Wilcox Calls for Gallego to Change Name on Ballot

Mari­copa County Su­per­visor Mary Rose Wil­cox (D) said in a state­ment that she sup­ports a law­suit that seeks to re­quire state Rep. Ruben Gal­lego (D) to use his ori­gin­al last name, Mar­inelar­ena, on the bal­lot. “Gal­lego leg­ally ad­op­ted his moth­er’s maid­en name in 2008, after his mil­it­ary ser­vice ended. His fath­er had aban­doned the fam­ily when Gal­lego was 11 years old; as Gal­lego’s told plenty of re­port­ers, he raised his sib­lings along­side his moth­er.” (Slate)

“I am openly call­ing for Mr. Mar­inelar­ena or Mr. Mar­inelar­ena Gal­lego to put his leg­al sur­name, in­clud­ing his giv­en name Mar­inelar­ena, on the bal­lot, so every­one has the chance to learn about his ex­per­i­ences and who he really is,” Wil­cox said in a state­ment. Wil­cox also re­ferred to Gal­lego tak­ing leg­al ac­tion to re­move a can­did­ate who leg­ally changed his name to Cesar Chavez — ori­gin­ally named Scott Fist­ler — from the bal­lot. (re­lease)