What's Brown Hiding? ROV Selection Committee Signed NDAs ?
Local television report on Seminole County Supervisor of Elections, Chris Williams, who endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 election. We believe, Williams applied for the Registrar of Voters position in Washoe County.
When did selecting a Registrar of Voters become a classified operation?
County Manager Eric Brown has turned what should be a transparent process into a closed-door affair, complete with non-disclosure agreements. Let that sink in: A committee filled with county employees selecting someone to oversee our elections are being sworn to secrecy.
The Red Flags:
Selection committee members signed NDAs
Committee stacked with Brown's direct reports
Only confirmed member we could print because she’s elected: County Clerk Jan Galassini
Rest of committee? "Classified information"
Public can't even access an employee directory at Washoe County due to employee safety
Why the Secrecy? What exactly needs to be hidden from the public about selecting someone to oversee our elections? This isn't a corporate merger - it's a public position responsible for democracy itself.
The Stakes:
Public trust in elections
Transparency in government
Accountability to taxpayers
Democratic oversight
Brown seems to have forgotten who pays the bills around here. (Hint: It's the taxpayers he's keeping in the dark.)
We have been told who was on the committee by Washoe County employees, wanting to stay off the record, but we have it as part of an email string that Manager Brown would really like to use his special his $150K legal and personal services account if Brown feels his staff are being disparaged publicly, and sue Picon. We get it manager Brown, we’re not on your holiday card list,
Coming Soon: The Burgess Lawsuit and sources suggest the upcoming Cari-Ann Burgess lawsuit could blow the lid off Brown’s house of cards. Remember, Manager Brown: depositions are under oath, and "discovery" has a way of bringing secrets into the light. Is that why there’s a rumor the District Attorney’s Office is asking what Cari-Ann wants to make this case go away?
The question everyone should be asking: If everything's above board, why the NDAs? What doesn't Brown want us to know?
Democracy dies in darkness - and Brown seems intent on turning off all the lights.
You can view the February 11, 2025 Washoe County Board of County Commissioner’s Meeting and hear what Commissioner Jeanne Herman had to say, and what Commissioner Mike Clark asked and then, as usual, got shut down, but hey, thanks for trying to bring some transparancy to Washoe County Government.
Commissioner Jeanne Herman commented at the February 11, 2025:
“I’m very concerned about this appointment. Um, in the past this board got three choices, it was limited down to about three people and then we would vote on those three, we could research those three, we could interview those three. Um, and we would actually be making the choice, and the vote, this time, and I questioned it when we were doing it. This time it was done differently, and it was done by one commissioner, and the number varied a couple of times, but eight or nine county employee, so that’s how that went.
In the first round we all agreed on someone who I would vote still for if that person was still on this page.
I look at Mr. Williams writings, and I tend to agree with some of them. I spent the whole day of the election just observing and watching what was going on. I watched as we proceeded through the rest of the election, I’m not sure whether we need to go back to the drawing board and get back to the way we did it before, where we actually, and I’m not sure what the law is about how to do that, or why this decision was made to change that.
I could not vote for the person that is listed on here for ROV. I think our citizens deserve someone who is really, really super qualified. I’m afraid for, you know, we are not doing our job if we don’t look into this a little bit better and maybe go back to the drawing board and see how that works.
Just my opinion.”
When it was time for Commissioner Mike Clark to speak during the ROV Appointment Agenda Item, he called upon Commissioner Herman to “walk us through what took place in the meetings, since we weren’t allowed to attend those.
Herman: “Where would you like me to start.”
Clark: “At the beginning.”
Herman: “So the first meeting that we had. Um, and like I said, in the past ten years we did it a certain way at the beginning, so I didn’t realize this was the first time this happened. Okay, so the first meeting we had, I’m just guessing at the number was, I’m trying to count the people around the table, maybe nine county employees, and myself. So I came here and how did I get the honor of being the only commissioner here? Because I didn’t realize that was the way they were doing it.
Anyhow the first time we had three candidates, one from Chicago, he’d been in the business for quite a long time, and then there was um, um, Andrew, and then there was a gentleman by the name of Chris Anderson, and was from Florida. Who had, everyone was pretty excited about him and we voted you know 100% for him. He has gotten congressional awards for the way he, um, the way he ran the elections in Florida, and I can’t remember the name of the county, but, and he just had a really good grasp of what we needed, I think, here. Like I said. And I know that he wasn’t of the same party that a lot of people are looking for somebody.
We believe this is a bio for one of the candidates that applied for the Registrar of Voters position in Washoe County, that Commissioner Herman wanted to hire, and originally the entire committee supported him and at the second meeting only Commissioner Herman continued to support Mr. Anderson.
Um, the second meeting, because we all approved of him, he was going to be the one. So, then we had another meeting and um, some innuendos had come up about something to do he had a legal problem or something, Well, he wasn’t the one with the legal problem, but anyhow it just kind of twisted and turned, and before you know it, I was the only one voting for Mr. Anderson and everyone else had switched over to Andrew. Some of the comments about Andrew, um, on the first meeting, you know, everybody was very impressed with Mr. Anderson, and he was kind of considered to be the second-place person. And I’m probably leaving a lot of details out but I’m not sure how much information you need.”
Clark: “I’m following you. I’m following your narrative, yes, thank you, continue.”
Herman: “And so, that next meeting then everybody voted against Mr. Anderon and for Andrew, and um, even though there had been, you know, questions about his qualifications previous to that. Anyhow, um, I was the only one that voted for Mr. Anderson at that meeting, So, that is kind of how it came down.”
Clark: “Could you tell us who else in the committee, or on the committee, or in the room.”
Brown: “Madam Chair, why don’t we invite HR up so they can explain the process in more detail.”
Hill: “Manager Brown”
Andriola: “Yes”
Clark: “So we can’t hear who was on the committee?”
Per the representative from the Human Resources Office: “Nope.”