A meet-and-greet in Salinas at Mountain Mike's Pizza on Tuesday, Oct. 1 for Aurelio Salazar Jr. and Dennis Donohue, who are running for the District 6 city council seat and mayor, respectively, ended in an altercation.
“We are asking you to leave. We are asking you leave,” Salazar said repeatedly to Wes White, a Salinas resident and advocate for the homeless community who has run for Salinas mayor in previous elections. The interaction was recorded in a video and posted to social media. “We will not be intimidated. We will not be harassed,” Salazar added in his recorded comments to White.
“Rough day today on the campaign trail, Andrew Sandoval and Wes White crashed a candidate meet-and-greet scheduled today at Mountain Mike's Pizza for myself and Dennis Donohue,” Salazar wrote on social media. “Andrew Sandoval and Wes White are supporting our opponents so why show up to our meet-and-greet? To listen? No. To start problems? Yes. They don’t even live in District 6, so why show up?”
In another video, White shared his take on the interaction he had with Donohue and Salazar. “He [Salazar] jumped out of his car, came up and rolled up on me with his camera, and just being loud, aggressive like he wanted to fight me,” White said.
Subsequent video footage inside the pizzeria shows Donohue repeatedly telling White it is a private event.
Sandoval, who represents District 5 and is not up for re-election this year, says he showed up to learn more about the candidates since there is a possibility he would work with them on council. Sandoval says Salazar displayed an aggressive behavior toward him and pushed him out the door, resulting in a wrist injury.
“Is this the type of behavior we want in our leaders? We need constructive engagement, not aggression,” Sandoval said in a statement.
Sandoval has endorsed Anthony Rocha, current District 6 representative, and Chris Barrera, who is running for mayor against Donohue and Ernesto Gonzalez.
Salazar says he wanted residents from District 6 to feel comfortable during the event and be able to ask questions and share their concerns freely, adding a recording would have prevented that. (White routinely videotapes public meetings; this campaign event was not a public meeting.) Salazar adds that recording the event would have been possible if they had submitted a request in advance.
Police were called to the scene, and Salazar says he plans to file a police report. The Salinas Police Department did not provide any updates on a pending investigation.