Check all results: http://www.monocounty.ca.gov/elections
These are the Semi-Official results and the final report election night for local Mono races:
Mammoth Town Council:
John Wentworth 812
Shields Richardson 742
Colin Fernie 685
Karen Sibert 596
Cleland Hoff 354
Elena Blomgren 261
Deb Pierrel 197
Ken Murray 93
Mono County Sheriff:
Ingrid Braun 1,932
Ralph Obenberger 1,085
Mono County Assessor:
Barry Beck 1,463
Bob Musil 1,272
Supervisor District 5:
Stacy Corless 289 (55%)
Greg Eckert 140
Kirk Stapp 98
Supervisor District 1:
Larry Johnston 177
Bill Sauser 128
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I have to say I read your story and it doesn’t surprise me one bit. This self righteous attitude is what has created this ugly cloud over the sheriff’s department. Not just with Paranick but with multiple sheriffs that followed behind him.
As I read it I was thinking, I wonder what these wives think of their husband’s acting like this? I know I would be mortified that they are so rude and cruel. I would be downright ashamed. What are they teaching their children by their actions? I bet they wouldn’t want their children put through their own forms of torture.
Do you think Paranick would want his child placed at home basically on house arrest? Or do you think Scholl/Obenberger/Weber would want their child’s life endangered by placing them in harms way without a gun and sentenced to chair/dunce duty?
Funny I bet they would be appalled by these actions if it were to one of their children yet they feel free to do it to their own employees to get off on their power trip and to break people. It is disgusting and vile. They are honor less men and should be viewed as such.
I don’t think you can exclude Stelneck from that list. I read some horrible things he wrote about Digger Wilson and Ingrid Braun on Facebook during this election and he sounds like a man with some serious issues also.
What is wrong with these people?
if the toml is truly controlled by the by the money mongers,you will see no change unless your a business owner,if we don’t learn from our mistakes,we are doomed to repeat them
The Sheriff’s Department has had big problems since Dan Paranick took office. Doug Northington ran in the last two elections and would have shaken it up. Ingrid has more experience and a better resume than Doug. Obenberger did one thing right and got rid of O’Hara who Rich Schol put in charge of improving department morale. Trouble with this is this is the person who was causing much of the morale problem.
If I worked for the S.O. and wanted to do right I would be floating on cloud 9 right now. A law enforcement professional with a proven track record of leadership in a tough environment. She inherits a tough, political job and will meet resistance from many people. She needs our continued support as she does this job. Let your county supervisor that she has been given a mandate to clean things up.
Thank you, Ingrid for moving to Mono County and running for the Sheriff job.
Without a doubt, Paranick was the root of all evil on that department. It got so bad that the employees stood up and both the sworn and non-sworn employees did votes of no confidence in Paranick. They told Paranick they would go public with the vote if he ran again. His inflated ego gould not stand that and he retired.
Scholl, who had been out of Law Enforcement for close to a decade, an unsuccessful real eastate salesman, was elected on the good old boy platform. Scholl had no clue how to be a department head, knew nothing about modern policing, and defaulted to the Paranick method of fear and intimidation.
Obenberger was pretty much the same as Scholl only worse as he taught his people that in Mono County that is almost crime free, even the citizens are the enemy and the deputies are superior to the citizens who have no power.
The best advice I could give Ingrid is that she get herself a very strong, no nonsense, loyal assistant sheriff, that will have her back and deal strongly with the sergeants and Lieutenant’s that will do everything possible to undermine her. The supervisors that are in place are products of Paranick, Scholl and Obenberger and they are already talking about ways to make her fail.
The first years will be very tough on Ingrid, but she is tougher and will prevail. Some employees will not go with the program and will have to be diciplined or fired. So be it. If she can get the present Lieutenant to retire or quit and bring in someone competent, she will have the core leadership needed to effect positive change.
I have an observation of Paranick to share. Long time residents may remember the first night of lights held at the main lodge in December, 1990. The mountain did a good job organizing the event, however the response was larger than the mountain might have expected when it came to transportation. People had to wait for more than one bus at the bus stops in town even though they seemed to be running nearly every bus. Complicating this was the temperature. It had been colder than -20 degrees the night before and there was crunchy snow covering everything and the roads were snow packed. The temperature for the event was somewhere in the 0-10 range during the event.
Following the event everyone who had taken a bus surged down to the bus stop in front of main lodge transportation even though there were other things to do such as have your kids play in the ice castles built for the event. It was just too cold for people to stay after standing on snow on the pavement below chair 1.
The mountain didn’t have anyone or maybe just an employee or two to manage the lines forming for the bus. It had the potential to become chaotic, but people began to cooperate with those arriving later asking where the back of the line was and if they didn’t ask they were politely told and nearly everyone listened and went to the back of the line. One notable exception was a couple named Paranick who placed himself near the front where they were most likely able to board one of the next 3 busses. Many in line asked him politely to go to the rear of the line. He did not comply. The crowd became agitated by this and started booing loudly. Some locals called out his name and Paranick turned around once and looked at the crowd as if he wanted to see who was using his name.
Some of the visitors began to ask who this person was and who he thought he was. The reply from locals was he was a county supervisor. He had one election to that office in 1988 and this was just two years later. Many around us were dumbfounded at this behavior given he was well known by locals. He got on a bus and those who had been in line in front of him had to wait for as many as 10 buses or more. The temperature by then was below zero.
Paranick then won the 1994 election for sheriff. He was often antagonistic towards other agencies. He would push people over (figuratively) if he perceived them as weak in their approach. He turned down help from some agencies even though those agencies were cooperating and offering help. Many likened him as a bull in a china shop. It is not surprising that he essentially ignored the appeals board decision to reinstate the deputy I discussed above. He probably knew full well that the deputy would not hold up to the de facto punishment he was handing out this person. When this deputy left the county his life was ruined. Paranick did not care that the county’s money was being wasted by paying a deputy full time to sit at home waiting for phone calls and never being asked to come to work.
This is why I stated that the problems the sheriff’s department has started with him. I observed how Wilson and Strelneck ran things and I don’t remember any animosity during those times.
I disagree that Mono County is almost crime free. There is a dark underbelly out there, most especially in the eastern portion of the county and in Mammoth. Scholl had his deputies making frequent stops in businesses to ask them how it was it was going and spent some time with small talk. The deputies could not believe it, many of the business owners were committing the crimes!
Word on the street is a lot of the rank and file in the department are happy with the outcome of yesterdays election! Finally professional management of the department! Note to OB make an appointment at CALPERS and arrive early to avoid the lines! Weber–Microsoft Word has several excellent resume templates!
I hear Mickey D’s is hiring, now there is a place where they both truly fit in. One of them already is qualified for the job, the other will have to train to make the cut.
I am sure a lot of the rank and file are happy and have been hoping all along she would win. It will be a whole new world for them, one that they don’t have to hide how they truly feel and can speak their minds without fear of retaliation or a made up “IA” when they piss them off.
There’s a new Sheriff in town
the best man for the job is a women
God help TOML though.. new boss, same as the old boss. It should be entertaining to watch though
Well 4 women run and Zero win. Interesting.
I think it says a lot about the trust we have in women.
I saw what the papers said , but in the end is kinda shocked me.
I think that it is because the women who ran for the counsil were not the best Mammoth had to offer. Under your line of reasoning, Mammoth should not have voted 3 to 1 for a woman sheriff or given a landslide victory to Stacy over two men.
Even Elizabeth Tenney, who is very politically active, pro women and attends all the meetings, endorsed the men.
This was about the people being educated about who was running and voting for the best persons for the job.
The fact that the Mammoth Times endorsed someone is a straw man argument at best. People clearly voted for who they thought was the most qualified. They were smart enough not to vote based on gender.
Political observation – one of the big losers yesterday was John Eastman and his style of politics. Greg Eckert and most importantly Bill Sauser lost by significant margins in their supervisory races. Their messaging during the campaign was out of touch with reality and had no substance. The voters obviously saw through this. So we have an addition by subtraction on the Town Council with Mr. Eastman gone and have avoided a train wreck in Mono County.
Social observation – it sounds like you are having trouble accepting your candidate wins with grace. Some of us have felt that the mono county train wreck left the station a few years ago. I applaud all the candidates for stepping up to the challenge of running, it was great to meet you all and get informed.
Greg and Bill, mostly Greg, ran their campaigns with the Fox News, Carl Rove method. Over simplify complex issues, depend on voters who let their emotions govern their voting and use ad hominem (attack the person-don’t speak to the issue). Had Bill and Greg won the Board would have resembled the U.S. Congress, that is, dysfunctional. The voters saw through this and voted for people who look at the issue and are prepared to have intelligent discussions of them. Amazing!
That should have been ad hominem arguments.
“Over simplify complex issues” is absolutely accurate. How about the slogan “send Bridgeport the bill” used by Bill Sauser. That is ignorant at its best and arrogant at its worst. Ignorance and arrogance are the reasons why the Town is digging itself out of a hole.
Will sheriff Ingrid Braun appoint Deputy Madrid as under sheriff? We know he is more than capable and not one of the good old boys.
We also all know he stands up for what is right and wrong, doesn’t get intimidated, will sacrifice even at the expense of himself. Sounds like a true leader to me!
He isn’t the only deputy that has received such treatment. During the Paranick administration another deputy was railroaded and accused of something heinous, which the deputy was probably not capable of. I can’t say for sure, but an appeals court or board decision overturned his firing. Paranick did not accept the boards decision. He told the deputy to stay at home and be prepared for a phone call. The Sheriff’s department would call him a random times to make sure he was in the house, but he was never called to work. He had to be paid the entire time per the board’s decision. Due to the type of accusation and the treatment after his firing and reinstatement he became severely depressed, resigned and left the county. Paranick 1, deputy 0,
This is not how a department should be run. Thank god we now have someone who will be more open and professional in her actions.
I am sure Deputy Madrid isn’t the only Deputy that has been treated this way, but hopefully he will be the last! Where do these men get off abusing their power like this? Treating grown men that dedicate their life to law enforcement like they were children is appalling.
At least Deputy Madrid stood up to them and their persecution was brought out in the open so that everyone can see what these men are truly like. Pathetic individuals that they are. As far as I can remember he is the only one that has stood up to them. I am sure the treatment he received influenced quite a few of the votes for Braun. Just like Obe firing her just 5 days before her probabtion was up I am sure did the same.
They put their own nails in their coffin. May Karma continue to pay them all a visit.
Scholl, O’Hara, Obe, and Weber….
I would like to congratulate the Mammoth Times for publishing their male dominated slate for Mammoth Town Council. Way to go MT for keeping the Good Ol’ Boys Club alive and well in Mammoth. Wait…. isn’t the Times publisher a woman???? The decision by the MT to publicly endorse candidates goes above and beyond their purview. Unfortunately, I underestimated many in our community. I believed free thinking individuals would conduct their own research and make decisions based on qualifications not a list published by a single media outlet. My bad. So sad
Mammoth politics are controlled by the corporate money men behind the curtain. They are and have been syphoning off tax dollars for their own agenda$ since the towns inception. The corruption continues in order to create the next boom to bust cycle. The next one coming down the pike is known as the Main Lodge land swap.
Never mind the low paying jobs, the two class community, the boarded up buildings or the work and tax you to starvation to finance our business promotions reality mentality.
Keep earning a sub par wages while paying the sales tax, the TOT tax, the measure R / U taxes, the TBID tax to support MLT, MLR, and any thing else they tell you is vital to the “towns” survival. The reality is they promote private businesses interest at the customer / tax payers expense while they fill their own pockets with unreported incomes including some of those above mentioned tax dollars. This community will be left high, dry and further in debt, before it’s all said and done. Many of these power players will eventually exit this town like most the profiteer$ before them and never look back.
Trickle down economics doesn’t work, build it and they’ll come doesn’t work. A thriving middle class earning a livable wage is what builds a prosperous community. Which one of these elected officials or news media for that matter would publicly support a living wage measure to help build a solid and stable economy for our community?
Corporate welfare accomplished on the backs of the working class and a pool of low wage immigrant labor is the cruelest of all their subsidy fairy tales. Repeating a behavior and expecting different results is never going to solve the real problem caused by the greed mentality that runs this town.
This town is broke in more ways than one, I urge those while they still can to vote with their money. Bottom line it’s the Profit motive that drives this town politics, not the desire for a viable community for it’s people.
And the beat goes on!
Excellent observation of the town. You left out Rusty’s control over the town. I’ve spoken to a number of, lets say, high ranking employees of the town, mostly former, who say Rusty has enormous influence on a myriad of decisions and issues having to do with the town. He is the one who orchestrated the airport decisions, including the one to avoid having to accomplish proper environmental review.
The first environmental assessment (EA) was written by the MMSA planning shop. I have experience and college instruction concerning EA’s as well as calculating benefit-cost analysis. The one in the first EA was a joke, it incorporated tactics we studied in college as bad examples. It conveniently came out as a 1:1, that is, for every dollar invested their will be a dollar in return. A 300 seat restaurant with 70% of its seats occupied for every meal? A lodging facility with 70% occupancy year round? A campground with 70% occupancy in a setting that has no shade and no water (stream or lake) adjacent to it? All garbage in garbage out.
Most of the time we leave town to shop retail and don’t buy anything at Vons that included the TBID tax. We shop for those items at Rite-Aid and if not we then shop in Bishop for those items. The TBID is taxation without representation.
It is a three class town, the rich, the sub middle class who own modest homes and would be in the poor class except that they bought their homes more than 25 years ago and the poor class who have lower end service jobs. The latter pay rent to mostly the rich.
The rich are represented well on the town council. They have come up with the most hair brained ideas over the years, many of which did not get carried through because they were challenged in court or were stopped by the few good council members we have had over the years. Thank God that Rick and John are no longer on the council! The latter carried out a vendetta against the police department.
Other than your comment that the town has two classes, you hit the nail on the head.
Congratulations! Time for some clean up at the department. The cancer runs deep. Let’s hope that the folks will quietly resign and go off into retirement or other places and let Ingrid bring in some fresh blood. The sit in a chair in the lobby mindset has got to go.
It looks like the back of the Mono County Good Old Boy Club has been broken. It was a landslide!!
Here are some of the Good Old Boys listed on the Obenberger website who endorsed him:
Rick Scholl, Dan Paranick, Martin Strelneck, Vicki Bauer, Chris Carter, Hap Hazard, Tim Kendall, Bill Lutz, Phil West
I guess that shows how much their opinion matters!
I’m surprised at the Chris Carter endorsement! Thought he was better than that!
Already, I can hear the sounds of the paper shredder as it warms up in Bridgeport!
Divine comeuppance is my feeling of this day!
Congratulations, to Sheriff Braun!
I am not surprised that Carter and Lutze endorsed Obenberger. They are the ultimate good old boys. It is wildly known in Inyo County that the only difference between Inyo County SD/Bishop PD and Mono County SD is that in Inyo, their misdeeds never make it to the press. I would further wager that Carter for sure and Lutze possibly, called Braun and told her they were really supporting her but publically supporting Obenberger. That is how Carter operates.
Keep in mind that Carter in his incompetence demoted a sergeant to officer for failing to pass probation, AFTER the probation period was up. Carter and the City of Bishop fought this illegal demotion all the way up to Superior Court and lost in front of the judge just like Obenberger did. The officer was reinstated to sergeant with back pay. Where is the outrage in Inyo County for this incompetence? A sixth grader would know that you can’t demote someone for failing to pass probation AFTER they passed probation! That is the tip of the iceberg at Bishop PD.
With Lutze, he is totally teflon. Ask him about his hand picked sergeant KJ and the AR-15 case. Incredible incompetence. And it goes on.
Interesting observation, “Inside Man”. Guess you’re not too much of an insider, or you would have more info on the so-called “illegal demotion”. Sometimes guilty parties get off on technicalities. But even O.J. Simpson couldn’t outrun from Karma!
You must be related to OB. “The judge is wrong and I am right”.
I agree with you totally Mammothite. It is like a diary list of who in the county should be viewed as part of the good ole boy club and be extra careful when dealing with all of them, with the exception of Chris Carter and Bill Lutze. I hear that Obenberger took it upon himself to include their names without their permission.
Look at each person’s history and for the majority on this list it speaks for itself. Also take notice of who retires before Braun takes office… that speaks volumes about what they have been up to while they were part of MCSO. It all comes out eventually and the truth always prevails. It might take a while, but it does.
There are a few others that need to be added to this list also and I am sure they woke up worried about their jobs and what they have done in the past. If you felt that strange feeling in your stomach this morning guys…. I would say you would be smart to start looking for a new job. If you have a clear conscience you shouldn’t be a bit worried right?? You might want to think long and hard about your past actions also!
Said it perfectly,
Did anyone else compare Berger’s resume to Ingrid’s?
Ol’Berger barely has qualifications to manage a McDonalds, matter of fact he might need to spruce up his resume with more talk about Employee Management, Time Management, Data Entry, 180 WPM… GOOD RIDDANCE!! THANK YOU GOD.
Hopefully this screams out to our Sheriffs – Hey Pelichowski, use your peanut next time you stop a random car, and decide to blatantly disregard peoples constitutional rights.
I’m hopeful our community can start to trust OUR Sheriffs Department again.
I hit dislike below your comment. Personal and degrading comments have no place in elections like this. I too am glad that Ingrid won the election, but a comment that Ralph doesn’t have the qualifications to manage a McDonalds is untrue. Ralph has made some decisions that affected his future in office, most especially his abrupt answer to the board regarding the targeting and profiling of Burning Man participants. In effect, he said he will do what he wants and the board of supervisors has no authority to question him. Such a approach told the citizens of this county that the department is not open for review by the public. He lost my vote then and there. He said he answers to the citizens of the county at election time. Well, they voted to disapprove his action.
There were other issues as well and I don’t include them here because they are well known and have been discussed at length. However, leave out the ad hominem presentation.
Thank you for your comment about Chis Carter and Bill Lutze. I don’t know of Carter, but have met Lutze a couple of times. He is open and honest and answered my questions with refreshing frankness. He is professional and speaks well. If I were a voter in Inyo County he would get my vote. I wish I could say the same for the Inyo County Board of Supervisors. Their meetings are like fireworks and they don’t control them by choice. They are rude to people making presentations. Employee morale is poor and has been for a couple of decades. The supervisors are not professional. How they continue to find new people that act like the old is inexplicable. Lutze is far better and rises above the fray.
…and what? You think anything is going to change? You think your life is going to be better? In 6 months you will be complaining that somebody is doing it to you again.
Thank goodness Mono County now has a Sheriff we can be proud of! Congrats Ingrid thank you for saving us! You smoked him! We all knew you could do it!
Not so fast Bye Bye. Here is the latest plan by the Bridgeport Mafia (Good ole Boys)
The Plan is for Mike Booher to retire before January. Weber will demote to Booher’s position as Jail Commander. Since the jail commander job is not at will, Weber will be there forever to have Braun’s back… with a knife at his hand!
The Bridgeport Mafia believes that there is nothing that can be done prevent this.
The Berger gets the last laugh!
Nah Inside you are wrong because Weber is an at will employee with a contract to be Undersherff and does not have the right to step down. His only option is fulfill his obligation until the end of the year or get out.
I believe he is just going to file a Worker’s Compensation Claim against the County and try to save his pension that way. I am sure it will be a stress claim. Just watch and see!
This is what they both get for scheming to get rid of Scholl to set themselves up, but it looks like the citizens saw through that BS and spoke… Loud in clear. They never wanted them in the first place. The BOS are who should really be paying attention, because they appointed these two and obviously by the landslide vote they didn’t do what the citizens of Mono County wanted.
I can say one thing about all three of them. Their misdeeds were their own ending of their careers! Hope they think about it everyday for the rest of their lives. What comes around goes around, you dug your own graves.
Congratulations to Mono County for taking your County Back!
I hope you are right Bye Bye!
How about a call to County Counsel? Yea, that would work!
Who is Weber?
Rob Weber is the Undersheriff.
Not for long!