Linda George, who ran for District 1 City Council seat, alleges racial targeting and conspiracy in election loss
PASO ROBLES — Following her loss in the 2024 election for the District 1 seat on Paso Robles City Council, Linda George has filed a personal injury complaint with the city. In addition to her requesting $500,000 for the claim, George is urging the city to terminate City Manager Ty Lewis.
Paso Robles Press reached out to City Mayor John Hamon for comment, and he said, “The city has received a claim from Ms. George, and our legal staff is evaluating the document.”
The city has not yet announced whether or not they are rejecting or accepting the claim at the time of printing this article.
Paso Robles Press submitted a public records request for the complaint George filed on Monday, Dec. 9, and received it within the same day. George filed the complaint and attached “Writ of Mandate to Compel City of Paso Robles to Terminate City Manager Ty Douglas Lewis” with the City Clerk on Tuesday, Dec. 3. A “writ of mandate” (also called a“writ of mandamus”) is a court order to compel a government official or lower court to perform a specific action they are legally obligated to do.
George told Paso Robles Press that if her complaint with the city is rejected, “I will take it to the judge if that is what the people want.”
She also told us, “I put it [the complaint] in the form of a Writ because of my limited typing ability. It will be better prepared for the judge. I did not want to have to type it twice.”
George ran against Kris Beal and current District 1 City Councilmember Sharon Roden for the seat. She lost the seat to Beal, who won with 43.82 percent of the vote, with Roden getting 39.30 percent of the vote, and George getting 16.88 percent.
George was mentioned in the rejected personal injury complaint that Lewis filed in August, just after he took a leave of absence. Lewis claimed that workplace stress caused him to experience medical complications. He cited Councilmember Chris Bausch at the center, also naming George as a member of a conspiracy group working against him in the hopes of getting him terminated from his position. Lewis returned to his position as city manager in late November.
In George’s mandate, she claims, “He [Lewis] has a long career of mistreating the public as an Police Officer, Police Chief and he has become an Activist City Manager. Mr Lewis is the most highly unethical, unrepentant City Manager behaving as if he is the junior mayor with his girlfriend, Lisa Lewis behaving as the junior mayor’s wife. What he says goes, and has often been described as the person who is in charge.”
She also claims that Lewis’s medical incident was “a fainting spell that never occurred. He feigned an illness and walked to the ambulance to what appeared to be a panic attack” that was a result of learning a planned citizen’s arrest.
Along with Lewis, George names other members of the community — named the “Cabal” — who she claims worked with Lewis to sabotage her campaign for District 1 City Councilmember.
In the 18-page claim, it reads: “… the Cabal only targeted Michael Rivera and Linda George both of Hispanic or Native American race it can be reasoned that some of this was racially motivated, We both were called a dog on Social Media by [name redacted] in which the Cabal showed their extreme racism.”
Paso Robles Press reached out to Lewis for comment on the claim.
He said, “I think the document speaks for itself and is without merit. She’s painted many longtime community members, organizations, and other highly regarded individuals in a very defamatory light.”
At the end of George’s document, she lays out a “Remedy” for her complaint that includes requesting $2 million from the city with $500,000 going to George and the other $1.5 million to purchase the Paso Lounge (casino) on Black Oak Drive to be turned into a “job skills/Thrift Store/Paso Cares kitchen to cook and at night can be converted into shelter” and to “purchase the Casino monies, the City redirect monies from the pickleball court complex on Scott Street.”
In addition to requesting the termination of Lewis, George said she would like to see each member of the “cabal” banned from social media for the next five years.
Paso Robles Press is following this story and will provide updates as they become available.
