Section 9: Statements on Calaveras County Public Corruption

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

Last Tuesday, January 20, 2026, I sent an email to the Calaveras County District 5 Supervisor and 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair, Ben Stopper, requesting his response to two questions.

As anticipated, there was no response from Supervisor Stopper.

I explicitly stated that absent his prompt reply to my inquiry, he may anticipate me publicly asking for his responses at this Board of Supervisors meeting today and also at the Calaveras County Water District Board of Directors meeting tomorrow at their January 28, 2026 meeting.

In my email to Supervisor Stopper, consisting of two questions, in which I copied Calaveras County Executive Officer Teresa Hitchcock, Calaveras County Counsel Sarah Edwards, Calaveras County Human Resources & Risk Management Director Judy Hawkins, and Calaveras County Water District General Manager Michael Minkler, I asked:

• What is your current employment status with the Calaveras County Water District?

And… 

• Are you currently residing in District 2, outside of your supervisory District 5?

Credible sources advised me that Supervisor Stopper’s employment with the Calaveras County Water District has been terminated for cause, and that he is currently residing in a supervisory district other than his own District 5.

I’ll add a third and fourth question now.

• Did Supervisor Stopper inform the other four district supervisors, CEO Hitchcock, and County Counsel Edwards of his, allegedly, recently changed, deteriorating life circumstances?
• Does Supervisor Stopper truly believe that he is now able to perform the duties of a district supervisor, let alone serve as the 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair?

These are critical questions, and your constituents demand and deserve answers.

They are critical to the economic well-being of Calaveras County, the public safety of its citizens, and must now be addressed with honesty and forthrightness by Supervisor Stopper.

I informed Supervisor Stopper in my email that he may also anticipate me publicly requesting his resignation as the 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair, and for him to surrender the gavel to Vice-Chair Folendorf for her to assume the remainder of his term as 2026 Chair of the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Stopper, this is me now publicly requesting that you directly and factually answer these questions this morning, and for you to surrender the gavel to Vice-Chair Folendorf.

A closing note now for Corissa Davidson, owner/editor/publisher of the Calaveras Enterprise.

Your newspaper violated the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics for Conflict of Interest on January 16, 2026, when two articles failed to disclose the (Calaveras) Enterprise’s representative interest of “the local media/communications sector” on the Calaveras Visitors Bureau Board of Directors.

Understand your job or get out of the newspaper business, Corissa.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com, a government watchdog and accountability blog."

"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com, a government accountability blog, featuring fifty (50) detailed reports about Calaveras County's legacy of systemic negligence of public and fire safety. 

Some highlights: 

Since March 2022, Calaveras government officials have been repeatedly warned and, I allege, continually suppress reports that the century-old, 100-foot tall, deteriorating Moaning Cavern spiral staircase may collapse, resulting in forty or more casualties, many of whom would be children. 

I have been informed by staffers in Assemblyman David Tangipa’s office that the irrationally and irresponsibly sited Tesla Supercharger behind Arnold’s Meadowmont Center, bears some striking similarities to previously documented hazard concerns related to two other Tesla Superchargers elsewhere in Tangipa’s legislative district, which were independently documented to his office by Cal Fire Unit chiefs.

An electric vehicle fire at the Arnold Tesla Supercharger could spread to imperil countless wildland urban interface communities and irreplaceable wilderness in the 27-million-acre South Central Sierra Subregion. 

My two and one half years of published (Tesla) Supercharger hazard reports, I allege, remain intentionally suppressed by Calaveras government. 

The 2-7 Fire of September 2, 2025 was stopped at the doorstep of Ironstone Vineyards. A wind increase of a mere one mile per hour would have surely resulted in Murphys’ obliteration. 

Responsive Records to my Public Records request revealed the County’s emergency messaging system was not used and, apparently, no emergency warning message system exists across the collective of county government social media assets. 

District 3 citizens, many of whom are seniors, like myself, who’s also a caretaker to a 92-year old mother, reported they cobbled together piecemeal community and online chatter from eyewitness accounts of the approaching 2-7 fire’s smoke, and chose to evacuate, with limited to no credit going to Calaveras government emergency warning protocols. 

On September 16, 2025, the historic home at 206 Main Street, Murphys, caught fire resulting in a $1.5 million loss to the property owners. If that fire had spread to the property’s 10 acres of unmanaged brush and overgrowth, an ensuing conflagration would have devastated Murphys. 

My 206 Main Street property fire hazard analysis report, published on August 24, 2025, foretold this event three weeks before the fire. 

On August 25, 2025, email notifications were sent to 110 government, media, business bureau, fire safety, and OES officials, and personal discussions on August 27, 2025 with both Murphys (Fire Protection District) and Cal Fire (Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit) officials regarding this fire hazard, remain unheeded.  

And now, curiously, the OES director, in less than two years after being hired in May 2024, has resigned. (Read: Utica Water and Power hires GM). 

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

"My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com, a government watchdog and accountability blog.

Last Tuesday, January 20, 2026, I sent an email to the Calaveras County 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair, District 5 Supervisor Ben Stopper, requesting his reply to two questions and receiving none.

One of the questions I asked of Mr. Stopper was pertinent to his employment relationship with the Calaveras County Water District; specifically the disclosure of his current employment status with the CCWD.

Credible sources advised me that, allegedly, Mr. Stopper’s employment with the CCWD has been terminated for cause and he is currently subject to an internal investigation. (This matter was addressed to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors on January 27, 2026).

Michael Minkler, CCWD General Manager, was copied on my email to Mr. Stopper, so it will be of no surprise to Mr. Minkler now that I am alerting the CCWD Board of Directors to ensure that all members are aware of the CCWD-specific question I asked of Mr. Stopper.

This would not be a matter of public concern or discourse, and would exclusively be a private personnel matter if not for Mr. Stopper being the Calaveras County District 5 Supervisor  and 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair.

The second of my emailed questions to Mr. Stopper was specific to credible sources having advised me that Mr. Stopper is, allegedly, currently residing in a supervisory district other than his own District 5.

It would seem that Mr. Stopper’s changing circumstances, if verified, may compromise his ability to effectively perform the duties of a district supervisor, let alone serve as Calaveras County’s 2026 Board of Supervisors Chair.

These represent critical questions of concern for all of us, CCWD included, because CCWD is the sole provider of utility services for many county citizens, so there is potential for consequential impact upon the economic well-being of Calaveras County and the public safety of its citizens.

Valid concerns must now be addressed with honesty and forthrightness; more so if Mr. Stopper was terminated from his longtime position with the CCWD for cause. 

Transparency is required and answers are expected promptly.

My name is Christopher Buttner, publisher of Calaveras2026Election.com, a government watchdog and accountability blog."

Cc: 

Michael Minkler, General Manager

CCWD Board of Directors

• Jeffrey Robertson
• Russ Thomas 
• Scott Ratterman
• Jeff Davidson
• Jack Garamendi

CCWD Human Resources

• Stacey Lollar, Human Resources Manager