Spiegel Seeks to Revisit Bianco Legal Fees Issue

Karen Spiegel Vows to Bring Bak to Board of Supervisors Issue of Sheriff Chad Bianco’s Legal Fees

RIVERSIDE — Second District Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel says she will bring back to the Board of Supervisors the question of paying outside counsel for Sheriff Chad Bianco’s legal fees

By way of background the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-1 to not authorize the hiring of outside counsel or pay outside counsel to defend the lawsuits stemming from Sheriff Chad Bianco’s investigation into alleged election fraud.  Spiegel was the sole dissenter.

She is not done fighting.

In a statement emailed to Uken Report through her chief of staff, Spiegel said, ” “The County is regularly in need of the services of outside law firms, often arising from the need for specialized expertise, additional manpower or due to a conflict,” “Recent events provide an opportunity to review, and if necessary, clarify the County’s process for hiring lawyers outside of the County Counsel’s Office. I will take an item to our next Board meeting for my colleagues’ consideration.”

Sheriff Bianco, a registered Republican and running for Governor, told Uken Report that the decision was #100% political. Spiegel is the only  registered Republican on the board.  Technically, the Board   of Supervisors is a nonpartisan board.

“The cancer of partisan politics is now going to destroy our county government,” Bianco said.  “The Democrat party has threatened the three supervisors and told them they must go against the sheriff’s office and side with (First District Supervisor Jose) Medina.”

The split vote followed the April 14 closed session in which supervisors discussed the four petitions filed against the sheriff — Attorney General Rob Bonta’s and the UCLA Voting Rights Project’s (VRP) California Supreme Court filings as well as Bonta’s petitions filed with the Court of Appeal and the Riverside County Superior Court.

Before Supervisors moved into closed session, several speakers, including some elected officials, urged supervisors to vote against approving and covering the cost of Bianco’s legal defense in the cases.