FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — A nearly 2-year-old campaign to remove a Ute tribal leader from office has been dealt a blow after the recall petition against Maxine Natchees was ruled invalid. The tribe's department of vital statistics dismissed the petition on the grounds that all 129 signatures were invalid because they exceeded a 90-day time limit.

The petition was refused by Natchees when it was first presented to the tribe's Business Committee in November 2003. With three new members recently elected to the committee, petition drive organizers decided it was time to try again. When the recall document was resubmitted last month, three of the six-member Business Committee agreed to accept it for review.

Disgruntled constituents of Natchees, who chairs the tribe's governing board, claim she is a puppet for controversial tribal finance director John Jurrius. Mary Carol Jenkins, who led the petition drive, said she was tired of all the talk and no action when it comes to the need to change the tribe's current political structure.

Opponents of Natchees claim that tribal members are losing their jobs to Jurrius' non-Indian friends. They are also balking at the $50,000 a month the tribe pays to Jurrius for his services, as well as questioning contracts which assure him a financial return in business deals he negotiates for the tribe.

Recall petition rules mandate that signatures must be collected and submitted within 90 days. The 18-month-old petition was to have been shielded from the obvious time penalty because of a caveat agreed upon by the Business Committee in June to accept it as though it had been accepted on Nov. 5, 2003 — the date it was initially attempted to be served.

But even if all signatures hadn't been found to be too old, vital statistics clerks had other grounds for dismissal, including 18 names that were printed rather than signed, and a handful of others that had the wrong address or no address. The petition had to have 123 valid signatures to be approved so that a recall election could be held to remove Natchees.

Sandy Hansen, the attorney for petitioners, said they are now researching the best way to successfully appeal the dismissal in Ute Tribe Court.

With the recall at least temporarily behind them, the Business Committee is proceeding with its work.

"It's off the table now," said Business Committee member Irene Cuch, one of the three who accepted the recall petition.

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