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Montebello Recall Candidates to Field Questions

By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer


Montebello’s special election ballot on Feb. 23 will ask voters two separate questions: Should Councilmember Kathy Salazar be recalled? and if recalled, who from the following list of candidates should replace her? The same two questions will be asked in reference to Councilmember Robert Urteaga.

Next Thursday, Feb. 11, from 5 to 7pm at the Quiet Cannon Country Club, voters will have a chance to hear from the seven candidates who want to replace Urteaga and Salazar, who as of press time Wednesday had not yet confirmed attendance at the forum being organized by the Montebello Chamber of Commerce and moderated by the League of Women Voters of Whittier.

The format allows Urteaga, Salazar and their challengers two minutes each for an opening statement, and another two minute closing statement. Questions will come from the audience and be moderated by the League of Women Voters. Each candidate is allowed one minute to answer each question.

The deadline to confirm participation is today. Of the challengers, only Jorge Manzur and Maria Chavarria-Halpern have not yet confirmed.

Salazar circulated a letter to the League and local media on Monday declining her invitation to the forum unless the format is changed to better suit a “Special election for the purposes of possibly voting me out of office.” She said the accusations of “several unethical acts” against her should be “aired at the forum.”

As in all recall elections, the first question voters must answer is whether they believe an elected official should be removed from office.

“The Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring this event… I am in a recall election not a regular election. So the only information we should be discussing is why they believe I should be recalled and nothing else. The Chamber already knows my position on business which I and my colleagues have been working on for the last two years,” Salazar told EGP in a written statement.

League of Women Voters of Whittier President Margo Reeg said it would be “complicated” to change the format a week before the forum, so she cannot say at this time if it is possible.

If the League changes the format, “one possibility might be to have a portion of the forum be devoted only to the two incumbents, and the remainder to the challengers. In that format, I’m not sure incumbents would get more time or anymore ability to express their ideas,” she said.

If the format stays the same there are ways moderators can “broaden the scope of the forum,” she says. “We choose questions that are fair rather than attack pieces, so there are a variety of opportunities to balance the forum so that it doesn’t become an attack piece.”

Reeg says the current format requires an explanation of the recall election process at the beginning of the forum, and panelists will have the opportunity to defend themselves against accusations if necessary during opening and closing statements, and in their responses to specific questions from the audience.

She emphasized that the League is non-partisan. “We do not ever support candidates or parties for any level of office. Our mission is to help voters be better informed so that they can make their own decisions,” she says.

Larry Salazar, Christina Cortez, Richard Garcia, and Robert M. “Bobby” Gutierrez are seeking Urteaga’s seat. Salazar’s challengers are Manzur, Alberto Perez, and Chavarria-Halpern.

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February 4, 2010  Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.

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