Hamby issues rebuttal to IVSJC chair’s claims
EL CENTRO — Imperial Irrigation District Division 2 Director JB Hamby on Wednesday said claims made earlier this week by Marlene Thomas, Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee (IVSJC) chair, are entirely untrue.
He also doubled down on statements he previously made indicating IVSJC does endorse particular candidates and issues over others.
“The statement that the group has never endorsed is quite slippery,” Hamby said. “My concern was based upon the organization’s historical practice of offering political endorsements resulting from the forums. That is totally fine, but I don’t feel the board room is an appropriate location for that sort of political activity.”
Hamby is seeking a change in policy following the IVSJC Candidates Forum hosted at the William Condit Auditorium in El Centro April 30. During the event, candidates from the 25th Congressional District, Imperial County Sheriff ’s Office, Board of Supervisors, District Attorney, and IID Districts 1, 3 and 5 gathered to meet and greet the public.
Hamby is seeking an update to IID Policy 1548, located within the IID Manual of Operations, requesting the policy be brought to the board for an update to “prevent future political, partisan, or religious complications with use of IID’s public resources,” Hamby said.
About 245 people attended in person, with another 600 viewing the event via livestream, organizers said.
“Those are some incredible numbers for a forum that was mostly empty in person, though admittedly I was not there and saw photos throughout the day,” Hamby said. “The capacity of the boardroom is only about 80-90 people with standing room only.”
Thomas previously said the livestream of the event was intended to be recorded and made available to the public, but claimed Hamby had contacted three IID employees to cease and delete the videos, preventing them from being uploaded to the internet following the forum.
However, IVSJC is working with individuals who videotaped the forum in order to post those versions no later than Friday, Thomas added.
Hamby denied he asked for the videos to be deleted.
“At no time did I contact three employees to cease and delete the videos,” he said. “As soon as I became aware of the livestreaming in the boardroom — toward the end of the forum, not prior to the IID candidates forum — I contacted staff informing them that a political organization that endorses candidates was utilizing the boardroom and staff to livestream such an event to the IID website. Management staff was not even aware the boardroom had been made available for this purpose.”
To support his claim the organization is not unbiased and does indeed endorse candidates and issues over others, Hamby emailed four documents to Imperial Valley Press on Wednesday.
“In full disclosure, two are my own standard applications for endorsement that this organization as well as others offered in my election. Also attached are two emails discussing the organization’s plans for endorsement of candidates.”
One of the emails is a questionnaire, viewed by IVP, with the title “Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee Endorsement Questionnaire.”