A Fresno city councilmember wants to know how deeply Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp involved her office in the effort to revise Proposition 47.

City Councilmember Miguel Arias, through City Attorney Andrew Janz, sent Smittcamp’s office a letter requesting information about Smittcamp and her staff’s participation in gathering signatures for the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act.

Backers of the act gathered nearly 900,000 signatures statewide, making it highly likely that it will qualify for the November ballot.

“City of Fresno Councilmember Miguel Arias has requested my office, on his behalf, to submit a request under the Public Records Act,” Janz wrote in an April 23, 2024 letter to Deputy District Attorney Jamie Kalebjian.

The request seeks information about any messages an office employee sent about Prop. 47, timecards and calendars for Smittcamp’s employees, travel to any signature gathering event, and any signature-gathering documents at the DA’s office.

State law generally prohibits public employees from campaign activities “on the clock,” or using public resources. Using public emails for political purposes is not allowed.

Anyone, whether an elected official or just a member of the public, can file a PRA with any government agency.

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Karbassi Criticizes Letter

The letter is not going over well with City Councilmember Mike Karbassi.

“I think it is very unfortunate that the Office of City Attorney is being weaponized. I want to avoid that. It needs to be above politics. I’m confident that the District Attorney and her staff will be able to answer any questions regarding the facts,” Karbassi said.

Karbassi said he proudly signed the Prop. 47 revision.

As for Arias, he told GV Wire’s Bill McEwen: “Councilmember Karbassi has not raised the issue with me and I will defer comment until after I have a conversation with him.”

Janz’s letter does not state the motivation behind the request, nor link the effort to any official city business.

Nor did the city council place the issue on a meeting agenda.

“It’s all about politics … that’s why it’s a problem. And to use the city attorney’s office for the political potshots? It’s very upsetting to me,” Karbassi said.

Karbassi plans to ask Janz if it was appropriate for his office to send a PRA request on behalf of an individual councilmember.

“I’m wondering why it wasn’t done on that councilmember’s letterhead and why, instead, they found it necessary to use city attorney’s letterhead, as it did make it look like the council authorized it. The council took no vote and no action,” Karbassi said.

Councilmember Nelson Esparza said the letter is “between the city attorney and one of his clients.”

Smittcamp Advocates for Prop 47 Changes

Long an advocate for reforming Prop. 47, Smittcamp helped organize local petition drives to revise the landmark 2014 criminal sentencing reform law. Voters passed the law, which reduced some felonies to misdemeanors, and raised some thresholds for theft to be charged as a felony — particularly when it came to retail theft.

If approved by voters, the changes would give district attorneys and judges more leeway in charging criminals and present a treatment-or-prison option for drug addicts.

At one city of Fresno news conference last February, Smittcamp carried a clipboard soliciting signatures from the likes of Mayor Jerry Dyer.

Neither Janz nor Smittcamp responded to a request for comment.