EDITORIAL - Disgraced former Madera County CAO Eric Fleming has been hired by the one Fresno contractor who reaped the most financial gain from Fleming’s time on the fourth floor of the Madera County Government Center. Richard Spencer, who has donated thousands of dollars to almost every elected county official’s campaigns and profited from several brand new county buildings, hired Fleming as the new Vice President for Harris Construction’s Central Coast Division earlier this month.

In a press release posted to the company’s Facebook page, Spencer says, “He brings more than 20 years of public sector management experience. Additionally, he was a licensed general contractor with years of experience in construction operations management. Most recently, he was the County Administrative Officer (CAO) for the County of Madera, a position that oversaw 22 department heads and nearly 1,500 employees.”

Spencer fails to mention that while county CAO, Fleming was accused of sexually harassing a county employee’s wife; a recording of telephone messages was played for the Madera County Board of Supervisors, had the former CAO bragging of the time he spent with the woman for her husband to hear. He was also accused of sexually assaulting a county employee at a local bar and later told Big Valley News, "Absolutely untrue. A large group of people A were there, and they will all verify that I was never alone with her at any time. By the way, we were all off work. The truth will come out….."

The woman, whose name we will not release, complained to one of her superiors, Darren McCandless about the incident but failed to file a complaint with the county's human resources. McCandless told BVN, "I am aware of the conversation, but I do not think I should discuss it because of the ongoing investigation." The woman was paid $10k to go away.

Separate allegations like those were revealed in the 2012-2013 Madera County Grand Jury Final Report. In that report, the Grand Jury found that the county's CAO, “Eric Fleming, has at times used intimidation and threats to obtain compliance with, has his directions and has negatively affected the morale of some of the employees he has dealt with.”

In July of 2019, the former CAO was arrested on two counts of driving under the influence. However, the CAO announced the arrest four months after the fact because of a pending story in the Madera Tribune published a week later. The Madera County Board of Supervisors must have had enough of Fleming’s shenanigans because the next month, he was placed on paid administrative leave and resigned after the county rejected an offer for him to stay on for a few more months.

Now he is working for Mr. Spencer's at Harris Construction. It surprises me that he would hire a man like Eric Fleming. If that is who he wants to lay with, I hope Spencer has a good supply of flea spray.

Photo courtesy of Harris Construction - Facebook