Francisco Ramirez recall, Hanford City Council, California (2017-2018)

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Hanford City Council recall
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Officeholders
Francisco Ramirez
Recall status
Recall approved
Recall election date
January 23, 2018
See also
Recall overview
Political recall efforts, 2018
Recalls in California
California recall laws
City council recalls
Recall reports

Hanford City Councilman Francisco Ramirez faced a recall election on January 23, 2018. Recall organizer Skip Athey accused Ramirez of corruption and misusing public resources. Ramirez countered that the recall effort was initiated because he sought changes to city business after his election.[1]

Recall vote

The recall election against Ramirez took place on January 23, 2018. Voters were asked if they would like to approve the recall and, in the case of a successful recall, which candidate would replace Ramirez.[2]

Hanford residents approved the recall, and businesswoman Diane Sharp earned the most votes to replace Ramirez.[3]

Recall supporters

Athey's petition for the recall of Ramirez included the following rationale:

Hanford Councilman Francisco Ramirez has a long history of supporting his interest over the interests of the community. His corruption and disregard for the law has helped create a culture of mistrust within the community of Hanford culminating in numerous investigations.

Mr. Ramirez knowingly and willful misuse of public resources has violated the people’s trust. His continued failure to file the proper disclosure forms required by the Fair Political Practices Commission has resulted in an ongoing investigation.

The Kings County Grand Jury in their findings state Mr. Ramirez knowingly and willfully violated the Campaign Finance Requirements by failing to open and maintain a campaign checking account knowingly and willfully failed to accurately account for all campaign contributions received. They further state Ramirez knowingly and willfully mislead voters by stating he graduated in 1999 with both a Bachelors and Masters degree and strongly recommended Ramirez no longer state he has college degrees.[4][5]

—Skip Athey (2017)

Recall opponents

Ramirez submitted an official response to the recall on May 24, 2017, that included the following statement:

Thank you to all the citizens who support me. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t keep doing what I do. There are some individuals that don’t even live in our district that want me out of office because I’m not a part of the good old boys club. When you elected me I promised to change things and not be part of the status quo.[4][5]

—Francisco Ramirez (2017)

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

Athey submitted a notice of intent to recall to Ramirez on May 16, 2017, which was allowed to advance to the signature-gathering stage by the city clerk.[4] Recall organizers needed to gather 835 signatures from residents of Ramirez's council district by August 21, 2017, to require a recall election.[4][6] Organizers submitted 1,062 signatures to the city clerk on August 21, 2017.[7] The city clerk verified 864 signatures as valid in September 2017 and the city council approved an election date on September 19, 2017.[8]

Recent news

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See also

External links

Footnotes