Jose Lara and Leanne Ibarra were part of a corrupt pay-to-play scheme exposed by HMG in a series of articles.
STAFF REPORT
An long-running investigation and expose by Hews Media Group has resulted in a landslide recall of El Rancho Board Members Jose Lara and Leanne Ibarra.
The seven article expose started with outlining the corruption and pay-to-play politics involved with the El Rancho School Bond and went from there, resulting in Bond Construction manager Jaime Ortiz and ERUSD Superintendent Karling Forts’s resignations and the eventual recall getting started.
Of the nearly 4,000 votes, over 91% were in favor of removing Lara from office and 86% were in favor of removing Ibarra.
El Rancho board and committee member Joe Rivera, who won over 69% of the mail-in ballot vote, will take one seat and Esther Mejia who won nearly 31% of the vote, will take the other seat.
The investigation also triggered an audit by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, FCMAT, which is ongoing.