A Militia-Led Recall Is Targeting a Shasta County Supervisor – Who's a Republican – KQED

Woody Clendenen, leader of the militia chapter here and a key figure in the recall, owns the Cottonwood Barber Shop, a gathering place for like-minded customers who say they’re fed up by being told what to do by Sacramento. The barbershop is across the street from the Cottonwood militia headquarters.

Woody Clendenen trims a customer’s hair at the Cottonwood Barber Shop in Shasta County. Clendenen, a key figure in the effort to recall Republican county Supervisor Leonard Moty, said ‘probably half’ of his customers are armed at any given time. The barbershop proudly displays a confederate flag in the window. (Scott Shafer/KQED)

As he cut a customer’s hair recently, Clendenen described what triggered the recall.

“The fact that the board kept going along with Newsom’s mandates on the businesses and on the schools, even though the local people were against it, you know, and overwhelmingly.”

Trimmer in hand, Clendenen said it isn’t just the pandemic that fueled the recall, but also the county’s strong gun culture and the feeling Supervisor Moty doesn’t support the Second Amendment enough for this pro-gun county.

“Right now, anytime you’re in my barbershop, probably half the guys in here are armed, you know,” Clendenen said, as a half dozen customers waited their turn, many nodding their approval.

The way he sees it, recalling Moty will shift control of the county board more to his liking.

“We can do all kinds of things like, well, we’ll work on getting rid of the head of the Shasta County schools. We’ll get rid of the DA here. She’s no good,” he added.

On a recent weekday afternoon in Redding, pedestrians strolled across the Sundial Bridge. Fishermen cast their lines into the Sacramento River below, the snowcapped peak of Mt. Shasta in the distance.

The recall election was not on the radar of many voters KQED spoke to, but longtime resident Sharon Jens called it a big waste of money.

“I think it’s just very sad that we all can’t work together to keep our community safe,” Jens said. “It’s like a mob mentality at this point.”

But resident Michelle Gallagher said the county’s attempts to contain the pandemic have gone too far.

“I understand why people are upset. I understand why people are angry, and I think change is good and change is necessary,” she said, adding that she supports the recall.

That view is echoed by Patrick Jones, one of the county supervisors who supports the Moty recall.

“Here in conservative Shasta County, it’s a course correction. And I think that’s what it’s all coming down to,” Jones said.

Jones has helped stir up angry residents. Earlier this year he held an unofficial supervisors’ meeting with recall supporters outside, after the county building where meetings usually occur was closed over public safety and health concerns. But he denies the recall is made up of people who want to essentially overthrow the government.

“You know, we’ve been demonized as radicals and various things like this,” Jones said. “We are not. We are just simply business owners. We’re mothers, we’re fathers, we’re grandmothers, we’re grandfathers — and we want to return to a county where we grew up: a safe, prosperous county that we can be proud of.”

‘It doesn’t matter how transparent we make the process’

County Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen is overseeing the Feb. 1 recall election. She said since Donald Trump promoted the lie that the 2020 election was rigged against him, voters have been questioning the integrity of her office.

“And it doesn’t matter how transparent we make the process, it doesn’t matter how accountable we are,” Allen said. “There is just a really deep-seated distrust of government, and this is part of that.”

Shasta County Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen is concerned that whichever side loses next week’s recall election of Supervisor Moty will not trust the results. (Scott Shafer/KQED)

The California Republican Party has officially stayed out of the Shasta County recall. But GOP consultant Mike Madrid, a strong critic of the party’s drift to the right, said the outcome of this recall will say a lot about the party’s future.

“I think it’s very fair, very accurate to say that this is sort of a canary in the coal mine to see what is the likely direction of the state party in the coming years,” Madrid said.

Recall target Leonard Moty said the outcome of this election is about much more than just his job.

“We’re fighting to find out if we’re going to become this extremist county with a bunch of bullies and thugs who threaten people who don’t agree with them,” Moty said.

On Tuesday, Shasta County voters will decide on whether to recall Moty.