Nevada County Auditor-Controller, Gina Will’s Threat of a Lawsuit: Doesn’t Add Up
On January 8, 2024, I met with Nevada County Counsel, Kit Elliott, to discuss the reasons for the $50,000 settlement reimbursing County Auditor Gina Will for her attorney fees incurred in her lawsuit against the winning candidate, Rob Tribble.
In a previous email to me Gina Will explained, “I filed the elections contest lawsuit as an individual, but with the interests of the County citizens at the forefront without any expectation or guarantee that legal fees would be recovered.”
August 17, 2023
Sutton Law Firm sent Gina Will a letter outlining their services for representing her with an estimate of $75,000. Gina had already been billed for approximately $25,000.
September 6, 2022
Gina Will, after losing the election to Tribble, filed a claim requesting the County cover $49,900 in her attorney fees, estimated at $75,000, which she would incur in her lawsuit. The Claim accused Gregory Diaz, the then Registrar of Voters, of causing her “injury, damage, or loss” for not verifying Tribble’s qualifications.
California Election Code sec. 13.5 explicitly stated that county elections officials are not required to verify the qualifications of any candidate for auditor. Diaz was required only to certify the election which Tribble won! The verification process and responsibility of proving Tribble’s lack of qualifications was Gina Will’s - not the Registrar of Voters.
November 18, 2022
The Court annulled Tribble’s election as Auditor-Controller and set aside the results of the election.
December 27, 2022
The Supervisor’s clerk of the board rejected Will’s claim for attorney fees.
January 4, 2023
Despite the fact that Will was the loser in the election and despite Will’s claim that she wanted the County to pay her legal expenses, the Board of Supervisors none-the-less appointed her Auditor-Controller without considering anyone else.
March 9, 2023
Rob Tribble paid $80,000 in attorney’s fees to Sutton law firm who represented Will in her lawsuit. This payment should have covered the entire amount of estimated legal fees of $75,000.
March 28, 2023
In closed session, under no formal threat of a lawsuit, the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve Will’s claim for attorney fees in the amount of $50,000. Why the abrupt change from the December 2022 rejection of the claim? And how did the legal fees go from the estimated $75,000 on September 6, 2022, to $130,000?
My question to Ms. Elliott was, why go into private session when there was no documented threat of a lawsuit? Elliott’s response: “there was a threat.” Will’s attorney, James R. Sutton, had “phoned” her and threatened to sue.
On the basis of “one” phone call, Elliott, a seasoned attorney, was threatened enough to convince the Supervisors to authorize a Settlement Agreement without any documentation whatsoever. Risk Management had not provided a document of risk. The Supervisors just took Elliott’s word for the threat. No one questioned the lack of any documentation.
Attorneys write letters. That's what they do. Why wouldn't Elliott demand Sutton to put the threat in writing? Or write a letter countering the threat. No decent attorney would immediately pony up $50,000 of public funds on the basis of one phone call.
Furthermore, why would Gina Will, who had just been awarded the job of Auditor-Controller, along with a staggering yearly salary of $327,524 including benefits, then turn around and threaten to sue the County? Wasn’t the awarded position enough? She certainly had enough income to pay her own legal bills. This debacle makes no sense!
To add to the questionable activities, the Settlement Agreement, signed by Alison Lehman, Kit Elliott, Gina Will, and Will’s attorney Sutton, was to be paid to Will as an individual. However, when the money was paid, it went from the County account and landed in Will’s campaign account.
I asked Elliott who authorized the change in where the payment was sent? The answer: the change in the trajectory of payment was authorized by the auditor-controller department. It would seem Gina Will authorized the payment to go to her campaign account instead of her personal account. One can only wonder at the reason for this.
Using taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes is illegal!
California Government Code sec. 8314(a) states: “it is unlawful for any elected state or local officer, including any state or local appointee, employee, or consultant to use or permit others to use public resources for a campaign activity, or personal or other purposes which are not authorized by law”.
The Supervisors vote to approve the payment does not excuse the fact that it was potentially an illegal use of public funds. Elliott surely should have known there was no legal basis for a lawsuit. There were no errors or omissions by Gregory Diaz that would be a basis for a lawsuit.
None of these scenarios adds up to any thinking person. At the very least, Gina Will should return the public’s money of $50,000 and resign. Threatening to sue the County after the Board of Supervisors provided her with a very lucrative job is unethical! Why would the Supervisors reward her with another $50,000 with no basis?
Clearly, our Nevada County CEO Alison Lehman, County Counsel Kit Elliott, and Board of Supervisors worked in tandem to award Gina Will public resources for personal use or a campaign activity. They were all complicit in the misuse of public funds. CEO Lehman, County Counsel Elliott, and Supervisors have a fiduciary duty to protect public funds, not to capitulate to a baseless threat.
