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Faith Leaders Seek to Clear Doubt Over Motives Of Las Cruces Mayor And City Council

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA), NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe has requested records, namely e-mails and phone records, from Mayor Ken Miyagishima and all City Councilors for the purpose of clearing doubt over their motives to pass the new minimum wage law to $10.10 by 2017.  According to IPRA, “citizens in a democracy have a fundamental right to have access to public records.  This right is recognized by the New Mexico Legislature through the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 14-2-1 et seq., and by the New Mexico Supreme Court, which stated in 1977 that a citizen’s right to know is the rule and secrecy is the exception…".

 

“Regrettably their words and actions before and after the vote have cast doubt in our community over their motive to pass the law.” explained Sarah Nolan, Executive Director of CAFé.  “In contrast, our motive is clear.  We want the desired outcome of $10.10 by 2017, the new law of the land.  And as of today, we are hearing that we have not yet achieved the desired outcome especially as the city council’s 10/27 work session looms to ‘discuss’ the new law.  We believe that there is nothing to discuss when over 6,000 Las Cruces voters signed a clear petition to support raising the wage to $10.10?  They signed the petition in good faith, and I hope that Mayor Ken Miyagishima and Councilors Smith, Silva and Levatino also voted for it in good faith.  We hope the records demonstrate their intentions so we can move forward.”  

 

“On Monday, 10/6, members of our community received a call from a push poll falsely misrepresenting our organization.  This activity undermines any well intentioned conversations moving forward.” added Rose Ann Vasquez, Operations and Communications Manager for CAFé.  

 

NM CAFé continues to organize the community to protect and preserve their raise to $10.10 by 2017.  Furthermore, voting secures the future of our families.  We are turning out thousands of disenfranchised voters to the polls this November 4th and asking them to vote their values.  We are committed to building power and creating a voting culture in Southern New Mexico that includes those who are excluded from policy decisions that impact their daily lives on November 4th, 2015, and beyond. 

 

 

 

 

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CAFé is a multi-faith, multi-cultural group that trains and builds the capacity of low and moderate-income families to help shape public policies aimed at improving people's quality of life in New Mexico