August 10, 2022 • 40 mins
The recall succeeds in removing one county supervisor, Leonard Moty. But it’s enough to gain the majority on the county board of supervisors. What do far-right leaders plan to do with their newfound power? One thing is clear: Top officials from across the county government leave in a mass exodus, as threats intensify. Far-right activists mount another campaign – this time for more elected county positions: The sheriff, the registrar of voters, school superintendent. What happens to Shasta as they try to take over?
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It was February one, election day to recall Shasta County
Supervisor Leonard Moody. Having spoken to folks all Tuesday in
reading who are voting the name of the game is recall.
A lot of the people I spoke to, we're talking
about how they want someone with conservative values who is
not a career politician and will not uphold lockdowns and
(00:24):
mask mandates. Anti Leonard ads were blasting across the air waves,
dishonest ads like the idea that he was personally responsible
for pandemic shutdowns. Don't let Mody shut down the county again,
shut down our schools again. Support the recall today. So
guess what happened next? Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moody steps
(00:47):
away from his position on the board. Forced out in
a contentious recall election, Leonard Moody was recalled. Turn up
that day was pretty low. Less than half a registered
voters in the district showed up to cast ballots, and
Leonard lost by a small margin about a thousand votes.
(01:07):
But the pro recall side, they were fired up. Here's
Alyssa McEwen, one of the leaders of the movement, the
one who had the bullhorn at previous meetings I've told
you about. After the election results were certified, she spoke
of the county chambers, standing at a microphone with the
widest of smiles. Good morning, Supervisor's my name is a
(01:28):
Lissa mckuman. Congratulations Supervisor Tim Garman. Tim Garman. That was
a supervisor replacing Leonard Moody. He was the candidate who
had been backed by the recall campaign. Recall Shasta is
pleased with the final election results showing an extremely successful
recall of Supervisor Mody. We believe this change will bring
(01:51):
much needed transparency, accountability, and better representation to Shasta Cowny citizens.
Alyssa got a standing ovation after she finished talking, with
plenty of whoops and hollers. The room was packed with
familiar faces. Carlos so Patto was there, so was Jeremy Edwardson,
(02:12):
filming the whole thing for Red, White, and Blueprint, and
all of the county supervisors were seated at their horseshoe
table watching. With majority on the board, the recall movement
now had actual governing power, but from where I stood,
it didn't seem like the leaders had much of a plan.
(02:33):
It was easy for their campaign to focus on undermining
lettered Mody, painting him as a terrible leader, responsible for
everything that voters hated. But as far as actual policy went,
Melissa promised more quote transparency and accountability with stronger representation.
(02:53):
Jeremy had wanted a more constitutional government, like we explored
in a previous episode, but those were just words, words
I've been hearing for months throughout my reporting on Shasta County.
My question was what did these new leaders actually want
to accomplish now that they had the power, and what
(03:13):
would that mean for Shasta County, for the problems it faced,
and for the people who lived there. On this episode,
we find out this is bed Rocky U Say, a
production of Bloomberg City Lab and I Heart Radio, a
podcast about political extremism, small town life, and the fight
for democracy. I'm your host, Laura Bliss. With the recall
(03:47):
behind them, the far right now had the majority of
votes on the county Board of Supervisors, so I started
to watch the board meetings to figure out what they
were planning to do, and what they did was mostly
government theater. They ended the local pandemic state of emergency.
They passed a requirement that all county board meetings be
(04:09):
in person, and they approved a resolution opposing state vaccine mandates.
None of these actions really changed things, since the state
had already relaxed a lot of its COVID mandates, and
don't forget, just hadn't really been enforcing them anyways. These
were basically symbolic actions, actions that, like Supervisor Patrick Jones
(04:34):
told a local reporter, we're designed to send a message.
We need to send a message to the public that
the state of emergency with regards to COVID is over
for us and it's time for everyone to get back
to work. A very vague politician thing to say. But
what else was there? Anything concrete? There was one clue
(04:56):
from watching the county board meetings. It seemed a matter
of if, not when, the far right majority would vote
to fire the county public Health officer, Dr Karen Ramstrom.
Ramstrom had been the primary face of Shasta's pandemic response.
Anti mandate protesters had been calling for her termination for months,
(05:20):
and much to their delight, the Board of Supervisors announced
that our job performance was going to be quote evaluated.
Here's Supervisor Les ba I would also like to set
for close session a an employee evaluation for our county
Health Officer Dr. Karen Ranstrom. I think if Dr Ramstrom
(05:46):
was fired, it would send a much bigger message than
any of those other actions, a message to the rest
of Shasta County in California that here the far right
was now firmly in power, and unlike some of their
other actions, it could have real consequences, not only for
Ramstrom herself, but for the actual people who lived in
(06:09):
Shasta County. Vulnerable people, especially like the rising homeless population,
people struggling with addiction, and folks with mental illness. These
are serious problems. Shasta County has twice the rate of
suicide as the rest of California. That's what Supervisor Mary
(06:31):
Rickart had told me when we talked in her office
at the government building in downtown Reading. Mary was one
of the remaining modern Republicans on the board. You heard
her in a previous episode. She knew about Dr Ramstrom's
upcoming job evaluation, and she saw it as a clear
sign that the new leaders had little interest in addressing
(06:53):
Shasta's very real challenges. I'm very concerned what's going to
happen to the citizens and residents of Shasta County. Are
they going to be able to receive the services that
they're entitled to. I'm concerned that we're going to have
more homeless, We're going to have more crime. I'm very
concerned about about our county in general. Why would that
(07:17):
happen when well, if you don't, if you they're talking
about scaling back health and human services, will scaling back
means scaling back programs, and then you're not being able
to serve the people that are in that are most
vulnerable in our county and we have you know, Shasta
County has a lot of social issues. We have very
high rates of child abuse, domestic violence, crime, I could
(07:40):
go down the list, and so we can't be ignoring
those issues. Experienced, trained leaders like Dr Ramstrom were essential
for the county to function. Mary told me Without them,
she feared that services like housing support and addiction treatment
would be cut off from the people who need them,
(08:01):
and that would only deepen the community's problems. After talking
with Mary, I just felt sad. The recall movement, a
movement that promised more freedom, more liberty, now looked like
a bunch of empty gestures and worse people were potentially
going to suffer. Was that really all these leaders wanted?
(08:25):
I had to find out by going straight to the
source that's coming up. After the break, I read on
Facebook that supervisor Patrick Jones was going to be m
seeing a political fundraiser sponsored by some of the same
people behind the recall. If I was ever going to
(08:47):
learn what their plan was for Shasta's future, this looked
like the place to go, so my producer Kathleen, and
I jumped in the car and headed to the small
town of Anderson, south of Reading. We arrived in the
early evening in the parking lot outside the banquet hall.
We were greeted by a man under a shade tent
(09:08):
with an assortment of security gear. Are you here for
the fundraiser? Yeah? Turned around, great, well, we're actually reported
for reviews. Why is Bloomberg in town? The recalls over now?
We do have some interesting races and that's why we're here.
(09:31):
The man introduced himself as Richard Galardo and said he
was expecting what he described as socialist protesters to show
up and make trouble. I asked Richard why he'd gotten
involved in the recall scene. Here's what he said. A
lot of harm has been done to our kids, mental
harm regarding the masking and the distancing and you know,
(09:52):
everybody's right treat everybody like their sick and until you
know otherwise, and very it's very, very damaging emotionally to
the kids. It's got a taker ser that's a that's
a it's a stun gun. Yeah, guys are prepared. Oh yeah, no,
we've got yeah, I got mine right there. Actually, Caleb's
got mine. That's stun gun. Alarmingly, was in the hands
(10:14):
of a teenage boy standing nearby. The zapping noise was unsettling.
Richard was eager to talk about how things were looking
up in Shasta County now that Leonard Moody had been recalled.
So we've we've taken our county board back. We now
have the board majority. Are now real Republicans, meaning conservative
(10:37):
or right leaning we'll call it. So we now have
local control now of our board and the rest of
these races that we're seeing this year, we're going to
do the same thing. We're gonna we're gonna kick the
Rhinos out of office and we're gonna put in true
conservative type Republicans. Richard was talking about yet another election
in June, a primary election where right wing activists planned
(11:02):
to kick out more Rhinos, meaning Republicans in name only.
That's right. The recall had just ended, but they weren't
done campaigning. This time. The goal was to take over
pretty much all of Shasta County's government. Among the offices
up for election were two openings on the Board of
(11:23):
County Supervisors. Less Ba, one of the pro recall supervisors,
had announced his plans not to run again, so had
Joe Commente, one of the two remaining more moderate Republicans.
That meant this election could give extremists even more power.
(11:43):
There were also several county department leaders up for reelection,
including the sheriff, the school superintendent, and the county clerk,
who oversees elections. A slate of new candidates, backed by
the same group who led the recall, is aiming to
take all of these government positions, the schools, the sheriff,
(12:06):
the elections office. If they won, far right leaders would
hold nearly all of the elected positions in Shasta County,
and this was my chance to find out what they
wanted beyond power, because several of the new candidates were
at this fundraiser. Bob Hohlesinger, I'm running for the Shasta
(12:27):
County clerk's office, which also is in charge of elections
and very important responsibility. Meet Bob whole Singer. He was
standing in the parking lot near Richard's tent. He's a
retired utility manager who'd been volunteering as a poll watcher
in Shasta's recent elections. He told us he was concerned
(12:47):
about irregularities in California's voting laws, concerns that have been
dismissed by judges again and again. It's been going on
in California for about three years, and they keep changing
election law and causing you and I, as the voters
in California, our election rights to be watered down, water down.
(13:07):
So it's really sad to see. But when I asked
him what specific issues he had, he appointed me to
a lawsuit against a bunch of county election offices filed
by a right wing group that he was involved in.
I looked it up later. It was one of many
lawsuits claiming voter fraud after election. Like almost all of
(13:30):
those suits, a federal judge had dismissed it, saying it
lacked concrete evidence. So Bob, who was deeply concerned with
false claims about election fraud, wanted to oversee elections that
did not sound productive. Our conversation ended when another attendee
(13:51):
came up to talk to him. Hi, how are you, ma'am? So,
Kathleen and I walked into the banquet hall, a faded
stucco building with double doors like the ones at a
high school auditorium. Yes clear. Inside. The mood was celebratory
(14:15):
and the decor aggressively patriotic American flags. Pocket sized constitutions,
and green apples adorned the long banquet tables. Kids ran
around playing cornhole with red, white and blue sacks. I
counted about a hundred and sixty people, the vast majority
(14:35):
older white men. Folks were chowing on barbecue and a
mountain of dinner rolls in exchange for the forty dollar
tickets they bought. It. Built in tiki style bar served
up stiff cocktails and bottle after bottle of beer, while
a raffle an auction took place up for grabs, gift baskets,
(14:57):
big goods, and several guns. We made a bee line
for Supervisor Patrick Jones, who was there as the MC
for the evening. He was the guy we wanted to
talk to you the most, to ask him what was
the plan. He was working the room, shaking hands and
chatting with supporters. You we walked up and introduced ourselves.
(15:27):
Patrick was talking to a couple of people. He made
a big deal about us being from Bloomberg, being in media,
and then without missing a beat, he told us not
to worry. They don't execute journalists here. I shouldn't have
been shocked, and I wasn't. Really, I've encountered plenty of
(15:50):
journalist hatred and we were there uninvited, but still it
was pretty uncomfortable to hear we wouldn't be execute did
As we stood in the hall with firearms lying around,
everyone laughed. I left two in that nervous, make everyone
happy way. Then I asked Patrick my questions. First, I
(16:14):
wanted to know what to expect the next county Board meeting.
Now that there's the new majority on the county board
can tell us about Lisbeth. Well, it's just it's just
a better atmosphere. I mean, as soon as Leonard Moody
was removed from office the and Tim Garman was seated,
it just changed UM for the better. UM. Now people
(16:35):
feel like their voices are being heard, which was missing
for the last two years, and so I expect the
June primaries to see more that we have two more
seats coming up, and I expect this to be the trend.
And thank you Marty, and we'll get there, you know.
And uh, we've just been asleep at the wheel. We've
(16:55):
been complacent. And while I have been involved in government
for twenty years trying um, it just took one to
wake people up, to get them thinking about local government.
We can't change what's happening in Washington or Sacramento, but
(17:15):
we can change what's happening in our own county. A
good stump speech, but not much of an answer. There's
some of the other departments within the county that you
think are in most day to perform well. For me personally,
I've just had a trouble with high UM. I've had
trouble with Resource Management department for a long time, not
being friendly and helping people move forward to being successful healthy,
(17:39):
that's building permits and so forth. But also health and
human services. We don't even know what's going on in
health in human services. I mean it's a it's a
three million dollar budget. There's so many different things we're
not getting informed. The well and the and and the
public is not being informed to the point where we
understand all the programs and all the state grants. We
want to accept money from the state. We want good programs.
(18:01):
We want programs that are efficient, that don't enable bad behavior.
And and if you can't prove that it's a good program,
then we don't want it. And we don't want to
just accept it because we can slice off a certain
amount of bad men and employee, a certain amount of
county government employees. We want good programs, and um our
county is not better today than it was twenty years ago,
and people are looking for a change. Now. I gotta
(18:22):
get back. Sorry, I gotta go. Thank you, guys. I
got a follow up question there, But all right, our
last call for HORMBLD. It was frustrating, all right. I
was earnestly trying to draw information, but Patrick only gave
the Vegas answers. He said he wanted quote good programs
(18:45):
that don't enable bad behavior. But what kinds of changes
did he have in mind? And if you catch the
part where he called out the Department of Resource Management,
that was the same county agency that Reverge and Selmo
had fought bitterly years ago. Reves and Selmo was the
(19:05):
vengeful son of a billionaire who bankrolled the recall as
well as Patrick's campaign to be supervisor. Apparently Patrick had
a gripe with the agency too, So was that really
all the recall was about? Just a big old nothing
burger personal grievances. I never got a chance to ask
(19:29):
Patrick my other questions. He ignored all my requests for
a follow up interview. We watched Patrick then as he
led a raffle at the front of the room. The
big prizes were for guns. There was one more candidate.
(19:56):
We wanted to talk to, Brian Cables, who was running
to be superintendent of schools against a long time incumbent.
We found him at the back of the room and
asked him about his vision. I really need to make
sure that our schools get back local control. Brian wanted
to end mask and vaccine mandates, and he told us
(20:19):
he wanted to let Shasta schools make their own curriculum
rather than follow state and national standards. I wondered, what
if that's somehow impacted funding, and he said, well, he
thought that people should simply stop paying taxes. You don't
get our tax money if you're not going to fund
our services and you right, A fundamental uh, A fundamental
(20:44):
thing about us as Americans is we don't we represent
no representation, no taxation without representation. So if you're not
going to fund us, we're not going to fund you.
But wouldn't that be breaking the law not paying taxes?
I asked, and he's said, I guess you could sue me.
We can see how that turns out. Well, what happened,
(21:06):
what happened in seventeen seventy six when we didn't pay taxes? Right?
So started building towards if Shafton County doesn't pay its taxes,
I r S comes after you? Where does that lead
come on over? I know where I live, so I
don't I don't know a problem. And it's going to
come to a point where I'm not going to recognize
or the people of Shafta County aren't going to recognize
(21:27):
the government's authority. You don't have any authority of us.
We're not going to recognize it anymore. Later, I called
up an education policy expert to ask if the seat
of California whatever poll funding from a school district that
went rogue on its curriculum. No, he told me that
was really unlikely to happen. But still, Bryan's attitude towards
(21:50):
the state was so strikingly aggressive. Clearly these candidates were
interested in power, but not just that. Like Brian said,
they wanted to fight. There was a powerful feeling in
that star spangled banquet hall, a sense of domination. This
(22:11):
extremist faction was on top of the world, and they
were happy to let us know it. By the way,
we never saw any protesters show up like Richard had feared.
After all, a clubhouse of gun toting activists is pretty intimidating.
(22:49):
That was the voice of the auctioneer, Chris Kelstrom. He
was also running for county supervisor in the June election.
He was dressed in stars and stripes as he cracked
that offensive transphobic joke before the laughing audience. By this point,
Kathleen and I were pretty anxious to leave. It felt
(23:10):
like at any moment, the giddy, tipsy atmosphere could turn
on us good more like all. As we drove to
(23:33):
our hotel that night, I kept turning the scene over
in my mind. Bob Patrick, Brian, these candidates voiced a
lot of the same sorts of anti government ideas and
misinformation we'd heard fueling the recall effort, but there was
no actual plan other than to gain more power and
(23:56):
pick more fights. And I kept thinking about the very
real problems Shasta County was facing. Like Mary said, there
was a growing homeless population and a mental health crisis.
Yet all these guys wanted to talk about was their ideology,
building consensus, having dialogue. I thought, those are the essential
(24:22):
tools for solving problems in a democracy, but there's not
much room for that when power winning are your main priorities.
So what did that mean for the future, not only
for Shasta County, but for communities across the country that's
coming up after the break. I could not have seen
(24:50):
it coming, the force and momentum of the far rights
rise to power. But in reality, Shasta County is only
one an example of many communities caught in the wave
of extremism sweeping the country. We've seen proud boys running
for school boards. We've seen the names of state and
(25:13):
local officials popping up on the roster for militia groups
like the Oath Keepers. Politicians aren't hiding their extremism anymore.
This radicalized wing of the GOP contains many factions, but
there seems to be a common thread, an opposition to
(25:33):
basically all institutions, the government, the media, the science community,
even law enforcement. And for an alarming number of them,
they bond over straight up racism. And these days more
and more extremists are leading the very institutions they so
(25:56):
deeply mistrust. So what does that mean for local governments
across the country to find out? I called up Mike Madrid. So,
Mike Madrid, I'm a Republican political consultant and a co
founder of the Lincoln Project. And what we're seeing in
(26:18):
Shasta County is really, I think, a precructure of things
to come for other counties in the state. It's already
clearly happening in other parts of the country, from everywhere
from Maine to California. Like Mike said, he is a
co founder of the Lincoln Project. That's the superPAC that
formed in twenty nineteen to stop Donald Trump's reelection. But
(26:40):
Mike's expertise is in state and local politics, and in
his view, the goal of the far right at any
level of government is nothing short of destruction, and that,
he said, is an unprecedented and dangerous shift. Well, let
me just say that one of the things that is
a relatively recent phenomenon, recent being kind of the Trump era,
(27:04):
is most of the factions within the Republican Coalition are
really no longer ideological. When I joined and was involved
in the party, you know, some thirty years ago, most
of the factions dealt with issues like taxes and taxation,
or even abortion pro life, pro choice fight. Today they're
really kind of a conglomeration of fringe movements, everything from
(27:27):
the anti vaccine efforts to white supremacist efforts to secessionists
and militia efforts who have some sort of strain of
anti government countercultural sentiment, but don't necessarily share or don't
always share a primary focus on what it is that
(27:47):
they're they're trying to accomplish. There's also no overarching philosophy
of government here. This is not a healthy political party
that is debating different philosophical issues or ideological issues under
in a rella of how they want to govern. The
goal the focus of most of this is literally the
destruction of governmental institutions. Once upon a time, Mike said,
(28:10):
a candidate might run as a fisthfuly conservative Republican or
on a platform of government deregulation. Both local and national
politicians would talk about those kinds of policy issues, but
today fewer candidates are focused on actual governance, he said,
(28:31):
at all levels, they're playing up cultural issues, issues that
are often based on hate and lies, like critical race theory,
illegal framework for understanding race, and transgender bathroom policies that
Republicans have weaponized to shake up elections. So critical race
(28:51):
theory or transgender bathroom policy becomes paramount whether you're running
for governor of Virginia, as Glen yuncan, or whether you
are running for the school board in Vacaville. It doesn't matter.
So again, there is a nationalization of issues, largely because
they're no longer really about governance. They're really more of
(29:12):
a cultural touchstone. And whether or not you are an
enemy or an advocate for this America that the party
is trying to create, they would suggest kind of restoring
making American great again, right, going back to a previous America.
But the irony of all this is that Republicans are
now using the tools of government, the power of government,
(29:35):
to impose a cultural view on the majority who does
not agree with them. And if that government's tool and
that government power cannot be used, then they're seeking to
simply tear it down. Shasta County sure fit the bill.
Right wing activists wanted to battle the state. They wanted
(29:55):
to cut programs, lift restrictions, get rid of the experts,
experts like doctor Karen Ramstrom, the Shasta County public health officer.
Like you heard earlier, angry residents had been calling for
Dr Ramstrom to be fired because though Shasta had barely
enforced COVID rules, Dr Ramstrom had supported masks and vaccine guidelines,
(30:20):
and as you know, Shasta's far right wing did not
like those. Here's one local speaking at a county board
meeting in April. Karen Ramstrom blindly accepted what the political
machine spit out, which we're learning now never even worked,
and our children's mental, emotional, and developmental health has suffered
(30:42):
because of it. We need to have someone in charge
of our health department who is willing to look at
all sides, not just what the government tells them to
look at. Comments like these are anti government, anti science,
and anti expertise. Doctor R. Ramstrom was an Army veteran
(31:02):
and a public health professional with years of experience. She
seemed like a perfect fit for the role and for
the community. But ever since the recall, the new majority
on the Board of Supervisors had been promising to evaluate
her job performance, the implication being they wanted her out,
(31:23):
and finally the day of the evaluation came. It was
going to happen in a closed door session at the
end of the county board meeting. Ahead of the meeting,
Ramstrom released a statement saying she had never received any
specific information about why her job performance was considered unsatisfactory.
(31:44):
It was covered by the local news station. She said,
I am certain some of the board members absolutely have
my best interest in mind and are doing their best
given the current situation. But I don't want to leave
my job, and I don't want to be muzzled. I
object to being terminated, and there's two much work and
so many important issues that need our attention. But there
was little she could do. At the very end of
(32:06):
the meeting, the supervisors went into a closed door session.
When they returned, less BA announced that doctor Ramstrom had
been fired in a three to vote, with the new
majority asking for her termination. They did not give any cause.
We were not able to reach Dr Ramstrom for comment,
(32:28):
but here's what she told a local newscaster immediately after
her firing. Well, I'm I'm still digesting it. I'm very disappointed.
Were you shocked, Actually I am. I was shocked. Where
do you go from here? Well, you know, this started
in March, So I've been, you know, doing a little
(32:49):
homework just in cases were to happen. And um, a
few people have reached out to me, and so I'll
be following up on those contacts. I don't anticipate it's
gonna you know, um, in terms of finding employment, it's
just not what I want. I'm very sad, very sad.
Dr Ramstrom wasn't the only one headed out the door.
(33:11):
By then, the director of the county Health and Human
Services Agency had also retired, citing the political upheaval as
one big reason, and not long after Ramstrom's firing, the
county CEO resigned. That brought the count of top officials
who departed to three, actually four if you count Leonard Moody.
(33:33):
That is a big loss of qualified, dedicated people. And
I wondered where did that leave people like Mary Rickart,
one of the only county supervisors left who seemed to
truly care about her hometown. Really, she told me she
felt like she was hanging on by a thread. I
(33:53):
don't think I'm being overly dramatic. I truly believe this
county will collapse because I think that you will see
not only um if you have top officials leave the county,
You're going to see quite a few of the staff
leave because there are people that will not stay in
these current positions because they are very concerned about who
(34:16):
will replace them. And that is deeply, deeply concerning to me.
But even more worrying, she said, it was the lack
of a plan. And that's the problem here is I've
never heard a plan from these people for two years.
It's just we want to get rid of everybody. And
the residents of Shasta County need to look at that seriously.
(34:37):
They need to think about that long and hard. They
need to understand the ramifications. There is no plan other
than they want to be in power. Mary Rickart was terrified,
Mike Madrid was terrified. But now my question was we're
Shasta County voters paying any attention because soon voters were
(35:00):
going to have a chance to make their voices hurt again.
The upcoming election, the one in June, was a chance
to take Shasta in a different direction. Right wing activists
had endorsed their candidates, several of whom we met at
the fundraiser, but running against them was a slate of
moderates and incumbents determined to take government back. One of
(35:24):
them was Aaron Resner. She was a Republican running for
one of the open spots on the county Board of Supervisors.
Aaron was a Rutting City council member and a co
owner several coffee shops. She saw Shasta's political turmoil as
divisive and unhealthy. Ultimately, I really really think the biggest
thing that's standing in our way at the moment is
(35:46):
this inability to tackle all of those things that need
our attention, because there seems to be this just discourse
that is frankly just unhealthy. Also on the June seventh
ballot was Kathie Darling Allen, a Democrat who was running
for her fifth term Shasta County Clerk. This was the
same clerk who had overseen every election in Shasta County
(36:09):
for nearly twenty years. Here's Kathy. I take the right
to vote extremely seriously, and I think it does need
to be defended. Um, never more so than now in
my career. Kathy's opponent was Bob Whole Sinker, the guy
you heard repeating false claims about elections at the fundraiser.
Bob was running on a slate with Brian Caples, the
(36:32):
superintendent candidate, and several other activists. All of them were men,
which wasn't a coincidence. They had the support of a
new pack called the Liberty Committee, to which Revere and
Selmo contributed another one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. And
Verge had said in an interview with the Reading Record
(36:54):
Searchlight that he didn't generally support women as politicians. They
were too quote squishy, he said, I don't know what
that means, but it sure sounds sexist. We could not
reach Reverge for comment. Once again, TV, radio and newspapers
(37:15):
were flushed with advertisements paid for by the Liberty Committee.
Now the question was would moderates like Aaron and incumbents
like Kathy be able to win? Turnout had been low
for Leonard's recall election. What about on June seven? Would
voters show up this time ready to take Shasta back?
(37:39):
I called up Donnie Chamberlain, the founder and editor of
Shasta County's left leaning local news outlet, A news Cafe.
You met her in the last episode. She said she
was really nervous. She was still afraid for the future
of her county. But at this point some of Donnie's
fears returning to morbid curiosity. One person said, you know,
(38:03):
at some point, the voters get what they deserve if
they don't take action, if they don't rise up, but
they don't vote, you know, And so at some point,
if that's what happens and all the people, the same
people in leadership positions are gutted and they're taken out,
I'm curious about what will happen. Will the state come
in and say you're not following guidelines, or will it
(38:25):
be that Gavin Newsom, as Wermodius said and Joe Commentti
has said before, Will it be that Gavin Newsom really
doesn't give two squirts about Shasta County and he says, fine,
let him paying themselves. You know what do I care?
You know, a bunch of weirdos, And we might even
be an experiment that way. We might be a blueprint,
(38:46):
like a cautionary tale, like here's what happens to a
county where you allow these people to overrun it and
not stop what was going to happen, and not just
in Shasta, but to the rest of our country. In
the coming episodes, we're going to find out. But first
we're going back to where this story began, to Squim, Washington,
(39:09):
where people came together to fight back against extremism in
the name of good governance. And actually one Hello, my
name is Josh, I live in Squim. I would request
that Mayor Armacrost denounce Q and on. That's all coming
up on bed Rock USA. This episode was reported and
(39:33):
hosted by me Laura Bliss. Kathleen Quillian is our senior producer.
Smith the Story is our story editor and executive producer.
We had additional editing help from Nicole Flato and Francesca Leavie,
original music and scoring by Zachary Walter, and audio engineering
by Blake Naples. Jennifer Sandag is head of Bloomberg City Lab.
(39:56):
Bed Rock USA is a production of Bloomberg City Lab
and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
It was February one, election day to recall Shasta County
Supervisor Leonard Moody. Having spoken to folks all Tuesday in
reading who are voting the name of the game is recall.
A lot of the people I spoke to, we're talking
about how they want someone with conservative values who is
not a career politician and will not uphold lockdowns and
(00:24):
mask mandates. Anti Leonard ads were blasting across the air waves,
dishonest ads like the idea that he was personally responsible
for pandemic shutdowns. Don't let Mody shut down the county again,
shut down our schools again. Support the recall today. So
guess what happened next? Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moody steps
(00:47):
away from his position on the board. Forced out in
a contentious recall election, Leonard Moody was recalled. Turn up
that day was pretty low. Less than half a registered
voters in the district showed up to cast ballots, and
Leonard lost by a small margin about a thousand votes.
(01:07):
But the pro recall side, they were fired up. Here's
Alyssa McEwen, one of the leaders of the movement, the
one who had the bullhorn at previous meetings I've told
you about. After the election results were certified, she spoke
of the county chambers, standing at a microphone with the
widest of smiles. Good morning, Supervisor's my name is a
(01:28):
Lissa mckuman. Congratulations Supervisor Tim Garman. Tim Garman. That was
a supervisor replacing Leonard Moody. He was the candidate who
had been backed by the recall campaign. Recall Shasta is
pleased with the final election results showing an extremely successful
recall of Supervisor Mody. We believe this change will bring
(01:51):
much needed transparency, accountability, and better representation to Shasta Cowny citizens.
Alyssa got a standing ovation after she finished talking, with
plenty of whoops and hollers. The room was packed with
familiar faces. Carlos so Patto was there, so was Jeremy Edwardson,
(02:12):
filming the whole thing for Red, White, and Blueprint, and
all of the county supervisors were seated at their horseshoe
table watching. With majority on the board, the recall movement
now had actual governing power, but from where I stood,
it didn't seem like the leaders had much of a plan.
(02:33):
It was easy for their campaign to focus on undermining
lettered Mody, painting him as a terrible leader, responsible for
everything that voters hated. But as far as actual policy went,
Melissa promised more quote transparency and accountability with stronger representation.
(02:53):
Jeremy had wanted a more constitutional government, like we explored
in a previous episode, but those were just words, words
I've been hearing for months throughout my reporting on Shasta County.
My question was what did these new leaders actually want
to accomplish now that they had the power, and what
(03:13):
would that mean for Shasta County, for the problems it faced,
and for the people who lived there. On this episode,
we find out this is bed Rocky U Say, a
production of Bloomberg City Lab and I Heart Radio, a
podcast about political extremism, small town life, and the fight
for democracy. I'm your host, Laura Bliss. With the recall
(03:47):
behind them, the far right now had the majority of
votes on the county Board of Supervisors, so I started
to watch the board meetings to figure out what they
were planning to do, and what they did was mostly
government theater. They ended the local pandemic state of emergency.
They passed a requirement that all county board meetings be
(04:09):
in person, and they approved a resolution opposing state vaccine mandates.
None of these actions really changed things, since the state
had already relaxed a lot of its COVID mandates, and
don't forget, just hadn't really been enforcing them anyways. These
were basically symbolic actions, actions that, like Supervisor Patrick Jones
(04:34):
told a local reporter, we're designed to send a message.
We need to send a message to the public that
the state of emergency with regards to COVID is over
for us and it's time for everyone to get back
to work. A very vague politician thing to say. But
what else was there? Anything concrete? There was one clue
(04:56):
from watching the county board meetings. It seemed a matter
of if, not when, the far right majority would vote
to fire the county public Health officer, Dr Karen Ramstrom.
Ramstrom had been the primary face of Shasta's pandemic response.
Anti mandate protesters had been calling for her termination for months,
(05:20):
and much to their delight, the Board of Supervisors announced
that our job performance was going to be quote evaluated.
Here's Supervisor Les ba I would also like to set
for close session a an employee evaluation for our county
Health Officer Dr. Karen Ranstrom. I think if Dr Ramstrom
(05:46):
was fired, it would send a much bigger message than
any of those other actions, a message to the rest
of Shasta County in California that here the far right
was now firmly in power, and unlike some of their
other actions, it could have real consequences, not only for
Ramstrom herself, but for the actual people who lived in
(06:09):
Shasta County. Vulnerable people, especially like the rising homeless population,
people struggling with addiction, and folks with mental illness. These
are serious problems. Shasta County has twice the rate of
suicide as the rest of California. That's what Supervisor Mary
(06:31):
Rickart had told me when we talked in her office
at the government building in downtown Reading. Mary was one
of the remaining modern Republicans on the board. You heard
her in a previous episode. She knew about Dr Ramstrom's
upcoming job evaluation, and she saw it as a clear
sign that the new leaders had little interest in addressing
(06:53):
Shasta's very real challenges. I'm very concerned what's going to
happen to the citizens and residents of Shasta County. Are
they going to be able to receive the services that
they're entitled to. I'm concerned that we're going to have
more homeless, We're going to have more crime. I'm very
concerned about about our county in general. Why would that
(07:17):
happen when well, if you don't, if you they're talking
about scaling back health and human services, will scaling back
means scaling back programs, and then you're not being able
to serve the people that are in that are most
vulnerable in our county and we have you know, Shasta
County has a lot of social issues. We have very
high rates of child abuse, domestic violence, crime, I could
(07:40):
go down the list, and so we can't be ignoring
those issues. Experienced, trained leaders like Dr Ramstrom were essential
for the county to function. Mary told me Without them,
she feared that services like housing support and addiction treatment
would be cut off from the people who need them,
(08:01):
and that would only deepen the community's problems. After talking
with Mary, I just felt sad. The recall movement, a
movement that promised more freedom, more liberty, now looked like
a bunch of empty gestures and worse people were potentially
going to suffer. Was that really all these leaders wanted?
(08:25):
I had to find out by going straight to the
source that's coming up. After the break, I read on
Facebook that supervisor Patrick Jones was going to be m
seeing a political fundraiser sponsored by some of the same
people behind the recall. If I was ever going to
(08:47):
learn what their plan was for Shasta's future, this looked
like the place to go, so my producer Kathleen, and
I jumped in the car and headed to the small
town of Anderson, south of Reading. We arrived in the
early evening in the parking lot outside the banquet hall.
We were greeted by a man under a shade tent
(09:08):
with an assortment of security gear. Are you here for
the fundraiser? Yeah? Turned around, great, well, we're actually reported
for reviews. Why is Bloomberg in town? The recalls over now?
We do have some interesting races and that's why we're here.
(09:31):
The man introduced himself as Richard Galardo and said he
was expecting what he described as socialist protesters to show
up and make trouble. I asked Richard why he'd gotten
involved in the recall scene. Here's what he said. A
lot of harm has been done to our kids, mental
harm regarding the masking and the distancing and you know,
(09:52):
everybody's right treat everybody like their sick and until you
know otherwise, and very it's very, very damaging emotionally to
the kids. It's got a taker ser that's a that's
a it's a stun gun. Yeah, guys are prepared. Oh yeah, no,
we've got yeah, I got mine right there. Actually, Caleb's
got mine. That's stun gun. Alarmingly, was in the hands
(10:14):
of a teenage boy standing nearby. The zapping noise was unsettling.
Richard was eager to talk about how things were looking
up in Shasta County now that Leonard Moody had been recalled.
So we've we've taken our county board back. We now
have the board majority. Are now real Republicans, meaning conservative
(10:37):
or right leaning we'll call it. So we now have
local control now of our board and the rest of
these races that we're seeing this year, we're going to
do the same thing. We're gonna we're gonna kick the
Rhinos out of office and we're gonna put in true
conservative type Republicans. Richard was talking about yet another election
in June, a primary election where right wing activists planned
(11:02):
to kick out more Rhinos, meaning Republicans in name only.
That's right. The recall had just ended, but they weren't
done campaigning. This time. The goal was to take over
pretty much all of Shasta County's government. Among the offices
up for election were two openings on the Board of
(11:23):
County Supervisors. Less Ba, one of the pro recall supervisors,
had announced his plans not to run again, so had
Joe Commente, one of the two remaining more moderate Republicans.
That meant this election could give extremists even more power.
(11:43):
There were also several county department leaders up for reelection,
including the sheriff, the school superintendent, and the county clerk,
who oversees elections. A slate of new candidates, backed by
the same group who led the recall, is aiming to
take all of these government positions, the schools, the sheriff,
(12:06):
the elections office. If they won, far right leaders would
hold nearly all of the elected positions in Shasta County,
and this was my chance to find out what they
wanted beyond power, because several of the new candidates were
at this fundraiser. Bob Hohlesinger, I'm running for the Shasta
(12:27):
County clerk's office, which also is in charge of elections
and very important responsibility. Meet Bob whole Singer. He was
standing in the parking lot near Richard's tent. He's a
retired utility manager who'd been volunteering as a poll watcher
in Shasta's recent elections. He told us he was concerned
(12:47):
about irregularities in California's voting laws, concerns that have been
dismissed by judges again and again. It's been going on
in California for about three years, and they keep changing
election law and causing you and I, as the voters
in California, our election rights to be watered down, water down.
(13:07):
So it's really sad to see. But when I asked
him what specific issues he had, he appointed me to
a lawsuit against a bunch of county election offices filed
by a right wing group that he was involved in.
I looked it up later. It was one of many
lawsuits claiming voter fraud after election. Like almost all of
(13:30):
those suits, a federal judge had dismissed it, saying it
lacked concrete evidence. So Bob, who was deeply concerned with
false claims about election fraud, wanted to oversee elections that
did not sound productive. Our conversation ended when another attendee
(13:51):
came up to talk to him. Hi, how are you, ma'am? So,
Kathleen and I walked into the banquet hall, a faded
stucco building with double doors like the ones at a
high school auditorium. Yes clear. Inside. The mood was celebratory
(14:15):
and the decor aggressively patriotic American flags. Pocket sized constitutions,
and green apples adorned the long banquet tables. Kids ran
around playing cornhole with red, white and blue sacks. I
counted about a hundred and sixty people, the vast majority
(14:35):
older white men. Folks were chowing on barbecue and a
mountain of dinner rolls in exchange for the forty dollar
tickets they bought. It. Built in tiki style bar served
up stiff cocktails and bottle after bottle of beer, while
a raffle an auction took place up for grabs, gift baskets,
(14:57):
big goods, and several guns. We made a bee line
for Supervisor Patrick Jones, who was there as the MC
for the evening. He was the guy we wanted to
talk to you the most, to ask him what was
the plan. He was working the room, shaking hands and
chatting with supporters. You we walked up and introduced ourselves.
(15:27):
Patrick was talking to a couple of people. He made
a big deal about us being from Bloomberg, being in media,
and then without missing a beat, he told us not
to worry. They don't execute journalists here. I shouldn't have
been shocked, and I wasn't. Really, I've encountered plenty of
(15:50):
journalist hatred and we were there uninvited, but still it
was pretty uncomfortable to hear we wouldn't be execute did
As we stood in the hall with firearms lying around,
everyone laughed. I left two in that nervous, make everyone
happy way. Then I asked Patrick my questions. First, I
(16:14):
wanted to know what to expect the next county Board meeting.
Now that there's the new majority on the county board
can tell us about Lisbeth. Well, it's just it's just
a better atmosphere. I mean, as soon as Leonard Moody
was removed from office the and Tim Garman was seated,
it just changed UM for the better. UM. Now people
(16:35):
feel like their voices are being heard, which was missing
for the last two years, and so I expect the
June primaries to see more that we have two more
seats coming up, and I expect this to be the trend.
And thank you Marty, and we'll get there, you know.
And uh, we've just been asleep at the wheel. We've
(16:55):
been complacent. And while I have been involved in government
for twenty years trying um, it just took one to
wake people up, to get them thinking about local government.
We can't change what's happening in Washington or Sacramento, but
(17:15):
we can change what's happening in our own county. A
good stump speech, but not much of an answer. There's
some of the other departments within the county that you
think are in most day to perform well. For me personally,
I've just had a trouble with high UM. I've had
trouble with Resource Management department for a long time, not
being friendly and helping people move forward to being successful healthy,
(17:39):
that's building permits and so forth. But also health and
human services. We don't even know what's going on in
health in human services. I mean it's a it's a
three million dollar budget. There's so many different things we're
not getting informed. The well and the and and the
public is not being informed to the point where we
understand all the programs and all the state grants. We
want to accept money from the state. We want good programs.
(18:01):
We want programs that are efficient, that don't enable bad behavior.
And and if you can't prove that it's a good program,
then we don't want it. And we don't want to
just accept it because we can slice off a certain
amount of bad men and employee, a certain amount of
county government employees. We want good programs, and um our
county is not better today than it was twenty years ago,
and people are looking for a change. Now. I gotta
(18:22):
get back. Sorry, I gotta go. Thank you, guys. I
got a follow up question there, But all right, our
last call for HORMBLD. It was frustrating, all right. I
was earnestly trying to draw information, but Patrick only gave
the Vegas answers. He said he wanted quote good programs
(18:45):
that don't enable bad behavior. But what kinds of changes
did he have in mind? And if you catch the
part where he called out the Department of Resource Management,
that was the same county agency that Reverge and Selmo
had fought bitterly years ago. Reves and Selmo was the
(19:05):
vengeful son of a billionaire who bankrolled the recall as
well as Patrick's campaign to be supervisor. Apparently Patrick had
a gripe with the agency too, So was that really
all the recall was about? Just a big old nothing
burger personal grievances. I never got a chance to ask
(19:29):
Patrick my other questions. He ignored all my requests for
a follow up interview. We watched Patrick then as he
led a raffle at the front of the room. The
big prizes were for guns. There was one more candidate.
(19:56):
We wanted to talk to, Brian Cables, who was running
to be superintendent of schools against a long time incumbent.
We found him at the back of the room and
asked him about his vision. I really need to make
sure that our schools get back local control. Brian wanted
to end mask and vaccine mandates, and he told us
(20:19):
he wanted to let Shasta schools make their own curriculum
rather than follow state and national standards. I wondered, what
if that's somehow impacted funding, and he said, well, he
thought that people should simply stop paying taxes. You don't
get our tax money if you're not going to fund
our services and you right, A fundamental uh, A fundamental
(20:44):
thing about us as Americans is we don't we represent
no representation, no taxation without representation. So if you're not
going to fund us, we're not going to fund you.
But wouldn't that be breaking the law not paying taxes?
I asked, and he's said, I guess you could sue me.
We can see how that turns out. Well, what happened,
(21:06):
what happened in seventeen seventy six when we didn't pay taxes? Right?
So started building towards if Shafton County doesn't pay its taxes,
I r S comes after you? Where does that lead
come on over? I know where I live, so I
don't I don't know a problem. And it's going to
come to a point where I'm not going to recognize
or the people of Shafta County aren't going to recognize
(21:27):
the government's authority. You don't have any authority of us.
We're not going to recognize it anymore. Later, I called
up an education policy expert to ask if the seat
of California whatever poll funding from a school district that
went rogue on its curriculum. No, he told me that
was really unlikely to happen. But still, Bryan's attitude towards
(21:50):
the state was so strikingly aggressive. Clearly these candidates were
interested in power, but not just that. Like Brian said,
they wanted to fight. There was a powerful feeling in
that star spangled banquet hall, a sense of domination. This
(22:11):
extremist faction was on top of the world, and they
were happy to let us know it. By the way,
we never saw any protesters show up like Richard had feared.
After all, a clubhouse of gun toting activists is pretty intimidating.
(22:49):
That was the voice of the auctioneer, Chris Kelstrom. He
was also running for county supervisor in the June election.
He was dressed in stars and stripes as he cracked
that offensive transphobic joke before the laughing audience. By this point,
Kathleen and I were pretty anxious to leave. It felt
(23:10):
like at any moment, the giddy, tipsy atmosphere could turn
on us good more like all. As we drove to
(23:33):
our hotel that night, I kept turning the scene over
in my mind. Bob Patrick, Brian, these candidates voiced a
lot of the same sorts of anti government ideas and
misinformation we'd heard fueling the recall effort, but there was
no actual plan other than to gain more power and
(23:56):
pick more fights. And I kept thinking about the very
real problems Shasta County was facing. Like Mary said, there
was a growing homeless population and a mental health crisis.
Yet all these guys wanted to talk about was their ideology,
building consensus, having dialogue. I thought, those are the essential
(24:22):
tools for solving problems in a democracy, but there's not
much room for that when power winning are your main priorities.
So what did that mean for the future, not only
for Shasta County, but for communities across the country that's
coming up after the break. I could not have seen
(24:50):
it coming, the force and momentum of the far rights
rise to power. But in reality, Shasta County is only
one an example of many communities caught in the wave
of extremism sweeping the country. We've seen proud boys running
for school boards. We've seen the names of state and
(25:13):
local officials popping up on the roster for militia groups
like the Oath Keepers. Politicians aren't hiding their extremism anymore.
This radicalized wing of the GOP contains many factions, but
there seems to be a common thread, an opposition to
(25:33):
basically all institutions, the government, the media, the science community,
even law enforcement. And for an alarming number of them,
they bond over straight up racism. And these days more
and more extremists are leading the very institutions they so
(25:56):
deeply mistrust. So what does that mean for local governments
across the country to find out? I called up Mike Madrid. So,
Mike Madrid, I'm a Republican political consultant and a co
founder of the Lincoln Project. And what we're seeing in
(26:18):
Shasta County is really, I think, a precructure of things
to come for other counties in the state. It's already
clearly happening in other parts of the country, from everywhere
from Maine to California. Like Mike said, he is a
co founder of the Lincoln Project. That's the superPAC that
formed in twenty nineteen to stop Donald Trump's reelection. But
(26:40):
Mike's expertise is in state and local politics, and in
his view, the goal of the far right at any
level of government is nothing short of destruction, and that,
he said, is an unprecedented and dangerous shift. Well, let
me just say that one of the things that is
a relatively recent phenomenon, recent being kind of the Trump era,
(27:04):
is most of the factions within the Republican Coalition are
really no longer ideological. When I joined and was involved
in the party, you know, some thirty years ago, most
of the factions dealt with issues like taxes and taxation,
or even abortion pro life, pro choice fight. Today they're
really kind of a conglomeration of fringe movements, everything from
(27:27):
the anti vaccine efforts to white supremacist efforts to secessionists
and militia efforts who have some sort of strain of
anti government countercultural sentiment, but don't necessarily share or don't
always share a primary focus on what it is that
(27:47):
they're they're trying to accomplish. There's also no overarching philosophy
of government here. This is not a healthy political party
that is debating different philosophical issues or ideological issues under
in a rella of how they want to govern. The
goal the focus of most of this is literally the
destruction of governmental institutions. Once upon a time, Mike said,
(28:10):
a candidate might run as a fisthfuly conservative Republican or
on a platform of government deregulation. Both local and national
politicians would talk about those kinds of policy issues, but
today fewer candidates are focused on actual governance, he said,
(28:31):
at all levels, they're playing up cultural issues, issues that
are often based on hate and lies, like critical race theory,
illegal framework for understanding race, and transgender bathroom policies that
Republicans have weaponized to shake up elections. So critical race
(28:51):
theory or transgender bathroom policy becomes paramount whether you're running
for governor of Virginia, as Glen yuncan, or whether you
are running for the school board in Vacaville. It doesn't matter.
So again, there is a nationalization of issues, largely because
they're no longer really about governance. They're really more of
(29:12):
a cultural touchstone. And whether or not you are an
enemy or an advocate for this America that the party
is trying to create, they would suggest kind of restoring
making American great again, right, going back to a previous America.
But the irony of all this is that Republicans are
now using the tools of government, the power of government,
(29:35):
to impose a cultural view on the majority who does
not agree with them. And if that government's tool and
that government power cannot be used, then they're seeking to
simply tear it down. Shasta County sure fit the bill.
Right wing activists wanted to battle the state. They wanted
(29:55):
to cut programs, lift restrictions, get rid of the experts,
experts like doctor Karen Ramstrom, the Shasta County public health officer.
Like you heard earlier, angry residents had been calling for
Dr Ramstrom to be fired because though Shasta had barely
enforced COVID rules, Dr Ramstrom had supported masks and vaccine guidelines,
(30:20):
and as you know, Shasta's far right wing did not
like those. Here's one local speaking at a county board
meeting in April. Karen Ramstrom blindly accepted what the political
machine spit out, which we're learning now never even worked,
and our children's mental, emotional, and developmental health has suffered
(30:42):
because of it. We need to have someone in charge
of our health department who is willing to look at
all sides, not just what the government tells them to
look at. Comments like these are anti government, anti science,
and anti expertise. Doctor R. Ramstrom was an Army veteran
(31:02):
and a public health professional with years of experience. She
seemed like a perfect fit for the role and for
the community. But ever since the recall, the new majority
on the Board of Supervisors had been promising to evaluate
her job performance, the implication being they wanted her out,
(31:23):
and finally the day of the evaluation came. It was
going to happen in a closed door session at the
end of the county board meeting. Ahead of the meeting,
Ramstrom released a statement saying she had never received any
specific information about why her job performance was considered unsatisfactory.
(31:44):
It was covered by the local news station. She said,
I am certain some of the board members absolutely have
my best interest in mind and are doing their best
given the current situation. But I don't want to leave
my job, and I don't want to be muzzled. I
object to being terminated, and there's two much work and
so many important issues that need our attention. But there
was little she could do. At the very end of
(32:06):
the meeting, the supervisors went into a closed door session.
When they returned, less BA announced that doctor Ramstrom had
been fired in a three to vote, with the new
majority asking for her termination. They did not give any cause.
We were not able to reach Dr Ramstrom for comment,
(32:28):
but here's what she told a local newscaster immediately after
her firing. Well, I'm I'm still digesting it. I'm very disappointed.
Were you shocked, Actually I am. I was shocked. Where
do you go from here? Well, you know, this started
in March, So I've been, you know, doing a little
(32:49):
homework just in cases were to happen. And um, a
few people have reached out to me, and so I'll
be following up on those contacts. I don't anticipate it's
gonna you know, um, in terms of finding employment, it's
just not what I want. I'm very sad, very sad.
Dr Ramstrom wasn't the only one headed out the door.
(33:11):
By then, the director of the county Health and Human
Services Agency had also retired, citing the political upheaval as
one big reason, and not long after Ramstrom's firing, the
county CEO resigned. That brought the count of top officials
who departed to three, actually four if you count Leonard Moody.
(33:33):
That is a big loss of qualified, dedicated people. And
I wondered where did that leave people like Mary Rickart,
one of the only county supervisors left who seemed to
truly care about her hometown. Really, she told me she
felt like she was hanging on by a thread. I
(33:53):
don't think I'm being overly dramatic. I truly believe this
county will collapse because I think that you will see
not only um if you have top officials leave the county,
You're going to see quite a few of the staff
leave because there are people that will not stay in
these current positions because they are very concerned about who
(34:16):
will replace them. And that is deeply, deeply concerning to me.
But even more worrying, she said, it was the lack
of a plan. And that's the problem here is I've
never heard a plan from these people for two years.
It's just we want to get rid of everybody. And
the residents of Shasta County need to look at that seriously.
(34:37):
They need to think about that long and hard. They
need to understand the ramifications. There is no plan other
than they want to be in power. Mary Rickart was terrified,
Mike Madrid was terrified. But now my question was we're
Shasta County voters paying any attention because soon voters were
(35:00):
going to have a chance to make their voices hurt again.
The upcoming election, the one in June, was a chance
to take Shasta in a different direction. Right wing activists
had endorsed their candidates, several of whom we met at
the fundraiser, but running against them was a slate of
moderates and incumbents determined to take government back. One of
(35:24):
them was Aaron Resner. She was a Republican running for
one of the open spots on the county Board of Supervisors.
Aaron was a Rutting City council member and a co
owner several coffee shops. She saw Shasta's political turmoil as
divisive and unhealthy. Ultimately, I really really think the biggest
thing that's standing in our way at the moment is
(35:46):
this inability to tackle all of those things that need
our attention, because there seems to be this just discourse
that is frankly just unhealthy. Also on the June seventh
ballot was Kathie Darling Allen, a Democrat who was running
for her fifth term Shasta County Clerk. This was the
same clerk who had overseen every election in Shasta County
(36:09):
for nearly twenty years. Here's Kathy. I take the right
to vote extremely seriously, and I think it does need
to be defended. Um, never more so than now in
my career. Kathy's opponent was Bob Whole Sinker, the guy
you heard repeating false claims about elections at the fundraiser.
Bob was running on a slate with Brian Caples, the
(36:32):
superintendent candidate, and several other activists. All of them were men,
which wasn't a coincidence. They had the support of a
new pack called the Liberty Committee, to which Revere and
Selmo contributed another one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. And
Verge had said in an interview with the Reading Record
(36:54):
Searchlight that he didn't generally support women as politicians. They
were too quote squishy, he said, I don't know what
that means, but it sure sounds sexist. We could not
reach Reverge for comment. Once again, TV, radio and newspapers
(37:15):
were flushed with advertisements paid for by the Liberty Committee.
Now the question was would moderates like Aaron and incumbents
like Kathy be able to win? Turnout had been low
for Leonard's recall election. What about on June seven? Would
voters show up this time ready to take Shasta back?
(37:39):
I called up Donnie Chamberlain, the founder and editor of
Shasta County's left leaning local news outlet, A news Cafe.
You met her in the last episode. She said she
was really nervous. She was still afraid for the future
of her county. But at this point some of Donnie's
fears returning to morbid curiosity. One person said, you know,
(38:03):
at some point, the voters get what they deserve if
they don't take action, if they don't rise up, but
they don't vote, you know, And so at some point,
if that's what happens and all the people, the same
people in leadership positions are gutted and they're taken out,
I'm curious about what will happen. Will the state come
in and say you're not following guidelines, or will it
(38:25):
be that Gavin Newsom, as Wermodius said and Joe Commentti
has said before, Will it be that Gavin Newsom really
doesn't give two squirts about Shasta County and he says, fine,
let him paying themselves. You know what do I care?
You know, a bunch of weirdos, And we might even
be an experiment that way. We might be a blueprint,
(38:46):
like a cautionary tale, like here's what happens to a
county where you allow these people to overrun it and
not stop what was going to happen, and not just
in Shasta, but to the rest of our country. In
the coming episodes, we're going to find out. But first
we're going back to where this story began, to Squim, Washington,
(39:09):
where people came together to fight back against extremism in
the name of good governance. And actually one Hello, my
name is Josh, I live in Squim. I would request
that Mayor Armacrost denounce Q and on. That's all coming
up on bed Rock USA. This episode was reported and
(39:33):
hosted by me Laura Bliss. Kathleen Quillian is our senior producer.
Smith the Story is our story editor and executive producer.
We had additional editing help from Nicole Flato and Francesca Leavie,
original music and scoring by Zachary Walter, and audio engineering
by Blake Naples. Jennifer Sandag is head of Bloomberg City Lab.
(39:56):
Bed Rock USA is a production of Bloomberg City Lab
and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
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