San Bernardino County Supervisor Asks to Censure County’s Elected Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector Ensen Mason

By Aidan McGloin, CalMatters

San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe asked for a motion to censure or remove elected auditor-controller/treasurer/tax collector Ensen Mason last Tuesday. Mason is on the ballot, facing off against challenger Ryan Hutchison.

“We have heard Mr. Mason make a lot of accusations directly to the media, as well as on social media, which I don’t believe at all to have merit or truth in them. Can we bring back an item for the board to consider censure or removal?” Rowe asked County Counsel Laura Feingold.

The Board of Supervisors has not voted on the issue, and the agenda for the next meeting has not been released.

Mason told CalMatters last week that he believed speakers at recent Board of Supervisors meetings were put up to attack him by an unknown political group. The Sun’s Beau Yarbrough first reported the claims. Those speakers claimed that Mason’s dual roles as elected  auditor-controller/treasurer/tax collector and owner of a private CPA firm were improper. 

The Board of Supervisors opened an investigation into Mason that will not be concluded by the election. Reports of the investigation were used in Hutchison’s campaign mail. No formal accusations or evidence of improper behavior have surfaced, with the comments on the topic focusing on a perceived conflict of interest.

The investigation was halted by Mason’s request to delay the investigation until after the election, a request he later revoked, according to both Feingold and Mason.

Rowe’s request to agendize a censure vote came after the board voted down Mason’s request to obtain county funds for independent legal counsel to defend himself in the investigation. Feingold told the board that Mason was not entitled to independent legal counsel because he was representing himself personally, rather than the county. 

Prior to the vote, Mason told the Board of Supervisors that any discussion of the case in open session would be a violation of the Brown Act because they would be discussing the possibility of a lawsuit. If they did do so, Mason said, they would need to release the full report to him. Last Monday, Feingold emailed Mason saying that the report, once finished, might not be released to him.

“That report is subject to the attorney-client privilege, which may only be waived by the Board (of Supervisors),” she wrote.

In a video on Mason’s new YouTube channel and a public letter posted on a new campaign website, Mason said he has been targeted because he was opposed to the structure of a county employees’ benefit trust. 

This article was first published by CalMatters.