Fight back against big money in local politics and help STOP a BULLY
District Attorney Jill Ravitch is under attack and nothing short of the independence of the Sonoma County’s DA’s office is at stake. Recall Ravitch, the “organization” behind this petition has just one funding source: millionaire developer William Gallaher. On September 3rd 2020, Gallaher-controlled corporations agreed to 3rd party oversight and fines of $500,000 related to the abandonment of dozens of seniors at the Villa Capri senior care facility during the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Who led the investigation? Jill Ravitch. Gallaher launched “Recall Ravitch” just 7 weeks later.
In an era when our democracy is under assault and calls for equal justice for all reverberate throughout the nation, the petition to recall District Attorney Ravitch demonstrates a new level of galling anti-democratic political revenge of the privileged. The petition was initiated by developer Bill Gallagher, who has flouted county campaign finance ordinances to personally pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to exact political retribution for being held accountable for the failure of his businesses to protect elderly Sonoma County residents during the tragic fires that began October 8, 2017.
Recall that in the early morning hours as the Tubbs fire roared into Santa Rosa, elderly and frail residents of Varenna and Villa Capri, two senior care homes owned by Oakmont Senior Living, were abandoned by ill-prepared staff as the flames bore down on them. Family members and good Samaritans risked their lives to drive into the firestorm to rescue approximately 100 elderly residents of the homes. Those rescuers provided harrowing tales of near-death experiences escaping through flames. An iconic photograph printed in the Press Democrat shows a wheelchair left amid the ashes and ruins of one of the buildings—a chilling reminder of the horrors of the event.
The businesses at issue are owned by Bill Gallagher.
SCCA Opposes Recalling District Attorney Jill Ravitch to fight back against this misguided revenge recall. A lone millionnaire may be allowed to single-handedly fund a recall attempt, but no one should be left to die in a wildfire to accommodate corporate greed.
