A local group looking to recall Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez successfully filed a notice of intention on July 8 after failing twice as the city clerk found documentation incomplete.
The group, Recall Mayor Velazquez 2021, cite “divisive behavior,” “hostile to job creation,” and that “he supported fining and delicensing local businesses trying to keep their doors open during COVID-19” as grounds for the recall.
“I think it’s indicative that there are a lot of people in this community that do not like the mayor’s behavior, do not like his policies, do not like his approach and are really getting sick and tired of his arrogance and the games he plays and the way he treats anybody that disagrees with him,” said Andrew Russo, one of three people who spearheaded the petition.
“We’re happy this first big hurdle has been overcome,” Russo told Benitolink on July 14.
Russo, Celeste Toledo-Bocanegra and Suzanne Garcia filed the notice of intention. The group had tried also on March 31 and May 5.
According to the California elections code, Velazquez has seven days from when the notice of intention was filed to turn in a written response, which will be included in the recall petition. Then, the group has 10 days after Velazquez responds to submit the recall petition form for approval, at which point they have 120 days to collect 4,390 signatures.
City Clerk Chrisrine Black confirmed the city had received Velazquez’s response to the notice of intention (Velazquez’s response in PDF below).
Russo said he didn’t expect the rest of the process to be as time-consuming as the notice of intention phase was because if there are typos or other errors in the forms, they don’t have to re-collect signatures again until the petition circulation phase.
Despite the challenges so far, Russo was optimistic that the community was on board because they collected about 50 signatures in the notice of intention, though they only needed 20.
Velazquez called the recall effort a smear campaign against him and said he didn’t know if the effort would collect enough signatures to qualify for a recall but that he was happy to campaign again to expose those leading the effort.
“I think the public knows what’s going on,” Velazquez said. “It’s a group that is attacking anybody and everybody who thinks COVID is real and who think we need to slow down growth.”
Velazquez, along with Councilman Rolan Resendiz, is facing a lawsuit from residents Elia Salinas, Irma Gonzalez and her daughter Jennifer Gonzalez on allegations of harassment, cyber-bullying and a violation of civil rights. Salinas is a cannabis consultant and Irma is a Gavilan College Trustee.
Because their first two attempts were rejected, the pro-recall group accused Black in a May 19 press release of obstructing the process as she “refused to inform us of the corrections that needed to be made.”
The first attempt was rejected because it was missing some zip codes and the second was rejected because of a typo in the election code that was cited in the notice, Russo said.
“Maybe Christine doesn’t now know what she is doing,” Vedana Freitas, a member of the real group said. “That can be forgiven. We can work around that. If we make a mistake, we fix it. It’s her unwillingness to guide the citizens that pay her check.”
According to the Elections Code 11020, the notice of intention requires:
- Name and title of the officer sought to be recalled
- A statement of reasons for the proposed recall
- Printed name, signature, residence address (including street, house number, city, and zip code) of each proponent of the recall
Freitas added that the overall process should be made so citizens could go through it without hiring political advisers and attorneys.
“This is grassroots,” she said. “Individual people are putting their time, money and effort on it and it’s totally being disrespected.”
Black told BenitoLink that she legally could not guide them and that her responsibility in the first part of the recall process is to tell applicants if their notice of intention meets election code requirements.
“I’m just checking for compliance,” Black said.
She also said she sent them a link to the California Secretary of State’s guidelines on recalls.
“I understand emotions run high on both sides,” Black said. “The bottom line is that I accept it if it meets the code. It’s not about my opinion or how I feel or favoritism.”
Black said that because the notice of intention process is over, she has more flexibility to identify any errors, because she is required to submit a findings statement indicating what changes need to be made.
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