Sheriff Chad Bianco asks Riverside County to foot legal bills over ballot seizure

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Set us as preferred The saga over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of hundreds of thousands of special election ballots has taken another turn, as a dispute looms over who should foot the bill for his legal defense.Bianco’s representative last week filed a claim for damages exceeding $10,000 — arguing that Riverside County should cover his legal costs in four civil proceedings that “arose out of his official actions as Sheriff and caused him to incur reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses,” the claim reads.“If the County rejects the claim, Sheriff Bianco will have the right to sue the County for damages, which he intends to do,” Bradley Hertz, Bianco’s attorney, wrote in an email to The Times Friday evening.He declined a phone interview.Brooke Federico, a spokesperson for Riverside County, said the county received the claim on Oct.

16 and is determining next steps.California The state’s high court issued a ruling Thursday on whether Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco had the authority to seize more than half a million ballots in what the former Republican candidate for governor claimed was an investigation into voter fraud.The roots of the issue date back to February when Bianco — then running for governor as a Republican — pursued warrants to seize about 650,000 ballots cast in last November’s Proposition 50 special election from the Riverside County registrar.

Bianco said the move was so deputies could review ballots to search for alleged election fraud.The unprecedented action — for which Bianco obtained warrants from a local GOP-endorsed judge that he’d campaigned for — was quickly rebuked by state Atty.Gen.

Rob Bonta.Last month, the seizure was ruled unlawful by the California Supreme Court.Should the matter proceed to litigation, a central question will be whet...