Section 6: Statements on Calaveras County Public Corruption

"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

Here are excerpts from the statement I delivered on March 6, 2025, at the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting.

This community – and several nearby wildland urban interface communities in the dense timber belt of the four-county South Central Sierra Subregion – are under an extraordinary new threat of a catastrophic fire, of manmade origin and negligence, erupting in Arnold – behind Meadowmont Center. 

This threat of catastrophic fire has a name.

Tesla Supercharger. Electric. Vehicle. Charging. Station. EVCS. 

A rationally sited EVCS would’ve been a very desirable addition to Arnold. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t it. 

The EVCS site selection process – and its construction at this precarious location – was irrational and irresponsible.

On March 4, 2025, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy – SNC – advised me by letter that the agency “has no authority to take any action on the project described in my letter.”

I respectfully urged SNC to reconsider their position on my request for action, and examine their core mission more closely.

SNC, a State agency, is tasked with building resilience in California’s Sierra-Cascade region, inclusive of improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being.

I had expected that includes doing everything possible in the agency’s power to ensure our region is not reduced to ash from a 100% forewarned and preventable man-made calamity.

My response to SNC’s Board of Directors – which now includes Martin Huberty (Calaveras County District 3 Supervisor and Calaveras Visitors Bureau Executive Director) – was that lack of authority does not preclude SNC from directing my valid and grave concern to the State agency or agencies having authority to act on my concerns.

That agency may be CalFire, or CalOES, or perhaps CalEPA – whose mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.

Regardless of how rapidly fire officials claim they are capable of effectively responding to the scene of a potential EV fire at this location, it is unlikely fast enough to suppress the potentially devastating effects of thermal runaway.

The seed of a potential fire-bomb – capable of laying waste to communities in the four-county South Central Sierra Subregion – was negligently sited in a vulnerable location – in distressingly close proximity to a densely forested neighborhood, large capacity propane tanks, and unregulated traffic. 

Lahaina. Pacific Palisades. Rim. Butte. Paradise. Eaton. Tubbs. Caldor.

The list tragically grows.

Do we want to lose our cherished Stanislaus National Forest, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and forest communities to a forewarned and preventable disaster?

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com." 

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My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com. I reside in Murphys. My life savings, my family and my future is invested in Calaveras County. 

Whenever I address this government, I always read from a script, but I am going off-script. 

Your Chair (Michelle Plotnik), holds leadership positions with three different tourism promotion and business bureaus. 

She is the president of the Murphys Business Association, she sits on the Board of Directors of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau and she is the interim president of the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway Association. 

I will let Julie Moss-Lewis decide if conflict of Interest exist when she should be hearing anything on this Planning Commission relative to any tourism promotion business in development. 

Therefore, I am segueing right into my prepared statement. 

As an entrepreneur who wanted to create beneficial Calaveras tourism businesses, like Jeremy and Lynette Smith-Covey, I too, for five years, have been the target of personal and professional attacks, including defamation of character, tortious interference, restraint of trade, trade libel, false light, and trademark infringement, constituting numerous civil and constitutional rights violations, by a wide range of colluded individuals in both governmental and business bureau leadership roles. 

I am here today to support these good people. 

As an award-winning entertainment and hospitality marketing specialist, with over 40-years of real world, results-oriented experience, I can prove failed Calaveras county governmental and business bureau “leaders” have cost Calaveras tens of millions of dollars in unrealized annual tourism revenue since 2019. 

Inclusive of the Calaveras Office of Economic Development, there are 15 recognized business bureaus in Calaveras that, in my professional opinion, cannot rub two nickels together to make ten cents. 

These business bureaus, as well as government agencies and offices, need to be purged of ineffective and colluded leadership, restaffed, and consolidated into financially viable and sustainable entities with a common mission to support existing and emerging innovative Calaveras businesses, like 4 Horse Ranch, as well as bring new businesses and monied tourists to Calaveras. 

I allege the willful and malicious business suppression by the hostile behavior by individuals cited in the report I emailed to all of you yesterday, cost, not just me, but Calaveras County, my two viable tourism businesses, at a personal cost in excess of $170,000 in legal fees and other expenses, depriving Calaveras county of millions - tens of millions - of dollars, over five years, in tourism revenue.   

Jeremy and Lynette Smith-Covey are now going through what I have been put through for five years by, I allege, self-serving government officials, legacy business owners, and business bureau leaders. 

I can no longer tolerate seeing any business owner, as wonderful as these people, who want to make Calaveras a better place, be subjected to what I have endured for five years. 

The Planning Department and this Planning Commission needs to prioritize business development. 

I’m respectfully requesting you vote to do the right thing so 4 Horse Ranch may establish itself as a viable Calaveras-based tourism business. 

I am also - with respect - demanding the Calaveras Planning Commission immediately investigate my allegations of willful and endemic suppression of business development - by one of your own - that I explicitly described in my emails of January 14 and March 12, 2025."

Today, I respectfully request the Calaveras government start working for its citizens. 

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com. 

Let me repeat that so you can all write it down, Calaveras2026Election.com."

NOTE: Michelle Plotnik holds conflicted leadership roles with the following business and tourism development bureaus, aside from being the Calaveras County Planning Department District 3 Commissioner and Commission Chair: 

• Murphys Business Association - Interim President, Communications, Murphys Day of the Dead Co-Coordinator, and Murphys Irish Day Coordinator - https://visitmurphys.com/contact 
• Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway Association - Acting Executive Director and Treasurer - https://scenic4.org/contact 
• Calaveras Visitors Bureau - District 3 Board Member - https://www.gocalaveras.com/calaveras-visitors-bureau-board-of-directors  

The evidence presented to Bret Sampson at the conclusion of Mr. Buttner's statement includes the following documents, all of which may be accessed and reviewed from this DropBox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/cf52361uwd5b5dwg2z2n4/AMlxQTAstl0GOrI6eOMZAdc?rlkey=oagn879pqrpfjqvtz3g9a0n5v&dl=0

The five documents are: 

1 - March 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM: Subject: SUBJECT: Planning Commission Staff Report Hearing | CUP 2024-013 | 4 Horse Ranch | Jeremy and Lynette Smith-Covey, March 13, 2025 | Recusal Request - Conflict of Interests | Michelle Plotnik, District 3 Planning Commissioner and Commission Chair

2 -  March 12, 2025 at 10:36 AM: Response to the previous document by Lynette Smith-Covey, co-owner of 4 Horse Ranch. 

3 - Monday, July 8, 2024 9:10:15 AM: Perry Willard written statement alleging the willful and malicious suppression of 4 Horse Ranch by a Calaveras County elected official, District 1 Supervisor Gary Tofanelli, Calaveras County Planning officials and colluded legacy business owners. 

4 - January 25, 2025: FPPC Filing - Gary Tofanelli FPPC form 460 revealing a $500 campaign contribution received from North State Landscaping, recorded with the State of California January 25, 2024. 

5 - March 13, 2025: Allegation Michelle Plotnik, as president of the Murphys Business Association, and other Calaveras County elected and appointed officials, Calaveras County law enforcement officials, as well as business bureau leaders and board of director members, have allegedly, knowingly, and willfully, since October 2024, suppressed knowledge of formal Sheriff harassment complaints against an adjudicated pedophile who continues to work and flourish at a leading Murphys hospitality business.  

Additional recommended reading: October 2024: Calaveras County Has A Pedophile Problem... So, is Calaveras a safe place to visit or live in?  

Do you feel your business ventures and/or personal and professional rights have been suppressed by Calaveras County government officials? We want to hear from you. Contact Calaveras2026Election.com at our contact page and tell us your story. 

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Calaveras County citizen drops bombshell allegation that Calaveras County District 1 Supervisor Gary Tofanelli and members of the Calaveras County Planning Department conspired against a business owner to suppress her fledgling horse riding and training business, by attending an orchestrated meeting, arranged and designed by a Gary Tofanelli campaign contributor, to "shut 4 Horse Ranch down." 

The evidence presented to Bret Sampson at the conclusion of Mr. Buttner's statement includes the following documents, all of which may be accessed and reviewed from this DropBox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/cf52361uwd5b5dwg2z2n4/AMlxQTAstl0GOrI6eOMZAdc?rlkey=oagn879pqrpfjqvtz3g9a0n5v&dl=0

The five documents are: 

1 - March 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM: Subject: SUBJECT: Planning Commission Staff Report Hearing | CUP 2024-013 | 4 Horse Ranch | Jeremy and Lynette Smith-Covey, March 13, 2025 | Recusal Request - Conflict of Interests | Michelle Plotnik, District 3 Planning Commissioner and Commission Chair

2 -  March 12, 2025 at 10:36 AM: Response to the previous document by Lynette Smith-Covey, co-owner of 4 Horse Ranch. 

3 - Monday, July 8, 2024 9:10:15 AM: Perry Willard written statement alleging the willful and malicious suppression of 4 Horse Ranch by a Calaveras County elected official, District 1 Supervisor Gary Tofanelli, Calaveras County Planning officials and colluded legacy business owners. 

4 - January 25, 2025: FPPC Filing - Gary Tofanelli FPPC form 460 revealing a $500 campaign contribution received from North State Landscaping, recorded with the State of California January 25, 2024. 

5 - March 13, 2025: Allegation Michelle Plotnik, as president of the Murphys Business Association, and other Calaveras County elected and appointed officials, Calaveras County law enforcement officials, as well as business bureau leaders and board of director members, have allegedly, knowingly, and willfully, since October 2024, suppressed knowledge of formal Sheriff harassment complaints against an adjudicated pedophile who continues to work and flourish at a leading Murphys hospitality business.  

Additional recommended reading: October 2024: Calaveras County Has A Pedophile Problem... So, is Calaveras a safe place to visit or live in?  

Do you feel your business ventures and/or personal and professional rights have been suppressed by Calaveras County government officials? We want to hear from you. Contact Calaveras2026Election.com at our contact page and tell us your story. 

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, I am the publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

I am a full-time resident of Murphys. My entire family savings are invested in Murphys. 

Here are excerpts from the statements I delivered on March 6, 2025, at the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting, and again during the General Public Comments period of the March 11, 2025 Calaveras Board of Supervisors Regular meeting.

For context, I am the son of a firefighter. I have over three decades of experience in event safety protocols for arenas, amusement parks, convention centers, and cruise ships. 

Additionally, I am an advanced open water, stress-rescue scuba diver with 25 years experience. 

I am trained in American Red Cross CPR and other lifesaving skills. 

As a scuba diver, I was deeply involved in marine, environmental and wildlife conservation efforts and I regularly interfaced with and promoted leading professional scuba personalities and their internationally-recognized marine protection and preservation efforts.   

I’ve seen the aftermath of multiple disasters on land and sea, and disturbingly what I am going to tell you this evening has many of the earmarks. 

This community – and several nearby wildland urban interface communities in the dense timber belt of the four-county South Central Sierra Subregion – are under an extraordinary new threat of a catastrophic fire, of manmade origin and negligence, erupting in Arnold – behind the Meadowmont Center. 

This threat of catastrophic fire has a name. Tesla Supercharger. Electric Vehicle Charging Station. Otherwise known as an EVCS. 

A rationally sited EVCS would’ve been a very desirable addition to Arnold. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t it. 

The EVCS site selection process – and its construction at this precarious location – was irrational and irresponsible.

On March 4, 2025, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy – the SNC – advised me by letter that the agency “has no authority to take any action on the project described in my letter.”

I respectfully urged SNC to reconsider this position on my request for action, and examine their core mission more closely.

SNC, a State agency, is tasked with building resilience in California’s Sierra-Cascade region, inclusive of improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being.

I had expected that includes doing everything possible in the agency’s power to ensure our region is not reduced to ash from a 100% forewarned and preventable man-made calamity.

My response to SNC’s Board of Directors – which now includes District 3 Supervisor Martin Huberty, who  is also the executive director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau – was that lack of authority does not preclude SNC from directing my valid and grave concern to the State agency or agencies having authority to act on my concerns.

That agency may be CalFire, CalOES, or perhaps CalEPA – whose mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.

Regardless of how rapidly fire officials claim they are capable of effectively responding to the scene of a potential EV fire at this location, it’s unlikely fast enough to suppress the potentially devastating effects of thermal runaway. 

Let’s keep in mind, the first casualty of war is always your plan. 

The seed of a potential fire-bomb – capable of laying waste to communities in the four-county South Central Sierra Subregion – was negligently sited in a vulnerable location – in distressingly close proximity to a densely forested neighborhood, large capacity propane tanks, and unregulated traffic. 

Additional concerns is the backlash Tesla is facing due to Elon Musk’s erratic behavior which has led to increased vandalism of Tesla vehicles, especially Cybertrucks, as well as Tesla Superchargers, which includes, but is not limited to, arson. 

When an arsonist strikes, they rarely consider the collateral damage of their actions. Arson at this EVCS could have devastating effects reaching far beyond just the Tesla product they hope to vandalize or destroy.  

Lahaina. Pacific Palisades. Rim. Butte. Paradise. Eaton. Tubbs. Caldor. August Complex.

The list tragically grows.

Do we want to lose our cherished 898,000 acre Stanislaus National Forest, inclusive of Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and forest communities to a forewarned and preventable disaster?

After you’ve reviewed the leave-behind materials, I would welcome the Calaveras County Conservation Resource District to consider an evaluation field trip to the Tesla Supercharger at Arnold’s Meadowmont Center in the near future. 

Thank you for your rapt attention to these recent and important concerns that now confront our homes and families in our four-county South Central Sierra Subregion. 

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

I am going to read this California public records request emailed on March 25, 2025 at 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time to Sarah Edwards, Calaveras County Civil Counsel.

Martin Huberty is a public official currently serving in the full-time capacity of District 3 Supervisor and Board of Supervisors 2025 Chair, while also currently serving in the full-time capacity of Executive Director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau, a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, which is more than 90% publicly funded by Calaveras County transient occupancy tax per the Calaveras Visitors Bureau’s IRS filing for fiscal year ending June 2023.

The above fact pattern is relevant inasmuch as it establishes that this public official earns two taxpayer-funded salaries (all or in part) as compensation for two 40-hour per week positions.

Therefore, with the Warning Letter dated February 3, 2025 from the California Fair Political Practices Commission to this public official, Martin Huberty, upon the FPPC’s Enforcement Division having completed its review of the facts in this case, number 2023-00471, I submit this Public Records Request for:

ONE) an accounting by this public official of the number of hours required of them to successfully complete the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Political Reform Education Program course mandated to remediate their double-digit violations of the Political Reform Act, for failing to timely disclose economic interests on their Statements of Economic Interests Form 700; and, 

TWO) to determine whether any of this remedial State-mandated education occurred during the “business hours” of this public official’s eighty (80) hour work week consisting of dual 40-hour full-time positions at taxpayer expense (all or in part).

This is a request for a public official’s accountability. 

The public has a right to know how much time this public official, Martin Huberty, has spent on this remedial activity, and if this remedial activity was conducted at any time during Huberty’s taxpayer-compensated 80-hour work week when he is expected, as a public official, to be working exclusively on behalf of the public that is paying both of his salaries.

Specifically, the responsive records being requested are Huberty’s test logs indicating the cumulative time this public official spent on the FPPC’s Political Reform Education Program course, and the date/time stamps of each instance of his sessions.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.  

This is the March 21, 2025 Edition of the Calaveras County News and Valley Springs News.   

I am going to read the Letter to the Editor on page 7, titled: Officials Warned of Potential Disaster.   

This is applicable to responsible EV charging infrastructure development.  

Calaveras, and its wildland urban interface communities, are under an extraordinary new threat of a catastrophic fire of manmade origin and negligence erupting in Arnold behind Meadowmont Center.   

This threat has a name.  

Tesla Supercharger. Electric Vehicle Charging Station. EVCS.   

A rationally sited EVCS would’ve been a very desirable addition to Arnold.  

The site selection process and construction at this precarious location was irrational and irresponsible.  

On March 4, 2025, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy – SNC – advised me by letter that the agency “...has no authority to take any action on the project described in my letter” of concern.

I respectfully urged SNC to reconsider their position on my request for action, and examine their core mission more closely.  

SNC, a State agency, is tasked with building resilience in California’s Sierra-Cascade region, inclusive of improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being. 

I expected that includes doing everything possible in the agency’s power to ensure our region is not reduced to ash from a 100% forewarned and preventable man-made calamity.  

My response to SNC’s Board of Directors – inclusive of Martin Huberty, Executive Director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau and Board of Supervisors Chair – was, lack of authority doesn’t preclude SNC from directing my entirely valid concern to the State agencies having authority to act on my concerns.  

That agency may be CalFire, CalOES, or perhaps CalEPA – whose mission is to “restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.”  

Regardless of how rapidly fire officials claim they are capable of effectively responding to the scene of a potential EV fire at this location, it is unlikely fast enough to suppress the potentially devastating effects of thermal runaway.  

A potential fire-bomb capable of laying waste to our community is negligently sited in a vulnerable location, in distressingly close proximity to densely forested neighborhoods, large capacity propane tanks, and unregulated traffic.

Lahaina. Pacific Palisades. Rim. Butte. Paradise. Eaton. Tubbs. Caldor.  

The list tragically grows.  

Do we want to lose our cherished Stanislaus National Forest, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and forest communities to a forewarned and preventable disaster?  

Respectfully Submitted,  

Christopher Buttner 

Publisher 

Calaveras2026Election.com"  

CONCLUSION was excluded due to 3-minute time restriction on opposition comments: "In conclusion, the faulty 2017 EVCS ministerial permitting process must be repealed and replaced to specifically insert County and State fire officials in the permitting and approval process for all non-residential EVCS installations."

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Statement: "My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

The Enforcement Division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission has completed its investigation of multiple complaints lodged against Calaveras County District 3 Supervisor Martin Huberty, pertaining to case number 2023-00471.

The Enforcement Division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission has concluded that Huberty committed numerous violations of the Political Reform Act, as had been alleged, and issued a stern Warning Letter (below) to Huberty dated February 3, 2025.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission Warning Letter informs Huberty that his failure to comply with the provisions of the Political Reform Act in the future will result in monetary penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation.

Upcoming budget discussions leading to a vote on Calaveras County’s 2025-2026 fiscal year budget find Huberty on the cusp of inviting a new, considerably more serious allegation; and potentially more legally consequential than what he has already been formally warned about by the State of California.

I remind Martin Huberty, and all of you, that the July 1, 2023 Agreement for the Promotion of Tourism, which was executed and entered into on August 22, 2023 by and between the Calaveras County government and the Calaveras Visitors Bureau (CVB), contained a glaring misrepresentation of the CVB’s nonprofit corporation type that was allowed to persist despite my cautioning.

I remind Martin Huberty, and all of you, that the CVB’s nonprofit legal type changed from a California Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation to a California Mutual Benefit Nonprofit Corporation on July 12, 2021, effective upon recordation of amended Articles of Incorporation with the California Secretary of State.

California Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporations and California Mutual Benefit Nonprofit Corporations are distinctly different legal entities requiring different bylaws.

As the Executive Director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau, Huberty was legally and ethically obligated to accurately disclose the legal type of the nonprofit organization he represents that receives public funding from transient occupancy taxes.

The 2025-2026 fiscal year budget cycle approaches.

The CVB will once again be considered for an allocation of funding.

At the time of your vote in June, will the County’s Agreement for the Promotion of Tourism accurately reflect the CVB’s legal type as a California Mutual Benefit Nonprofit Corporation?

Or…

Following the vote, will it be necessary to file a formal allegation with the Enforcement Division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission seeking investigation of Huberty’s persistent fraudulent misrepresentation and exposing the complicity of this delegitimized government?

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

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Statement: "My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

As the direct result of a diligent private investigation, four of you – Huberty, Folendorf, Tofanelli and Stopper – received formal notification from the Enforcement Division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission – FPPC – informing each of you that you were under investigation for multiple violations of the Political Reform Act for your respective failures to file accurate and timely campaign finance forms.

Each of you has delegitimized the Calaveras County government and its spending authority by your financial misconduct and your blatant concealment of facts to benefit your respective campaigns for office.

You’ve demonstrated the inability to accurately manage your own campaign finances, yet collectively you control the expenditure of almost four hundred million dollars.

Huberty has already received his Warning Letter from the FPPC in February 2025 (below), declaring Huberty as a “Statements of Economic Interest Non-Reporter,” and informing Huberty of the severe consequences of another investigation and confirmed violation of the Political Reform Act.

Three of you – Folendorf, Tofanelli and Stopper – are in the FPPC Enforcement Division’s investigatory pipeline for multiple violations of the Political Reform Act as Campaign Non-Filers. 

Two of you – Folendorf and Tofanelli – may expect to receive Warning Letters in coming months pending completion of the Enforcement Division’s investigation.

One of you –  Stopper – having already received a Warning Letter in May 2019 (below) for your violations of the Political Reform Act – may anticipate stern measures, including fines, from the FPPC’s Enforcement Division.

One of you – Folendorf – has yet to publicly account for over eighty four hundred dollars in labor union contributions that mysteriously vanished from your 2020 campaign finances directly under your control.

Several weeks from now, when the Board of Supervisors votes on the Calaveras County 2025-2026 fiscal year budget, it will be faced with an ethical conundrum.

Does this board admit complicity to its citizens for its intentional failure to ensure the accuracy of the four-year Agreement for the Promotion of Tourism with the Calaveras Visitors Bureau and for intentional perpetuation of the fraudulent misrepresentation of the CVB’s nonprofit type, or does it continue to deny the facts known to the board since August 2023?

Either way, another formal FPPC complaint is being prepared against Huberty for his blatant conflict of interests in this matter.

I urge Supervisor Huberty to resign immediately as Executive Director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau. 

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

Informed citizens might reasonably question whether the Warning Letter that Board Chair Martin Huberty received from the Enforcement Division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission was the consequence of a political novice’s multiple innocent errors and violations of the Political Reform Act due to failing to comprehend instructions and seek guidance, leading to his failure to disclose… or whether it was an intentional act of income concealment that is ethically, and potentially legally, concerning.

Informed citizens might then question whether Huberty’s failure to disclose multiple sources of income – a fact corroborated by the FPPC – was an isolated novice incident or a future glimpse into a troubled pattern of conduct.

Four Board members face ethical, and potentially legal, dilemmas when voting on the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.

Huberty will recuse from voting, as required, due to his conflict of interests holding a second full-time, taxpayer-funded job as the executive director of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau.

The ethical, and potentially legal, dilemma will be whether any of you vote YES to continue funding the CVB in the 2025-26 budget without first correcting the July 1, 2023 Tourism Promotion Agreement between Calaveras County and the CVB to accurately represent the CVB’s California nonprofit corporation type.

• On August 22, 2023 this Board was credibly informed, as was County Counsel and the CEO, that the Tourism Promotion Agreement misrepresented the CVB’s California nonprofit corporation type; 
• The CVB had surrendered its public benefit nonprofit corporation status in July 2021; 
• The CVB had become a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation at that time operating without valid bylaws as legally required;
• …and for the 2024-25 fiscal year budget vote, this Board was credibly reminded the Tourism Promotion Agreement was misrepresented and needed to be corrected for legitimacy. 

The Board unwisely dismissed these facts.

Members of this Board, by voting to approve any 2025-26 fiscal year funding for the CVB without first requiring that the misrepresented nonprofit corporation type be corrected in the Tourism Promotion Agreement will be complicit in Martin Huberty’s alleged fraudulent misrepresentation.

Respectfully, that would be a very unwise choice for any supervisor currently under investigation for financial impropriety by the FPPC’s Enforcement Division.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

County Counsel Edwards…

As an attorney, you would know that Mutual Benefit Nonprofit Corporations differ greatly in several respects from Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporations.

There are several factors specific to the distinct differences between a Mutual Benefit Nonprofit Corporation and a Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation.

These include the nonprofit corporation’s mission, its permissive activities including political activity, and its taxation, fundraising, and distribution of assets upon entity dissolution.

When the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors votes on the 2025-26 fiscal year budget, will you have heeded my repeated cautioning and facilitated revision of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau Tourism Promotion Agreement to correct the CVB’s fraudulent misrepresentation of the business bureau’s nonprofit corporation type?

County Counsel Edwards…

I have not prefaced the words fraudulent misrepresentation with the word alleged because fraudulent misrepresentation is factually what is occurring on your watch concerning the CVB’s nonprofit corporation type.

County Counsel Edwards…

You, CEO Hitchcock, and the Board of Supervisors have been explicitly cautioned on multiple occasions that fraudulent misrepresentation was occurring.

That concern remains ignored to the legal and financial detriment of Calaveras County.

One of your principal responsibilities is providing Calaveras County with qualified legal advice to minimize its legal exposure.

Because of the CVB’s fraudulent misrepresentation occurring and perpetuating on your watch, the Calaveras County government – with you as County Counsel – finds itself at a precarious legal juncture.

Concerning the CVB’s deception – the fraudulent misrepresentation of its nonprofit corporation type – you are failing to meet one of your principal responsibilities… providing Calaveras County with qualified legal advice to minimize its legal exposure.

Furthermore, the CVB perpetuates a blatantly false claim on its public-facing website asserting it is a non-profit association.

The legal differences between a non-profit association and a nonprofit corporation are substantial.

As a practicing attorney, you would know this fact ‘chapter and verse.’

County Counsel Edwards…

Again I ask, when the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors votes on the 2025-26 fiscal year budget, will you have heeded my repeated cautioning and facilitated revision of the Calaveras Visitors Bureau Tourism Promotion Agreement to correct the CVB’s fraudulent misrepresentation of the business bureau’s nonprofit corporation type?

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

Fiduciary is a term derived from Latin, meaning trust and confidence.

As public officials, you are bound and obligated by your fiduciary relationship and duty to the county government and the public you are privileged to serve.

As public officials, you are expected to maintain an ethical and competent standard of care when performing your required fiduciary duties of office.

At the last Board of Supervisors meeting, I presented facts of the substantial legal differences between a public benefit nonprofit corporation and a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation. 

These substantial legal differences between a nonprofit corporation’s type include the corporation’s mission and whether it serves its members or the public first, its permissive activities including political activity, its taxation, its fundraising sources, and its distribution of assets upon entity dissolution.

Mutual benefit nonprofit corporations are typically oriented to be self-funded; raising money by charging its members dues.

It is not typical for a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation – which the Calaveras Visitors Bureau became in 2021, when it switched its nonprofit corporation’s legal type – to be fundraising 90% of its annual operating expenses from public sources.

Counsel Edwards is responsible for protecting the county from damaging legal exposure arising from the CVB’s persistent misrepresentation of its nonprofit corporation type.

Counsel Edwards may, therefore, wish to immediately stop facilitating the CVB’s persistent misrepresentation, and transparently expedite the revision – for legitimacy – of the county’s Tourism Promotion Agreement with the CVB to avoid a credible allegation of legal malpractice.

The CVB’s 2024 documented underperformance – evidenced by Visit California’s “2024 Economic Impact of Travel” report – revealed a loss of 180 direct Calaveras tourism industry jobs in 2024, following the loss of 160 direct tourism industry jobs in 2023, for a shocking total of 340 direct Calaveras tourism industry jobs lost during the last two years… that’s a very disturbing 12% loss of direct county tourism industry employment on Martin Huberty’s watch, who serves as both District 3 Supervisor and CVB executive director.

Calaveras is reported to have lost $4.6 million in direct earnings from tourism in 2024 over 2023, a 3.5% loss, with a 1.4% loss of tourism tax revenue of $300,000 for 2024.

In contrast, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Amador, El Dorado, and even Alpine enjoyed increased 2024 tourism spending.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com.

I’m registering an informed, evidence-backed challenge into this meeting’s public record, specific to agenda item 26, the fiscal year 2025-26 CEO recommended budget coming before the Board for approval on June 24, 2025.

I challenge CEO Hitchcock’s fiduciary standard of care, as demonstrated by her recommended budget allocation of $400,000 to the Calaveras Visitors Bureau for fiscal year 2025-26.

The CVB is contractually eligible – through the end of fiscal year 2026-27 – to receive an annual allocation of public funding from Calaveras County’s transient occupancy tax.

At issue is Hitchcock’s knowledge and dismissal of the persistent contractual misrepresentation of the CVB’s nonprofit legal type – falsely stated in the Tourism Promotion Agreement to be a public benefit nonprofit corporation.

Ms. Hitchcock. The CVB is a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation. It is not a public benefit nonprofit corporation.

District 3 Supervisor and Board Chair Martin Huberty has a fiduciary duty to Calaveras County, and has sworn an oath of office.

The CVB, a nonprofit corporation led by executive director Huberty since June 2019, also requires his fiduciary duties to be performed with a standard of care and competence on behalf of the CVB’s Board of Directors.

During Huberty’s first two years as executive director, from June 2019 to July 2021, the CVB’s legal nonprofit type was a public benefit nonprofit corporation.

Under Huberty’s leadership as executive director, in 2021 the CVB petitioned the State of California to change its legally-registered type to a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation.

From July 12, 2021 onward, upon the CVB having received approval from the California Department of Justice and registering the CVB’s legal type with the California Secretary of State, the CVB has been a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation and operated for three years without legally required bylaws.

Earlier, I provided you with a refresher on substantial legal distinctions between two types of nonprofit corporations, informing you that County Counsel Edwards invites legal consequences for the county if this Board approves funding for the CVB without first having transparently corrected the CVB’s nonprofit corporation type on the Tourism Promotion Agreement.

The substantial legal distinctions between nonprofit corporation types are the basis of my informed concern and allegation of persistent misrepresentation by the CVB of its legal type in the Tourism Promotion Agreement with the county.

In conclusion, the parade of Calaveras county government departments expressing financial concerns during today’s budget hearing is now a wake up call for Calaveras county employees to call for a one-day general strike and protest against this administrative incompetence and malfeasance.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com."

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