Editor’s note: This letter was originally published in the Dec. 21, 2017 issue of the Paramount Journal.
City Council majority acts to suppress increased voter turnout in city council elections
- Paramount residents take a stand for Voting Rights and against self-preservation of City Council majority attempting to extend council terms by 12 months.
- Mayor Peggy Lemons, and Councilmembers Daryl Hofmeyer and Diane J. Martinez served with Notices of Intent to Circulate Recall Petitions and do not file answers to Notices of Intent. Proponents seek Recall and removal from office.
- Proponents call for term limits based on the combined consecutive years on the City Council for Mayor Lemons and Councilmembers Hofmeyer and Martinez totaling 60 years.
- During current Paramount pollution crisis, recall proponents also call for a STOP of all monetary and in-kind contributions to the campaign accounts of mayor and councilmembers sought for Recall from Paramount metal processing, medical waste disposal and big oil companies polluting the children and residents of the community.
- First term Councilmember and environmental champion Laurie Guillen casts the only dissenting vote and pushes for changing the next City Council election to coincide with the CA General Election Nov. 6, 2018
- Recall proponents call for a national awareness and dissemination of the voting rights and environmental social injustices occurring in Paramount CA. Make a request for solidarity and support to combat voter suppression, discrimination and environmental injustices harming the community for far too long.
Under Voting Rights Bills SB 415 & SB 568, the Paramount City Council passed a resolution on November 21, 2017 to schedule the next city election to March 3, 2020 and will vote on the final approval of the ordinance at the next council meeting Tuesday, Dec.12 @ 6 p.m. – Paramount City Hall 16400 Colorado Ave. Paramount CA 90723. This act of defiance and intent on suppressing increased voter turnout in Paramount also reflects their rejection of the City Clerk’s report that changing the city election to November 6, 2018 to coincide with the CA General Election would yield an average voter turnout of 46.30 percent of the 22, 579 registered Paramount voters. In a shocking move, the council majority chose to change the city election to March 3, 2020 and extend their terms in office by 12 months despite the fact that the March 3,
2020 Presidential Primary Election would yield an average voter turnout of only 16.69 percent. The combined consecutive years on the City Council of Mayor Lemons and Councilmembers Hofmeyer and Martinez is approximately 60 years. Mayor Lemons: 20 years 9 months. Councilmember Hofmeyer: 14 years 9 months. Councilmember Martinez: 23 years 9 months. Their audacity to extend their terms by one year and suppress increased voter participation in Paramount where approximately 70 percent of the voters are Latino is bold discrimination and voter suppression on its face and calls for their removal from office.
Allen Gomez, Spokesperson
Let Paramount Vote in 2018
