Guest columnist: Hit piece by Montgomery staffer contained inaccuracies

By Bruce Kranz, District 5 Supervisor

On June 14, the Auburn Journal printed a column written by my opponent’s campaign staff that did not tell the whole truth about my record as county supervisor.

The author was a paid consultant to my opponent, Jennifer Montgomery. Yet Rob Haswell failed to identify himself as such in the column. Instead, Montgomery’s campaign penned a political hit piece that masqueraded as the opinion of an objective observer.

Mr. Haswell’s deceitful approach should concern voters who care about the integrity of public officials and their campaigns.

Not surprisingly, Ms. Montgomery’s staffer paints an intentionally inaccurate picture as to how Michelle Ollar Burris came to be a planning commissioner and how I came to remove her.

By way of background, I did appoint Ms. Burris to the planning commission. She knew a lot about land use, had training in real estate and was willing to devote long hours to county government with minimal compensation.

Before the questions as to whether Ms. Burris may have illegally split lots as a private citizen came to light, she proved to be inquisitive regarding complaints about the performance of the planning department staff. Like me, she was sensitive to delays and the poor treatment of ordinary citizens seeking to do something with their private property. She clearly rattled some staff and pushed staff to pay more attention to private property rights.

Yet, it is possible she may also have violated the law as a private citizen — not in her capacity as a planning commissioner.

In late 2006, an anonymous group filed a complaint with the Placer County grand jury stating that Ms. Burris had illegally subdivided property by failing to follow the procedures laid out in county law. For two years no responsible authority took the allegations against Ms. Burris seriously. In fact, the Placer County Counsel, Placer County District Attorney, and the Placer County grand jury took no action.

As late as May 27, 2007, Planning Director Michael Johnson, saw “No red flags” in Michelle’s land transactions.

After a Sacramento Bee reporter wrote a story alleging wrong-doing by Ms. Burris, I became gravely concerned that there might be some truth to the allegations. Thus, I supported an extensive investigation that began on May 30, 2007. Before the investigation was completed, I realized that the controversy around Ms. Burris was distracting county government. I then led the effort to replace a resisting Ms. Burris with another planning commissioner.

During Ms. Burris’ tenure, I never acquired any intimate knowledge of Ms. Burris’s personal business, let alone the particulars of her land transactions, nor over time, did County Counsel, the District Attorney and the grand jury.

It would take an expert, Richard Crabtree, nearly six months (May to November 2007) to understand her seven years of property transactions that began five years before I took office.

As of this writing no criminal charges have been filed against Ms. Burris. A civil lawsuit has been filed to determine if she violated any laws and owes the county any money for alleged wrong doings. In their effort to paint as unflattering a picture as possible, Ms. Montgomery’s campaign did not tell voters that I removed Ms. Burris from the planning commission or that I supported the civil suit to determine if she had violated the law and might owe the county money.

Please take the time to look at my entire record on this subject and others. Hopefully, you weren’t fooled by a political hit piece masquerading as an independent source of information.