Contra Costa Supervisors to Reconsider Vice Chair Appointment

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will reconsider its Oct. 3 decision to appoint Supervisor Ken Carlson as its 2024 vice chair.

The move for reconsideration comes after the Board voted to select Supervisor Federal Glover as its 2024 chair. Followed by a very testy exchange as Supervisor John Gioia orchestrated the selection of Supervisor Carlson as its vice chair–which skipped District 2 in the rotation, which Gioia claimed they did not follow a rotation.

Ultimately, the board voted 3-1 to “skip’ District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen in the rotation which would ensure District 2 would not have a chair position for a period of six years.

Gioia orchestrated the appointment by providing limited information in a staff report, misled on the history of the board and claimed they didn’t follow a rotation between supervisorial districts.

The moved left Supervisor Candace Andersen and Supervisor Diane Burgis feeling marginalized for being skipped over in the rotation as Gioia defended the appointment several times claiming it was “historic” for Carlson, who is openly gay, to be the first LGBTQ+ chair for the county.

During the debate, Gioia continued to make disingenuous commentary while justifying his politically motivated actions by using Carlson’s sexuality, not experience or accomplishments, as reason to appoint him vice chair all in the name of “history” and “representation” thus making it about identity politics.

Gioia’s actions at the meeting prompted former County Supervisors Susan Bonilla, Karen Mitchoff and Mary Piepho to come out and issue statements that the Board does follow a District rotation.

Last week when asked by this publication should reconsideration be granted over the vote, Andersen stated she believed it should occur.

“Absolutely this should come back for reconsideration.  The staff report on this item was minimal, presumably because in the past we had always unanimously followed the rotation, unless agreed to by the affected Supervisors,” stated Andersen. “I would like to see this brought back with an extensive report from both the Clerk of the Board and the County Administrator’s offices as to past practices.”

She highlighted the report did not mention that prior to 2019 there was never any board discussion about who was chair, as the rotation was so set.  The members of the Board of Supervisors showed up on the 2^nd Tuesday in January and got voted in as Chair and Vice-Chair, and sworn in at that time, with only a vote and no discussion.

“We also have new information, that was not available to us at the time of our last meeting, from former Supervisors who were able to provide clarification as to what occurred in the earlier years,” shared Andersen. “We also have staff members who worked in Supervisors’ offices who can provide additional information about this rotation. I am very hopeful that no board member will seek to prevent us from reopening this discussion and reconsidering this item.  The item last Tuesday involved so much speculation, misinformation, and we need facts.”

Since 2000, number of times each District has been Chair:

• District 1 – 6 times
• District 2 – 5 times
• District 3 – 4 times
• District 4 – 5 times
• District 5 – 4 times

Since 2000, number of times each District has been Vice Chair

• District 1 – 5 times
• District 2 – 5 times
• District 3 – 4 times
• District 4 – 4 times
• District 5 – 6 times

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Meeting
October 17, 2023
9:00 am
1025 Escobar Street, Martinez CA
Full Agenda: Click Here

Previous Stories:

• Oct 11 – Contra Costa County Supervisors to Reconsider Vice Chair Vote?
• Oct 4 – Contra Costa Supervisors Use Identity Politics to Select Chair Positions