Ethics complaint against District 4 candidate Diana Ramos dismissed

El Paso’s city attorney has dismissed an ethics complaint filed against City Council District 4 candidate Diana Ramos.

Blas Hermosillo Jr. filed the complaint with the city’s Ethics Review Commission, claiming Ramos had not lived in Northeast El Paso long enough to meet the residency requirements for municipal city council candidates.

Ramos showed ABC-7 the dismissal letter signed by city attorney Sylvia Borunda-Firth. “It was unfounded,” Ramos said. “I meet all of Texas’ requirements to claim residency and be on the ballot.”

The El Paso City Charter calls for City council candidates to be a resident of El Paso for 12 months and to live in their district for six months before the election.

Ramos lived in Washington, D.C. while working for U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, whose district included El Paso, until resigning at the end of September.

Ramos told ABC-7 her job as a congressional staffer proves she is and always has been an El Paso resident. Ramos, born and raised in El Paso, kept her permanent address in El Paso while in the District of Columbia.

“I’ve always been a permanent resident of El Paso,” Ramos said. “I’ve been able to file my taxes here. I voted here.”

“If we are going to focus on the issues of this community, then let’s talk about my work with Castner Range. I was intimately involved with that project through my work with the congressman (O’Rourke), Ramos said. “Let’s talk about the veteran community we have here in El Paso and the work we have been doing. This is the community I know the best. This is the community I have been invested in and the community I love and chose to live at because my husband is an active duty service member and I wanted to show him the best of El Paso.”.

The District 4 candidate is happy the city attorney dismissed the complaint against her.

“It was a distraction, but ultimately I think we are on the right track with really knowing the pulse of the community, listening to my neighbors. We won’t lose that focus. Because ultimately, El Pasoans deserve a better government and an accountable government,” Ramos said.

Early voting is underway. The city’s municipal election is May 6, 2017.