Move to recall Windsor mayor
Residents seek to remove Foppoli as brother calls on him to resign
A group of Windsor residents seeking to recall Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli over allegations of sexual assault said late Sunday that they will launch their effort Monday by filing necessary campaign finance documents.
“Despite repeated calls from residents to resign, Dominic Foppoli has made clear that he will not leave office, and will instead attempt to distract from the allegations against him with a strategy of blatant lies and misdirection,” said Tim Zahner, the chair of the Recall Foppoli Campaign.
“This is part of a larger pattern of narcissistic and dangerous behavior from the Mayor that not only harms his reputation, but also creates unnecessary strain on our community,” Zahner said. “Mayor Foppoli has to go. If he won’t resign, let there be no doubt that the residents of Windsor will remove him from office.”
The movement toward a potential recall election came as Foppoli denied the allegations that have roiled his Wine Country town, indicating he’ll fight calls for his resignation even as fellow Town Council members explore ways to remove him after a Chronicle investigation documenting several women’s accusations.
A statement from Foppoli on Saturday night called the five
women’s allegations against him “unfounded” and said he never “pressured any female to engage in sexual conduct with me.” The politician and winemaker asserted there were “clear political and social machinations that are outwardly and obviously driving the effort to put my head on a spike.”
Just hours later, Joe Foppoli, the mayor’s older brother and coexecutive at Christopher Creek Winery outside Healdsburg, called on Dominic Foppoli to resign from office and announced that the mayor had been kicked out of the family’s winery business. Residents held a small rally Sunday outside the winery condemning the mayor.
Joe Foppoli, declaring himself “disappointed and disgusted,” said, “Elected officials should be held to higher standards of moral character and no matter what comes out, he has not done that and he needs to step down.”
The Windsor Town Council has scheduled an emergency Zoom meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday primarily to discuss how to support residents through the voterrecall effort, as well as what the town can and cannot do legally in terms of removing Dominic Foppoli, said Council Member Esther Lemus.
All three of Foppoli’s Town Council colleagues, including Lemus, have demanded his resignation since the Chronicle investigation published Thursday. Jason Turner, the mayor of Cloverdale, said Foppoli had “flatout told (him) he will refuse to resign.”
“As you can imagine, this is an absolute crisis,” Lemus said. “Beyond comprehension.”
Before Saturday night, Foppoli had provided only a brief statement through his attorney denying the allegations. In his Saturday statement, he wrote: “I believe anyone who believes they have been victimized should have the opportunity to be heard and I didn’t want to cloud my accusers’ stories with an immediate response and therefore decided to give them time to be heard.
“But now is the appropriate time for me to address this matter,” he said. “I am completely innocent of the conduct alleged and have not violated any of these women.”
While stating he had never pressured a woman for sex, he did not address any of the specific accusations against him.
As of Saturday, five women had come forward to say Foppoli sexually assaulted them in incidents from 2002 to 2019. In addition to his elected Town Council colleagues, the North Bay’s two congressional representatives and all eight of the other Sonoma County mayors have condemned his alleged actions and called for him to step down.
The Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into the accusations, though prosecutors may have limited ability to file charges. Many of the alleged incidents occurred more than 10 years ago, and may fall outside the state’s statute of limitations.
Foppoli’s statement on Saturday attacked his critics:
“To my fellow elected officials who have called for my resignation, your cowardly rush to judgment without evidence is a particularly alarming reflection of the state of our dwindling Democracy,” he wrote.
He also attacked The Chronicle, saying the newspaper had “selfordained itself as my judge, jury, and executioner without caring to learn or understand all the facts.”
Emilio GarciaRuiz, the editor in chief, responded, “We stand by our coverage. The stories have been thoroughly reported by Alexandria Bordas and Cynthia Dizikes over many months. The mayor was given numerous opportunities to respond to the individual allegations. When sources come forward they do so at great personal risk. We found the stories of these women to be credible. We still welcome Mr. Foppoli’s response to their allegations.”
Over the weekend, Foppoli and Town Council member and Deputy District Attorney Lemus traded allegations about each other, which were reported by other media. The Chronicle continues to investigate those statements.
Foppoli was first appointed mayor in 2018 by his Town Council colleagues. In November 2020, for the first time, Windsor held an election for its mayoral seat and Foppoli won. Because he was chosen by voters, Foppoli can be stripped of his title only through a felony conviction or a recall election.
The initial Chronicle investigation detailed the accounts of four women who said Foppoli isolated and sexually assaulted them after nights of drinking alcohol. The alleged assaults, ranging from groping to rape, took place between 2003 and 2019 as Foppoli gained prominence.
The fifth woman, who came forward after reading the investigation, said Foppoli forced her to engage in oral copulation dozens of times throughout a threeyear relationship that began in 2001, when they were both 19. On one occasion in 2002, Shannon McCarthy said, Foppoli handcuffed her to their bed and sexually abused her as she struggled and begged him to stop.
After The Chronicle’s published revelations, the League of California Cities voted unanimously to remove Foppoli from a leadership post. Both the Russian River Valley Winegrowers and the Sonoma County Vintners announced they are cutting ties with Christopher Creek Winery.
Alexandria Bordas, Cynthia Dizikes, Rachel Swan and Sarah Ravani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexandria.bordas@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@ sfchronicle.com, rswan@ sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @crossingbordas, @cdizikes, @rachelswan, @sarravani