June 18, 2021

 

The Butte County Democratic Party is outraged by the agitators who, in the pursuit of political advantage, cost Chico City Councilor Scott Huber his employment.

 

Members of the political action committee Citizens for a Safe Chico and other conservative groups targeted a public official’s employer, threatening not only his livelihood, but the viability of the employer’s business itself. Council member Huber resigned from his position as a result.

 

The tactics employed by his detractors are vile and unacceptable. This repulsive and insulting behavior must stop. Butte County is better than that.

 

Every citizen has the right to disagree with elected representatives, but redress comes on Election Day. To prevent a local official – a neighbor – from making a living due to political differences crosses the line of free speech and has no place in the democratic process.

 

Citizens for a Safe Chico receives the bulk of its substantial funding from conservative business owners, even our Republican assemblyman. We call on these contributors to reflect on their own difficulties – and the difficulties of their friends and loved ones – staying afloat during the pandemic and join us in condemning those who would weaponize the job market.

 

For the other Chico City Council members, we call on each of them to strenuously – and on the public record – denounce, condemn, and state their objection to these tactics, and demand a more civil political discourse.