Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration, likely in the early afternoon.
Acting Clerk-Recorder Deborah Cooper of Danville and Scott Konopasek, county assistant registrar of voters, of Walnut Creek, were asked to come in for interviews next week.
Also asked to come in for interviews were County Supervisor Karen Mitchoff of Pleasant Hill, former 16th District state Assemblywoman Catharine Baker representing parts of Contra Costa and Alameda County; political
campaign consultant and former foundation CEO Mark Friedman of El Cerrito; and Kristin Connelly of Lafayette, president and CEO of the East Bay Leadership Council.
Baker, an attorney who since 2011 has worked in election and political law, is the only of the 22 applicants who doesn’t live in Contra Costa County. She lives in Dublin, “a half-mile south of Contra Costa County as the crow flies,” she said after Tuesday’s hearing.
Her family had been planning a move to Contra Costa after her twins finish high school in 2021, she said, but would make the move sooner if she is appointed clerk-recorder. Elected officials, or people appointed to serve out elected positions, must live in that county.
Mitchoff, who wasn’t present Tuesday, has said she intends only to serve out Canciamilla’s term if selected.
Among the 16 hopefuls not picked to move forward were several current and former City Councilmembers in Contra Costa cities, including Concord Councilwoman Laura Hoffmeister.
If Mitchoff intends only to serve out Canciamilla’s term if selected, I wouldn’t select her. If for no other reason, it doesn’t sound like she really wants it. Give it to someone who wants the position long term.
The optics of a Mitchoff appointment would be terrible for the Board of Supervisors. I just can’t believe the Board would be seriously considering Mitchoff as a candidate. If she is appointed charges of cronyism and smelly back room deals would fill newspapers and the blogs for weeks.
Times columnist Dan Borenstein has already blasted the proposed appointment of Mitchoff, saying Mitchoff is only trying to spike her county pension. Because Mitchoff is saying she only wants to finish out Cancimilla’s term you can kind of conclude Borenstein is right. Mitchoff’s proposed candidacy is just a big money grab by Mitchoff.
Simple common sense tells you if Mitchoff got the job she would put in few hours at the job, she has got her eye on retirement in a couple of years, so this big play she is making to get the county clerk appointment is an obvious scheme to hold down a cushy 220,000 job for a few years, and then ride off into the sunset with one of these bloated mega-pensions.
Instead of Mitchoff, the Board needs to apoint a younger person to the job, one who is going to put a lot of hours into the job. The job of County Clerk is an important one – elections are important. So is the role the clerk plays in monitoring campaign contributions. We taxpayers deserve to have somebody holding this job who will work hard, 220K is a lot of money, you want the best person you can get for this job.
The best candidate, clearly, is Catherine Baker. Her backround as a highly skilled lawyer,- her service as a California legislator, these things really set her apart. So does her reputation for integrity.
If the Board appoints Baker it would send the following message to voters and taxpayers. Cronyism – or who you know – is not the criteria for a big county job anymore, we want the best.
I predict, given the shennanigans you’ve seen with longtime county elected officials Mark Peterson, Joe Canciamilla, and more recently Gus Kramer, the Board will appoint the brilliant Catherine Baker to the open County Clerks position, and I believe they will be widely praised for the appointment as well.
What happened to Laura? Don’t tell me she was asked to step down. She was asked to step down for Mitchoff once before when she ran the first time for the County Supervisor seat. Or was she just not invited to interview?
It’s irrelevant as they have determined that Mitchoff is the County Clerk. As for Laura???? Perhaps Karen’s BoS spot.
It has to be humiliating for Hoffmiester to not get a second interview. As a Concord City Council person she probably would normally get a second interview, if only as a courtesy
But Hoffmiester has been on the city council for 30 years, she is clearly no longer an up and comer politician. In fact, the opposite is true, she has gotten about about as stale as you can get as an elected official. I think an apt description of her is “fossilized ” Laura Hoffmiester.
I see a parallel between her candidacy and Supervisor Karen Mitchoff’s. Both women are aging local elected officials that have been around forever. It’s clear both are well past their prime, both really are showing thier respective ages these days.
One candidate that is clearly in her prime years is applicant Catherine Baker, the former Assembly women. Appointing Baker would be a master stroke for the Board of Supervisors. The brilliant Baker is a natural fit for this job if only for her legal skills, but on top of that Baker is a very, very impressive person .
When Baker served in Sacramento she was so highly regarded people would stand up when she entered the room, like she was a Governor or something. Baker’s Sacramento ties, I should mention, would be very helpful in this job, no question about that.
I like the fact that Baker is a Republican. Actually, Baker is barely a Republican, she is about as liberal as you can get as a Republican, but she is still very sensible.
The county clerk job is a non-partisan job, the appointment of the savvy Baker by the board, a Republican, would signal to Republican and independent voters that not all county jobs are reserved for Democrats. That would be a good message to send to voters that are not Democrats. Contra Costa is not a one party town, we actually now have lots of registered independents, along with Democrats and Republicans.
I myself can’t believe the board of Supervisor will pass up the chance to appoint Catherine Baker to the open County Clerk job. She would be a terrific appointment – the board will be getting praise from all quarters by making this appointment.
Dammit Lars, do you not see the optics of calling female politicians “stale”, “fossilized”, and “past their prime”? Do you describe our countless “mature” male politicians that way? Or do they get to be “august”, “wise”, and “experienced”?
And for the record, I am ALL of those things. “seasoned”, too!
The “optics?” Isn’t that just another way of saying it looks bad because it isn’t “politically correct” … even if it’s true? Lars is not saying all older women are “fossilized,” just Laura Hoffmeister. Based solely on what she has done for Concord and Clayton, I certainly don’t think you can honestly say she is “mature, “august” “wise,” or “experienced.”
Why do we have to recycle washed up politicians? How much does the job pay and what are its qualifications?
I’m certain ‘optics’ and various ‘considerations’ will ‘inform the decision of the Board of Supervisors. I lost hope for anything resembling honest government in California a long time ago. We are harvesting all of the corruption, dishonesty and mismanagement you’d expect under single-party rule.
So…expect the dead to vote in record numbers, illegal aliens to help in any close races, and new taxes to be diverted (again) to ‘other priorities’.
Since the Board of Supervisors has shown they cannot select candidates with integrity and high character, the board must select a person whose integrity on beyond reproach with strong leadership skills.
They are looking for a candidate with LESS integrity than they possess. They don’t want to be shown up.
Chuckie – they possess less than zero integrity so…
The job is Mitchoffs and the production is just a dog & pony show
Agree that Catharine Baker is the best qualified. She can hit the ground running and is fair, independent and has expertise with both the elections law side as well as the recording/vital records side. She has also received the Clean Money Champion Award as well as the We The People Award. Suggest people email the Supervisors to share their opinions. Here are the email addresses: john_gioia@bos.cccounty.us, supervisorandersen@bos.cccounty.us, supervisor_burgis@bos.cccounty.us and district5@bos.cccounty.us You can also publicly comment at the Board meeting which is this Tuesday at 1pm at the County Building – 651 Pine St in Martinez.