A Connecticut politician who made derogatory statements about a Jewish political opponent during an election will be officially condemned, rather than removed from office, if a resolution of censure passes at the Wednesday City of Stamford Board of Representatives meeting.
The Stamford Board will vote on a resolution to censure Representative Anabel Figueroa following a Thursday report on the disciplinary proceedings against the former state representative, Democratic City Committee member, and municipal board member for her August comments against Democratic primary candidate Jonathan Jacobson.
The report recommended that the Stamford Board pursue censure rather than removing Figueroa from office because they would be faced with a steep legal battle on First Amendment grounds. The board would further have difficulty obtaining the necessary three-quarters vote for a member’s removal. The report also warned that the tool would be used as a precedent to target fellow representatives in the 2025 primaries.
The resolution, submitted by the board president, and majority and minority leadership, acknowledged that while “many members of the Board of Representatives believe that the statements constitute a sufficient basis for institution of removal proceedings,” they “recognize that there may be federal and state free speech protections which could be interposed as a defense to such an action.”
Figueroa had sent board President Jeff Curtis a resignation notice on August 16, following mounting backlash for antisemitic comments and her August 14 loss to Jacobson for the 148th District State House District candidacy. Figueroa, however, soon rescinded the decision.
Called to resign
Board of Representative leaders had called for Figueroa to resign on August 16, since her positions on ethnicity and religious background demonstrated “an innate inability to effectively serve all members of her constituency and the City of Stamford.”
The Stamford Democratic City Committee Executive Board said in an August 15 statement that Figueroa should resign from all three elected positions because her comments indicated not only “a lack of integrity and character” but that she was “unfit to serve in office.”
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons said in an August 15 statement that Figueroa should vacate her positions, and Jacobson also called for his former rival to resign from all of her elected positions, which he said on August 15 “had been hurtful to me and the global Jewish community.”
On July 28, on the Hispanic International Show, Figueroa said, “The Hispanic vote is going to determine on August 13th who will win to represent or who will continue to represent you. We cannot permit a person who is of Jewish origin to represent our community. It’s impossible.”
In an August 3 La Voz radio interview, Figueroa said that Jacobson “is a man that comes from the Jewish community, a community that is obviously starting to gain a lot of power in Stamford and it starts with the Mayor.”
“I say this with respect. I think if this person were running to represent people from their community or if they were mixed, I think I would respect it. But in my community, we don’t have people like him, from his community,” said Figueroa.
“We’re mixed, we have a large Hispanic population, but I also have a lot of African Americans in the community that are with me, because they know, who better to represent us than someone within the same minority? But a Jewish person? Never."
According to the January 30 report, on August 13 Figueroa asked Jacobson if he knew any poor Jewish people, and that “Jewish people could clearly never understand or represent my people in the district.”
Figueroa blamed the mayor and Democratic Party for orchestrating the entire situation and manipulating her words in an August 22 interview with The Connecticut Public.