Two deputies and a campaign consultant sue Monterey County Sheriff's commanders over campaign allegations.

The head of the Monterey County deputy sheriff’s union and a Salinas City Councilmember who ran unsuccessfully for Monterey County Sheriff have sued three sheriff’s office commanders, alleging the trio defamed and slandered them during the 2016 campaign.

Union leader and Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Mitchell and Deputy Scott Davis, the former sheriff’s candidate and Salinas councilmember, filed suit in Monterey County Superior Court on April 12. Also named as a plaintiff is Christian Schneider, who consulted for both the union on strategic planning issues and for Davis’ campaign, as well as Schneider’s firm, Pivotal Campaign Services LLC.

Named as defendants are Sheriff’s commanders Mark Caldwell, Joe Moses and Archie Warren.

According to the suit, the plaintiffs say the members of Deputy Sheriff’s Association—the union that represents deputies, sergeants and commanders, as well as District Attorney’s investigators—voted unanimously at a membership meeting to endorse Davis in the 2018 race against incumbent Sheriff Steve Bernal. A subsequent online vote, arranged by Mitchell, garnered 70 percent of the votes cast for Davis, the suit claims.

The suit states that Caldwell, Moses and Warren, members of the union’s “C” unit, expressed their displeasure with the vote to endorse Davis, and that Warren began digging into the union’s finances. It also alleges the trio went to the offices of the union’s accountant, Ingraham & Associates, in March of 2018 to demand records.

On March 22, 2018, the suit claims an anonymous email went out to union members, among others, stating that Mitchell had misused union funds, including paying Schneider for his work on Davis’ campaign using membership dues and without notifying members.

Moses held a press conference in front of the DSA’s Oldtown Salinas headquarters on April 17, and Caldwell and Warren held another on April 25; Moses, the suit claims, accused Davis of embezzling and misusing union dues to pay for his campaign.

At the Warren and Moses press conference, the suit states, the two read from a prepared statement that read, in part, they believed Mitchell and Davis inappropriately paid money from the DSA to Davis’s campaign.

The statements, which were widely reported in the press, significantly damaged the plaintiffs’ reputations, the suit claims.

Two state agencies launched investigations into the allegations. The Fair Political Practices Commission, which monitors campaign finance in the state, investigated and closed the case without taking any action.

The California Department of Justice started asking questions about checks the commanders alleged showed evidence that union money had been laundered into Davis’ campaign; on June 1, Senior Assistant Attorney General James Roots wrote to Davis, "Our office has completed its review of matters covered in the interview we recently conducted with you and has closed its file. We do not intend to take any further action on this matter."

It’s unclear if the three commanders had been served with the suit, and if they would be represented by the County Counsel’s Office in their capacity as employees of the Sheriff’s Office. The plaintiffs are represented by Nina Patane and Andrea Avila of the firm Patane, Gumberg and Avila LLP.

The case will make its first appearance in court on Aug. 13.