Lawsuit alleges political retaliation by sheriff and her chief of staff

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

A former union leader and police sergeant is suing San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus and her Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle, alleging they demoted and disparaged him because the union didn’t endorse Corpus’s campaign.

The sheriff’s office “will vigorously defend itself from these false claims,” spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker said in an email. She declined further comment.

Sheriff’s Deputy David Wozniak said in his March 19 lawsuit that Corpus was “hostile and resistant” to the union’s endorsement process ahead of the June 2022 election, when she was running against former Sheriff Carlos Bolanos.

Although the endorsement process hadn’t changed in over a decade, Corpus called it a “charade orchestrated by my opponent, which is little more than an extension of the existing power structure,” Wozniak said in his lawsuit.

Corpus allegedly refused to answer a questionnaire.

A political committee managed by Wozniak, as president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association union, voted to endorse Bolanos, the lawsuit says.

Weeks after Corpus took office in January 2023, she allegedly told Wozniak that his temporary assignment as acting sergeant was ending.

Wozniak was returned to his previous classification as deputy sheriff, the suit says.

This was the first interaction Wozniak had with Corpus as his boss, the suit says.

>Wozniak had been acting sergeant since August 2022 and worked in the sheriff’s office for 28 years.

Wozniak said he thought he was headed for a permanent promotion because he received positive feedback from a lieutenant and Bolanos.

Wozniak said that Corpus created two leadership roles for Aenlle, who is “her close friend,” the lawsuit says.

Aenlle was an adviser to her campaign and a consultant to her transition team, the lawsuit says. The sheriff has never had a transition team before, the lawsuit says.

In July of 2023, Aenlle was promoted to a newly created position, called “Executive Director of Administration.”

>Aenlle is also listed as Corpus’s Chief of Staff. He makes $114 an hour, according to Deputy County Counsel David Silberman.

Aenlle was “vocal about his dislike of Wozniak” and viewed him being union president as a “problem” and a “headache” for the sheriff, the lawsuit says.

Aenlle is a “final decision maker” for the sheriff and was treated as such by other people in the office, the lawsuit says.

Wozniak is seeking to recover the higher pay he would’ve received as a sergeant, including a higher pension.

Wozniak is also asking a judge to assess punitive damages on Corpus, Aenlle and the sheriff’s office.

Attorney Grant Winter filed Wozniak’s lawsuit in San Mateo County Superior Court.

The first hearing is scheduled on Aug. 19 with Judge Michael Mau.