Suits challenge ballot qualifications of two City Council candidates

Two Albuquerque City Council candidates face legal challenges alleging they failed to submit the 500 valid petition signatures required to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot.

One lawsuit alleges that Stephanie Telles failed to qualify in the four-way race for an open District 1 council seat.

A second suit alleges Teresa Garcia failed to qualify in a three-way contest in District 3, where two candidates seek to unseat Councilor Klarissa Peña.

Both suits were filed Tuesday in 2nd Judicial District Court by former state Rep. Jacob Candelaria and Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, attorneys with Candelaria Law LLC. In addition to the candidates, Bernalillo County Clerk Michelle Kavanaugh is identified as a defendant in both suits.

Both lawsuits contend that some of the signatures accepted by the City Clerk’s Office are invalid for a variety of reasons. Those determinations were made by a contractor, Nathaniel Sierra, who was hired by Candelaria Law to examine the signatures.

District 1

Two men, Danny Gonzales and Vincent C. Sanchez, are named as plaintiffs in the suit against Telles.

District 1 Councilor Louie Sanchez is vacating his post to run for mayor, leaving his West Side seat open.

Telles submitted 581 signatures, but the City Clerk’s Office accepted only 493 as valid, leaving her seven signatures short to qualify for the ballot, the suit alleges.

But the contractor hired by Candelaria Law identified an additional 42 signatures as invalid, the suit alleges. Those people are either not city voters or live outside District 1, it said.

“This is just politics as usual,” Telles said Wednesday in a phone interview. “I think the voters deserve better.”

Telles acknowledged that the City Clerk’s Office rejected her candidacy because she failed to submit 500 valid signatures.

But Telles provided an Aug. 28 letter from the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office showing that she had qualified for the Nov. 4 city election ballot.

District 3

A second lawsuit filed Tuesday by Candelaria Law challenges Garcia’s candidacy for the District 3 race. Former Bernalillo County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada is listed as the plaintiff in the suit.

The suit alleges the City Clerk’s Office accepted 530 of the signatures as valid.

But the suit alleges that 67 of those signatures are invalid “because the names on those signature lines are duplicate names found on the signature petitions of another District 3 City Council Candidate.”

“This is a transparent attempt to thwart the will of the voters in District 3,” Garcia said in a written response to the lawsuit against her. “More than 500 registered voters in District 3 signed a petition seeking that I be on the ballot.”

Garcia also alleged that Quezada is married to a "paid assistant" for Peña, the incumbent, and filed the suit on Peña’s behalf.

“The voters of District 3 deserve leaders who respect the process and follow the law,” Peña said in a written response. “The fact is, it appears Teresa Garcia did not meet the legal requirements to qualify for the ballot. The rules are clear, and every candidate is responsible for meeting them.”