Stanislaus County supervisor moved out of the district. Did she violate the law?
Kristin Olsen, chairwoman of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, was elected in 2016 to represent a district that includes Riverbank and Oakdale, and for three years lived inside the district in compliance with state law.
In June 2019, Olsen purchased a home in Modesto and has since moved outside the district she was elected to represent.
Olsen paid $665,000 for a home in Modesto’s Dutch Hollow area, property records show. In late May or June of this year, she removed her belongings from a home she had rented on Haystack Court in Riverbank and new tenants moved into the rental house, The Modesto Bee confirmed last week.
The Government Code requires local office holders to reside in the district from which they were elected so they know the needs of constituents and show they’re in touch with the community. Olsen said last week she has lived in the Modesto home since June 2020.
But pictures posted on her Facebook page depict family activities inside the Dutch Hollow home since January.
(One post in April shows Olsen’s family holding an Easter egg hunt around the pool, which is the same pool visible from a GPS image of the Modesto neighborhood. According to posts, the custom kitchen with white cabinets and gray countertop in the Modesto home looks nothing like pictures of the Riverbank home’s kitchen.)
To explain her departure from Riverbank, Olsen said Friday the owner of the Riverbank home wanted to rent the place to a family that needed housing. She said she agreed to move because she has a second home. Olsen said she will return to the Riverbank house when the tenants no longer need it.
Olsen, whose term expires in early January, said she has consulted with her attorney in Sacramento on the legality of the arrangement.
“I am in the district every single day,” Olsen said. “My daughter’s friends live there. I get mail there. … I feel the obligation to continue serving the district and complete my term as I promised I would.”
A Democratic leader in Stanislaus County said Monday that residents deserve transparency from Olsen.
“Every elected representative has a duty to be transparent,” said Patty Hughes, president of the Democratic Women’s Club of Stanislaus County. “She is doing a disservice to her constituents and has created ill will in her district by not being honest and forthright about her primary residence.”
Hughes said that Olsen has disqualified herself from board service and should have been replaced by a gubernatorial appointment long ago. “Her salary and her votes should be questioned,” Hughes wrote in an email. “I encourage her to do the right thing and step down.”
A resignation from Olsen would leave the Board of Supervisors with three members until Gov. Gavin Newsom names an appointee for the unexpired term of Tom Berryhill, who died in late August. The November election will determine if Matthew “Buck” Condit or Modesto Councilman Bill Zoslocki succeeds Olsen as District 1 supervisor.
Olsen works as a lobbyist with Sacramento-based California Strategies LLC representing clients in agriculture, construction, energy, land-use, telecommunications and water.
On statements of economic interest required by the Fair Political Practices Commission, Olsen has reported more than $100,000 in annual income from her lobbying position and she is paid $106,350 a year as chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors.
Local office holders are expected to reside in the district or jurisdiction they represent so they’re accessible to residents and local agencies and show they’re in touch with the community. The process of electing people by district also strives to improve minority representation on school boards and city councils in the Central Valley.
Residency questions could also arise as the governor considers potential appointees to complete Berryhill’s term. One applicant for the appointment, Modesto Councilman Mani Grewal, is building a home at Del Rio within the Fourth Supervisorial District, which includes most of Modesto, Del Rio and a small part of Ceres.
Grewal’s current home is not in Berryhill’s district, and construction has slowed down at the Del Rio home site, the councilman said.
Grewal said Monday that he’s made arrangements to move into a home he purchased more than a year ago on St. Mayeul Drive, near Carver Road and Bangs Avenue, which is inside both his council district and Berryhill’s supervisorial district.
Grewal said there should be no question about his meeting the residency requirement for the appointment, which could come in two or three weeks or after the November election.
Riverbank home is occupied by tenants
On Thursday, two men who answered the door at the home on Haystack Court in Riverbank said Olsen used to live there. “She had some of her stuff here,” one man said, noting Olsen moved her belongings out in late May or June and then they moved in.
The two men did not discuss details of their need for housing and declined to identify themselves.
Whether Olsen returns to the four-bedroom Riverbank home for the last few months of her term remains to be seen. She announced in July 2019, two months after purchasing the Dutch Hollow home, that she would not seek reelection.
Olsen said she had rented for three years and thought she needed to a buy a home as an investment. The home was within her price range, she said, and is fairly close to her parents.
One fellow supervisor was not prepared to criticize Olsen. “I have no concerns,” Supervisor Terry Withrow said. “Her term ends in a few months and I think she wanted to move closer to her parents.”
Supervisor Jim DeMartini said Monday he was not aware Olsen had moved her place of residence. He said the board is operating with four members and needs four votes to approve a budget that is before the board Tuesday.
“Elected officers are supposed to live in their district by law,” DeMartini said. “I don’t know there is an exception for it,” but any investigation is up to the state Attorney General’s office, he said.
County Counsel Thomas Boze said the county won’t likely investigate if Olsen has violated the Government Code section. “It is not my function to do anything about that,” Boze said.
The law states that supervisors shall reside in their district during incumbency, but it’s not clear cut what is meant by “reside”, Boze said.
The responsibility for enforcing election rules lies with the state Attorney General, Boze said. There’s a process in which a petitioner can file a “quo warranto” request with the Attorney General outlining evidence of a violation.
The Attorney General then determines if there’s enough evidence for filing a civil lawsuit seeking to remove the supervisor from office. Olsen’s term would expire before the process is completed.
Similar issue in Patterson ended in departure
There’s some indication the county board could declare Olsen’s seat as vacant, though there doesn’t seem to be support for that.
In 2016, the Patterson City Council declared a council member’s seat was vacated on evidence that Sheree Lustgarten was living outside the city limits. The council action ousting Lustgarten came after numerous conflicts with the council member and complaints about her behavior.
Some politicians in California have been prosecuted on voter fraud charges for lying about their place of residence when they ran for office. Olsen was living in Riverbank when she ran unopposed for former Supervisor Bill O’Brien’s board seat in 2016.
Sacramento Attorney Brian Hildreth, representing Olsen, said a county board action to vacate Olsen’s seat would be unusual and viewed as superseding the will of voters.
“By establishing her intent to return to the home, she has satisfied the legal requirements for maintaining the office including the applicable residency requirements,” Hildreth said.
Hildreth gave the hypothetical example of a public official who moves outside the district temporarily because his house burned down. His intent to return to the home after it’s rebuilt satisfies the residency requirement, the attorney said.
Attorney Steve Churchwell, who specializes in election law, said courts rely on a two-part test in determining if an elected official has complied with the law. The key questions are: Where does the office holder physically live and where does the person intend to make their permanent home?
Mark Ensley of Riverbank said laws requiring elected officials to live in their districts should be upheld.
“That is the law,” said Ensley, who has served on the school board in Riverbank. “I have not seen (Olsen) too much lately other than I heard she was not running for re-election. If she’s out of the district, it would lead me to believe her interests are more in tune with what her plans are for the future.”
Mike Kline, a retired veterinarian, friend and campaign supporter of Olsen, bought the home on Haystack Court in Riverbank in June 2016, two months after Olsen served her husband Rod with divorce papers. Kline rented the home to Olsen.
After her election to the state Legislature, Kristin and Rod Olsen purchased a home on Candlewood Place in Riverbank in 2013. That home was sold in late 2018.
A search of campaign finance records with the Secretary of State revealed Kline donated $4,000 to Olsen’s state office campaigns from 2010 to 2014.
Olsen, the Republican Assembly leader from 2014 to 2016, earning $115,000 a year, said last week she paid full rent for the Riverbank dwelling. Olsen would be required to report any rental assistance from Kline as a gift from a campaign donor.
Olsen declined to say how much rent she paid. Kline could not be reached by The Bee.
Olsen has not reported the Dutch Hollow home on economic disclosure statements. Office holders are expected to report interest in real property, such as a home, if it’s not their primary residence.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Stanislaus County supervisor moved out of the district. Did she violate the law?."
