First COLAB candidate forum a contentious affair
EL CENTRO — Imperial Irrigation District Division 1 candidates Alex Cardenas and Andrew Arevalo squared off Monday in the first of a series of candidate forums being organized by the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) of Imperial County.
Confined by a format that required two-minute responses to questions about complicated economic, environmental and political issues that often go back years and even decades, the candidates repeatedly turned the conversation to the question of which of them has the temperament, commitment and experience to tackle those issues over the coming four years.
Held in IID’s Condit Auditorium before a crowd that appeared overwhelmingly to consist of the incumbent’s supporters, the forum covered topics such as geothermal development and lithium extraction, safeguarding Imperial County’s water rights and remediation at the Salton Sea.
Both candidates acknowledged the heft of the decisions and responsibilities being an IID director entails as well as the potential for an economic boom in the region as the concept of Lithium Valley becomes reality.
The digs started in Cardenas’ opening remarks, when he said the responsibilities were not something he was going to “walk away from in two years,” an apparent reference to his opponent’s decision to run for an IID seat in the middle of his first term as a trustee on the El Centro Elementary School District board.
Arevalo contended that his temperament was better suited for the job. He said as an elected leader it is important to have lines of communication open and that “you’re not hotheaded or temperamental and that you’re able to work effectively with people,” a nod to previously reported dustups that have occurred in the IID board chambers.
Arevalo said voters he has met over the course of the campaign have told him they are “embarrassed to have leaders who can’t control themselves.”
“Can I be a knucklehead sometimes? Absolutely,” Cardenas said. “But I’m not here to make friends. I’m not here to build consensus. That’s not my north star. … My north star rests with doing what’s right for the community and for the people.”
At times it appeared the incumbent’s barbs were more aimed at a fellow board member, Division 2’s J.B. Hamby, than at his fellow candidate. Hamby and Cardenas have had a publicly contentious relationship since the former joined the board in December 2020. Arevalo attended Hamby’s oath of office ceremony at the Imperial County Court House in 2020 and is believed to be like-minded on most IID policy matters.
The prolonged drought in the Western United States and its continued impact on Colorado River levels was a significant topic of concern. With 2007’s Colorado River Interim Guidelines and the related Drought Contingency Plans ratified in 2019 set to expire in 2026, “the reality is our community at some point soon is going to face some hard decisions we are going to have to make,” Arevalo said. “We’re going to have to renegotiate those terms. We’re going to have to set new agreements with all the states along the Colorado River Basin.” Cardenas pounced.
“In regards to our water right, there’s nothing to negotiate,” he said.
“We have a present perfected water right. Our responsibility as a director is to be a good steward of that water. Yes, we are entering into difficult challenges into difficult challenges in term of the Colorado River, but there’s nothing here to renegotiate. Our present perfected right has been adjudicated.”
Another bone of contention was a controversial project labor agreement that was passed hastily near the end of former Division 4 Director Erik Ortega’s term and then scrapped on a technicality after Hamby and Ortega’s successor, Javier Gonzalez, came aboard.
Arevalo, who clarified he is a member of a teachers union, as well as a union negotiator, said he would not support a blanket PLA for IID. “I support PLAs,” he said, “but they have to be specific, there has to be a local hiring provision, and more importantly, I’m not going to approve anything on the backs of ratepayers.”
“I’m sure glad Mr. Arevalo is not negotiating for me,” Cardenas countered, “because project labor agreements are extremely important when it comes to equity, between contractors, apprentice and workers.”
He argued PLAs, and their specific terms and condition, can help stem the “avalanche of litigation” that IID typically faces. He also contended a PLA serves as a catalyst for securing state funding.
“If you don’t have a PLA that’s pencil-ready, shovel-ready, you’re probably not going to get funded,” he said.
Arevalo was also asked Monday if he intends to retain his seat on the El Centro Elementary School District Board if elected. He said would like to finish out his term on that board, but the final decision will rest with the state attorney general.