Ramos Cleared by FPPC: Camp Touts Dismissal of Derry Supporter Complaint

The campaign for James Ramos, candidate for county supervisor in the Third District that includes Redlands and Loma Linda, released part of a letter Wednesday from the Fair Political Practices Commission stating his disclosure of economic interests are appropriate.

Ramos supporters said the FPPC's enforcement division chief "today dismissed a frivolous complaint from a Neil Derry supporter that alleged improper reporting of Form 700 disclosure forms."

A press release from Ramos' campaign quoted part of the letter from Gary Winuk:

"This letter concerns the Fair Political Practices Commission's Enforcement Division's review of your complaint alleging James Ramos' inaccurate completion of his Statements of Economic Interests.

"After review by staff, it was determined that because his Statements of Economic Interests were filed for several agencies, they appropriately reflect the different disclosure requirements attached to each position he holds, which leads to a difference in the levels of disclosure on each statement."

The portion of Winuck's letter released by Ramos' campaign did not mention current Third District Supervisor Neil Derry, who is running for re-election against Ramos.

"This is the type of political gaming voters have come to expect from Neil Derry," Ramos campaign spokesman Andre Levesque said in a prepared statement. "We knew all along these reports were a desperate attempt by Neil Derry to divert attention from Derry's criminal past."

Reached Wednesday evening, Derry said the FPPC did not dig deep enough.

"I think the FPPC made a mistake," Derry said in a phone interview. "As an elected official I believe in transparency and full disclosure. Mr. Ramos has purposely concealed his income from the public and voters for years.

"He's aggressively trying to conceal the fact that he's a member and former chairman of the richest casino tribe in California," Derry said. "He needs to come clean and release his income taxes as I volunteered to do, and he needs to disclose his conflicts of interest to the public. If Ramos were elected he'd have huge conficts of interest."

Ramos was at a fundraiser for his campaign Wednesday evening at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, where speakers included San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos.