Shasta County risks litigation after attempting to shield federal subpoena
The First Amendment Coalition has issued a legal demand on Shasta Scout’s behalf in an attempt to compel disclosure of a federal grand jury subpoena under public records law. A board meeting to discuss anticipated litigation is scheduled for Monday.
Shasta County is at risk of being sued for failing to produce a federal subpoena after it was requested through the California Public Records Act.
After Shasta elections official Clint Curtis received a federal subpoena last month, Shasta Scout submitted a public records request on Sept. 11 for a copy of the subpoena. The county responded, saying the document is shielded from disclosure under federal law. That’s not true, said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition.
In a letter sent to Shasta County Counsel Joseph Larmour last week — and cc’d to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors today — Loy, who is representing Shasta Scout in the matter, said the county must disclose the subpoena or face imminent litigation. Within hours, the board posted a special meeting notice for Oct. 5, noting anticipated litigation.
The county refused to disclose the subpoena under a rule related to grand jury proceedings, noting that “Records, orders, and subpoenas relating to grand-jury proceedings are kept under seal to the extent and as long as necessary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of a matter occurring before a grand jury.”
In his letter, Loy said the rule doesn’t apply in this case because it “only authorizes a federal court to seal its own records. It does not cover the County.”
Loy noted that the only part of the rule that might apply is a subsection related to government personnel assisting federal agents. But, Loy added, refusing to disclose the subpoena under that aspect of the law would require the county to “prove by specific and concrete evidence that its personnel were assisting federal law enforcement in a joint investigation.”
So far there’s no indication that Shasta’s personnel have been involved in any way with assisting federal law enforcement in what appears to be an investigation into June ballots.
“For all these reasons,” Loy wrote in closing, “I ask that the County reconsider its position and disclose the subpoena immediately especially in light of the paramount public interest in disclosure of any matter related to the administration of elections.”
Shasta Scout broke the news of the federal subpoena of Curtis on Sept. 11, shortly after learning about the subpoena and confirming its existence from multiple county sources.
According to information shared with Shasta Scout, the subpoena directed Curtis to appear in a federal court in Sacramento and bring with him ballot materials from the June primary, including tens of thousands of voted ballots. Since then, Curtis said he was told he did not need to appear in court because the FBI came to Shasta instead.
Curtis’ dealings with federal agents have been shrouded in secrecy, leading to concerns from the public about ballot security and trust in the elections process.
Amid such concerns, access to the federal subpoena has the potential to shine light on the ways in which federal prosecutors and agents are involved in Shasta County elections, something of national significance in the runup to the midterm elections, especially given national instability around election processes.
Today CalMatters’ confirmed that its’ request for the federal subpoena was also rejected by Shasta County. That’s unacceptable, CalMatters Managing Editor John D’Anna indicated during a phone call today.
“Voter integrity is one of the foremost things on voters’ minds as we move towards the midterm elections,” D’Anna said. “For the county to withhold the contents of a federal subpoena on this issue is a slap in the face to voters.”
Madison Holcomb contributed reporting for this story.
Oct. 2, 2026 8:05 p.m.: We have updated the story to correct a date reference.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Thank you SHASTA SCOUT for the excellent job you do by keeping us informed!
Los Angeles County provided a redacted copy of federal grand jury subpoenas to the Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-09-29/subpoena-records-trump-administration-probe-la-county-voters
It takes courage and stamina to stand up in the face of adversity. Thank Shasta Scout for doing that.
on the night of june 5, 2026, prop b was cruising at 70% yes and curtis was leading at 68% of the vote… then in a predominant conservative county, vote by mail ballots that were almost entirely for francescut and against prop b were dumped. francescut won big and prop b barely passed… the questionable ballots all went against the conservative electorate…. move along, nothing to see here…
I guarantee what the FBI thought of Clint Curtis . This guy’s an idiot ! Lets go get lunch !
You’re fooling yourself if you think most conservatives here in Shasta county support Clint Curtis.
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Newsflash: they don’t.
Let me help you out, Dave.
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As every schoolboy knows, über-conservative Christo-fascist voters like yourself prefer to vote in person, so their votes get counted first. In every election in America, that means the conservative candidates and initiatives jump off to a lead, which then erodes as the vast majority of ballots—which are mail-in ballots—get counted. This is EXACTLY why the Mesa pattern of fraud is a stinking crock of shit.
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The mail-in ballots were not almost exclusively for Franchescut—you just pulled that factoid out of your ass. Nor did Measure B “barely win”—it won 56% to 44%, which is a landslide in our polarized electorate, even in Shastanistan. I know, Dave… math is hard.
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Here’s your problem, Dave: You think “the conservative electorate” = MAGA. The truth is that many Republicans, and most Independents, are sick of your shit-show. They’re sick of your rank stupidity, your paranoia that’s never backed by evidence (other than the hand-waving bullshit you presented above), sick of your overt bigotry and hatred, sick of the anti-American authoritarianism, sick of the poisoned economy and regression of America’s standing in the world, etc. We’re sick of it all, Dave, and the tide has turned. You’re going to go down on the wrong side of history.
Thank you Shasta Scout for your excellent reporting and bringing this issue to light. This has not made any sense why Curtis was to appear before a Sacramento grand jury with the 2024 records then dismissed without explanation. Since Curtis did not address it would appear it falls under the category of “thou doth protest too much” nothingburger. Wonder how much all the shenanigans pulled by Curtis and his merry crowd of election deniers has set the county back financially. Next step is to remove the county supervisors -Kelstrom and Harmon that supported bringing Curtis here. They did not support Joanna Francescut whom the majority of voters resoundingly do.
Kudos to Shasta Scout for pushing this issue. Community reporting is often the only thing between complete corruption of the system and the community’s ability to restore order. Keep up the good fight. You are doing the job that the elected BOS are being paid to do and refuse to do. This is their mess don’t forget.
Supervisor Plummer recently expressed 100% confidence in Shasta County Counsel Joseph Larmour’s understanding and application of the law.
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Care to reassess, Matt?
Nice job, Scouts!! It’s so great to have to have solid investigative reporting in our area!
Contrary to what Nick Gardener has said in these threads about the manner in which Curtis administers elections, he is dishonest, lacks integrity and is not being transparent which in turn sows distrust in our elections, ultimately disenfranchising voters. We will have to wait until January when trust will be finally be restored in our elections the moment Joanna Francescut is sworn into office.
“We will have to wait until January when trust will be finally be restored in our elections the moment Joanna Francescut is sworn into office.”
How sure are you that Ms. Francescut will restore trust to the county’s ROV?
Do you possess a crystal ball where you can see the future?
Interesting seeing a real estate agent issuing A-PRIORI political assessments without any solid foundation – unless of course, Mr. Gurbutt FORMER member of the controversial Shasta County Elections Commission, may have vested interests in gaining access to government contracts via third parties (and Joanna may hold the key for that purpose).
Government contracts? You must be confusing me with Kevin Crye!
LMAO
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Just so laughably wrong.
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Yep, everyone that supports Joanna is hoping they’ll get access to some third-party government contracts. 🤣
Huh? I voted for Joanna and I’m not looking for a government contract. Maybe, just maybe, people are tired of Mr. Curtis and the money that he is wasting our county because he won’t follow the law. Yes- the law. Like it or not, Shasta County is a subdivision of the State of California. Just because Mr. Curtis doesn’t like a law doesn’t mean he has the authority to not follow it.
Because your response was to me, just to be perfectly clear, I was being sarcastic in my response to Floyd. He’s just silly.
Things haven’t smelled right since Corky, Crye, and Kelstorm put Curits in to do as much trumpism damage to our elections as possible, and the gift just keeps on giving, with the cost running into the millions in legal actions and unnecessary changes to our voting process.
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The Three Amigos (R.V.) have done little but slap Clint’s wrist now and then, effectively becoming accomplices in trumping our elections with the help of P. Jones, L. Hobbs, K. Chgilson, D. Holliday, A. Haberbush, etc. At least County Counsel did try a bit to stop Measure B, but we know the three amigos fully supported the measure’s intent: suppress the vote for MAGA to harm representative democracy for their idol and avatar, Trump.
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Democracy Dies in Darkness! There are rare and justified reasons to keep judicial actions under seal, but Curtis and his Three Amigos (who call the media fake news) seem to be doing all they can to conceal their actions to protect themselves, pushing the First Amendment beyond its intended legal limits.
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On Monday, supervisors must decide whether to bring their actions into the light or, if they insist on continuing the cover-up, at least tell us specifically on what legal grounds they decided to keep government operations in the dark. Otherwise, it’s just more trumpian disease contagion infecting Shasta County for MAGA.
So, Curtis runs his piehole about it continuously, but it’s too secret for the public to see? This is Keystone Kops material. Also, where are all our local Transparency Crusaders?
Selah
Our County Counsel appears to be interpreting the law so as to protect the interests of the Shasta County (the government). Let that sink in for a moment. He’s protecting the system that hired him, not the people he “serves”. The County Counsels job description should be clear about this. ALL county positions should serve the interests of the citizens OVER the interests of the system. Further, if this request does go to a Judge, and the Judge rules against our County Counsel, then we should demand that Counsel be replaced.
It looks like County Council Larmour is screwing up again. This is the same attorney that Kelstrom claimed was the best attorney Shasta County has ever had and probably the best Shasta County will ever have. You think this might shed a bit of light on Kelstrom’s judgment. This is Kelstrom’s boy. He’s the same attorney that handled the Kropholler settlement that gave Kropholler, Kellstrom’s friend $2.8 million bypassing the court system. Making a settlement where no settlement was Justified. Also Larmour was “poached” Crye’s words by Kevin Crye and it just so happens that Larmour is Kevin Crye’s business manager’s boyfriend. Go figure. Corruption doesn’t get clearer than this. It’s not surprising if he has screwed this up. And I think he has.
Thanks SS for doing the hard work of keeping our elected officials honest. ‘We The People’ of Shasta County deserve and demand to know the full truth regarding the Clint Curtis/MAGA clown show.
Ahhh. So that’s what it is. I saw the unhelpful agenda. I received no response from the clerk. Thank you for being a watchdog even though you shouldn’t have to babysit “grown-ups.”
Can’t wait until New Year’s!
Ladies and gentleman, as the clown show closes during sunset XX the attempted fraud designed to steel, plunder, pillage and r*** an election is going down like an oil tanker in the Gulf of Hormuz. We all know that if the Captain doesn’t commit hari kari he will likely be burned by the feds, amen.