Letter from the Attorney General regarding the Zogg Fire Investigation – anewscafe.com

Editor’s Note: This post originated as a letter from Jeff Gorder to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors.

Dear superiors,

What is concerning is the lack of transparency in the handling of the Attorney General’s letter related to the Zogg Fire arbitration investigation. The public has not yet received a satisfactory answer as to why the letter was not immediately disclosed when it was received by the county. The only reasonable explanation we have at this point is that it was decided to bury the letter because it could have implications for the March 5 election.

It is undisputed that Supervisor Jones received the letter on or about January 29th and informed Chairman Crye of the letter. Supervisor Crye is on record as saying, “He knew that CEO Rickert or Patrick told me about it first, and I remember asking what the next step should be.” It’s not at all clear who asked Crye “what the next step should be.” step should be”.

Supervisor Crye’s attempt to explain his actions at yesterday’s board meeting only served to add uncertainty to the matter. He held up a stack of letters and explained that he receives a lot of letters on a regular basis, and concluded that perhaps the Attorney General’s letter regarding the Zogg fire investigation was part of the flood and he had accidentally missed it (he may have said something to that too) . The effect of “When he receives a letter from the Attorney General he simply ignores it or pushes it aside” (but my recollection is not clear to me and one would have to watch the recording of the meeting to see what his exact language was). This statement completely ignores the fact that Supervisor Jones specifically told Supervisor Crye about the letter back in January. Supervisor Crye’s failure to bring the letter to light cannot be attributed to the volume of mail he regularly receives.

There are a number of questions regarding this topic that require further investigation. What did Supervisor Crye do after being informed by Supervisor Jones that the letter had been received? To whom did Supervisor Crye ask, “What should the next step be?” Was CEO Rickert informed of the letter on or about January 29, 2024? If CEO Rickert was informed, what advice did he give? Why was the existence of the letter not made public by the district? Why wasn’t the letter forwarded to the prosecutor?

Supervisors Crye and Jones made the Zogg Fire settlement a matter of intense public scrutiny, portraying themselves as the officials who exposed potential prosecutorial corruption over the settlement. The fact that they decided, before the March 5 election, not to reveal the existence of the letter exonerating the prosecutor must be examined to determine the reason for this decision. The only sensible course of action appears to be to hire an outside investigator to investigate this matter.

Best regards,

Jeff Gorder