Hobbs Declines to Pay for Recount, Says She’ll Go Through Courts Instead
A spokesperson said Hobbs has “all kinds of legal counsel” but declined to name anyone specific.
At 9:30 a.m. this morning, Shasta County community member Patty Plumb spoke to the press on behalf of failed county supervisor candidate Laura Hobbs. Hobbs, who requested a recount of the votes in the District 2 race last week, did not pay the approximately $8,600 required to begin the recount by the deadline today at 9 am.
Plumb, who’s previously identified herself as part of a secessionist movement known as the New California State, said Hobbs’ declined to pay because “the process (the Elections Office) offered today did not meet our requirements.”
“Our goal is for a hand count,” Plumb continued, “but not in the method that the Elections Office is providing at this time.”
Hobbs is planning on “going in another direction” with the recount process instead, Plumb said, through the courts.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Plumb continued. “We have all kinds of legal counsel.”
Asked to name Hobbs legal counsel Plumb replied, “I’m not telling.”
Hobbs asked for the recount as part of an April 2 lawsuit filed against the Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters and the winner in the District 2 race, Allen Long. Her partially hand-written lawsuit, which was filed without the help of an attorney, alleges “mal-administration” of the elections process. Hobbs amended her suit on April 3 to address some basic gaps, including failing to ask the courts for a remedy to address her complaint.
For more than a year, Hobbs, who moved to the county in 2021, has been a frequent commenter at both board of supervisors and elections commission meetings, where she shares her account of detailed observations of the elections process and calls repeatedly for the board to mandate hand counting in Shasta County, something which is now against state law.
Assistant County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut told the press this morning that her office did a lot to gear up for the recount today, bringing in staff over the weekend and on their days off.
“We worked really hard to make sure we were in compliance with the law,” Francescut said.
She said that she was disappointed that the recount wouldn’t move forward, because it would have provided increased transparency and learning for the public. But now that Hobbs has decided not to pay for a recount, Francescut emphasized, none will occur. That’s because the allowable time period for any party to call for a recount via the Elections Office, within five days of certification, has passed.
Francescut said County Supervisors Tim Garman and Kevin Crye were both present this morning during a meeting between her, Hobbs, and Plumb just before the 9 a.m. payment deadline.
Speaking to Shasta Scout by phone this morning, Supervisor Kevin Crye, who attended a meeting about the recount with Hobbs, Plumb and Francescut this morning, said he asked to attend after hearing Hobbs share her concerns about the process a few days ago.
Crye said he invited Supervisor Tim Garman to come to the meeting too, in hopes, he said, of building unity across ideological lines by ensuring a supervisor with a perspective different from his own would be represented.
“We sat and listened and heard what Laura (Hobbs) was looking for and what Joanna (Francescut) was doing and looked for opportunities to (find) consensus . . . ” Crye said.
“There’s an opportunity right now (if we recount) for (either) side to feel very vindicated,” he continued. “That’s what I want. I just want it to be where everybody feels that they all had the best opportunity to prove their case.”
He said he hopes to encourage any legally allowable process to provide transparency and information to those who seek it.
Garman, who visibly supported Crye’s recall, once even wearing a recall t-shirt during a county board meeting, said he appreciated the invitation from Crye and wanted to give him credit for his ongoing efforts to “get past” the ongoing elections “nonsense and craziness.”
“We may have different viewpoints on how to get there,” Garman said, “but we’re both trying to get past this.”
But the meeting left Garman concerned about Hobbs’ motivations.
He said some of Hobbs’ requests of the Elections Office, including asking that they count ballots in only one room so she could personally observe the entire recount, are legal but would have slowed down the process and increased the cost.
Another of her requests, Garman said, in which she asked that observers representing her opponents not be present for the recount, aren’t permitted under state law.
“I’m not sure she ever intended to pay for the recount at all,” he continued. “I think this was just another way for her to say the process is not transparent . . . and slander the Elections Office.”
Plumb said Hobbs will issue a press release later today, April 8. We’ll update this story if she does.
Have questions, concerns, or comments you’d like to share with us directly? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org.
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One of the things (among many) that confuse me is: why is Patty Plumb the spokesperson for Ms. Hobbs? She was running for Shasta County supervisor and so should be able to talk on her own behalf, you’d think. She seems to be able to talk at BOS meetings.
Annelise, I’m usually not as blunt as my earlier remarks. However, I remember Hobbs’ stunt about Mary Rickert’s car plate. I would like to think this was not a set-up to trap the County Clerk’s office, but ….. c’mon.
Steve: You could well be right.
A dishonest act by Hobbs. She allowed the County to set up a recount process and then pulled the plug. Garman is right: after seeing the process, Hobbs can then make up objections and say she had to quit because the process was unfair. All that staff effort and tax money wasted on this lying loser.
Steve: a different perspective and one that I as a journalist hold room for . . . is that Hobbs needed to act within the allowable time frame to ask for a recount but as she learned more information she changed her course of action.
I would go with that, except she filed the lawsuit prior to having the meeting. I’m in agreement that this was just a weak attempt to try and trip up Francescut so she could have something to use for her case.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Plumb continued. “We have all kinds of legal counsel.”
Is Patty just copying and pasting previous statements by Donald Trump?
Didn’t the “New California” dude bail to Russia where his backers were the last time they tried?
Thank you very much Scout for covering this. I have to think Supervisor Garman kind of nailed it when he stated, “I’m not sure she ever intended to pay for the recount at all,” he continued. “I think this was just another way for her to say the process is not transparent . . . and slander the Elections Office.” I think that’s indeed a probability. In other words, the whole thing was a stunt and more than likely the same for the so-called lawsuit against the county.
It does seem funny that Patty Plum, a longtime secessionist and election denier – now spokesperson for Hobbs, stated, “It’s going to be amazing…We have all kinds of legal counsel.” Amazing indeed, lots of legal counsel… but no money for a recount.
By the way, about the “Lawsuit.” I have a feeling that Hobbs and her crew intended to have the Shasta County Elections Commission take some kind of legal action against the Shasta County Elections Office, let alone the State of California, and while anything is possible, it is not probable, as the “Commission,” in reality, has no jurisdiction to do much of anything, let alone sue the county or state for the likes of Hobbs, and commission is funded by Shasta County. Meanwhile, it’s very ironic that the office that is in charge of defending the Elections Office is the Shasta County Council.
Perhaps all this noise, chaos, and confusion of the Hobbs – Shasta County Election Commission, is the sound of Hobbs, Jones, and the so-called “commission” crumbling apart and crawling back under their rock of conspiracies, innuendo, baseless accusations, and BIG LIES they all came from. This could be good news and Shasta County Taxpayers will save a lot of money should this be the case.
In closing, why does it seem Shasta County Covid deniers are also secessionists and Big Lie elections deniers? Is that the sound of one hand washing the other? Interesting.
Oh it gets better.
According to news sources, Susan Baremore will be resigning her position on the Election Commission tomorrow. Patrick Henry Jones selection for her replacement?
Patty Plumb.
Tell me how this is anything but a blatant conflict of interest. Jones is determined to do the bidding of his master, Emperor Anselmo and drown Shasta County for every penny he can force out of them for the time he has remaining in office.
Thanks for the speedy update. I’ve been wondering what would happen. Somehow, I have my doubts about “legal counsel” doing what Ms Plumb predicts. I guess we’ll see!