Crime & Safety
Settlement Agreement Calls For an Apology
Keep Cal Fire supporter Marshall Ketchum of El Granada issues an apology to the Coastside Fire Protection District board members who are facing recall.
Marshall Ketchum, one of the leading figures behind the Coastside Fire Protection District board recall, has issued an apology letter to the three directors he wants to oust for taking them to court over candidate statements filed for next week’s election, according to a recent report in the San Mateo Daily Journal.
In a settlement that was reached March 21, the agreement also calls for Ketchum to stop blogging or commenting on the fire recall on his keepcalfire.com website until after the April 9 election, and he must pay $10,000, according to the settlement agreement. Also, upon execution of this agreement, Ketchum has to remove any and all postings, blog entries, and other writings from the Keep CalFire website that are related to the petition and campaign statements for the recall election, except for the apology letter, which he has to submit to the Half Moon Bay Review as a "letter to the editor."
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The apology reads:
Directors Alifano, Riddell and Mackintosh,
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While our views differ substantially with regard to the future of the Coastside Fire Protection District, I should not have taken action to prevent you from expressing the opinions contained in your official candidate statements. I apologize for filing for the writ of mandate to have sections of your candidate statements stricken.
Sincerely,
Marshall Ketchum
Ketchum requested the court to have portions of Fire Board president Doug Mackintosh, Director Mike Alifano and Director Gary Riddell’s candidate statements deleted or amended because Ketchum, who led the signature-gathering effort last year to remove the three, alleged their candidate statements contain information that is "false, misleading or inconsistent with state elections code," according to a petition filed in Superior Court in February.
A judge found the statements to be OK, however, and Ketchum has already issued an apology on his Keep Cal Fire website.
Read the full report in the San Mateo Daily Journal here.
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