Patricia Kotez-Ramos: Candidate for State Assembly, 58th District

By Randy Economy

This is the first foray into elected office for Downey community leader Patricia Kotez-Ramos who is the lone Republican in a field that includes five Democrats in the newly created 58th Assembly District campaign.

Kotez-Ramos is the owner of her own security safety agency for the past three decades and she and her husband decided to open their own business ten years ago to that specializes in employee misconduct,  product theft and has a client base in 44 states, and in Canada and Mexico.

She was born in Westchester County, New York, in Pleasantville, and after working in both Denver and other areas, made her way to Downey in the 1990’s where she and her husband have raised two daughters.  Kotez-Ramos is the current Chairwoman of the Downey Public Works Committee and is active in several regional community based organizations including Soroptimist International and the Downey Chamber of Commerce.

“We were tired of making other people money, so we decided to open our own business,” she quipped.

Kotez-Ramos said that “job creation” has to be a top priority for the next elected member of the state assembly and pointed to the double-digit unemployment rates throughout the region as a sobering “wake-up call.”  She said that Sacramento needs more business owners, and more females to serve in the Assembly, and also finds the new California Open Primary system as a “good thing, however, I wish more people would get out and vote.”

She said she is focusing her campaign efforts to get “more people registered and to the polls.” Kotez-Ramos said she “likes her odds” for moving into the General Election as one of the two vote getters since and continued to point out that when “Republicans stick together, we win elections.”  “The Primary election is just as important as the election in November.”

If elected she said she will “help small businesses repay debts and create jobs by reforming the tax code to promote job growth and retain our tax base, reducing regulatory compliance costs and red tape.”

Citing the alarming statistics of child hood obesity within the district, Kotez-Ramos said “we need to change the education system to provide more nutrition and physical activity to align better with ‘Team California for Healthy Kids.’”

She also advocates a reduction the state debt by eliminating waste inside state government, while finding less expensive, more effective ways of operating government.

“We need to be accessible to all residents, through regular open subject Town Hall meetings and community workshops, and to give local governments more control over policy making, so decisions better fit the needs of the people.”