Government
| Mayors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Name | Period |
| Mayor | Josefina C. Rodriguez | (1979–1982) |
| Mayor | Elias Bermudez | (1982–1984) |
| Mayor | Marco Antonio "Tony" Reyes | (1984–1994) |
| Mayor | Mike Lopez | (1994–1996) |
| Mayor | Pedro Julian | (1996–1997) |
| Mayor | A. Joe Harper | (1997–2003) |
| Mayor | Guillermina Fuentes | (2003–2004) |
| Mayor | Nieves G. Riedel | (2004–2006) |
| Mayor | Guillermina Fuentes | (2006) |
| Mayor | Juan Carlos Escamilla | (2006–present) |
| City Council | ||
| Office | Name | Period |
| Mayor | Juan Carlos Escamilla | (2006–2010) |
| Vice-Mayor | Gerardo Sanchez | (2008–2012) |
| Council Member | Marco A. Pinzon | (2010–2014) |
| Council Member | Gloria Torres | (interim) |
| Council Member | Jose Suarez | (2008–2012) |
| Council Member | Mario Buchanan Jr. | (2008–2012) |
| Council Member | Africa Luna-Carrasco | (2010–2014) |
| City Manager | Ralph Velez | |
| City Clerk | Sonia Cuello | |
| City Attorney | Glenn Gimbut | |
| City Magistrate | Rosendo Morales Jr. | |
| City Engineer | Ralph Malph | |
| Chief of Police | Eddie Munoz | |
| Fire Chief | Hank Green | |
The city of San Luis uses a Council-Manager form of government, where the seven-member council appoints a city manager, city attorney, city engineer, city magistrate, chief of police and fire chief.
Since 1996, the city has been plagued by a wave of recalls. It has had six different mayors in a 10-year period and has gone through almost two dozen council members during that time.
In January 2012, the city made national news when Alejandrina Cabrera, a city council candidate, was banned from running for office because it was claimed that she was not proficient enough in English. Yuma County Superior Judge John Nelson issued an order on January 25 stating that Cabrera's name be stricken from the ballot. Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla had filed a lawsuit requesting that the court determine Cabrera's qualification to run for office based on her English skills. Cabrera had previously launched two unsuccessful recall campaigns against Escamilla, after the council raised utility rates. She claimed that the lawsuit was politically motivated. The issue was of national importance because it was reminiscent of Jim Crow Laws enacted in the southern United States between 1876 and 1965.
Read more about this topic: San Luis, Arizona
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently checked, it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised.”
—John Caldwell Calhoun (1782–1850)
“We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms.... Only in superstition is there hope. If you want to become a friend of civilization, then become an enemy of the truth and a fanatic for harmless balderdash.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)