Amargosa effort to recall Bosta fails

A recall attempt against Amargosa Valley town board member John Bosta failed last week.

Organizers were required to submit 88 valid signatures on the recall petitions in order for the county clerk’s office to call a special recall election, one-fourth of the Amargosa Valley voters who went to the polls in the last election. The Nye County clerk’s office said organizer Ken Pitarre submitted petitions with only 51 signatures.

Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino said the recall petitions were due by 5 p.m. Monday, but Pitarre was given until Tuesday morning after claiming some pages of the petition were missing.

“The fact that he doesn’t have enough (signatures) I gave him that leeway to turn them in in the morning and if you find the missing pages, you’re required by law to turn them in,” Merlino said.

Pitarre claimed there were four pages missing, with 10 signatures on each page. He asked for an extension of time beyond the 90 days to circulate the recall petitions, but Merlino said there’s no provision in the law for an extension.

“The people have spoken because he didn’t get the required number of signatures, so they must not be that upset,” Bosta said. “By not having the election, it saves the county the expense of doing the mail ballot. It won’t use up the time of the county staff.”

When asked for a comment about the recall, Pitarre said only “it’s not over.” He wouldn’t discuss any of his future plans against Bosta until they’re finished.

During a previous interview, Pitarre claimed Bosta wasn’t doing his job and refused to alter the way he does things. He admitted that Bosta’s advocacy on behalf of numerous issues, ranging from the governor’s town board appointments to water studies, played a part in the recall effort.

Bosta said Pitarre accused him of going against the wishes of developers, but he was uncertain who those developers were, “I can’t deal with bogeyman comments.”

Bosta was elected to the Amargosa Valley Town Board last November, polling 185 votes to finish fifth out of six candidates for the five positions. It was the first vote since Bosta helped circulate a petition asking Nye County commissioners to give Amargosa Valley an elected town board form of government.