Anthony, New Mexico Trustee vows to defend himself against lawsuit seeking his dismissal

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- A trustee with the City of Anthony, New Mexico claims Mayor Diana Murillo is trying to kick him out of office in an attempt to silence him over complaints he has made about her. Trustee Gabriel Holguin held a news conference in Las Cruces today with his attorney, Yvonne Quintana, vowing to fight Mayor Murillo's efforts. They said they want the public to know that Mayor Murillo filed a civil complaint with the Third Judicial District Court, seeking to remove Trustee Holguin as Trustee in the City of Anthony, New Mexico.

The complaint was filed on April 10th, one month after Holguin himself wrote a letter to Mayor Murillo, asking that she resign from office.

"Throughout your tenure as Mayor, you have demonstrated on several occasions your incompetence and undesire to serve the people, as well as the ability to effectively carry on the position that you were elected to by the people," Holguin wrote at the time.

Trustee Holguin argues Mayor Murillo allowed the Interim City Manager's contract to expire twice, which, in Holguin's opinion, constituted "acts of misconduct."

To read more about the City of Anthony, New Mexico's efforts to hire a new City Manager, click here.

Holguin also said the events of a March 15 public meeting led him to the writing of the letter seeking the Mayor's resignation. At that time, Mayor Pro-Temp, Elva J. Flores reportedly recorded a video of that meeting appearing to show Flores asking for a constituent to be removed from the premises for making "silly faces" at her. Flores then asked for the person to be banned from the next two meetings.

According to Holguin's letter, the mayor agreed with Flores, allowing four officers to escort the person out. Holguin is calling this a "misuse of city resources."

As for Mayor Murillo, she told ABC-7 at the time that all of the accusations were merely one person's opinion, adding that she does not plan to leave office.