Circulating letter spotlights recall effort
Business owner and former councilman Darryl Choates says current councilman Jon Wizard should be removed "for trying to incite violence"
Former Seaside councilman writes that he believes Councilman Wizard doesn’t serve city’s best interest.
SEASIDE >> The effort to recall Seaside Councilman Jon Wizard was turned up a notch when “a major letter of concern” by former councilman and business-owner Darryl Choates was mailed recently in which he said Wizard does not have Seaside in his interests and should be removed from office.
“I sent it to friends and family at my own personal expense,” said Choates. “The letter speaks for itself.”
The mailer begins “join me in signing the recall petition against Councilman Jon Wizard.” Choates said he is not part of that committee adding the letter was “a personal thing.”
A recall effort was launched in July shortly after Wizard announced his campaign to unseat incumbent Mayor Ian Oglesby.
Choates was one of the original signers of the notice of intent to circulate the recall petition. He said he supports the recall effort because he does not think Wizard is representing the residents of the city.
Choates would not say exactly how many letters he sent out seeking additional signatures but said enough were sent to let people know that this is an issue and to make sure they are aware of it
Seaside resident, Louise Berry received one of the letters. She said she had never heard of Choates until she received the letter addressed to her “or current resident.”
“There is a lot of misinformation in his accusations of the actions of city Councilman Jon Wizard,” said Berry. “I wonder if Mr. Choates has spoken directly with Mr. Wizard to clarify any misunderstanding?”
Choates said he has spoken to Wizard many times but that the councilman “doesn’t care for the people.”
“I wish I could say I was surprised by Mr. Choates’ letter, but his reputation precedes him,” said Wizard. “In the past three years, Mr. Choates has spent a lot of time talking about me and almost no time talking to me. In fact, the only time we’ve ever spoken outside of city hall was when he invited me to the grand opening of one of his businesses.”
Wizard said Choates has a history of making exaggerated statements including “the laundry list of factual errors in the letter someone clearly wrote on his behalf.”
The letter says in part “I
firmly believe Seaside deserves better from someone who has brought a national hate agenda to our young people and called for them to block streets and even highway traffic.”
Berry, who is 80, said “my family members attended the peaceful march for Black Lives Matter and experienced the level-headed actions of all — police, Councilman Wizard and the citizens.”
Berry said she did not attend the march due to concerns about COVID-19.
In his letter, Choates said there are videos online from a rally in early July that show “Wizard, yelling at the top of his lungs in behavior unbecoming of an elected official, urged an otherwise peaceful gathering to stop traffic on city streets and even march on Highway 1.”
Choates asks people to join in signing “the petition to recall Councilman Jon Wizard so that responsible, reasonable leadership can serve the community, not a person trying to incite violence.”
Wizard has denied those accusations and said he has never advocated for any violent actions and has never challenged the police.
The city councilman has said that unless you were standing next to him during his dialogue with police, it could be perceived differently but no one was inciting a riot and as a representative, he tried to diffuse the situation and got protesters to continue their march onto Monterey Road.
In his letter, Choates said “I understand that demonstrations can benefit communities, but Seaside isn’t that place, because city leaders, public safety officers, community activists and educators have worked tirelessly and relentlessly to make Seaside a wonderful place to live, do business and thrive. Seaside has long believed not only Black Lives Matter but so do the lives of all people of color.”
Though Choates’ letter invites people to sign the recall petition against Wizard, he would not comment on how the signature-gathering was going because Choates said he is not “part of that committee.”
Wizard said the recall will not appear on the November ballot even though the recall movement was launched in early July. He noted that they could qualify for a special election next spring but that would cost Seaside taxpayers about $250,000, or 2% of the police budget.
“For context, the recall campaign is an effort to punish me for asking the council to consider spending 7% of the police budget on desperately needed anti-poverty measures, like additional food bank events, the fledgling youth employment program, and a tutoring program to help close the digital divide as Seaside students fall even further behind during the pandemic,” said Wizard.