Pueblo City Council weighs censure of councilman Roger Gomez over library comments

UPDATE: Shortly before midnight on Monday, the censure against councilman Roger Gomez failed 3-3.

ORIGINAL STORY:

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - The Pueblo city council is considering a formal resolution to publicly censure one of its own members.

Councilmember Roger Gomez is under fire over comments he made about a library employee’s gender identity.

The resolution, a rare move by a city council, stems from remarks Gomez made during the July 14 City Council meeting while discussing the Library District Board and future policies for the library system.

"This is going to be tough for me to get out, but I'm going to say it anyway… There's a person at the front desk. They have some questions about what's a he or she… So I’m being frank. I just don't feel comfortable supporting this until I get the answers I need," Gomez said at the time.

Days after the meeting, Gomez visited a library branch to confront the staff and question what type of LGBTQ materials were available to patrons.

Those comments sparked backlash from community groups and city leaders, including Mayor Heather Graham, who accused him of discriminating against members of his community.

If approved, the measure would publicly reprimand Gomez and ask Council President Mark Aliff to remove him from his position as chair of the city council's work sessions. It would not remove him from office.

According to the city’s public affairs office, once the agenda item is called, Gomez will be allowed to make a statement and then must leave the room while the remaining council members discuss and vote on the resolution.

When the proposal first surfaced, Gomez released a statement to KRDO defending his actions and claiming the criticism was motivated by his political adversaries.

"This whole thing was choreographed by Councilor Sarah Martinez who was furious with me because I voted down a council contingency she put forward that I voted down because it was going to one of the best financed non profits in the city that also happened to be operated by relative. First of all she should have used beeper judgement and not bring it forward in the first place let alone refusing to abstain from voting. Unfortunately for her the majority also voted down her request. Hence the following onslaught and another character assignation against me through the known and outed collusion efforts of her and the mayor. If you recall Sarah Martinez (democrat) was publicly rebuked and censured for providing the candidate for mayor Graham (republican) with internal democratic voting lists. This is just another vindictive and completely created scenario because I have and will continue to stand up against the mayor and Sarah when I disagree with them. More importantly I will continue bringing inquiries forward by the constituents who I represent no matter how uncomfortable or intolerant or it may be conceived by special interest groups who have their own agendas…. rog," Gomez wrote.

At the time of this publication, the city council had not yet reached the resolution item to discuss it.

KRDO13 will update this article once a decision is made.