San Bernardino supervisor moves to censure elected auditor Ensen Mason

IE Community News: Supervisor Dawn Rowe last Tuesday asked County Counsel to bring back an item letting the Board of Supervisors weigh censure or removal of Ensen Mason, the county's elected auditor-controller/treasurer/tax collector. Rowe said Mason had made accusations to the media and on social media that she doesn't believe hold up. The board hasn't voted, and the next agenda isn't out.

The request came right after supervisors voted down Mason's bid for county funds to hire independent legal counsel for an open investigation into him. Feingold told the board he wasn't entitled to county-funded counsel because he was representing himself personally, not the county. The investigation — opened over a perceived conflict between Mason's elected role and his private CPA firm — won't wrap before the election, and no formal accusations or evidence have surfaced.

The report itself is now a fight. Mason argued any open-session discussion would violate the Brown Act and would entitle him to the full report; Feingold emailed that the report, once done, may not go to him because it's covered by attorney-client privilege the board alone can waive. Mason, who faces challenger Ryan Hutchison on the ballot, says he's been targeted for opposing the structure of a county employees' benefit trust.