Greenfield Mayor recall election

A recall election in southern Monterey County gets underway soon. It involves the Mayor of Greenfield. It’s all about a recall that started with a citizen petition. This is the second time Mayor John Huerta, Jr. of Greenfield has faced a recall. The first was back in 2012. All of this comes months after Huerta was censured by the Greenfield City Council. The council said he interfered with an ongoing criminal investigation into the local marijuana industry. Huerta says that the industry is the root of the divide in his community. “They talked about certain things that aren’t being done in Greenfield. That’s normal amongst cities – some projects do get behind,” Huerta said. “I think the real reason, or the real opportunity they saw, was that the city ventured into establishing a medical marijuana ordinance in January 2016 and they placed that recall because of those reasons.” Those who launched the petitions aren’t the only ones bothered by the mayor’s leadership. Council member Leah Santibenez is running to replace Huerta. “Originally, in the beginning, I wasn’t really in favor of the recall but I kind of had a change of heart. There have been mistakes made by the current mayor. Some have been unacceptable, that’s why I chose to run,” Santibenez said. Huerta is not without support. Many Greenfield businesses on El Camino Real display his campaign signs in their windows. Huerta says he’s confident Greenfield residents will vote in his favor. “The overwhelming responses, as I share with them updates on economic development projects (and) the medicine cannabis industry being here in Greenfield, is I’m giving them the correct information,” said Huerta. “No stories about whatever, this is the real deal. The voters appreciate that.”