In a year that’s seen intense and massive protests all over the country, the vehicle caravan that happened in Seaside on Sunday, Sept. 27 at first barely registers as a blip. About a dozen cars and pickups, with American flags and Thin Blue Line flags waving, drove around, some of them also decked out with “Recall Jon Wizard signs.”
Wizard is a member of Seaside City Council who sought to make the Black Lives Matter movement’s call to defund the police more than a talking point this spring. His position on reallocating city funds has earned him vocal detractors, and an effort is underway to recall him. So it’s not surprising to Wizard that he has antagonists.
But it surprised him when the caravan drove by his house, not once but three times, with horns honking loudly. Wizard lives at the end of a cul-de-sac. There is no plausible reason a protest would take that route three times unless they wanted to get Wizard’s attention. And here’s the thing: It’s easy to get his attention. He encourages constituents to email or call.
“It’s not anything but spectacle for the sake of spectacle, to demonstrate that I could not escape them if I wanted to,” Wizard says. In short, a form of intimidation.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with a protest by vehicle caravan, or going to the home of an elected official to exercise free speech. The event was organized by Monterey County Blue and Seaside Residents United; their event flyer promised flags and decorations, along with route maps. I give them points for creativity – in cars they can cover more ground than on foot, and invite more participation from those who may be unable to walk – but this part of their route appears to have been mapped to make it personal, rather than about the issues.
It’s been a nasty campaign season in Seaside already. Signs keep disappearing – Wizard himself has lost about a dozen – and council candidate Ayman Adeeb’s signs have been defaced with spray paint.
Seaside Police Chief Abdul Pridgen looked into the caravan and determined it was legal. “If they were blocking roadways, or ingress and egress, that’s another story,” he says.
Another story also would’ve been if the organizers had sought a permit for a march. That would’ve prompted a thorough review by the police, Public Works and other officials to determine whether it was legitimate and safe. There’s a possibility city officials would have approved it; protests are happening now at the Louisville and Washington homes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They are aiming to change McConnell’s mind on a specific issue. The Blue Lives Matter protesters in Seaside seem to want Wizard to know more generally that they are out there.
(Wizard, incidentally, was out campaigning at the time; his partner, Jessica Hare – who is running for the board of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District – was home and videotaped the caravan. Her children, 10 and 15, were also out. Wizard returned in time for lap three.)
The caravan members included at least two elected officials: Lyle Byron Skeen, who ran unopposed to join the Monterey County Republican Central Committee in March and is now a candidate for North Monterey County Unified School District, and Lisa Anne Sawhney, who was appointed to the Monterey Peninsula Airport District where she is now running unopposed. There was also Pastor Ronald Britt of Greater Victory Temple, who is the principal officer behind the Committee for Recalling Jon Wizard. (Britt says he is no longer doing media interviews: “Politics is just not for me.”)
To get a recall on the ballot, Wizard’s opponents have until Nov. 10 to collect 2,767 signatures. By then, it’s possible Wizard won’t even be a councilmember anymore: He is also running for mayor, challenging Mayor Ian Oglesby.
Ultimately, it’s the voters, not a loud caravan of protesters, who will decide Seaside’s policy direction. I asked Pridgen for his take on the issue that divides these groups, with calls to defund the police chief among them. Pridgen’s answer: “We work for the community. What the community says they want is what the community should get. We are public servants, and we are guided by the community’s intentions and desires.”