The controversy continues over efforts to recall three Las Cruces city councilors. The political action committee New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow is trying to get a court to force the city of Las Cruces to reinstate petition signatures that were thrown out. More than 700 people asked the city to remove their signatures from petitions to recall city councilors Gill Sorg, Nathan Small, and Olga Pedroza. Currently, there are not enough valid signatures to require a recall election.
As KRWG first reported, the New Mexico State Police is conducting an investigation into allegations of fraud by petitioners…including statements that the petitions were to prevent the closure of a youth boxing center.
Local attorney Peter Goodman is part of a legal team seeking to intervene in the case…representing the interests of Councilor Gill Sorg. Full disclosure: Peter Goodman’s Las Cruces Sun News columns also appear online at krwg.org.
In an earlier story, Samantha Barncastle, Legal Counsel for the Group New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow, said petition circulators were trained on what to say when going door to door and said she hasn’t seen any evidence of fraud.
In the same story, New Mexico State Police confirmed they are investigating the allegations, but cannot comment on an ongoing investigation. Sgt. Elizabeth Armijo said in an email “because there is a large scope of information to look into, it’s going to be a process and take some time.”
