Candidates for Shasta County Board of Supervisors reveal where they stand, what's at stake
David Benda Redding Record Searchlight
With the potential of major change coming to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, more than 170 people filled the Central Valley community room in Shasta Lake on Wednesday evening for a two-hour candidates’ forum.
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters, candidates were asked eight questions ranging from their priorities to their position on local measures that will be on March 5 ballot.
Up for grabs are seats in District 2, District 3 and District 4. Nine candidates, including two incumbents, are on the ballot.
Here are the candidates:
District 2: Susanne Baremore, Laura Hobbs, Allen Long, Daniel Slone
District 3: Win Carpenter, Corkey Harmon, Mary Rickert (incumbent)
District 4: Patrick Jones (incumbent), Matt Plummer
Wednesday’s forum can be viewed on the League of Women Voters Redding Area Facebook page.
Here are five takeaways from the evening.
‘Critical time in the history of our county’
It was during the closing remarks portion of the forum that some of the candidates summed up what’s at stake on March 5.
Referencing former President Ronald Reagan during his 1980 race with former President Jimmy Carter, District 4 candidate Plummer asked residents if their life is better than it was four years ago.
“I think that is questions we should use to hold our elected officials accountable," Plummer said. “If you look at the dimensions that matter to our everyday lives, they’ve been getting worse and worse.”
Plummer said it comes down to: Do you want to vote for the current leadership that has had the opportunity the last four years to solve issues that plague the county, or vote for someone who will bring a new perspective to the board?
District 4 Incumbent Jones countered that the county is on the right track.
“I am very proud of the majority of this board. We have done a lot of work. We’re going to do a lot of work this year. If you like the direction that we’re going, I’d ask for your vote. We’re not running the county down. We’re lifting this county up to the position that it needs to be,” Jones said.
Both District 3 candidate Carpenter and District 2 candidate Long emphasized the importance of the election, too, with Carpenter reminding the audience that elections have consequences and to research and get to know each candidate before voting.
“We are at a critical time in the history of our county,” Long said. “This may be the most important election since I’ve been here 32 years. Our government is falling apart. We are getting distracted from the mission of the people."
“My goal is to restore our county government into a functioning government where we respect department heads, we bring that stability in our department, we put faith back in our department heads, we value our employees, we pay them a living wage,” Long added.
District 2 candidate Baremore also vowed to get Shasta County "back on the rails" if she is elected.
She added that she wants to get "the county working in a functioning capacity. Again, emboldening and supporting and empowering our department heads to do the jobs that we need done."
Jail, public safety and homelessness
Candidates agreed that getting a new jail built, doing more to stop crime and helping the unsheltered were important issues that the county needs to address in the coming years.
But some differed on how to tackle the problems.
Jones said the county’s top priority this year is to expand the current jail in downtown Redding, adding more beds at a cost of about $125 million.
“This probably will be the county’s most expensive endeavor that we’ve ever undertaken,” Jone said, calling it a “state-of-the-art” facility with programs to help inmates.
He said the county can’t afford to build a new jail at another site, but Jones and others who support an expansion have yet to detail how they’d come up with the estimated $125 million to get it done.
At the Jan, 30 supervisors’ meeting, County Executive Officer David Rickert said the old courthouse next to the jail could be part of the jail expansion. But he also said an environmental study will have to be conducted to determine whether that’s feasible. David Rickert, who is not related to Mary Rickert, did not say how much that will cost.
Rickert said he has had meetings with county officials to discuss funding sources for the expansion. But he did not give specifics, only saying those details would come later.
Long, a retired Redding police lieutenant, said he would not expand the current jail and supports what Sheriff Michael Johnson proposed in 2022 — building a new jail on property south of Highway 44 and east of Airport Road.
“Which will have a mental health component, drug addiction component and it would also be additional bed space. So that’s what I’m going to work tirelessly toward getting that facility built and I got a lot of ideas of how creatively we can get to that point,” Long said.
District 3 Supervisor Rickert said homelessness and mental health are two huge issues plaguing the county. She talked about the benefits of jail-based treatment programs and the importance of medical-assisted treatment in the jail.
District 2 candidate Hobbs said homelessness is a law enforcement issue and that there are laws on the books that must be enforced.
Whether it's homelessness or mental health outcomes, the county needs to set community goals and publish them on its website so residents could track the progress and hold elected officials and department heads accountable, Plummer said.
District 2 candidate Sloan, a board member of the Good News Rescue Mission, said his financial background would help tackle the county’s homeless problem.
“I probably have more education than most. Don’t blame me for that, but it’s a good thing and I am able to use that to maximize what we get,” said Sloan, who is also chair of the Shasta County Republican Central Committee.
Should Shasta become a charter county?
Voters will be asked on March 5 to decide if Shasta should become a charter county. Candidates on Wednesday were asked what their position was on Measure D.
District 4 Supervisor Jones, who supports it, said it will give the county control in appointing a vacancy on the board of supervisors.
That's a scenario that could happen if District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye is recalled on March 5, leaving a vacancy to be filled.
“There’s only one thing on the charter and what is says if there’s a vacancy within the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, instead of the governor picking that, the board has three options. We can either appoint, we can have a special election or let it go to an election. I think it’s a very big thing,” Jones said.
Plummer said he supports the concept of the charter county, but he does not think supervisors should have the ability to appoint a vacancy on the board. That should be up to the district’s voters in a special election, he said.
District 3 incumbent Rickert, who does not support Shasta becoming a charter county, agreed.
“I am a firm believer that the board should not appoint. I think the people in that district should have the opportunity to vote for their representative,” she said.
Long also doesn’t support Measure D and called it just another thing the board’s majority has “rushed through” this year.
Standing for the pledge
Taking a page from 2022, when Shasta County Superintendent of Schools candidate Bryan Caples insisted at a League of Women Voters forum that he be allowed to stand and lead audience members in the Pledge of Allegiance, District 2 candidate Hobbs started her opening remarks by leading everyone in the pledge.
There was no controversy this time. Nearly everyone stood and followed Hobbs’ lead.
Moderator Susan Morris Wilson, the league’s Redding chapter president, told the Record Searchlight that after what happened in 2022, the League of Women Voters decided if candidates wanted to say the pledge, they could.
“I thought it went fine,” Morris Wilson said. “The League of Women Voters, in our usual procedures, does not do the Pledge of Allegiance. Nowhere in the United States does the League of Women Voters say the pledge prior to their forums.”
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell’s name comes up
Hobbs lists Mike Lindell as one of her supporters on her campaign website and during her closing remarks on Wednesday, she reminded the audience that the My Pillow CEO has endorsed her.
Lindell's name made news in Shasta County and brought national attention to the North State when District 1 Supervisor Crye traveled to Minnesota in early 2023 to meet with Lindell.
Lindell has pushed debunked theories about voting machines manipulating election results.
Crye's trip took place a little over a month after Crye, Jones and Chris Kelstrom were in the 3-2 majority to terminate the county’s contract with Dominion Voting System and lead the county on a path to hand count ballots in local elections. The plan became moot when the state passed a law last October that bans manual counts in all but the smallest counties in California.
State law notwithstanding, Hobbs has continued to push hard for the county to tally votes by hand and she reminded the audience of that on Wednesday.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-225-8219. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
