CONCORD – Nashua Democrat Debora Pignatelli became the third member of the Executive Council Wednesday to call upon colleague Raymond Burton to resign for repeatedly hiring a campaign aide with a long record as a child sex offender.

Pignatelli said she told Burton, a Bath Republican, that he should leave in the middle of his 14th two-year term serving a district that includes the upper one-third of the state.

“I thought it was a major mistake to keep this individual in his employ after he found out about his background,” Pignatelli said during an interview.

“I’ve always looked at my job in government as protecting children. I think that pedophilia is something that can’t be cured. By continuing to employ this individual, Councilor Burton acted as an enabler.”

Legally, councilors cannot petition to remove one of their own from office. The state constitution permits the House of Representatives to consider charges of impeachment against a councilor, as the House did in 2000 against former Supreme Court Chief Justice David Brock. The state Senate acquitted Brock on all charges.

Burton, who attended a council meeting Wednesday, told reporters citizens support him remaining in office and running again.

“I had 123 e-mails and all but two – and those weren’t signed – the rest said, ‘Ray Burton, keep doing what you are doing,’” Burton said. “I had 51 telephone messages and all asked how they can help start the campaign to get up in gear.”

Manchester Republican Rep. Steve Vaillancourt started a petition drive in support of Burton remaining in office.

“I suspect Ray will be re-elected by a healthy margin, and I urge him to hang in there. This honorable man has served the North Country and our state in an exemplary manner for 30 years,” Vaillancourt said.

Former Democratic state Sen. Wayne King of Rumney lent his support to Burton staying in office.

“Let us not diminish the seriousness of what has happened. But a lapse in judgment is not reason enough for the North Country’s most effective advocate to step down,’’ King wrote.

“It’s hard enough for folks in the North Country to get Concord’s attention in the first place.”

On Monday, Gov. John Lynch and the state’s entire congressional delegation urged Burton to step down for having failed to sever ties with Mark Seidensticker, 45. A former field coordinator and campaign photographer, Seidensticker was recently charged by Concord police with giving alcohol to a minor, and has been convicted three times for failing to register as a sex offender over the past 13 years.

Pignatelli joins Portsmouth Republican Ruth Griffin and Manchester Republican Raymond Wieczorek in concluding Burton should step down. The fifth councilor, Hopkinton Republican Peter Spaulding, criticized Burton’s behavior but said it’s up to the voters to decide if it warrants his removal from office.

Burton paid Seidensticker more than $7,000 last year and employed him in five of his last nine campaigns.

“I can’t stand by and ignore what is an enormous mistake in judgment,” Pignatelli said. “Unfortunately, I have to look past Ray Burton’s exemplary service to his district.”

Kevin Landrigan can be reached at 224-8804 or landrigank@telegraph-nh.com.