Pass the collection plate
Pastor seeks voter signatures for Patti Heinrich recall.
The petition to recall Patti Heinrich, June Lake Public Utility District (JLPUD) Board member (see Heinrich’s response on p.4), possibly breached Constitutional protections when a pastor allegedly went looking for voter signatures after Sunday service. But there are two sides to the story, both presented here.
One side says Pastor Ron Tennant approached several parishioners outside the church and asked them to sign the petition. Tennant said on Thursday that the story is “a lie” perpetrated by parishioners, some he has known for more than 38 years. He said he had the petition on Sunday, but never asked anyone to sign it.
From the parishioners: After Sunday service on Jan. 16, some members of the congregation gathered in the church kitchen for coffee and socializing. The petition was on the counter and the pastor asked people to sign it, according to a June Lake resident. One woman was so irritated by the recall entering the sanctuary of the church, she walked away in tears. Tennant tried to apologize to the woman at her business, she said.
At the same time, the parishioners solicited did not want to “get their pastor in trouble.”
Tennant told The Sheet the story from the parishioners is a lie. He said he brought the petition to church at the behest of another parishioner, who never showed. Another parishioner aked to look at and perhaps sign the petition. It was never on a counter, Tennant said, and he said he didn’t ask anyone to sign it.
The woman saw the petition and “exploded,” leaving in tears. He said he did go to see the woman to apologize and discuss what happened, but she didn’t want to talk. Tennant’s son-in-law, Ken Blaisdale is an employee of the JLPUD.
Vikki Bauer, former Mono County Supervisor, who initiated the recall, said she did not give Tennant a petition but they’re available around town so people can be informed and make their own decisions. She said she is “not trying to force people to sign …We’re not the bullies, here.”
The story she heard was that Tennant approached the couple in their place of business. The couple said the incident happened at the church. “That’s hearsay to me,” Bauer responded.
The Sheet could not find any petitions in June Lake on Thursday. The petitions and rebuttals have gone up and been taken down at the post office, numerous times, according to postal employees.
Whether Tennant’s solicitation infringed on the separation of church and state, “is a tough call” said Dan Stromer of Pasadena-based law firm Hadsell, Stromer and Redick, LLP, Constitutional law specialists. The tax-exempt status of a church can be jeopardized if a church or its leaders use the pulpit to engage in political activity. The Internal Revenue Service told The Sheet it cannot comment on a specific case, but churches must not “participate in, or intervene in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
What has prompted the town’s implosion is hard to figure out. The recall side says the facts about the recall are “out there” and the other side says it is a personal smear campaign. Nearly everyone interviewed for the story wished to remain anonymous, they all stated the town is being ripped apart by the recall and are afraid to put their names out.
