Lynnwood City Council race heats up
by MARIO LOTMORE | Last Updated: September 21, 2019.
At its legislative district meeting on Wednesday, September 11, the LD32 Democrats voted overwhelmingly to censure Lynnwood City Council Pos. 5 candidate Dr. Julieta Altamirano-Crosby. Altamirano-Crosby was not in attendance at the meeting.
Marylou Eckart said she made the motion to censure Altamirano-Crosby because, "[Eckart] is disappointed in the political tactics of the Julieta campaign that has put at risk vulnerable families in our district. The repercussions of a frivolous police report put in danger children and families who have legitimate concerns of intervention by I.C.E. The next step for many of these children are cages and this is not acceptable."
On Monday, September 9, during Citizen Comments in its City Council Business Meeting, former opponent and Lynnwood City Council candidate Rosamaria Graziani along with several other residents requested that Altamirano-Crosby drop a police report against Graziani for the alleged theft of seven campaign flyers involving one of her volunteers. They also alleged that this has left the 12-year-old boy and his family fearing for their safety.
In an official statement, Graziani said, "These dirty tactics are only heard of under totalitarian governments. Crosby must have picked up this kind of tactics while she lived in Havana… She studied a PhD in Communications under a regime that has a media monopoly for their propaganda and infamously tramples on political freedoms and human rights."
When asked of her thoughts if Altamirano-Crosby were to drop the case, Graziani added, "At this point, I want her to drop out of the race. She does not deserve the confidence of the Lynnwood voters. I do not want communist tactics in our city."
Dr. Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, who received the 2017 Human Rights award from the Snohomish County Human Rights Commission, has denied ever living in Cuba and only spent four days in Cuba to defend her dissertation. She told the Lynnwood Times that she is not a communist and has not pledged nor signed any allegiance to any Communist Party.
"It is sad to see this happening in our community," said Altamirano-Crosby. "Unfortunately, people mislabel you and forget we are human beings."
Dr. David Schirle, Altamirano-Crosby's Lynnwood City Council Pos. 5 opponent shared his thoughts about the censure.
"This is obviously a personal or political response… Why would the police be investigating an infraction? How is this pursuing justice or trying to right a wrong? I think someone is trying to punish Rosamaria [Graziani] through the boy because Rosamaria challenged Julieta's Lynnwood residency. The mayor should have stepped in to end this. For a police officer to spend one hour and 10 minutes interrogating Rosamaria is a misuse of public resources."
Schirle added, "I am running to manage the city's growth, build our Lynnwood City Center, stop out of control spending, and tackle homelessness and heroin addiction."
Back in May, a voter registration challenge was filed with the Snohomish County Auditor's office by then Lynnwood City Council candidate Rosamaria Graziani against Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, an opponent for the District 5 council seat. The challenge was dismissed by the Snohomish County Auditor's office on grounds that it was incomplete and did not support factual allegations.
Edmonds School Board Vice President, Deborah Kilgore, attended the LD32 Democrat meeting that censured Altamirano-Crosby. She recalled the censure being accomplished within five minutes.
Kilgore added that many of the members and PCOs that attended do not know Altamirano-Crosby nor of the work she has done for immigrant rights. She is disappointed that events during the primary got to this point.
"Julieta volunteers on the Washington State Hispanic Commission and is on the Humanities Washington Board of Trustees and works with the Governor on the Washington State Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight Committee. If people were to know Julieta, I do not think they may have acted so quickly."
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