The Office of the Valencia County Clerk proudly proclaims, “We are committed to conducting
efficient, secure, fair and impartial federal, state and local elections to boost public confidence
in the electoral process.”

That is a praiseworthy sentiment, particularly in the highly charged
political environment that we are all trying to navigate. It is unexplainable, then, why Mike
Milam, our current Valencia County Clerk, seems eager to overlook not just one but two
significant ethical lapses right in his own office.

Mr. Milam’s own Deputy Clerk, Celia Dittmaier, is currently on the ballot in November,
running to become our County Assessor. The idea that it’s alright for any candidate for public
office to be working in the county department that oversees our elections is clearly
problematic.

It makes as much sense as umpiring a baseball game and then learning that the
umpire behind the plate is actually a member of the home team. One does not need to be an
expert in election law to understand that this conflict of interest does not even come close to
passing the smell test.

Unfortunately, Mr. Milam’s ethical challenges do not end there. In addition to the current
Deputy Clerk being on the ballot is the issue of Mr. Milam’s own sister, Deseri Sichler, who is
currently the County Treasurer and is also on November’s ballot in an effort to become
Magistrate Judge.

While there is no reason to believe that either Mr. Milam or Ms. Sichler has
acted inappropriately in this situation, it is also true that the voters of Valencia County
deserve elections that are free from identifiable impropriety as well as being free from “even
the appearance of impropriety.”

Supervising an election in which a close family member is on the ballot raises far too many questions to qualify for even this basic standard of integrity. Valencia voters deserve to have complete confidence in their election system. It strains credibility to believe that can happen under the current circumstances.

It is entirely up to Mr. Milam to act decisively and quickly. First, he must offer Ms. Dittmaier the opportunity to
resign her position as Deputy Clerk effective immediately, or at the very least, take an immediate leave of absence until after the election. Second, he has no choice but to recuse himself from any participation in the Magistrate Judge election for Division 3.

Finally, he needs to inform the residents of Valencia County of his recusal and let us know of the
practices and procedures he will be implementing that will insulate that race from any
potential influence on his part.

Although it is disappointing that Mr. Milam has allowed these questionable and serious situations to arise in the first place, it’s not too late to bring the Valencia County Clerk’s Office
into compliance. In order to do so, however, he needs to act immediately and decisively. The
voters of Valencia County deserve nothing less.