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ICDCC asks Imperial County CEO to resign for alleged racism

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Published 2:15 PM

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) -The Imperial County Democratic Central Committee says it stands by its resolution calling for the resignation of Imperial County CEO Tony Rouhotas despite a member in their committee renouncing their vote.

The No-Confidence Resolution states Rouhotas was aware of irregularities in the Registrar of Voters’to publish names of candidates for election.

It also alleges that discrimination took place when a black senior citizen was allegedly over-charged for copies of Imperial County public candidate records at a rate five times more than what is charged to non-black people for the same documents.

Imperial County CEO Tony Rouhotas says all these allegations are false.

“I will not tolerate those accusations against me or my county employees as I take this wholeheartedly as I’ve lived in this community and I live in this community, I am not going anywhere so it's very important for me to follow moral and ethical guidelines, said Rouhotas.

Annette Gonzalez Buttner, the Chairperson of ICDCC says the county hasn’t done anything about transparency with the registrar because only people of color are complaining.

“No one wants to do anything about the registrar because the registrar is white and white people aren’t complaining its brown people and you have a white county executive who is a republican.”  

Buttner also says this is about systematic racism.

“Apart from being a democrat I am brown Latina woman and I can tell you I know what racism is in Imperial Valley, and brown men Latino men know that racism is real in Imperial County, African American woman also know what racism is in the valley and so do African American men, why do you think the BLM movement is growing so much in the valley?"

Rouhotas also says more members of the committee besides Hilton Smith who was the vice-chairman who publicly said he regrets his vote have reached out to him.

"Those are just the two that have spoken up I’ve had more contact me directly umm and I want to make this very clear this isn’t about race at all or me against the committee  I have great respect for the committee what I don’t agree is the two people that have made this personal and made allegations that are false."

The committee says they have not directly spoken to Rouhotas but will continue calling for his resignation.

Imperial County issued a statement last week. saying the ICDCC should have verified its claims before putting in a vote of No-Confidence and is looking that the committee rescinds its vote.

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Gianella Ghiglino

Peruvian-born and LA raised Gianella Ghiglino joins the team from the San Fernando valley. “LA is the place that taught me how to breath and Peru is my breath.” She says she was inspired by the community she grew up in and began documenting her experience through poetry at the age of 7. “I wrote about everything I saw, felt and everything that inspired me.” When she entered High School she joined her school news station and realized that broadcast journalism allowed her to pursue her passion and her purpose all at once. Gianella attended Cal State Northridge and received a Bachelors degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Spanish Broadcast Journalism, and Political Science. She did several internships while in College but most notably interned for PBS’s local LA station for three years. “My purpose is to share my story and of those in my community, my passion is writing.”

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