2017 legislative session

Senator aims to exclude public job applicants from open records law

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A southern New Mexico state senator Thursday filed a bill that would exclude job applications for public positions from the state’s open records law. Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, filed SB 93, which would exclude “records that would reveal the identity of an applicant for public employment” from the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). Papen told NM Political Report the bill is aimed at protecting job applicants’ privacy. “People should be able to apply for a job without having their name on the front page of the newspaper if they’re not a finalist,” Papen said. The bill specifies that finalists’ names and applications would be made public “no fewer than seven days prior to the final decision to hire the individual.” But the bill does not provide a definition for what a finalist is.

News

Las Cruces City Council to delay vote on recall signatures

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The Las Cruces City Council will not vote next week on three resolutions related to recall elections for three city councilors, according to a city official. Udell Vigil, a spokesman for the city of Las Cruces, told New Mexico Political Report the council will remove the items from the agenda due to a pending civil case. “The three resolutions will remain on the agenda, but they will be pulled by the council at the start of the meeting, which means they’re not going to consider them,” Vigil said. The council was scheduled to vote on whether or not to ratify signatures from three petitions aimed at recalling councilors Olga Pedroza, Nathan Small and Gill Sorg. Esther Martinez-Carrillo, the city clerk, deemed a number of signatures collected by a group called New Mexicans for a Better Tomorrow as invalid.

Community Voices

Recall petition against Sorg fails – for now! | by Peter Goodman

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[box type=”info” style=”rounded”]PETER GOODMAN is a Doña Ana County resident who writes, shoots pictures, and sometimes practices law. Visit his blog, “Views From Soledad Canyon,” by CLICKING HERE.[/box]

Local business interests who hired people to collect signatures to recall City Councilor Gill Sorg failed to collect enough signatures to trigger a recall election; but the recall proponents may file suit. The bar was low. They needed only 10% of the district’s registered voters. Their cause was so unpopular they had to lie about what the petition was for.