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Organizers Continue Las Cruces Recall Effort

http://youtu.be/U72c6os_aYE

The efforts to recall City Councilors Gill Sorg, Olga Pedroza, and Nathan Small came short of collecting the correct number of valid signatures.

Outside the City Clerk’s office hangs lists of names of signatures removed from the recall petitions. For reasons ranging from being on the petition twice, not being able to read the signature, and not being registered to vote in that district.

Also included are names of about 50 people who asked to have their name withdrawn alleging that petitioners used misleading tactics to get them to sign. City Clerk Esther Martinez- Carillo says this wasn’t a large number.

“I received several calls, not too many,” Martinez- Carillo said. “Maybe a handful of them. And I did have a gentlemen come in the very first time, and he mentioned what he had encountered. And then I had two women who wrote a letter in mailed to me. And then I also had several other letters that came in later asking for their name to be withdrawn from the petition that they had previously signed.”

She says the petitioners have 15 days from when they received notice of the insufficient petitions to file a notice of intention to amend the petition.

“Should they decide to amend,” Martinez- Carillo said. “Then the day that I receive that notice of intention to amend, I will issue them a supplementary petition. And then they would have 15 days from that date to gather additional signatures. And they have to turn that into me.

The Group New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow released an online statement with their intention to continue the petition.

“Now is not the time to give up.  We press on,” New Mexicans for a better tomorrow stated.

“And that's exactly what we are going to do.  Our staff and volunteers are coming together to plan the next step forward.  We plan to go out and collect more signatures as the City Charter allows us to do.

To those that have been questioning whether to sign the petition or get involved, now is the time.”

Martinez- Carillo said she hadn’t received notice of intention to amend yet, but one of the petitioners told her he planned to by phone.

“One of the gentlemen that I spoke to,” Martinez- Carillo said. “He did verbally tell me that he did intend to amend his petition, but I reminded him that I needed something from him in writing. So, he mentioned that he would submit something to me sometime this week.”

Petitioners were about 300 short in Olga Pedroza’s district, and about 100 short in Gil Sorg’s and Nathan Small’s. Councilor Small said he plans to keep focusing on what is being done in the city and what needs to be done.

“Right from the get go, my focus was on doing the work I was elected to do,” Small said. “I think we can point to results, creating new jobs, helping create new neighborhood organizations, making our city safer, helping our infrastructure.  I’m confident that that’s what folks want to see. That’s what our community needs.”

If you want to check if your signature was removed from the list, they will remain posted at City Hall.

Samantha Sonner was a multimedia reporter for KRWG- TV/FM.