Sacramento City Council candidate accused of ‘pay-to-play’ politics in mailer. Is it true?
A mailer has prompted a cease and desist letter in the Sacramento City Council race to represent North Sacramento.
Candidate Stephen Walton’s campaign has sent mailers to residents alleging his opponent, Roger Dickinson, engaged in “pay-to-play” politics during his time on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
The mailer prompted Dickinson to hit back with a cease and desist.
“It has come to our attention that you have distributed a mailpiece containing false and defamatory statements about Mr. Dickinson in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to damage his reputation,” stated an Oct. 11 letter from Dickinson’s attorney to Walton. “These claims are completely and verifiably false. We demand that you take immediate action to retract these statements and cease any further republication.”
The letter ends with Dickinson threatening to find “legal remedies.”
Walton’s campaign responded with a letter from an attorney defending the mailer.
“Your client’s reckless threat to ‘pursue his available legal remedies’ exposes him to significant liability for my client’s attorneys’ fees, where that award would be mandatory once the court grants their special motion to strike the frivolous complaint,” stated the Oct. 14 letter from Walton’s attorney.
So, what does the mailer actually say? And is it true?
Claim:
“Pay-to-play corruption: Dickinson confirmed an entry in his campaign finance records, which showed that Teichert made a contribution to him the day before a September 28, 2010, hearing at which the board rejected the Schneiders’ appeal. The very next day, Teichert signed a renewed funding contract with the county for the aggregate resources manager position.”
Reality:
This relates to two lawsuits filed in 2010 and 2012 that the county settled for $78 million last year. The suits alleged the county Board of Supervisors had taken steps to close a gravel mine in order to benefit “politically influential” competitor Teichert.
Teichert, a frequent donor to Sacramento politicians, did indeed give Dickinson a campaign donation the day before he took a vote to require Schneider to obtain a permit for the mine. At the time Schneider was a Teichert competitor, the lawsuit alleged.
Teichert gave Dickinson a $1,000 campaign donation on Sept. 27, 2010, the day before the vote, according to campaign finance records. Teichert also gave Dickinson’s campaign an additional $1,000 on Sept. 23, 2010.
Dickinson testified at the trial that “I did not pay attention to when the contributions were made” in the days before the Schneider vote, The Sacramento Bee reported in 2017. Dickinson’s cease and desist letter said he had not seen the campaign donation before taking the vote.
“The statement in your mailer that this was pay-to-play corruption is a bald-faced lie,” the Dickinson letter stated. “Your accusations that Mr. Dickinson engaged in a crime is defamation per se.”
The Walton letter defended the mailer on this point.
“... (Even) if his conduct did not violate the law, it was a serious ethical and moral shortcoming that voters have the right to know about,” the letter stated. “This does not come close to defamation per se.”
Claim:
“Sacramento’s grand jury investigated CPS (Child Protective Services) several times during the 17 years Dickinson served on the Board (of Supervisors) and found numerous problems that it said contributed to the deaths of children.”
Reality:
Dickinson was a member of the County Board of Supervisors when a grand jury issued a report containing major issues with the county Child Protective Services department, which is under the board’s purview.
One 2009 Grand Jury report, prompted by a Sacramento Bee investigation, found Sacramento children died of abuse or neglect after they had lived in households that were involved with CPS before their deaths.
The report stated the grand jury identified, “persistent, recurring and systemic problems resulting in child abuse related deaths.”
In response to the report, the board made several changes, hired a consultant, and replaced the top two officials in charge of the department.
Dickinson said he has made other positive changes to CPS.
“Mr. Dickinson led the establishment of an Oversight Committee for CPS, chaired by Sacramento County Superior Judge Eugene Gualco,” the Dickinson letter stated. “Mr. Dickinson helped create Birth and Beyond, a home visiting program for at-risk families to reduce child abuse and neglect. He also voted to hire an outside consultant to change practices at CPS and carried a bill in the state Legislature that expanded the categories of people who must report suspected child abuse to authorities.”
Claim:
“When action was needed most, Dickinson didn’t read the report.”
Reality:
This referred to the 2009 CPS grand jury report. Dickinson said while he had not read the entire report the same day it was published, he did later.
The election will be held Nov. 5. The winner will be sworn in on Dec. 10, along with a new mayor and Phil Pluckebaum to represent the central city.
Dickinson, of Woodlake, is a former state assemblyman, while Walton, of Old North Sacramento, is a realtor and former Grant Union High School basketball star.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 12:51 PM.
