Nathan Pinkney — spurned Tuesday by hardline conservatives on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors who voted down his nomination to the county's elections commission advisory panel — said that his political career isn't over.“I will say that it doesn’t deter me," said Pinkney, a community activist who at times has sparred with the supervisors who voted against his appointment to the Shasta County Elections Commission.
"I do plan on attempting to run for (Redding) City Council, so this isn’t the end of my political aspirations in Shasta County. I think if anything, it’s the beginning of it. I’m not too worried about this. I came into this expecting them to deny me, but I do appreciate the people that spoke in support, and I do appreciate (Supervisors) Tim (Garman) and Mary (Rickert) for believing in me.”
The Redding City Council election is in November.
Supervisors Kevin Crye, Chris Kelstrom and Patrick Jones were in the 3-2 majority not to appoint Pinkney to the citizens’ panel.
The vote came after chaotic and rancorous public comment from Pinkney supporters and critics that was punctuated by hostilities boiling over between Garman and Crye just before the vote was taken.
Supporters said Pinkney would bring balance to the commission, which now has only three members who were all appointed by the board’s hardline conservative majority.
One commission member, Patty Plumb, supported a lawsuit that a judge tossed out of court last week after agreeing county elections officials did not illegally alter the outcome of the March 5 primary. The suit was filed by Laura Hobbs, who lost the District 2 supervisor race in March.
The board’s majority issued a statement in early June that appeared to back an allegation that Hobbs made in the lawsuit.
Pinkney's opponents on Tuesday cited his character and at times disruptive behavior at meetings as reasons to not appoint him to the commission.
Going into the meeting, Crye was viewed as the swing vote because Garman had said the District 1 supervisor assured him that he would support Garman if he made a nomination to the elections commission.
Addressing that, Crye said before Tuesday's meeting he'd looked at the supervisors’ rules for appointing and they stated, among other things, that the members must be "of good character."
“When I told Supervisor Garman I would support your appointment, I meant that," said Crye. "What I should have said was 'as long is it is by our bylaws that we’ve adopted,' because I believe in the sanctity of the office of which we serve, not about the politics,” Crye said, adding that none of the correspondence he's had with Pinkney "conveys to me good character. I will be voting no."
Garman countered by saying he anticipated Crye would not vote for Pinkney, even though Crye said multiple times that he would, “including the text the other day.”
“I know you better than that. And I know you’re a well-known liar,” Garman said before the chamber erupted in applause and jeers.
Crye then accused Garman of tearing the community apart.
“You talk about good character. When you lose your honesty and you lie to people, maybe you need to look in the mirror,” Garman said.
Garman then asked for County Counsel Joseph Larmour to define good character and what it means under the board’s rules. Larmour told Garman it’s subjective “because there is no definition.”
“There is no definition, so with that you should be voting” for Pinkney, Garman said.
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After the meeting, Pinkney said citing character to deny him a seat on the commission was a cop out.
“They found a way to deny it using a term of my lack of moral character or something that’s in the guidelines of being a commissioner. But even the county counsel clarified that was a subjective statement and there was clearly a lot of other people that believe I do have good moral character,” Pinkney said.
Garman’s first appointment to the elections commission, Dawn Duckett, resigned in March, saying the advisory board should be disbanded because it was a waste of time and county resources.
Among the advisory panel's recommendations to supervisors has been to create a local ordinance to hand count votes in elections, which would defy state law. Garman agreed with Duckett and said for that reason, he would not nominate someone to replace her.
But after the board’s conservative majority voted to appoint Thomas Toller, a former prosecutor with no experience in managing an elections department, as the county's new registrar of voters, Garman changed his mind.
Had the job gone to Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut and not Toller, Garman said he would have left the commission seat vacant.
Before the vote on Tuesday, Garman said he spoke to Pinkney about the job multiple times. “I had him in my office yesterday and we talked about this, are you taking this seriously or are you taking this as joke?” Garman said.
“I believe that he’s talking this seriously and this is our opportunity for our county to grow, because if we cannot start working together...this county has no chance, this state has no chance and this country has no chance,” he said.
Garman also said if Pinkney became disruptive on the commission, he would look into it. “And Nathan, if you get to that point, I will remove you,” Garman added.
After the meeting, Garman told the Record Searchlight that he plans to nominate someone else, but declined to identify the person because he wants to talk to the candidate first.
Garman doubts the person will be approved.
“They will just keep voting no on my appointments, probably Mary, too, if she were to appoint someone,” Garman said in a text message. “I also suspect they will change the rules to allow them to appoint if a seat sits open for too long, essentially guaranteeing themselves that they could continue to decline who Mary and I bring forward, and then just pick their extremist to fill the positions.”
Supervisors officially appoint Toller as new clerk/registrar of voters
Also at Tuesday's meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 to appoint Toller as Shasta County clerk/registrar of voters, replacing Cathy Darling Allen, who retired in May due to health reasons.
Supervisors Crye, Jones and Kelstrom voted to appoint Toller.
Supervisors Garman and Rickert voted no. They wanted Assistant Registrar of Voters Francescut to get the job. Francescut has worked in the elections office for 16 years and has run the office since November.
Francescut has said she intends to stay in her position as assistant clerk and registrar to help ensure the November election goes smoothly in Shasta County. She was sitting in the audience with Toller at Tuesday's meeting.
Toller told supervisors during last month's public candidate interviews that he was a semi-retired lawyer who worked for many years as a prosecutor in the Shasta County District Attorney's Office. He has no experience running a county elections department.
Toller will serve the remainder of Darling Allen's term, which runs through 2026.
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 X, formerly Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
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