Nevada County Auditor Gina Will Appointment Similar to Coronation of Kamala Harris
As a nation, we are now headed from another monumental federal election between former President Donald J. Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris. During the primary elections this year, President Trump won every single state except New Hampshire on his path to the Republican nomination for president defeating eight other candidates. Also, during the primary elections, President Joseph R. Biden won every single state on his way to the Democratic party nomination defeating two minor candidates.
Biden Withdraws and Without Receiving any Votes Harris is Appointed as the Democrat Nominee
Following the primary elections and after a disastrous debate against the Republican nominee, Trump, Biden officially withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and his rematch with Trump. In a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter), Biden stated, “I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Instead of having an open election for the Democratic nomination following Biden’s withdrawal and without Harris receiving a single vote in the primaries, the Democrat party installed Harris as the Democratic nominee for president citing the need to “save our democracy.” Harris has since withstood blistering opinions holding that democracy is not saved or preserved by the appointment of nominees without winning any election by the people whatsoever in the primary.
All Politics is Local…
Indeed, we have the same sham, anti-democratic elections occurring in Nevada County as well. Despite losing her election for auditor of Nevada County to Rob Tribble and after he was found by the Nevada County Superior Court to lack the statutory qualifications to serve as the auditor, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors appointed his challenger, Gina Will despite the fact that she only garnered 45% of the County vote and was not chosen by the people of the County and without even considering an open appointment process.
2022 Nevada County Auditor Election Results
Nevada County Superior Court Rejected County Counsel’s Argument to Appoint the Loser of the Auditor Race
At the final court hearing on the matter between Tribble and Will, county counsel argued to the Nevada County Superior Court that the court should simply order that Gina Will was the winner of the election despite being trounced by the apparently unqualified winner, Tribble.
In declining the County’s request to declare Gina Will the winner of the race despite losing the election, the Court vehemently pushed back on this notion that the Court could declare the loser the winner of the race. The Court explained citing the California Supreme Court as follows:
An election is the deliberate choice of a majority or plurality of the electoral body. This is evidenced by the votes of the electors. But if a majority of those voting, by mistake of law or fact, happen to cast their votes upon an ineligible candidate, it by no means follows that the next to him on the poll should receive the office. If this be so, a candidate might be elected who received only a small portion of the votes, and who never could have been elected at all but for this mistake. The votes are not less legal votes because given to a person in whose behalf they cannot be counted; and the person who is the next to him on the list of candidates does not receive a plurality of votes because his competitor was ineligible. The votes cast for the latter, it is true, cannot be counted for him; but that is no reason why they should, in effect, be counted for the former, who, possibly, could never have received them. It is fairer, more just, and more consistent with the theory of our institutions, to hold the votes so cast as merely ineffectual for the purpose of an election, than to give them the effect of disappointing the popular will and electing to office a [person] whose pretentions the people had designed to reject. Crawford v. Dunbar (1877) 52 Cal. 36, 41, quoting Saunders v. Haynes (1859) 13 Cal. 145, 153-154.
In the staff memorandum to the Board of Supervisors related to Will’s direct appointment, staff recommended that the Board of Supervisors appoint Gina Will to the office of auditor without conducting any interviews of other outside, qualified individuals. Instead, county staff recommended that the candidate rejected by voters was the best candidate without even looking for or interviewing other potential appointees.
Selection of District Attorney in 2021
In 2021, Cliff Newell, the elected district attorney of Nevada County, retired leaving his elected position vacant. Rather than directly selecting and hiring Newell’s assistant district attorney, Chris Walsh, to complete Newell’s term, the Board of Supervisors opened the position for interview of any qualified individual and selected Jesse Wilson, who was at the time an attorney for El Dorado County, to complete Newell’s term.
Rather than following the same interview procedure for auditor, the board of supervisors at the behest of county counsel and the county CEO, the Board of Supervisors simply appointed the loser of the election, Gina Will, to serve for four years without any input from the public and without giving any qualified individual the opportunity to seek appointment.
Direct Appointment of Loser of Election is the Antithesis of Democracy
Like the coronation of Harris as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, Gina Will was appointed without any election and without any searching for a more qualified candidate. Such action by the supervisors, county counsel, the county CEO, which mirror the actions of America’s ruling class in regards to Harris, is the antithesis of democracy.
