El Monte Recall Drive Targets 2 Councilmen

A group of El Monte citizens Friday announced its intention to start a recall campaign against City Councilmen Tony Fellow and Jack Thurston.

Protesters outside City Hall, angry over a pay raise approved Tuesday by the council, accused the councilmen of misleading their constituents several years ago into supporting a 7% utility tax, which opponents call useless.

“They’re trying to threaten the people, saying we’ll lose fire and police protection [without the utility tax],” said Sixto Navarette, El Monte resident and president of Unidos, a countywide voter advocacy group that is spearheading the movement.

“But we’ve been paying the tax for five years, and the police are still working without a contract,” he said.

The police had also been working without a raise for eight years, but Tuesday the council voted to offer all city workers, including police and fire employees, a 9% pay increase.

Thurston called the recall movement a diversion and said the real motive behind the Unidos campaign is his lack of support for council candidate Art Barrios.

Unidos members were angered when Fellow and Thurston voted against appointing Barrios to replace retired Councilman Ernest Gutierrez this year. The seat is still vacant.

But Navarette said the Barrios issue is “one of many” gripes the group has with the two councilmen. Barrios and Fellow could not be reached for comment.