For the second time in recent weeks, San Benito County Board Chairman Jaime De La Cruz on Tuesday had to remind his colleague, Supervisor Anthony Botelho, to refrain from comments about his campaign for reelection while in the middle of a public meeting.
This week, Botelho suggested that the members of the budget ad-hoc committee, which includes Supervisors Margie Barrios and Robert Rivas, had not done a prudent job of looking at alternatives to lay-offs of county employees.
Botelho said that “there are people out there campaigning against me” by saying he was putting public safety in jeopardy, when it was in fact his fellow supervisors on the budget ad-hoc committee who were suggesting cuts to the sheriff’s office.
A few weeks before at a supervisors meeting, in an agenda item about illegal street vendors, Botelho said that when he is re-elected he will make dealing with illegal street vendors a top priority.
Both times De La Cruz reminded Botelho not to reference his campaign during the meetings.
Botelho is running for a third term as supervisor of District 2 against Arturo Medina, a former San Juan Bautista city councilman and small businessman.
