Outside the elections office, Curtis denies evidence of abuse as his supporters campaign against his opponent
A brief press conference held yesterday by election official Clint Curtis was beset by chaotic interruptions from his opponents. Three election staff members spoke in his support, saying they’ve experienced him as a positive leader, despite substantiated findings that he engaged in abuse. One also campaigned on Curtis’ behalf.
Thursday evening, feet away from the entrance to the Shasta County Elections Office on Market Street, County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis held a press conference in response to findings that he’s been abusive to staff.
Against a backdrop of flags, Curtis spoke in his own defense, denying his culpability in two county investigations which substantiated that he had engaged in abusive conduct against some of his staff.
“I didn’t do anything that was in that report,” Curtis said. “It’s all just a hack job. Just like Trump got.”
A Shasta Scout reporter was among those who witnessed one of the incidents substantiated by the investigations, when Curtis made a joke about spanking one of his staffers on election night last year.
Accusations against Curtis have come from both observers and staff. The investigatory process confirmed claims that he threatened to pull a staffer out of their office by their hair and that he threatened to slap and “throat punch” at least one staffer.
Last night, other election staffers — two of whom Curtis hired when he began his role last year — spoke in his defense, saying they’ve been witness to his behavior in the office and find him to be an exemplary leader.
Laura Hobbs, an election activist who Curtis brought on as a staffer, was the first to speak. Hobbs is also the central proponent behind the campaign for Measure B, an election-related measure that would likely be illegal to implement if passed by voters on June 2.
Hobbs blamed “middle-management who’re resistant to change” for issues in the office, alleging that they inadequately trained her in order to to set her up to break election law, something she referred to as “Tina-Petering,” a reference to a former Colorado election official who was jailed for several election-related felonies.
Another election activist, Patty Plumb, also spoke, offering statements in support of Curtis’ approach to election management and asking people to serve as poll workers. She’s currently the county’s poll worker coordinator.
“We’ve come to a precipice,” Plumb said, speaking broadly of what she sees as the need for changes to election processes in California. “This is a system that has betrayed us.”
She described Curtis as a “Teflon duck,” saying injustices and mistreatment “roll off of him.” Curtis first registered to vote in Shasta County at an address owned by Plumb and her husband. He told a reporter at the time that he was “good friends” with the Plumbs.
Marjorie Andrews, a staffer who said she was hired in 2024 under Curtis’ predecessor, also offered supportive statements on Curtis’ behalf, alleging that hostility in the work environment is coming not from Curtis but from election staffers who have worked in the office long-term.
“There’s two sides to every story,” Andrews said. “I’m honored to work with this man. I’m honored with the transparency he’s brought in, and I’m so sad that people can’t see through the propaganda. … I call it Clint derangement syndrome.”
She was the only speaker at the press conference who wasn’t nearly drowned out by the shouts and retorts of an opponent of Curtis’, who used a megaphone to amplify her repeated derogatory comments towards the election official as about two dozen bystanders, including members of the press, filmed the scene.
Kari Chilson was the next to take the microphone. Like Hobbs, she’s one of the five proponents behind Measure B. Unlike Hobbs and the other speakers, Chilson doesn’t work for the Shasta Elections Office. Her comments quickly morphed into active campaigning, focusing on unproven allegations of election fraud against Curtis’ opponent, former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut.
Curtis made a half-hearted effort to stop her, leaning in to instruct Chilson to keep her comments non-political.
“I don’t even know what politics is,” Chilson said, as Curtis stood next to her, continuing to smile cheerfully. “I told Joanna we need more cameras, and she refused. She refused to make our elections transparent. And I don’t know how she has the audacity to run. And maybe that’s political.”
Election staffer Hobbs then took the microphone again, discussing in vivid terms her negative personal experiences as an election observer — before she was hired by Curtis and when Francescut still worked in the office — as shouts from the assembled audience grew louder.
The remarkable scene took place in close proximity to the entrance of the Shasta Elections Office, where voters were dropping ballots into a ballot drop box in the moments leading up to the press conference. The polling place inside the elections office was closed since the press conference was conducted at 6 p.m., after working hours.
The speeches may have veered into the territory of electioneering, which California law defines in part as the “audible dissemination of information that advocates for or against any candidate on the ballot” within 100 feet of a polling place during an election.
Curtis seemed aware of the potential for violating state electioneering laws. When one of his supporters arrived with Clint Curtis signs, he told them to lay the signs flat on the ground and hide them from view before the press conference started. The supporter did.
When Hobbs and Chilson’s critiques of Francescut ended, Curtis briefly took the microphone again, thanking people for coming to the press conference as he addressed the political content of their speeches with only a single phrase.
“All that last stuff was not me,” he said, still smiling.
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Can someone show us the evidence or proof there is a problem with voter fraud in Shasta County.I don’t think so this is ridiculous one big conspiracy theory going on for years.Let’s get rid of the chaos and lies vote JOANNA for ROV
Gut rumblings and gnawing paranoia constitute proof in their world. They’re all about their BIG FEELINGS.
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Worse, they feel entitled to tilt the pool table to their advantage to mitigate their sense of victimhood when they think they might lose. Their tactics range from the legal but unethical (various forms of voter disenfranchisement) to the illegal (committing election fraud that they think is righteous because the ends justify the means).
No matter what anyone says in favor of or in opposition to Clint Curtis, he is going to lose the upcoming election by a humiliating landslide: No other outcome is possible.
Imagine being so tone deaf and clueless that you could make yourself believe trotting out Laura Hobbes and Patty Plumb for a thinly disguised illegal campaign rally would help.
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No glowing testimonial from Glitchy? I can imagine those two paranoid nippleheads getting sideways with one another.
Only one thing left to say and do…VOTE for the local, experienced, truth-telling candidate, Joanna Francescut!!
We the People have the power to change this situation and protect everyone’s voting rights. VOTE for the responsible candidate, Joanna!!
I don’t recall ever having such turmoil in our elections office before. It seems to me that it ran efficiently and fairly until this last year or so with little controversy. It’s becoming more than disconcerting.
I, for one, long for the days gone by.
Thank God and Country Delores Lucero showed up with her bullhorn to take away Clint Curtis’s opportunity to defend himself and and let the public hear his side of the story. Where would our country be without patriots like Big Delores who, by the way, does not stand for our Pledge of Allegiance nor the Prayer at meetings.
Nick Gardner
You had no complaints about the bullhorn lady who repeatedly disturbed board meetings during COVID. Why now Nick? Are you being a hypocrite again?
Making things up again. I wasn’t there!
He was clearly referring to the woman nicknamed Bullhorn Yogapants—not to you. You remind me of Orange Jesus, M.D.—you think everything is about you.
Nick, you should go back and SLOWLY READ the comment you are responding to again.
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Did you notice how the comment wasn’t about you?
Our nation is being led by a demented, self-dealing megalomaniac who is running us over a cliff, and you’re fine with it, because tribalism comes first.
Shasta County is being led by a bunch of MAGA election fabulists who believe that any election they don’t win is fixed, and you’re fine with it, because tribalism.
Your attempt to elevate Lucero to something equally bizarre and important as the MAGA cancer infecting our county and our country is a pathetic false equivalency. She’s a powerless and irrelevant gadfly, and nothing more.
Hey Nick aka Rent Free- you must have forgotten about the Board of Supervisors meetings with the rabid bullhorn lady, the Rich Gallardo citizen arrest of supervisors, the repetitive Mesa pattern of fraud nutcase (who also unsuccessfully sued the county)now hired by Curtis and the many other ivermectin induced paranoid patriots speeches during the Covid era? LOL now those meetings were quite the show but definitely made it easier to identify the “crazies” now – borrowing a term from ROV Curtis 😉
A little off topic, but I saw a truck the other day festooned with Curtis regalia and American flags. It had a personalized Florida license plate that said “Lawyer ….” (wasn’t able to read the rest). Immediate Better Call Saul vibes!
Regardless, seems reasonable to conclude that is Mr. Curtis’ truck. If it is, he had 20 days to register it in California after moving here. He was appointed ROV in May 2025.
That would be Mr. Curtis personal vehicle. IF HE DOES NOT GO TO DMV, does the DISQUALIFY HIM as. Redding, California resident?
Curtis certainly has ambulance chaser lawyer vibes who doesn’t believe rules and laws apply to him. As an election “official” he’s using the same slimy tactics to denigrate that office as well.
The ongoing controversies surrounding the Shasta County elections office provide Joanna Francescut with a rare political opportunity to reposition her campaign not merely as an electoral alternative, but as a comprehensive institutional reform movement. Rather than centering her message exclusively on criticism of Clint Curtis, Francescut should frame herself as the candidate of administrative stabilization, lawful governance, and professional reconstruction. Voters exhausted by investigations, public confrontations, workplace allegations, and operational controversies are likely more receptive to a disciplined reform platform than to escalating political theatrics. By emphasizing neutrality, procedural integrity, and public trust, she can elevate her candidacy above factional conflict.
Strategically, Francescut should now pivot toward a detailed governance agenda rooted in administrative law and institutional accountability. She should publicly advocate for an independent operational audit, strengthened quality-control procedures for election materials, anti-retaliation protections for employees, mandatory supervisory training, and transparent personnel-review mechanisms. Such proposals would allow her to present concrete solutions rather than generalized political messaging. Importantly, this approach would also reinforce the perception that she is prepared to assume immediate command of a department operating under visible stress and heightened public scrutiny.
Most critically, Francescut must carefully preserve the distinction between reform and political opportunism. If she appears motivated primarily by partisan advantage or personal attacks, she risks alienating moderate voters seeking stability. However, if she consistently grounds her campaign in principles of professionalism, institutional neutrality, compliance with California election-administration standards, and restoration of public confidence, she can transform the current controversy into a compelling argument for leadership transition. In this environment, the candidate most likely to prevail will not necessarily be the loudest voice, but the one most convincingly perceived as capable of restoring order, credibility, and administrative competence to the elections office.
Curtis, Hobbs, Gallardo, Plumb, Mr. Pillow, Jones, the Lone Raccoon….. I
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If you’re getting tired of Mr. Chaos Curtis and his three-ring circus of disruption, lies, threats, division, legal, and civil strife, just say no más and on June 2, send Mr. Chaos and his circus clowns packing and on down the road. It’s just that easy.
Crooked Curtis, the lying liar who lies. Thank you West Wing – the gift that keeps on giving.
What a pitiful dog and pony show. Enough.
Selah
🙄
What a dumpster fire.