West Virginia: Four Salem City Council members may be facing recall

This one is very hard to track, which fits in with my experience on West Virginia recalls. Apparently, four Salem City Council members, Israel Williams, Laurie McKowen, Bobby Knight and Doug Fischer, are facing recalls (petitioners needed 20% of registereds). The four seem to have voted to kick out the now-former Mayor Don Stamm due to a claim that he didn't actually live in the city. The two members who didn't vote for Stamm's removal weren't targeted in the recall. There won't be a replacement vote -- the surviving council members appoint replacements.

According to one article:

Each petition accuses the four of “disruptions and actions that continue to subject the city to ridicule from the media and neighboring communities. They continue to waste valuable time squabbling and pursuing personal attacks rather than addressing the real challenges and concerns that face the city.”

The city apparently also has a law that the petitioners will have to pay for the costs of the recall. Now, we saw a "loser pays" law in Keyser, West Virginia (which seemed to have a very anti-democratic code), but this law seems a bit different. This may involve some digging, so stay tuned.