Kingsburg’s Jewel Hurtado faces recall effort for ‘socialist agenda,’ proponents say
A progressive member of the Kingsburg City Council could face a recall election after proponents filed a public notice this week.
Councilmember Jewel Hurtado was named in the recall election notice posted Monday. In her first term, Hurtado’s seat would be up for election again in November 2022.
Filing a public notice is the first step in what is a strict process to get to the recall election, according to the Fresno County Registrar of Voters Office.
The notice says Hurtado supports policies that are bad for local businesses.
“Councilperson Hurtado has demonstrated a Marxist/socialist agenda in her activities and actions, which does not represent her constituency,” the public notice says. “Councilperson Hurtado favors rules and regulations that shackle our business community and prevent our city from thriving.”
The notice goes on to call Hurtado divisive. Efforts to reach residents who signed the recall notice were unsuccessful.
Hurtado declined to discuss the recall effort with The Bee, and instead pointed to her public statements about it on Twitter.
“This recall is not being pushed because I do not do my job, but because I stand up and represent equal opportunity and justice for all,” she tweeted on Monday. “My voting record speaks for itself and I am proud of the work I have done to make my community a better place.”
The process to get to a recall election is “very persnickety,” according to James Kus, the Fresno County registrar of voters. A handbook from his office lays out the stringent guidelines that need to be followed.
“If the proponents don’t do that, they’ll have to start over,” Kus said. “It’s very common for them to start over.”
Timing matters when it comes to a recall, he noted. If the proponents have started the seven- to nine-month process, the election would fall outside a state or federal election cycle, making the election the only one on the ballot.
A sole-issue ballot for a city the size of Kingsburg would cost $80,000 or more, Kus said. That bill is picked up entirely by the city. If a recall were to fall on a ballot with other federal or state issues, the cost to the city would be about one-tenth as much.
Hurtado’s politics
Hurtado has said publicly she was inspired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, who made a splash on the political scene in June 2018. Often called AOC, she has been praised as a progressive by her left-wing supporters and demonized by right-wing detractors.
Hurtado also was a vocal supporter of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and attended the rally when the Vermont senator visited Fresno.
The Kingsburg councilmember also vocalized support for Proposition 21, California’s rent control initiative which failed in 2020.
Hurtado most recently made news when she sponsored a plan to fly a Pride flag at Kingsburg City Hall during June, which is Pride Month.
While the public notice for her recall does not note that proposal, it does call Hurtado “divisive,” a word repeatedly used by Kingsburg residents speaking against flying the flag. A large crowd gathered at City Hall on May 19 to debate the council’s vote on the flag, which led to more than three hours of public comments.
The council ultimately did not vote on the proposal, because Hurtado’s motion failed to get a second on the dais that night.
This story was originally published June 10, 2021 at 12:32 PM.
