This is written/from my friend Susan Lamont:
We need more help getting effective oversight of the Sheriff's Office
Dear Supporter of Effective Oversight of the Sheriff's Office:
Recent events have shown even more clearly the need for effective oversight of our Sheriff's Office. Our Sheriff recently defied state and local law by refusing to enforce our local health order that protects public health. This outrageous decision showed that the Sheriff thinks he is above the law.
In addition, recent evidence has revealed that, rather than support accountability among his deputies, the Sheriff punished a supervisor who tried to hold accountable Deputy Blount, the officer who brutally killed a disabled man by choking him and beating his head on his car door. Sheriff's deputies also recently brutalized a Black man in front of his family who was doing nothing more than laying on the ground waiting to be cuffed.
Unfortunately, our efforts to put the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOELRO Ordinance on the ballot have hit a wall. Because of COVID-19, we had to suspend collecting signatures to place our ordinance to strengthen community oversight of the Sheriff's Office on the November 2020 ballot. The law requires that those signatures be collected in person. This, in effect, has temporarily ended the only avenue of direct citizen democracy this year.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has the authority to place the initiative on the ballot themselves. They actually also have the power to simply enact it without placing it on the ballot. We have created an online petition asking them to place the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance (FPPC#1422712) on the ballot and preserve direct citizen democracy in this unusual time. This is designed to show the supervisors that the public supports our efforts.
This is a change.org petition. You do not need to be registered to vote to sign it. You do not even need to be a citizen, though we would like it limited to those who live in Sonoma County. You can read up on all the details at our website socoeffectiveoversight.org And, if you agree with us, could you please share the petition with your networks and on social media?
Also, we continue to need funding to support our effort to get this measure on the ballot. If you can support us in this way, please make a contribution on our website. The change.org request for a donation does not actually go to our campaign.
Here's the link: https://www.change.org/DirectDemocra...aCountySheriff
Thank you! - The Committee To Support an Effective IOLERO