Ten Candidates Qualify for Special Election to Fill Two Vacancies

Ten candidates are competing to fill two vacancies in Carson’s  city government — the fourth district’s council seat and the position of city clerk — in a special election in November. The openings were created when former fourth district representative Lula Davis-Holmes was elected mayor and ex-city clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana resigned to become city clerk in Riverside. 

The fourth district is in the southern part of Carson, with the exception of a long finger that stretches from 223rd Street to Turnmont encompassing the South Bay Pavillion, the fourth is bordered by Main Street to the west, Lomita boulevard to the South and the Union Pacific rail line to the east. 

 The winner among the five candidates will complete the final three years of Davis-Holmes’ term. Only one has experience as an elected official in Carson — Michael Mitoma, CEO of Parking Space Technology, LLC, who served on the city council from 1987-1997. The others — Freddie Gomez, Arleen Rojas, Isais Pulido, and Dr. Sharma Henderson — are taking their first shot at municipal politics. 

Gomez has resided in Carson for 50 years. He is a director of client engagement and navigation services for the nonprofit organization Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles. He says that residents deserve humble, honest and committed leaders who will listen, learn and lead based on the best interests for the people of Carson.

Pulido was born and raised in Carson. With a MBA in Business Administration, he currently works alongside the council as an aide doing casework, community relations and resolving constituent service requests. He says that he stands for public safety first, protecting children and senior citizens

Rojas is a graduate of Carson High School and is with the Los Angeles Police Department. 

Henderson will give it another go after unsuccessfully running for a council seat in 2018. 

Of the five candidates running for city clerk, only Vera DeWitt has experience in Carson government; more than 30 years ago she served five years on the city council, the last in 1992. The other city clerk candidates are Jeffry Caballero, Myla Rahman, Monette Gavino and Falea’ana Meni.

Caballero is a federal tax and immigration attorney, although he passed the Uniform Bar Exam for the Vermont State Bar, he is not licensed in California. Caballero claims the UBE allows him to practice immigration law in California, but the exam’s website does not list California as one of the jurisdictions the exam is accepted. 

Meni ran for mayor in the most recent election and will be running for city clerk now. Monette Gavino, a special education teacher who was employed with the city in the past will be running as well. District Chief of Staff Myla Rahman who has been working for the state legislature for almost eight years now will also be running.

Update

City Clerk candidate Jeffry Caballero contacted RLn to clarify the confusion regarding his license to practice law in California. We elected to include the entirety of his clarification:

I believe the article still reflects the original statement published yesterday. I also think whoever called me misunderstood what I said. But my intention here is to rectify any misunderstanding and ensure that accurate information is provided to the public. I apologize for the complexity of the issue. Most people don’t understand how attorney licensing works.

What I was trying to convey is that those who passed the UBE have the opportunity to be admitted to the bar of over 36 states that have adopted the UBE. Admission to state bars means that the attorneys may practice both state and federal law within that state. The second part is that those licensed in any U.S. jurisdiction (or state) may practice federal law in any state, such as California, as long as they don’t engage in state law practice. State law practice requires licensing in the local state. That is why the California State Bar stated that “attorneys who practice only federal law, such as immigration, may practice in California but be licensed in another state.” This includes me. I am a federal law practitioner in California. Therefore, I am an attorney in California practicing federal law with a license from another jurisdiction (i.e. VT), which is permissible under California law. The link is provided in other emails.

Further, out-of-state attorneys would not appear on the California State Bar’s website because the local state bar does not include names of attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions. The California State Bar instead instructs people wishing to verify the attorney’s license to contact the out-of-state bar for verification of the attorney’s license. Moreover, the fact that an attorney is licensed in another state or jurisdiction does not negate a person’s status as an attorney, regardless of where they are located.

All attorneys regardless of where they are licensed go through the same rigorous educational process and testing, which is graduating from American Bar Accredited (ABA) law school, passing a bar exam, and passing the character and fitness investigation to ensure that the attorney is fit to serve the public. Additionally, I expect to be California licensed as well before the end of the year.

I hope this clarifies the confusion and the article is edited to reflect accurate information. Again, I apologize for any confusion.

RLn staff reached out to the California Bar Association, and they had the following to say:

We cannot speak to the individual’s license status in Vermont, and we cannot verify the truth of all the statements of the individual you describe and quote. However, this is what is stated on our website with regard to practice in California:

In some instances, attorneys who are properly licensed and in good standing in another state are allowed to practice in California. For example, attorneys who practice only federal law, such as immigration, may practice in California but be licensed in another state. In those instances, you can make sure they are licensed by asking for their bar license number and state and looking them up in the directory for that state.

With that said, Caballero’s name was not listed among the attorneys in the state of Vermont in good standing as of April 9. 2021. According to a scanned results letter he had posted online, Caballero  passed the Uniform Bar Exam and received the results in April. That could very well explain why his name is absent from the attorneys in good standing list as of April 9. 2021.

Caballero’s clarification and RLn response will be printed in the Letters section of RLn’s print edition.