After enduring a scandal involving his first choice as chief of staff, San Joaquin County District 1 Supervisor Mario Gardea has turned to a highly respected veteran to elected officials as his new top aide.
Gardea picked Michael Anderson, who is best known for being chief of staff to former Supervisor Tom Patti.
The timing was just right for Anderson: Patti left his District 3 post and ran an unsuccessful campaign to become mayor of Stockton in November.
Anderson replaces Augustin Telly, a retired Stockton police lieutenant who had been Gardea’s chief of staff for a short period before he was arrested last week and charged with two felonies that do not appear related to his work at the county.
Telly resigned from his post Friday, a day after the California attorney general’s office charged him with soliciting a confidential informant” to commit assault with a deadly weapon and with selling a gun without a license. He has since been released on a $300,000 bond.
Anderson was a district director for former U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock. He is chairman of the California Gold Star Memorial Monument Committee, according to Katie Albertson, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors’ spokesperson. A Gold Star family is one who lost a loved one serving in the armed forces during a conflict.
Board members took turns at Tuesday’s meeting heaping praise on Anderson.
“He’s a hard worker. He’s a gentleman. He knows this process, inside and out,” District 4 Supervisor Steven Ding said.
At the meeting, Gardea did not mention Telly, but said making the adjustment to his newly elected post hasn’t been easy and he hopes Anderson will be a guiding hand.
“You really don’t know what you’re jumping into when you jump into a position as a county supervisor,” Gardea said. “So I’m excited to bring Mike on, who has a lot of institutional knowledge and can help guide me.”