Sonoma County supervisors rescind Dominic Foppoli’s Golden Gate Bridge District appointment

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday morning to rescind their recent appointment of Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him and criminal investigations now underway into his reported misconduct.

The vote was unanimous.

The board had appointed Foppoli to be one of three Sonoma County representatives to the district last week, just days before the San Francisco Chronicle published a detailed report on the allegations made by four women who say he sexually assaulted them over a period stretching from 2003 to 2019.

The supervisors had served largely as a rubber stamp on Foppoli’s appointment. Foppoli was the lone name put forward by the Sonoma County Mayors and Councilmembers’ Association, which had chosen Foppoli by a vote of 6-3, with each of the county’s nine cities getting a vote.

Four of the county supervisors previously told The Press Democrat that they had heard before the vote rumors of a negative news story in the works about Foppoli. Board Chair Lynda Hopkins scrambled to learn more but with little information and limited control over the bridge appointment, the supervisors said they felt they had no choice but to proceed.

The bombshell report last week sent officials scrambling to try and dislodge Foppoli from the bridge post and other positions he holds. He has said he is innocent and does not intend to step down as mayor.

But the Board of Supervsiors reacted swiftly. A day after the Chronicle story published, Hopkins posted on Facebook that she had consulted with the county’s legal counsel, which had concluded the board could rescind the appointment. She scheduled an agenda item to do so the coming week.

“If Mr. Foppoli does not choose to resign,” Hopkins wrote in the post, “I trust that the leaders and voters of our community will take all actions necessary to strip him of his authority. We cannot reward sexual predators with power.”

The Golden Gate Bridge District is an influential body that oversees the Bay Area’s most iconic toll bridge as well as ferry and bus service.

For Foppoli, the bridge post was his first chance at a governing position beyond Windsor. He has also been stripped of a leadership position associated with the League of California Cities and membership in civic programs overseen by the Active 20-30 Club and the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber’s Leadership Santa Rosa.

The timeline to appoint a replacement for Foppoli will depend on the mayors and councilmembers association, Hopkins said in a text message. Cloverdale Mayor Jason Turner, who chairs that group, did not respond to a request for comment.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88