Whittier Daily News
Recall effort launched against Montebello mayor, councilman
By MIKE SPRAGUE
A group of Montebello residents, angry about a number of past City Council decisions — including allowing some commercial marijuana businesses in the city — has begun the process to recall Mayor Vanessa Delgado and Councilman Jack Hadjinian.
Thirty-four Montebello residents have signed each petition, which were sent by certified mail to Delgado and Hadjinian, and submitted to the Montebello City Clerk’s Office.
“It’s because of their shenanigans,” said Mike Torres, a local activist. “I told Delgado that if you go ahead and approve the marijuana thing, I’m coming after you,” said Torres, referring to the council’s 3-2 vote in February to allow commercial indoor cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana.
Delgado and Hadjinian often vote similarly. The councilman who joined them in the cannabis vote, Art Barajas, cannot be recalled, as his term ends in November.
“(Marijuana) will bring in a bad environment,” he said. Marijuana businesses would be “just down the street from my house.”
Delgado didn’t return a phone call, but Helen Sanchez, spokesman for her campaign for state Senate, blamed fellow Councilwoman Vivian Romero, who is running for the same seat, for the recall.
“This is pure political theater produced by Vivian Romero” and her significant other, Shannon Calland, Sanchez wrote in an email. Calland was one of those who signed the petition against Delgado, although she didn’t sign the paperwork targeting Hadjinian. “It’s a misuse of taxpayer funds meant to dupe the public for their own agenda.”
Romero denied having anything to do with the recall. A recall supporter, Linda Nicklas, confirmed Romero’s lack of involvement.
Romero declined to take a position on the recall and blasted Sanchez for making the accusation.
“The more my opponent engages in absurd ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories, the more she drives home the point better than I ever could, that she’s unfit for the office,” Romero said.
Hadjinian didn’t return a phone call made Wednesday seeking comment.
To launch the recall, residents needed the signatures of 20 registered voters who live in the city — they filed 34 — and those names must be verified before citywide signature-gathering can begin in earnest.
If certified, Delgado and Hadjinian will be allowed to submit a 200-word-maximum response, which would appear on the petitions. Recall supporters would have 120 days to collect the signatures. To force a recall election, they will need to college signatures from 20 percent of Montebello’s registered voters — nearly 6,000 residents.
The number isn’t exact because Lilian Guzman, deputy city clerk, was not in on Wednesday to provide an exact figure.
Torres said the recall leaders have opened an office and plan to raise $30,000 to hire signature-gatherers.
On their initial petitions, recall leaders listed other reasons for their ouster attempt, including a council decision in December to bypass Councilman Bill Molinari as mayor during the annual rotation for selecting a mayor.
The petition also complains the city awarded a $36.3 million construction contract to KPRS of Brea, for which Delgado’s brother, Ariel, works as a project engineer. She abstained on the vote.
The petition against Hadjinian says that he supported tax increases by his votes to put a sales tax increase on the November 2017 ballot — it lost — and another to sell the city’s water system . It also lost.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been edited to correct Ariel Delgado’s role at KPRS.