Placer County District Attorney (Roseville) job vacancy

Vacancy expired!

Placer County District Attorney

Apply for the Placer County District Attorney position. For more information visit:

www.Placer.ca.gov/1665/human-resources

Read on:

Well, the Russians hacked the US Presidential election and now it appears that Placers local election may have been manipulated.

Here is what we've learned.

Placer County code section 404 Elected Officers, Vacancies states: Whenever a vacancy occurs in any elective county office, other than a member of the Board of Supervisors, the Board SHALL fill such vacancy and the appointee SHALL hold office until the next general election (GE) and until his successor is elected and qualified.

The next GE as we all know, is November. Scott Owens ran unopposed in 2019 and re-elected to a four-year term starting in January 2019. According to sources, on December 31, Owens called it quits after waking up one morning and knowing it was time to go.

But, now comes the rub.

1. Candidate filing period ended on Dec 6 for the November GE (extended until Dec 11 for some office and we're not sure if the DA's office qualified as an extended office). No matter, with the announcement on the 31st, both deadline dates had passed.

2. As part of Owens retirement announcement, he recommended to the Board of Supervisors that Asst. DA Jeff Wilson take his place. Eliminating competition on the ballot with the timing of the announcement, many are concerned that Wilson just might have a shot, that is IF years of legal battles alleging both Owens and Wilson practiced age and gender discrimination as shown in Federal court documents filed in 2014, dont prevent the Board of Supervisors from appointing him.

3. Owens delayed announcement denied the citizens of Placer County the opportunity to set a new course in the District Attorneys office with fresh, new leadership. Its now being alleged that Owens and Wilson conspired to achieve this outcome.

Of course to participate in the November election, a candidate could be a "write-in" candidate if he/she files before February 18th, but winning the election as a write-in candidate has a slim to zero chance of succeeding.

The discussion about fresh, new leadership plays a key role in the communitys concern with the appointment of Jeff Wilson because of allegations of years of low morale and personnel issues in the DAs office. Owens AND Jeff Wilson were dirtied up in a Federal age and gender lawsuit from 2014 until it settled in Dec. 2018. The settlement was sealed. These case documents can be found on the Federal website. (www.pacer.gov Case #2-14-cv-01983-MCE-EFB) Sworn testimony indicates that there have been other employees in the department that have been targeted and forced out resulting in additional settlements. Among other Equal Employment OC infractions, female attorneys under DA Owens and Asst DA Jeff Wilson were regularly passed over for promotions and keep in the dark about information pertinent to the execution of their duties.

These documents support the allegations that targeted employees were constructively terminated or forced out by Owens and Wilson and that Wilson's vulgar and repulsive sexual statements were found to have violated the County's policy on sexual harassment, yet Wilson never suffered disciplinary action under the direction of Owens.

Did you Know?

Back in 1994 Brad Fenocchio ran against the incumbent DA Paul Richardson and won. It was the last time the voters of Placer County had a choice about who would serve them as District Attorney. When Fenocchio retired in 2010, he passed the gavel near the end of his term to Owens and Owens ran unopposed for each election thereafter. Now, it appears that Owens wants to pass the gavel to Wilson, again circumventing the selection process.

On Tuesday Jan 14th, the Placer Board of Supervisors scheduled a closed session discussion to decide the process for recruiting/appointing the next Placer DA. There were several at the meeting who spoke in the Public Comment period opposing the appointment of Jeff Wilson and requesting an open recruitment.

UPDATE: 1/14/2020 - At todays Supervisors meeting, the Board instructed Human Resources to release an official job posting for the open position of Placer County District Attorney. Once Human Resources releases the posting, candidates have 30-days to apply.

If you or someone you know is qualified to lead a prosecutorial department, you can create an electronic interest card to be notified via email of future job openings https://www.jobapscloud.com/Placer/ or check the employment website at: https://www.placer.ca.gov/1665/Human-Resources

Your letters and concern helped achieve this positive outcome.

Please call the Placer Board of Supervisors at 530-889-4010 or email bosATplacer.ca.gov and thank them for opening a formal recruitment to find the best person to represent the citizens of Placer County. Also, remind them that Jeff Wilson is NOT the person for the position (for reasons mentioned above).

Thank you for your time reading this.

Placer County Board of Supervisors

Search News [ Google News | Marketwatch | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times | New York Times ]