Orange County Board of Education Trustee Beckie Gomez was served a lawsuit during a March 2 board meeting for simultaneously holding two elected seats whose jurisdictions overlap. This comes several months after her colleague was forced to resign for the same reason.
The lawsuit was filed by Mike Tardif on behalf of a group of individuals whose identities were not immediately known.
The lawsuit claims Gomez is unlawfully holding “two incompatible offices” by serving as a trustee on the board of education and a councilwoman on the Tustin City Council. The lawsuit demands that she be removed from office and pay a $5,000 fine.
Gomez has served on the Tustin City Council since 2010. While on council, she ran to serve as a board of education trustee and has served since 2016. Gomez won re-election for both seats in 2020.
Trustee Tim Shaw faced the same legal challenge in January 2021 that forced him to step down as a trustee in November since he was also serving on the La Habra City Council.
Shaw later resigned from La Habra City Council and was shortly after reappointed to the board of education in December.
However, the lawsuit points out the similarities between the circumstances of the two trustees, stating that Gomez’s positions are no different from Shaw’s.
“As to Gomez, the offices of Tustin City Councilmember and Board of Education are incompatible for the exact same reasons that applied to Shaw,” the lawsuit states. “The only difference between them is cities they serve and the [Orange County Department of Education] districts they represent.”
Since Gomez is holding two incompatible offices, she must forfeit the office that she was first sworn into, which is the board of education, according to the lawsuit.
The Epoch Times reached out to Gomez’s office but hasn’t received a response.
