The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) issued a closure letter to Mitchell dated Sept. 23, and posted on its Web site this week at www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=560, reporting that it had closed its investigation into the matter.
“We knew that it was a false charge to begin with and we knew we would be exonerated, but it's nice to have the document that proves it,” Mitchell told Lake County News.
He added, “No candidates and no candidates' supporters for any office should be allowed to make false claims in a campaign and I'm grateful that this one was revealed as such.”
The allegations against Mitchell – who is running for reelection against challenger Francisco Rivero – stemmed from his appearance on June 19 in the Middletown Days Parade.
In the Sept. 23 letter to Mitchell, FPPC Enforcement Division Chief Gary Winuk said the commission concluded that Mitchell “did not use public moneys, in the form of county sheriff resources and personnel, in connection with this campaign activity.”
Winuk continued, “Specifically, our investigation found that, based upon video footage of the event, Sheriff Mitchell had five 'entries' in the Middletown Parade, none of which utilized official sheriff vehicles, equipment or on-duty personnel.”
Mitchell had been accompanied in the parade by numerous off-duty deputies and their families who passed out yellow balloons and marched in the event.
He had used a truck belonging to Supervisor Rob Brown that was adorned with Mitchell and Lake County Deputy Sheriffs Association signs, with children of deputies riding on the truck. Rivero also was in the parade, riding in a convertible.
Lakeport resident Bruce Forsythe, who runs a blog devoted to criticizing Mitchell's administration and opposing his reelection, submitted the complaint to the FPPC, which he signed and dated on June 20, according to a copy of the document obtained by Lake County News.
Forsythe did not respond to an e-mail from Lake County News on Thursday seeking comment.
In a sworn complaint that included a declaration under penalty of perjury that the information was true, Forsythe alleged that Mitchell used sheriff's office vehicles, personnel, K9s, an Office of Emergency Services trailer and other equipment for campaign purposes during the parade.
“Sheriff Mitchell adorned some of this equipment with campaign signs and slogans,” Forsythe alleged.
“The other individual running for the sheriff and who is in a runoff with sheriff Mitchell in November was relegated to doing the right thing with no public monies used by riding in his own vehicle,” Forsythe wrote, referring to Rivero.
Listed as witnesses in the case were Alvina Vecellio, Joe Ford and Renee Burkdoll, all at the time active Rivero supporters. Since then, however, Burkdoll and Ford have stated that they are no longer supporting Rivero's election.
Forsythe further alleged that a county supervisor was involved in misusing public equipment. He did not name the supervisor in the complaint, but at the Board of Supervisors' June 22 meeting, Forsythe and Burkdoll appeared and accused Brown of taking part in what they alleged were illegal activities.
At that time Forsythe said he had submitted the complaint to the FPPC and called on the board to investigate both Mitchell and Brown and “quickly and seriously” review the matter.
Brown told Forsythe he welcomed the investigation, and asserted that Forsythe had given the commission incorrect information to begin with. “You gotta be able to respond to misinformation,” Brown said.
County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News this week that the FPPC did not discuss the investigation with the county, and that such matters are kept separate.
She said the county didn't take any independent action on the matter.
“If anybody believes that there is any kind of conduct that hasn't been fully addressed by the state agency, the county will certainly respond to it,” she said.
The FPPC received Forsythe's complaint on July 8. FPPC Executive Director Roman Porter sent Forsythe a letter dated July 13 informing him that the commission would investigate the allegations.
Mitchell said the complaint was sent to the sheriff's department, not to the campaign, because the allegation had to do with department usage of resources.
He spoke to Winuk and provided him with a copy of a video of the parade.
“I just let the video speak for itself,” Mitchell said, explaining that there was a clear separation between county vehicles and his own campaign entries.
Nor were there campaign balloons on any sheriff's department apparatus, he said. “It just didn't happen.”
Porter told Lake County News this week that, according to statute, the FPPC can investigate matters based on two methods – sworn complaints and investigations undertaken through the commission's own initiative.
People can go to the FPPC Web site and print out a complaint form, then mail it in. The form can be found at www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=498.
Upon receiving the complaint form, the FPPC must decided whether or not to investigate, Porter explained. If the FPPC chooses to launch an inquiry, it notifies the person who will be investigated within three days of receiving the complaint, and within 14 days of getting the complaint the commission notifies the complainant of its decision to investigate.
Once the FPPC decides to open an investigation, it doesn't make any additional information available to the public or the person who made the complaint until the investigation's conclusion, Porter said.
When the FPPC issues closure, advisory or warning letters, those letters are posted on the FPPC Web site within 10 days of sending them to the subject of the complaint, a practice the commission recently started, Porter said. At about the same time as the letters are posted online, the person who submitted the complaint also is notified of the outcome.
Mitchell said of Forsythe's complaint, “It was a malicious act to malign not just me but the entire sheriff's department, and every time someone does that they seek to undermine the public's confidence in us, and that's not fair to the members of the department, it's definitely not fair to the public.”
On Wednesday, a comment was posted on Forsythe's blog under the moniker “Lovelace” – one of many names Forsythe posts under – claiming that when the FPPC complaint was filed “it was already known that it would not be found to be using public resources, and we also knew it would take until after the parades were over for the finding to come out.”
Later in the post it stated that using the FPPC complaint process worked so well that another complaint has been lodged regarding Mitchell's use of handouts and “we know the answer to the inquiry already.”
If false complaints are knowingly submitted, it's prosecutable, said Porter.
“If a commission finds evidence that an individual perjures themselves in filing a complaint, we would be very concerned with that, and if the facts warrant, would refer that to the district attorney for appropriate charges,” Porter said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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