Nevada County’s Board accepted an FPPC penalty for illegal Measure V mailers. Weeks later Supervisor Hardy Bullock publicly rejected those findings. The GOP wants him to resign; other supervisors stayed silent and costs remain unexplained.

Supervisor Hardy Bullock joined a 5-0 July vote accepting Nevada County’s FPPC Measure V settlement and $31,500 penalty, then publicly rejected those findings. A 2022 court had already ordered emotional ballot language removed before the mailers.

Supervisor Hardy Bullock publicly defended failed Measure V after Nevada County stipulated to seven FPPC violations and a $31,500 penalty. Taxpayers still deserve a complete public accounting of every cost beyond the known $34,614 mailers.

Nevada County officials diverted taxpayer funds for an illegal Measure V Yes campaign, violating FPPC rules with public-funded mailers and unreported expenditures, leading to state fines and calls for accountability.

“Resolve this case while its resolution can still meaningfully inform the electorate.”

Nearly four years after Nevada County voters rejected Measure V, California’s political ethics watchdog has formally concluded that the County used taxpayer money to campaign for the sales-tax measure — and the case is prompting broader questions about whether state law does enough to deter government agencies from using public resources to influence elections.

A policy should be created by which all contracts, no matter how small, are submitted to the Board of Supervisors. Furthermore, post all contracts on the County website in a location where the public has easy access. Lastly, when any contract exceeds the agreed-upon price, the Supervisors are notified immediately so it doesn’t get out of hand. Contract management is essential. 

According to public records received from Nevada County and publicly available mandatory campaign FPPC 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.

In light of the recent lawsuit, and Nevada County having been ordered to pay $85,000 in legal fees and costs, it would seem the County CEO and County Counsel would be wise to instruct staff appropriately in fulfilling PRAs in order to avoid future litigation. It also seems County Counsel is part of the problem in defending the County against fulfilling the PRAs in a timely manner.

Grass Valley City Manager presented the proposed general sales tax measure as a half-percent sales tax within the City limits which he said would fund fire resiliency and vegetation management. The proposed sales tax, if sent to the voters as a measure on the ballot in March 2024 by the city council, would generate about $3.4 million dollars for the City’s general fund per year.

According to public records received from the Nevada County Auditor's office, five local media outlets received, at a minimum, $150,000 in 2022 from the County of Nevada for advertising and other purposes. There are other local media companies that likely received funding from the County but were not included in this public records request.

Unaccounted time for 16 staff working on Measure V related tasks can only be estimated. A conservative estimate for the cost of putting Measure V on the ballot might be between $400,000-$500,000, all from the General Fund and not in the Adopted Budget so the public would be aware.

Expenses related to Measure V have now totaled $236,143.04. Spearheaded by the CEO’s Office, none of these expenses ever came before the Board or the Auditor. When questioned about how the costs were expensed, Ms. Wills explained they were in the catch-all category commingled with many other costs in that category. There was no way the Auditor would have known about a special project.

The Board of Supervisors (“BOS”) retroactively approved a contract with political consultants, Lew Edwards Group, in order to provide campaign services to the county chief executive officer’s office with taxpayer dollars. 

According to the FPPC, Nevada County is being investigated for sending mass mailers to voters using taxpayer dollars (Case No. 2023-00162).