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Lawsuit threat did not scare off Jensen recallers
Let Oceanside Vote a costly proposition
Kori Jensen
In Oceanside, standing up for democracy can cost you big time. Consider law student Kathy Carbone and retired teacher Arlene Hammerschmidt. They were two of some 125 volunteers loosely organized as Let Oceanside Vote. They say they could not sit by when the Oceanside City Council approved a 585-unit development called North River Farms. NRF would have swallowed up 176 acres of agricultural land.
They collected more than 12,600 signatures to get the NRF question on the November ballot. NRF was snuffed by voters 2-to-1. NRF developer Integral Communities of Newport Beach sued the two for collecting those signatures and the two are now facing about $250,000 in court costs and NRF attorney fees.
The lawsuit, which is unresolved and which Carbone calls totally malicious, did not get them to sit down and shut up. On Friday, Carbone, Hammerschmidt and three other team leaders of Let Oceanside Vote marched into the Oceanside City Clerk's office with 6074 signatures demanding that appointed Oceanside city council member Kori Jensen be recalled. They needed 4484 or 20 percent of the registered voters in Oceanside's District 1. If the San Diego County Registrar's office verifies the signatures this weekend, there will likely be an election on Jensen's tenure as a councilwoman in the first quarter of next year.
"This shows that Let Oceanside Vote is a force to be reckoned with," says Carbone who explains voters should have been given a chance to elect a councilperson for District 1 (Oceanside's northwest quadrant). The position became vacant when Esther Sanchez was elected mayor in November. "We're standing up for the voters who feel completely disenfranchised and who don't trust their city council," says Hammerschmidt.
The Let Oceanside Vote crew railed against Jensen's appointment because they say Jensen misrepresented her home address, is delinquent in more than $50,000 in property taxes, voted to close the Brooks Street pool (later reversed), and voted for selling public parkland to a developer.
"Up until two weeks ago, we didn't think we would pull it off," says Hammerschmidt who stood in neighborhoods like East Side and Crown Heights to collect signatures. "I'm happy to say I got 500 signatures from those neighborhoods," says Hammerschidt.
Carbone says it was a lot harder to fight Jensen than NRF. "This time we had to deal with people not wanting to come to the door because of Covid, pit bulls that wanted to kill us, and gated communities." She says they worked around those challenges by sending postcards to hard-to-reach addresses. "We know the postcards worked because people brought them to Frazier Farms to sign."
Two of the three councilmembers who appointed Jensen have stated they regret appointing her. "They did it for the optics," says Hammerschidt about Peter Weiss and Ryan Keim disavowing Jensen's appointment. "They are the ones who brought her forward without proper vetting. Why do we have to do the vetting? Why can't the city do the vetting and keep these people out of office? I think they just felt that the wind was starting to turn against them."
Those who collected signatures to recall Jensen at Frazier Farms and Buddy Todd Park say they sometimes had to deal with Carlsbad residents who confused Kori Jensen with Carlsbad councilwoman Cori Schumacher who was simultaneously facing a recall. Schumacher abruptly resigned in July after her opponents claimed that enough signatures had been collected to put her recall on the ballot.
Carbone says that anti-NRF signature gatherers were frequently assaulted by blockers who tried to talk people out of signing petitions. She says Jensen did not play dirty. "All she did is have an attorney send us a letter to tell us to quit because we were telling lies about Kori Jensen. We weren't telling any lies. We ignored him."
San Diego attorney Bob Ottilie admits that he sent a letter to the city of Oceanside in May, 2021. "We asked the city clerk what process they have available to correct false and misleading statements; the city attorney responded there is no such process." Ottilie said if the election proceeds, "My client may proceed to file a petition to throw out [the election]."
But when contacted on Friday, Jensen did not mention any plans to sue to stop the election to remove her from office. "If it goes through, all this means is I will have to start my election a few months earlier," says Jensen. The regularly scheduled District 1 city council election is set for November 2022. Jensen says even if she does not win the recall, she plans to run in November as a non-incumbent.
Jensen says she will not resign. "I don't think she will step down," says one well-recognized City of Oceanside employee. "For one, she needs the money too much. Also, her daughter-in-law who she hired as her aide needs the money."City council members in Oceanside are part-time. City council aides get between $60,000 and $80,000 in pay and benefits. "Believe me, they won't leave until they are kicked out," says the Oceanside city staffer.
The cost of the special election is estimated to be about $700,000. "The cost is all on her," says Carbone. "She could have resigned in June."
Here's something you might be interested in.
Lawsuit threat did not scare off Jensen recallers
Let Oceanside Vote a costly proposition
Lawsuit threat did not scare off Jensen recallers
Let Oceanside Vote a costly proposition
Kori Jensen
In Oceanside, standing up for democracy can cost you big time. Consider law student Kathy Carbone and retired teacher Arlene Hammerschmidt. They were two of some 125 volunteers loosely organized as Let Oceanside Vote. They say they could not sit by when the Oceanside City Council approved a 585-unit development called North River Farms. NRF would have swallowed up 176 acres of agricultural land.
They collected more than 12,600 signatures to get the NRF question on the November ballot. NRF was snuffed by voters 2-to-1. NRF developer Integral Communities of Newport Beach sued the two for collecting those signatures and the two are now facing about $250,000 in court costs and NRF attorney fees.
The lawsuit, which is unresolved and which Carbone calls totally malicious, did not get them to sit down and shut up. On Friday, Carbone, Hammerschmidt and three other team leaders of Let Oceanside Vote marched into the Oceanside City Clerk's office with 6074 signatures demanding that appointed Oceanside city council member Kori Jensen be recalled. They needed 4484 or 20 percent of the registered voters in Oceanside's District 1. If the San Diego County Registrar's office verifies the signatures this weekend, there will likely be an election on Jensen's tenure as a councilwoman in the first quarter of next year.
"This shows that Let Oceanside Vote is a force to be reckoned with," says Carbone who explains voters should have been given a chance to elect a councilperson for District 1 (Oceanside's northwest quadrant). The position became vacant when Esther Sanchez was elected mayor in November. "We're standing up for the voters who feel completely disenfranchised and who don't trust their city council," says Hammerschmidt.
The Let Oceanside Vote crew railed against Jensen's appointment because they say Jensen misrepresented her home address, is delinquent in more than $50,000 in property taxes, voted to close the Brooks Street pool (later reversed), and voted for selling public parkland to a developer.
"Up until two weeks ago, we didn't think we would pull it off," says Hammerschmidt who stood in neighborhoods like East Side and Crown Heights to collect signatures. "I'm happy to say I got 500 signatures from those neighborhoods," says Hammerschidt.
Carbone says it was a lot harder to fight Jensen than NRF. "This time we had to deal with people not wanting to come to the door because of Covid, pit bulls that wanted to kill us, and gated communities." She says they worked around those challenges by sending postcards to hard-to-reach addresses. "We know the postcards worked because people brought them to Frazier Farms to sign."
Two of the three councilmembers who appointed Jensen have stated they regret appointing her. "They did it for the optics," says Hammerschidt about Peter Weiss and Ryan Keim disavowing Jensen's appointment. "They are the ones who brought her forward without proper vetting. Why do we have to do the vetting? Why can't the city do the vetting and keep these people out of office? I think they just felt that the wind was starting to turn against them."
Those who collected signatures to recall Jensen at Frazier Farms and Buddy Todd Park say they sometimes had to deal with Carlsbad residents who confused Kori Jensen with Carlsbad councilwoman Cori Schumacher who was simultaneously facing a recall. Schumacher abruptly resigned in July after her opponents claimed that enough signatures had been collected to put her recall on the ballot.
Carbone says that anti-NRF signature gatherers were frequently assaulted by blockers who tried to talk people out of signing petitions. She says Jensen did not play dirty. "All she did is have an attorney send us a letter to tell us to quit because we were telling lies about Kori Jensen. We weren't telling any lies. We ignored him."
San Diego attorney Bob Ottilie admits that he sent a letter to the city of Oceanside in May, 2021. "We asked the city clerk what process they have available to correct false and misleading statements; the city attorney responded there is no such process." Ottilie said if the election proceeds, "My client may proceed to file a petition to throw out [the election]."
But when contacted on Friday, Jensen did not mention any plans to sue to stop the election to remove her from office. "If it goes through, all this means is I will have to start my election a few months earlier," says Jensen. The regularly scheduled District 1 city council election is set for November 2022. Jensen says even if she does not win the recall, she plans to run in November as a non-incumbent.
Jensen says she will not resign. "I don't think she will step down," says one well-recognized City of Oceanside employee. "For one, she needs the money too much. Also, her daughter-in-law who she hired as her aide needs the money."City council members in Oceanside are part-time. City council aides get between $60,000 and $80,000 in pay and benefits. "Believe me, they won't leave until they are kicked out," says the Oceanside city staffer.
The cost of the special election is estimated to be about $700,000. "The cost is all on her," says Carbone. "She could have resigned in June."
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