Recall Vote on Mayor Delayed : South El Monte: Questions about petition gatherers keep the election off the November ballot.

A Pasadena Superior Court judge Tuesday postponed a recall election of South El Monte Mayor Sam Quintana until it can be determined whether several people who circulated recall petitions were residents of the city.

Judge Marvin B. Grover issued a restraining order preventing the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder from placing the recall on the Nov. 6 ballot. Grover’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by South El Monte resident Franklin Morith claiming that several people who gathered signatures for the recall petition did not live in the city.

The state Elections Code stipulates that individuals gathering signatures for a recall must live in the district affected by the recall.

Tuesday’s action came after the registrar-recorder placed the recall on South El Monte’s November ballot. Although the South El Monte City Council voted in a split decision last Thursday to keep the recall off the ballot, county officials said they detected no wrongdoing in the petition process and therefore placed the matter on the ballot. City Clerk Kathy Gonzales said 1,217 people signed the petitions, representing 25% of South El Monte’s 4,866 registered voters.

Meanwhile, backers of the recall charge that Quintana had a conflict of interest and should not have voted on the matter when it came before the council.

“It was improper, it was self-serving,” said Councilman Raul Pardo , who supports the recall and believes that the mayor is behind the lawsuit in an attempt to save his position on the city council.

“It’s a sham,” Pardo added. “I think (Quintana) has total contempt for the election process and the community at large.”

Pardo said that the validity of the recall petitions was certified by the city clerk and the county clerk and that the lawsuit is a delaying tactic to ensure Quintana remains on the council.

Quintana responded that the city attorney told him he could vote on the matter without a conflict of interest. Quintana said he and a group of supporters asked Morith if he would allow his name to be used as the plaintiff in the lawsuit and that Morith agreed.

The mayor’s supporters, calling themselves the Committee Against Recall, are paying the legal fees for the lawsuit.

Morith, who brought the suit, could not be located for comment.

Michael Considine, a local businessman, helped organize the recall effort. Considine denied that the petitions were circulated improperly and said Quintana is ignoring his constituents--one reason his recall was being sought.

“There (were) more people who signed that petition than voted in the last election,” Considine said. “This is just a ploy by Stan Quintana to get off the hook.”

Councilman Art Olmos, however, said the lawsuit was needed to challenge irregularities in the way signatures were gathered.

He claimed that the people circulating the petitions falsely informed residents that their homes would be confiscated by the city for redevelopment if Quintana remained in office.

Olmos and City Councilman Albert Perez were early targets of the recall effort, but petitioners failed to get the necessary number of signatures to place their names on the ballot.

A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 19 to determine whether the petitions for Quintana’s recall are valid. Depending on the outcome of that hearing, the city can either hold a special election or drop the matter, Pardo said.

Times Community Correspondent Steve Tice contributed to this story.