Otay Water District board member Hector Gastelum has repeatedly rebuffed calls to step down from his elected position after making a series of Twitter posts that many say were offensive and hateful toward Muslims.
In a series of Tweets on Feb. 19, Gastelum calls for more countries to be included in President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. The tweets also refer to Muslims in those banned countries as “Subhuman” and “Scum.”
In other Tweets, he has called Muslims rapists and murders.
Gastelum’s Tweets have recently come under fire after they were reported in the news media and prompted community members to ask for his resignation.
But Gastelum, who admits he is not always politically correct, said he will not resign because he has a right to speak his mind.
“Under no circumstances I won’t resign and they [voters] can do whatever they want but I won’t resign,” he said. “I didn’t know I waived my first amendment rights when I got elected.”
Since the first-time elected official insists that he is not going anywhere, at least not by his own accord, a team of activists are working to recall the newly elected Republican.
Ricardo Ochoa, a labor law attorney, is part of a recall effort to remove Gastelum from office.
Ochoa said recalling Gastelum was not his intention but he decided to pursue a recall when he said Gastelum failed to deliver a heart-felt apology for his choice of words regarding Muslims.
“The initial reaction wasn’t to call for him to resign, or for him to be recalled, it was to ask for an apology,” Ochoa said.
“People approached him and people went to the [March 1] water board meeting and, unfortunately, he doubled down on those types of comments. He gave a phony apology and really indicated by his behavior that he is unfit to serve the South Bay community…”
At that meeting, Gastelum had apologized “to all the innocent Muslims offended.”
Gastelum won his seat for Otay Water District 4 in November’s General Election when 56 percent of the voters or 8,126 voters elected him over his opponent and longtime Otay Water board member Jose Lopez.
Gastelum said he is not worried about a potential movement to remove him from office, instead he is focused on serving his constituents.
“I’m not worried [about a recall] at all,” he said. “I’m worried about reducing people’s water rates. I’m worried about the job people elected me to do.”
Gastelum said his controversial tweets are taken out of context. He said included in his tweets links to a story that shows what he was referring to.
“The tweet that started it all online, if you open the link it tells you that in Sweden they receive more than 100,000 immigrants and only 500 of those immigrants are working and it has become the rape capital of the world, violence is up. And I’m like ‘Hey I demand that our politicians, our legislators, protect us from this scum,’” he said.
Ochoa said it is difficult to take those Tweets out of context.
“I don’t know how you take a reference to Muslims as subhuman scum out of context,” he said. “I have read many of the Tweets in their entirety, in the context in which they were made and I don’t see any other way to read them other than him insulting an entire religion and an entire community.”
For Gastelum to be recalled, proponents must follow California Elections rules.
First proponents of the recall must serve the elected official by personal delivery or certified mail with a copy of the notice of intention.
Then within seven days , proponents file with the Registrar of Voters the original notice of intention and an affidavit of time and manner of service. During that same time frame the elected official can file an answer to the intention with the Registrar of Voters. Proponents then publish a notice of intention one time only in a newspaper.
Within 10 days after filing of the incumbent’s answer, the proponents file with the Registrar of Voters two blank copies of the proposed format for recall petition and proof of publication of notice of intention. Within 10 days of that, the Registrar of Voters notifies the proponents in writing of findings as to whether or not the form and wording of petition meets requirements of election code, and if not, what corrections must be made. If the petition does not meet election code requirements, then within 10 days the proponents file two corrected copies of form and wording of the recall petition. The petition goes back and forth between the Registrar of Voters and proponents in 10-day increments until it meets requirements. When the petition meets requirements the Registrar of Voters will notify the petition format meets requirements of elections code and authorizes them to circulate petition.
San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu said he did not have an estimated cost for a recall. Ochoa said he is in the process of identifying donors to contribute to the recall effort. He estimates he will need about 4,500 signatures from Otay Water District customers in order to get a recall on the ballot.
