End the SLO County Clerk-Recorder Chaos
On October 5, I was in downtown San Luis Obispo and a few short steps away from the SLO County Board of Supervisors building where their meeting was held to discuss the clerk-recorder selection process. I had in my possession a small piece of paper with a scribble of comments I wanted to make at the BOS meeting.
As tempting as it was to discuss my personal experiences with one of the clerk-recorder applicants, San Luis Obispo attorney Stew Jenkins, I intended to talk about the public process and how public trust in that process has eroded. Specifically, I wanted to address the unnecessary partisanship and contentiousness over the clerk-recorder selection process.
On a 3–2 vote, the conservative BOS majority had decided a week prior to insist the final selection of candidates for that job should include candidates with no clerk-recorder experience. The selection committee the BOS initially backed narrowed down the finalists to three candidates with each candidate having relevant clerk-recorder experience. But District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold wanted to interview more candidates. District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton and District 1 Supervisor John Peschong agreed. They voted to essentially reject their own committee’s recommended finalists and open the floor, once again, to people who didn’t have clerk-recorder experience.
