A California sheriff rebuked by the state's highest court over a sweeping election move now wants someone else to cover the fallout.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, whose seizure of roughly 650,000 ballots was ruled "unlawful" by the California Supreme Court last month, is pushing the county to pick up the tab for his private legal defense, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
A representative for Bianco filed a claim last week seeking more than $10,000 in damages, contending the county owes him for attorneys' fees and expenses racked up across four civil cases that stemmed from his actions as sheriff.
Bianco's attorney, Bradley Hertz, made clear the sheriff is prepared to escalate.
"If the County rejects the claim, Sheriff Bianco will have the right to sue the County for damages, which he intends to do," Hertz wrote in an email to the Times on Friday evening. He turned down a request for a phone interview.
Riverside County spokesperson Brooke Federico told the paper the county received the claim on Oct. 16 and is still weighing how to respond.
The dispute traces back to February, when Bianco, who was then seeking the governorship as a Republican, obtained warrants to take possession of the ballots from the county registrar. They had been cast in last November's special election on Proposition 50, and Bianco claimed deputies needed them to look into alleged voter fraud.
The warrants came from a local judge who had been endorsed by the GOP and whom Bianco had campaigned for. Attorney General Rob Bonta swiftly condemned the move, and the state Supreme Court declared the seizure unlawful in September.
Hertz argues Bianco is entitled to recover the cost of hiring outside counsel because the county declined to defend him even though he "meets the statutory criteria."
"California law requires public entities to provide for the defense of civil actions brought against employees acting in their official capacity and arising from acts within the scope of their employment," Hertz wrote.
Hertz said the total Bianco is seeking has not been finalized, and the county has until Dec. 2 to respond to the claim, per the Times.