Calif. senators intervene after rural county looks to hire Trump ally

Both of California’s senators are trying to stop a rural county from hiring a felon and election denier to help run elections, as fears over voting conspiracies and election fraud increase heading into November’s midterm elections. 

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Clint Curtis, Shasta County’s head of elections, said last week on a local radio show that he plans to hire Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado. 

“I have decided who I am going to pull in for the assistant role and that will be Tina Peters,” he said, adding, “She has experience.”

But that experience is being raised into question.

Peters was released from prison on June 1 after serving 20 months for seven criminal charges, including four felonies, for participating in an election conspiracy scheme while she was the county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado. 

The scheme involved tampering with voting machines and turning off security cameras in an effort to prove the 2020 presidential election was rigged, but Peters’ nine year sentence was cut short after it was commuted by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. Former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a high-profile election denier, helped pay as much as $800,000 to Peters’ legal defense fund.

Peters’ work made her a hero in the Republican Party, which has espoused widely discredited election conspiracy theories for years. The Atlantic has called her “MAGA’s Most Famous Prisoner” while President Donald Trump has described her as a “patriot” and posted “FREE TINA PETERS” to social media.  

It’s still unclear if Peters has actually been offered the job, or if her parole will even allow her to leave Colorado to work in Northern California. Curtis gave few details on hiring Peters during the radio show appearance, and his office did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment. But that hasn’t stopped Democrats from sounding the alarm.

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Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla said in that they have “grave concern” over her appointment and that Peters “does not belong” in a role that oversees California’s elections. 

“We are concerned that this hiring decision in Shasta County has less to do with Ms. Peters’ qualifications, and more to do with the President’s obsession with interfering in the midterm elections,” they wrote. They mentioned that Trump has suggested his supporters “take over the voting” by placing individuals into positions to further the president’s agenda. 

The senators also said hiring Peters could end up costing taxpayers “hefty expenses” if she commits fraud again. They said her actions in Colorado cost the county at least $1.4 million.

The senators asked Weber “to share concerns” with Curtis over his plan. Her office did not respond to SFGATE’s inquiry about whether they had spoken. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office also said that the state was investigating her potential hiring.

Curtis is looking to fill the role of the current assistant clerk and registrar of voters Brent Turner, who is sick and will leave the role starting Sept. 4, he said in the radio interview.