At its first meeting of the new year Jan. 3 the Otay Water District’s board of directors elected Division 1 Director Tim Smith as board president. Among his first actions—maintaining the censure of a colleague.
Last year then-freshman board member Hector Gastelum, 43, was publicly rebuked and censured by his colleagues for comments critics say expressed anti-Muslim sentiment he made on his personal social media accounts.
In a series of Tweets on Feb.19, 2017, Gastelum called for more countries to be included in President Donald Trump’s alleged Muslim ban. The tweets also referred to Muslims in those countries as “subhuman” and “scum.”
Gastelum has maintained that his Tweets were taken out of context.
The censure stated, in part: “the board of directors finds it necessary and prudent to publicly acknowledge that director Gastelum’s public behavior is reprehensible and intolerable.”
“… Director Gastelum’s comments to the media, on social media have demonstrated that he is not impartial and responsible to the people he represents and he has not conducted himself in a manner above reproach.”
Previous board president Mark Robak kept the censure in place throughout his year in charge, leaving the next board president with the responsibility of deciding when to remove the reprimand.
Smith said he would reevaluate lifting the censure in April, waiting at least a year from when the censure was imposed on April 22, 2017.
In deciding whether to remove the censure, Smith said he would have to look at Gastelum’s social media commentary since the censure was put in place.
“I think it’s a matter of whether he has changed (his social media behavior),” Smith said when asked what will it take for the censure to be removed.
Recently Gastelum, who represents Division 4, took to Twitter to defend controversial comments allegedly made by President Donald Trump about immigrants coming from Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations, countries he reportedly referred to as “s**tholes”.
“If you felt offended by @POTUS @realDonaldTrump #S**thole ‘private’ comment to describe #Haiti #ElSalvador & Most of #Africa, why don’t you suggest going there for #ValentinesDay2018 #Honeymoon and see how that goes? Let’s focus on what’s important & #MAGA”, the tweet read.
Smith said he has not viewed any of Gastelum’s tweets since the censure because he does not use Twitter very often. However, Smith said he will log-in to his account in April to evaluate Gastelum’s postings.
Gastelum said he has not let the censure affect his social media use.
“I have to be who I am and I won’t change for anybody,” he said. “So, if people don’t like what I post (on social media) it is on them. I can’t change who I am and I can’t change my opinions to get people to like me.”
The censure prevents Gastelum from sitting on any of the water district’s internal committees and organizations. But Gastelum can still represent OWD and ratepayers at outside events and be paid for his time.
For instance, last May Gastelum attended the Association of California Water Agencies three-day conference in Monterey and the California Special Districts meeting.
OWD directors make $100 on a per diem basis for each day of attendance at meetings related to water or the water district. Directors cannot exceed 10 meetings in a calendar month. Directors also get reimbursed for mileage and travel when attending conferences.
Smith assigned his colleagues to five organizational committees, four standing committees, and one ad-hoc committee, excluding Gastelum from serving on any of them.
Gastelum said although he does not serve on any of the water agency’s committees he can still do the job his constituents elected him to do.
“At the end of the day everything that goes on in a committee has to be voted on the dais, so I’m there 100 percent for my constituents when it comes to voting. Everything that we talk about in a committee still has to be approved at the dais.”
“If they put me on committees, they put me on committees, if they don’t, they don’t,” Gastelum said.
Smith said he has not discussed the censure with Gastelum and that their only conversations pertain to water business.
Last year, before he was president, Smith along with Division 2 Director Mitch Thompson prepared and wrote the censure.
Smith said he co-wrote the censure because he could see how Gastelum’s comments could be considered offensive to the Muslim community.
“It’s unfortunate that (Gastelum) brought his own public views into a public setting,” Smith said.
He added that a censure was necessary because Gastelum’s comments created a “distraction” at several board meetings as by protestors filled the board room calling for Gastelum’s resignation, a request that Gastelum has continuously refused.
Protestors had initially said they were going to start recall efforts to remove Gastelum from the board, but since Gastelum was put on notice of a recall last June protestors have been silent.
Gastelum is an embarrassment to the region. He should still resign . He has no business representing a public agency, as his behavior is racist. He wouldn’t be welcomed in Norway either.