Sabal no longer involved in recall of Gomez

Natalio Sabal, who took out recall petitions against Douglas Mayor Dr. Michael Gomez several months ago, officially announced he can no longer be involved in that effort.

In a letter to Douglas City Clerk Brenda Aguilar, Sabal wrote, “This is to inform you that for very personal family reasons that need my full attention, I will no longer be involved in the recall election against the Mayor that I initiated in your office. Because of my personal situation, I have for some time been unable to be actively involved in this process and feel it unfair to all those interested parties, supporters and helper s to continue without my full and active attention.

“It is imperative to note that my departure from the process does not negate the fact that there was an enormous amount of interest in changing the leadership in the Mayor’s office. The citizenry is extremely concerned about the cronyism, nepotism and favoritism blatantly seen coming out of his office along with the lack of leadership in very important city matters and projects.

“It is also interesting and important to note that there were many citizens that would not sign the public petition for fear of intimidation or retaliation.

“I would like to thank the many people that did sign and were willing to let their feelings of dissatisfaction be known regardless of the fear factor as well as the many others that informed me that they would vote for me had there been an election with a private ballot.”

The recall group has 120 days, until December 1, to collect 424 valid signatures  (25 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last mayoral election) to force a recall.