By Carmen Ramirez
Why I’m Running
I believe that I can provide part of the leadership that our county needs in this difficult time. Â After my decades of public service as a lawyer serving our community, I know what our residents are going through, trying to keep a roof over their heads, caring for their children, hoping to have work that pays well, and more. Â IÂ have served on Oxnard City Council for 9 years; I am in my third term. I decided to run for council years ago because I felt that various companies, governments and even the previous council could do better for the people of Oxnard. Â I believe that my record shows that I have been a leader in the important issues that we face, from climate change, to the lack of housing, the lack of accessible care, and the health of the people. Â I believe in fiscal responsibility to keep our essential government services secure and accessible. I have not looked away when we have important and difficult issues to decide, and voted to keep our city on the path to greater fiscal health and to being a more modern and resilient city. Â
Campaign Website:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/carmen4oxnard/
CARMEN RAMIREZ, OXNARD MAYOR PRO TEM
Carmen RamÃrez is dedicated to improving Oxnard and the region now and for future generations.  She has worked in Oxnard since 1978 and has been an Oxnard homeowner since 1992. She was elected to the Oxnard City Council in 2010 and is currently serving her third term in office, starting in 2018. Ms. RamÃrez was named Mayor Pro Tem December 2012. During the nine years so far of her term, she has never missed a council meeting.
Graduating from Loyola School of Law in Los Angeles in 1974, she was admitted to the California State Bar that same year. For 16 years she was the Executive Director of Channel Counties Legal Services Association, which served the legal needs of the poor in Ventura and Santa Barbara County. For 9 years thereafter, she was the coordinator of the Ventura Superior Court’s Self Help Legal Center in the Colonia neighborhood of Oxnard, serving the Spanish Speaking community.  She now maintains a private legal practice focusing Social Security Disability and consumer law matters, as well as Pro Bono assistance.
For the City of Oxnard, she serves on the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, the Ventura County Animal Services Commission, and Ventura County’s Local Agency Formation Commission, Beach Erosion and Nourishment Commission (BEACON), Clean Power Alliance, where she chairs the Energy Planning and Procurement Committee, CSUCI site authority board, and the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance. In 2019 she has chaired the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County. She is also a Regional Council member of Southern California Association of Government, representing Oxnard and a member of its Energy and Environment Committee. In 2012 she was appointed by Governor Brown to serve on the California State Commission on Mandates (www.csm.ca.gov) and was re-confirmed for a second term in 2016.
In 1998, she was president of the Ventura County Bar Association and remains active in bar activities. From 2005 to 2008, she was an elected member of the State Bar Board of Governors, overseeing the practice of the legal profession in California.
Additionally she has been active in many community organizations in Ventura County, including Ventura County Community Foundation, El Concilio Del Condado de Ventura, Teatro de Las Americas, and the Ventura County Community Foundation. She is currently a Trustee of the Colleges of Law for Santa Barbara and Ventura County and is long standing Board Member for the Center for Civic Education, a national non-profit organization promoting the study and practice of Democracy in the United States and throughout the world.
She was raised in the San Gabriel Valley of LA County, one of seven siblings. She is married, with two stepsons. She is a fluent Spanish-speaker.  Because of its opportunities and challenges, she believes that Oxnard is the best place to live in Ventura County.
Article from a previous run:
Carmen Ramirez | Candidate for Oxnard City Council
By Peter K. Godinez, Community Ambassador for Xerox Corporation Neighborhood/voting district: District 2 / Oxnard City Council [email protected] carmen4oxnard.com http://www.facebook.com/carmen.ramirez https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-carmen-ramirez-b866379/  MARIA CARMEN RAMIREZ, (known as Carmen) is a public interest lawyer who has served the community since she was admitted to practice in December of 1974, graduated from Loyola School of Law, Los Angeles in […]
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