{"id":1097,"date":"2022-06-15T14:58:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T21:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2022-06-16T00:11:51","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T07:11:51","slug":"amid-controversy-chris-cockrell-resigns-veterans-affairs-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/06\/15\/amid-controversy-chris-cockrell-resigns-veterans-affairs-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Controversy Chris Cockrell Resigns Veterans Affairs Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>Michael McGough, The Sacramento Bee<\/pre>\n<p>PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA, June 15, 2022 \u2014 SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 [&#8230;] stirred controversy resigned this week ahead of his planned removal by local elected leaders.<\/p>\n<p>El Dorado County Supervisor George Turnboo, who had nominated Chris Cockrell to the county\u2019s Veterans Affairs Commission in January 2021, placed an item on Tuesday\u2019s consent agenda to rescind his appointment effective immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Cockrell instead resigned from the commission Monday.<\/p>\n<p>No explanation accompanied Turnboo\u2019s motion to remove Cockrell, an Army veteran and local business owner [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Cockrell\u2019s selection to the commission in early 2021 prompted local debate due to an incident a few weeks prior.<\/p>\n<p>While dressed as Santa Claus, Cockrell in December 2020 appeared briefly alongside members from a local chapter of the Proud Boys \u2013 [&#8230;] \u2013 as they crashed a Toys for Tots charity drive on Placerville\u2019s Main Street.<\/p>\n<p>When the group, clad in black-and-orange clothing including some in hoodies that read \u201cHangtown Proud Boys,\u201d gathered for a photo near the city\u2019s central, wooden bell tower, Cockrell in a Santa suit posed near the front of the group. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>County supervisors then received nearly 200 emails of public comment opposing the appointment, most in response to the toy drive incident. It\u2019s unclear whether the Santa incident or its aftermath played a role [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Cockrell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Toys for Tots is run by the Marine Corps Reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson said Cockrell\u2019s \u201cdemeaning\u201d of the Marine Corps shows him to be unfit to serve on the commission.<\/p>\n<p>Others opposed the removal, with some asking for transparency as to why Turnboo sought Cockrell\u2019s removal. Turnboo did not speak on the matter during Tuesday\u2019s meeting. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>John Poimiroo, a former member of the veterans commission, also called in and said that though Cockrell is \u201cvery conservative,\u201d he has \u201cno connection\u201d to the Proud Boys. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Cockrell ran in California\u2019s March 2020 primary election as a write-in candidate for Turnboo\u2019s District 2 supervisor seat, finishing with 230 votes of the nearly 16,000 cast. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?rct=j&amp;sa=t&amp;url=https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/local\/article262536512.html&amp;ct=ga&amp;cd=CAEYACoUMTM4NTE1OTA3MDQ1MzUxNzI5NTkyGjI1MTdkZDU4OTJjNThlMjM6Y29tOmVuOlVT&amp;usg=AOvVaw0nJwLNuf-gmemPp4qmERe9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">READ FULL STORY\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a92022 The Sacramento Bee. Visit at sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p># Publisher&#8217;s Comment:<br \/>\nI know Chris Cockerel and regardless of the Bee&#8217;s spin in this story I do not believe Chris is a bigot.  An opinionated far-right activist, yes. A bigot, no. Cris Alarcon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1101,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}