Simi City Council member Luevanos faces possible recall, censure over ICE-related video

Simi Valley City Council member Ruth Luevanos is now facing possible recall and censure stemming from a controversial video she made in her City Hall office advising immigrants of their legal rights prior to recent ICE raids.

During public comments at Monday night's council meeting, Simi resident Joe Piechowski said he was there to serve Luevanos with a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition.

Such a notice is the first formal step in a very protected recall process in which Piechowski will eventually have to gather about 11,000 signatures of Simi Valley registered voters to hold a recall election.

Piechowski received conflicting signals from city officials as to serving Luevanos with the notice.

He tried handing it to her on the dais, but she pointed to interim City Clerk Julia Fritz. City Attorney Lonnie Eldridge also directed Piechowski to give the document to Fritz, which he did.

But after the meeting ended and Luevanos had left, Fritz told Piechowski that copy of the notice would not be served on the councilwoman because he in fact, did have to serve her personally.

Piechowski said he will now send the notice to Luevanos' home by certified mail. He said he also intends to have it published in a local newspaper, as required.

The notice says the grounds for the proposed recall include that Luevanos, a first-term council member:

• "Violated her oath of office with a video ... by instructing individuals, who have been ordered deported, to resist arrest, obstruct justice and violate a court order."
• "Misappropriated city facilities along with the city name and logo, using them in her video for personal and political gain."

"This pattern of unethical conduct has to stop, and that's why, in addition to again asking the council to put a censure on a future agenda, I'm here to serve the councilwoman with a notice of intention to recall," Piechowski told the council.

Following public comments, Luevanos did not address the proposed recall directly, but did say, "I'd like to reiterate that I was duly elected by the people of the city of Simi Valley, and I will continue to follow through on my duties."

Possible censure

Also at Monday night's meeting, City Council member Mike Judge asked that a discussion about possibly censuring Luevanos be placed on a future council agenda.

"I can't sit by with the lack of integrity that's been shown on this dais by one of our council members," Judge said. "I think we have to bring forward a discussion about censure for council member Luevanos."

He said Luevanos has told "lies" from the dais, including at the council's July 29 meeting when she said that there had been raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Simi Valley Vallarta Supermarket.

"It never happened," Judge said. "I spoke to a person at their corporate office (who) stated it never happened."

Mayor Keith Mashburn posted on Facebook that he had met with the manager of the Simi Valley Vallarta who also said there had been no ICE raids there.

Related news:

• Emotions run high at Simi council meeting over controversial ICE-related video
• Simi council member sparks uproar by making ICE-related video

Council member Elaine Litster said, "if there was misinformation" by Luevanos, "I do think an apology should be made."

But Luevanos doubled down on her assertion, saying she had spoken to an immigration attorney friend "who has stated that there were ICE raids in the Vallarta vicinity" involving his clients. "There is verification."

Mashburn said he supports agendizing a discussion of a possible censure of Luevanos, noting he's received many emails from people who both support and oppose censuring her.

Luevanos tried to discourage the council from agendizing a censure discussion. She said she has received "continued death threats" because of the ongoing controversy sparked by the video.

"Those are things you brought upon yourself," Judge told her.

Luevanos told the other council members that "if you want to continue down this path" and keep the controversy alive by having a censure discussion, "I will have attorneys in the audience."

Asked Thursday what she meant by that, Luevanos, who has a law degree, said, "exactly what I said."

Eldridge said he will research the censure issue and send council members a memo outlining the censure process.

The video

Luevanos made the video in her City Hall office last month and posted it on her individual City Council Facebook page July 13, advising immigrants of their legal rights.

That was a day before ICE agents were to begin rounding up more than 2,100 immigrants nationwide with deportation orders.

Luevanos, who successfully ran for the council last year on a progressive platform, advocates for the abolition of ICE.

The video ends by showing an official city page stating, "from the office of Simi Valley City Councilwoman Ruth Luevanos."

The video sparked an uproar in the sizable conservative city, home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. That furor spilled over into the council's July 29 meeting, in which audience emotions ran high and a few fights between Luevanos supporters and detractors almost broke out, but were stopped by police.

Her critics charge that she encourages lawlessness in the video and by making it in her City Hall office, gives the impression that it is the council's official position on the immigration controversy.

"I wish she hadn't done it in her office," council member Dee Dee Cavanaugh said Monday night.

Luevanos said she made the video "to inform people of their rights," noting that other public officials, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, also informed the targets of the ICE raids of their rights.

Her supporters say she did nothing wrong and is being targeted for racial reasons, noting she's the first Latina elected to the council.

Glen Becerra, a Latino, served on the City Council from 1998 to 2018.

Mike Harris covers the East County cities of Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, as well as transportation countywide. You can contact him at mike.harris@vcstar.com or 805-437-0323.

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