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David Gutierrez recall, Dona Ana County, New Mexico (2015)
| Dona Ana County Treasurer recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in New Mexico New Mexico recall laws County official recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall David Gutierrez in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, from his position as county treasurer was proposed in March 2015.[1]
Gutierrez refused to step down from his office as treasurer when asked to do so by the county board of commissioners after he admitted to offering $1,000 to a county employee for sex, saying he thought she would be flattered by the offer. Upon his refusal to resign, County Manager Julia Brown encouraged voters to organize a recall petition targeting Gutierrez.[1] No formal recall effort was initiated.[2]
Background
In August 2014, Dona Ana County Treasurer David Gutierrez admitted to attempting to exchange $1,000 for sex with a county employee. The county's board of commissioners censured Gutierrez and called on him to step down. However, the commission cannot force an elected official to resign for sexual harassment.[3] Gutierrez has refused to step down.[1]
David Gutierrez was elected as the Democratic candidate for the partisan position of county treasurer in 2012, with approval from 61.84 percent of voters. Prior to this election Gutierrez held the office from 1996 to 2004, when the county's term limits required him to take a term-long respite from the office. He was elected once again in 2008. As of 2014, Gutierrez's salary from his job as county treasurer was set at about $65,500 per year.[4]
Term limits required Gutierrez to take at least a four-year break from the office of treasurer following the expiration of his then current term in 2016.[4]
Recall supporters
The Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners voted to censure Gutierrez, and County Manager Julia Brown called on him to resign. Brown said, "The treasurer is operating under some self-imposed delusion that he didn't do anything wrong. It is astonishing to me because these charges were not made up and I'm not even saying allegations because he confessed."[1]
Brown called on voters to organize a recall campaign, saying, "If there ever was a time when people should dig deep and volunteer to do it, this is the time to do it."
Recall opponents
Response by David Gutierrez
David Gutierrez said he would not step down from the position of treasurer. He explained, "I will not resign. I have 38,867 reasons why I won't resign. That is the number of people who voted to re-elect me in 2012. The citizens of Dona Ana County trust me and approve of my job performance. I have done nothing over my 14 years in office to violate their trust." Gutierrez also said he thought the female public employee he offered $1,000 to have sex with him would be flattered.[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in New Mexico
Signatures equaling 33.3 percent of the number of votes cast in the most recent election for county treasurer would have been required to force a recall election. In 2012—the year of the most recent county treasurer election—62,848 votes were cast for the office of county treasurer, which means 20,950 valid signatures would have been needed to put David Gutierrez's recall on the ballot. The only deadline for signature submission is set by the constitutional requirement that no recall election occur after the first day in May in a year in which the targeted position is scheduled for election. Thus, to ensure a place before voters for the recall, petitioners would have had to submit the required signatures more than 90 days before May 1, 2016, allowing for enough time for the signatures to be certified before the 90-day mark on February 1, 2016.
See law: New Mexico Constitution, Article X, Section 9
See also
External links
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "David + Gutierrez + recall"
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 KVIA, "Dona Ana County residents protest treasurer who admits to offering employee money for sex," March 10, 2015
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun-News, "Editorial: Looking forward to treasurer’s last day," January 26, 2016
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun-News, "Ex-councilor seeks law change to remove County Treasurer David Gutierrez," January 13, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dona Ana County Government, "Treasurer's Office," accessed May 5, 2015
