A group organizing a recall campaign against three Las Cruces city councilors is moving ahead with its efforts.
Jeffrey Isbell is the campaign manager for the group New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow. Isbell tells KRWG the group has filed the necessary paperwork to register as a Political Action Committee. Isbell says the group has targeted Councilors Nathan Small, Gill Sorg, and Olga Pedroza for what Isbell calls conflicts of interest. He cites Sorg and Pedroza’s efforts to collect petitions for the minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour by 2017 and Small’s employment with the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.
In an interview earlier this week, Councilor Small told KRWG the petition campaign for a recall election is divisive. Councilor Sorg says he agrees and adds the conflict of interest charges are without merit.
The three councilors targeted by New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow all voted against the ordinance to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017. Had they been successful, the ordinance would have been placed on the November ballot. But the other four council members voted for the ordinance, while expressing the need to change it. Sorg told KRWG he supports the ordinance, but wanted voters to have the chance to decide its fate.
Isbell says a public vote was the wrong approach and the decision should be in the hands of the council, where it is right now.
As for Isbell’s employment, he told KRWG he moved to Las Cruces to work for an unnamed non-profit group. He says he’s serving as a volunteer for New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow. As for that group…he says it will depend on donations to continue its work. The Las Cruces City Council is scheduled to vote on possible minimum wage amendments December 1.