FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Several Fresno city leaders spoke out Thursday at City Hall over the candidacy of Rene Campos, a registered sex offender running for Fresno City Council District 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has come to my attention and even hit national news that we have a registered sex offender that is currently running for Fresno City Council. While I respect anybody’s ability to serve our community, I find this quite disturbing,\u201d said Councilmember Annalisa Perea. <\/p>\n
Campos\u2019 candidacy has sparked controversy within the public eye. <\/p>\n
Councilmembers say they are considering legislation aimed at preventing registered sex offenders from holding public office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you want to be an effective council member, you need, at the very least, to be able to go on school campuses. I would like to know that I can bring my children into City Hall,\u201d Councilmember Perea said. <\/p>\n
She added that she is working with colleagues on legislation to block Campos from running.<\/p>\n
Councilman Miguel Arias echoed concerns about the safety of children and families in civic spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny given Thursday, we have kids in this room. We have families and the last thing I want to be concerned about is whether there is a registered sex offender in these chambers,” he said. <\/p>\n
Other council members expressed same views. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are entitled to do their time and reform, but there are a lot of issues in respect to that potential occurring,\u201d said Councilmember Nelson Esparza.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is a place where you could not come in, that you could not bring your family, you could not feel safe, we’re missing the mission,\u201d added Nick Richardson, who also said he has coordinated with the city attorney\u2019s office to ensure school tours and youth programs remain safe.<\/p>\n
Campos told FOX26 he deserves a second chance and has taken the necessary steps to reintegrate into society.<\/p>\n
\u201cA constant battle of proving and proving and proving. How far does the person have to go before they have rehabilitated? When is it enough? How far does the person have to go? I stand in front of Fresno City Council and still they don’t believe in the very laws they’re pushing,\u201d Campos said.<\/p>\n
When asked about the proposed legislation to block his candidacy, Campos said:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus is District 7. However, this this reaches way further than Fresno, California, and so forth. The more people you put in a box, the easier it is to put the next person in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws say individuals who have completed their sentences should have full constitutional rights, including the ability to run for office.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if they don’t like folks who are on the registry, at least they have to deal with the fact that these are also human beings. They’re entitled to dignity. They’re entitled to their rights as American citizens. And if they’ve completed all the obligations that were put in front of them as a consequence of their crime, then they ought to be allowed to rejoin society fully,\u201d said Robin Vander Wall, the organization\u2019s board chair.<\/p>\n
Vander Wall emphasized that the ultimate decision should rest with voters.<\/p>\n
Despite the backlash, Campos says he will continue his campaign, leaving it to the public to decide whether he should serve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Several Fresno city leaders spoke out Thursday at City Hall over the candidacy of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-196037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}