Recently I visited with eighteen voters who'd signed the recall petition against Olga Pedroza.
Each voter asked to take his or her name off the petition. All but one described election fraud, whether or not s/he used that term.
The lies varied.
The first lady said she hadn't signed any recall petition, and wouldn't. Had she signed any kind of petition? Yes, but for some public good. A young boy with her said it was about some parking lot. She then recalled that it was to save the PAL Boxing Gym from being torn down for a parking lot. Recall wasn't mentioned, she said. When she realized the fraud, she was angry.
The recall-targeted councilors have said nothing to indicate they want to close PAL. As one voter pointed out, the City doesn't even own the land. (He was a friend of Austin Trout who'd also been told the petition was to save PAL.)
In late December, the City Clerk warned the recall folks against further fraud. January 12th, PAL's Chairman of the Board published a letter in the Sun-News saying PAL hadn't been threatened, wasn't involved in the recall, and wished the recall proponents would stop misusing PAL's name to hustle signatures.
Petition circulators continued to use the baseless PAL story. They probably know that District 3 voters mostly like Olga Pedroza and favor the minimum-wage hike that elicited the spurious recall effort -- but also love PAL.
There were other lies. One elderly woman, who'd apparently spotted Olga Pedroza's name on the petition and asked about it, said she was told recall meant “to bring her back into office.” A man said he was told Olga was against the minimum-wage hike.
When I mentioned the “recall means to bring back to office” line to a young woman who'd also talked to some voters, she exclaimed that one had told her the same thing. She wrote me, “[E]very single person wanted to be removed from the petition. It was really upsetting actually, most of the people were very confused and it was clear that they had been given bad information.”
It is frustrating to talk to good people who've been bamboozled and hear them express surprise and anger, then apologize for being taken in. I'd known there was fraud, but not how it permeated the whole recall operation.
This stuff shouldn't happen. (In fact, misrepresenting the purpose or effect of a petition in order to get signatures is a 4th-degree felony under New Mexico law.)
Wednesday a Republican woman complained that these folks had just lied to her. In Gill Sorg's district, they told her they were recalling “Bill” because of the pet-licensing issue. I'm not even sure the pet-licensing issue had been voted on before the recall started.
Who are these people? Apparently some rich businessfolks in the County bankrolled this thing; the Koch Brothers' “Americans for Prosperity” is apparently involved. Its local head, Pam Wolfe, has been working actively on the recall. (Certainly the truth quotient of this operation resembles AFP's in various elections; and the Koch Brothers intensely dislike the minimum wage.)
Please read carefully what folks ask you to sign. Unless you have strong personal beliefs that your councilor is dishonest or malfeasant, resist helping force the City to spend money on a pointless special election. If you've signed a recall petition in error, or because you were misled, contact me – or write the City Clerk a signed letter with your name and address printed legibly, the date, and your request to have your signature withdrawn or expunged. Including your phone number will help the Clerk confirm that you wrote the letter.
Additional notes in Peter Goodman's Views from Soledad Canyon .
Peter Goodman is a local writer, photographer, and sometime lawyer. He initially moved to Las Cruces in 1969, holds two degrees from NMSU, and moved back here in 2011 with his wonderful wife. This is his most recent Sunday column in the Las Cruces Sun-News. His blog Views from Soledad Canyon contains further information on this subject, as well as other comments and photographs, and past newspaper columns.