Nevada County Executives Contributed $50,000 of Taxpayer Dollars to Failed Auditor Candidate’s Campaign Committee

According to public records received from Nevada County and publicly available mandatory campaign disclosures, Alison Lehman, county chief executive officer, and Kit Elliott, county counsel, authorized the payment of $50,000 from the county general fund to Gina Will’s campaign committee without approval of the board of supervisors.

Upon the retirement of Marcia Salter in 2022, county employee Gina Will and local resident Rob Tribble ran for the position of county auditor. The county auditor is charged with maintaining the official financial record of the county, conducting internal audits, and reports financial transactions in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles and in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. 

On June 7, 2022, during the California primary election, Tribble handily defeated Will by almost ten points. 

Subsequently and after a trial in the Nevada County court, Tribble was found to be statutorily ineligible for the office leaving the auditor’s office vacant. Despite being rejected by Nevada County voters, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors unanimously appointed Gina Will despite the fact that she only garnered 45% of the County vote and was not chosen by the people of the County. Moreover, the supervisors appointed Will without even considering an open appointment process and outside interviews. 

Then on June 13, 2023, a year after Will’s failed campaign and six months after her appointment, Alison Lehman and Kit Elliott authorized the payment of $50,000 from the county general fund to Will’s campaign committee without approval of the board of supervisors.

Election and Subsequent Litigation Timeline

On March 16, 2022, Rob Tribble filed his statement of qualifications. Gina Will admitted that she was aware of Tribble’s filing and that she knew that he was statutorily ineligible for the office. Instead of challenging Tribble’s qualifications in court prior to the election, Will allowed the matter to go before the voters. On or about May 6, 2022, Will retained election law counsel and, again, instead of going to court in order to challenge Tribble’s qualifications, Will did nothing.

Tribble Defeats Gina Will in Auditor’s Race

On June 7, 2022, Tribble handily defeated Will by almost ten points. On June 24, 2022, and only after losing her election, Will demanded that then Nevada County Registrar of Voters, Gregory Diaz, investigate whether Tribble was qualified to be elected to the position of auditor. 

Based upon the records received from Nevada County, it does not appear Diaz did anything in regard to Will’s demand. In fact, the California Election Code sec. 13.5 explicitly provides that county election officials are not required to verify the qualifications of any candidate for auditor thus leaving the verification process to the candidates themselves. On June 29, 2022, Nevada County Registrar of Voters, Gregory Diaz, certified the election confirming Will’s loss to Tribble.

Gina Will Files Election Contest

On July 5, 2022, Will filed her election contest alleging that Tribble was ineligible to be elected county auditor. It is noteworthy to point out that, in her election contest, Will made no allegations of any wrongdoing on the part of Diaz who was not statutorily obligated to confirm Tribble’s verified statement of qualification.

On September 6, 2022, Will filed a claim against Nevada County and Diaz for attorney fees in the amount of $49,900 which is $100 less than the amount requiring approval by the board of supervisors. 

County’s Request to the Court to Directly Appoint Will as Auditor is Rejected

On November 18, 2022, the Honorable S. Robert Tice-Raskin issued his memorandum and order finding that Tribble did not meet the statutory requirements necessary to hold the office of county auditor and declared the office of auditor vacant. The Court rejected the oral argument of Kit Elliott, county counsel, to judicially appoint Will who failed to win the election. 

On December 27, 2022, the clerk of the board of supervisors rejected Will’s claim for attorney fees.

County Appoints Gina Will to Vacant Auditor Position without any Interviews

On January 4, 2023, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, at the request of county executives, unanimously appointed 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. 

Tribble and County Pay Attorney Fees to Gina Will’s Campaign Committee

On March 13, 2023, Rob Tribble paid Gina Will’s campaign committee the amount of $80,000 representing attorney fees after losing the litigation.

On April 2, 2023, and after having previously rejected Will’s claim, the County with the authority delegated to county staff by the board of supervisors accepted Will’s claim for attorney fees in the amount of $50,000. 

On April 24, 2023, Alison Lehman, county chief executive officer, and Kit Elliott, county counsel, agreed, without seeking formal approval from the board of supervisors, to pay Gina Will $50,000 in reimbursement for attorney fees in her litigation against Rob Tribble.  

On June 13, 2023, the County, in fact, reimbursed Gina Will’s campaign committee for attorney fees in her litigation against Rob Tribble.

Gina Will Amends her FPPC Disclosures Properly Evidencing the Payments from Tribble and the County

On September 4, 2023, and over a year after her losing bid to be elected auditor, Gina Will amended her public and required Fair Political Practice Disclosures properly disclosing the payment from the County. According to Will’s amended public disclosures and over the course of Will’s campaign and her challenge to the qualifications of Tribble, Will loaned the amount of $122,680 to her campaign committee. During the same period, Will incurred $125,880 in attorney fees. In total, Tribble paid Will’s campaign committee $80,000 in reimbursement of her attorney fees, and later the County gave Will’s campaign committee $50,000 for attorney fees for which, pursuant to the election code, the county election official was not liable.

As such, the County gave Gina Will’s campaign committee almost $5,000 more than attorney fees actually disclosed by her.