Who Will Be the Next Victim of the Grand Bounce? A nonpartisan, nonjudgmental look at the “Hair-Trigger” Form of Government
A new recall effort has been filed against Loveland City Council member Don Overcash over his alleged support for developers and votes against motions to discuss potential health impacts ofoil and gas development. Overcash had previously faced a recall effort over an In-N-Out Burger drive-thru and being allegedly hostile to the mayor and two other councilors.
Overcash lost a mayoral run in 2021.
Petitioners need 1254 signatures in 30 days.
Following the recall and removal of Benton County Sheriff Jerry Hatcher last August, a $22M lawsuit has been filed by deputies against the County for failing to protect them from Hatcher.
An independent investigator found that Hatcher retaliated against a whistleblower and two witnesses and engaged in anti-union activity.
We've looked at all of these recalls individually, though here is an article noting them as a group. The recalls are being launched by a group opposed to mask mandates put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The recalls are targeting: Watervliet's Bill Spaulding, St. Joseph's Bret Wier and Kathy Weycamp, Lakeshore's Jason Beckrow and Rachel Wade, and Niles Mark Wortham, Kyle Zelmer and David Fish.
Petitioners claim they have 997 signatures for the recall of Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson, collecting more than 600. They need about 450 valids. They recall is seemingly over claims that he used a podcast to discuss an underwater hotel in Lake Superior, thereby using his title as mayor to attract investors, and plans to fund city projects with cryptocurrency.
Swanson was one of six Minnesota mayors to endorse Trump in September, which has also led to complaints (though does not seem to be the basis of the recall).
Minnesota is a strict malfeasance standard/judicial recall state and nearly all petitions (but one!) that I've seen have been rejected at that stage. The City Attorney wrote an opinion that he used the position for personal benefit, which could allow them to overcome the malfeasance standard. Interesting provision in the charter -- if there are less than two years in the term, the council appoints a replacement. If there are more, than there is a special election.
A recall effort has been launched against Lubbock's New Deal Independent School District Board Members over claims that they misused over a $1M in public money to compensate a past Superintendent.
A recall effort is being launched against Gilroy Councilmember Rebeca Armendariz over a fatal shooting that took place at a party at a house. An investigation found that she didn't fully cooperate with investigators.
Petitioners would need more than 6000 signatures to get the recall on the ballot.
The early returns show that Palmer City Council members Brian Daniels, Sabrena Combs and Jill Valerius are all losing their recall vote, with 400 more votes to count. The current vote is 250-149 to remove Combs, 253-147 against Daniels and 248-147 against Valerius.
The recall was over claims of Open Meeting Act violations. A fourth member, Julie Berberich, was targeted, but she lost reelection. The violations were claims that they all belonged to one closed Facebook group for Social Justice. Petitioners got 169 signatures.
More on the Gage County Supervisor Don Schuller (D) recall effort, with a Beatrice Mayoral candidate pushing the effort. The recall seemed to be over a kitchen sink of reasons, though one is a vote in favor of wind turbines, a big recall issue recently. Schuller is the only Democrat on board (there are seven seats).
The other issues include a vote against a bill touting 2nd Amendment rights and votes in favor of a 30-by-30 plan and the Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Act.
Petitioners need 453 signatures in 30 days.
Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard is facing a June 28 recall vote, which would only be the second that I've seen in Illinois. I don't see the details on the actual details on the recall yet, so hopefully we'll find out more soon enough.
The recall is over a slew of complaints: taking a Township Supervisor job that pays $250,000 which seen as a conflict of interest; keeping the board from meeting, paying bills and refusing to show what is being paid, as well as hiring a code enforcement officer who spent 24 years in prison for kidnapping and sexual assault.
Signatures were turned in for the recall against Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue Board Member Todd Holt and Kathryn Menefee. Petitioners handed in more than 400 and needs 292 valids. The complaint seems to be over a call by Holt over to a building inspector asking for an inspection of a station and coordinated criticism of the fire chief.
Former board member Peter Carlich (who lost to Menefee) turned in the signatures.
A recently appointed Desert Sands School Board Trustee Jacob Alvarez was removed after petitions were taken out against him. Because he was recently appointed, the Superintendent could remove him and order a special election (which Alvarez will be running in). There were recall efforts against School Board Trustees Tricia Pearce and Wendy Jonathan over their support of restrictions to combat the coronavirus pandemic (though Jonathan has apparently since said she would oppose vaccine and mask mandates). There are also complaints over ethnic studies curriculum. There are also recall attempts against Trustees Ana Conover, Don Griffith (who resigned and was replaced by Alvarez) and Linda Porras, but the paperwork was incorrect.
Petitions have been taken out against Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna Geck over complaints about family custody rulings. Petitioners would need 12,683 signatures to get on the ballot in 160 days.
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador easily survived his recall vote, winning with about 93% of the vote in his favor. About 17.7% of voters came out to vote, nowhere near the 40% needed to get on the ballot.
This was an odd recall as AMLO was the real proponent of the self-recall, something he has been pushing since the beginning of his term. AMLO said that he would resign if he lost even if they didn't meet the turnout requirement. It seems the replacement would be chosen by Congress, which is dominated by AMLO's party. Here's a good look at some of the questions about the recall.
AMLO seems to be hoping to gain strength and support for the last three years of his term and there is quite a bit of debate as to whether he strengthened his position or weakened it (it feels like every take is a political one, so it is hard to get a good grasp). Here's an op-ed I wrote in the Houston Chronicle looking at the subject.
The early results are out in the recall of Banks Fire District 13 Board Members Mark Schmidlin and Ed Ewing, with Schmidlin in a five vote lead to survive (701-706) and Ewing ahead by a significant amount 46.81-53.19%). Turnout is 31%, with votes still able to come in. The recall was over claims that they failed to quickly investigate claims that the fire chief sexually harassed a minor as well as made racist and sexist remarks.
Petitions have been filed against three Richland School Board Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams over a vote to make mask mandates optional, which allegedly violates state law that mandated masks to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Because Washington is a malfeasance standard/judicial recall state, a judge would have to approve the petitions as showing a violation of state law. If that happens, petitioners would need at least 5000 signatures each.
Michigan lawmakers are looking to close the loophole allowing officials to raise unlimited funds during a recall. Previously, a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit over Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) ability to raise unlimited funds and keep it for a general election. The rejection was over standing grounds, with the judge holding that the plaintiffs (the state GOP) hadn't shown an injury.
Whitmer was able to raise funds in unlimited amounts, rather than the $7,150 usual limit. Anyone paying attention to the California and Wisconsin recalls will be well familiar with this result. Petitioners would need 1,062,647 signatures to get on the ballot and here's a bill that is being proposed to get the recall law in-line with other campaign finance rules.
Petitions have been rejected against Niles School Board President Mark Wortham and Trustees Kyle Zelmer and David Fish over unclear language (specifically leaving out the title of the superintendent). The recall was over the board members support for mask mandates and other protective measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. No word on how many signatures are needed.
Petitions have been approved against St. Joseph School Board members Brett Wier and Kathy Weykamp over their support for mask mandates and other preventative measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Not sure how many signatures would be needed to get on the ballot.
MP Imran Ahmad Khan (Formerly Conservative) may be facing a recall after being found guilty of sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy in 2008. Khan said that he will appeal. If the sentence is over a year, he will be expelled, but if it is less than a year, it sounds like there will be an effort for a recall campaign. The UK recall law requires a conviction but a sentence of less than a year in order for a recall to be allowed.
Labour would apparently be favored in the district.
The recall effort against Huntington Beach Council members Kim Carr, Dan Kalmick, and Mike Posey has failed, with petitioners falling about 1000 signatures short for each. Signatures were handed in for the with about 13,966-14,295 per candidates. They needed 13,352 valids for each.
Petitioners had previously failed in handing in signatures for Huntington Beach Councilmembers Barbara Delgeize, and Natalie Moser, with petitioners not handing in the 13,252 signatures needed. Councilman Erik Peterson, a conservative, is not facing recall threats and Rhoda Bolton was targeted earlier, but did not hit the end of her term's grace period to start the signature collection effort.
The issue is claims that they surrendered "local zoning control to the state." One of the leaders of the petition effort is Gracey Van Der Mark, who lost the race for the seat in November 2020 (she came in fourth for the three seats).
Sunday will see the largest recall by population in history, with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador facing the voters in a recall that he seems to be the only one to back and promote. AMLO is expected to easily triumph, as opponents are split on whether to boycott the vote. Proponents would need to get 40% of registered voters to turnout for the recall to qualify, though AMLO said that he would resign if he lost even if they didn't meet the turnout requirement. It seems the replacement would be chosen by Congress, which is dominated by AMLO's party. Here's a good look at some of the questions about the recall.
Here's an op-ed I for Mexico News Daily wrote on the unusual nature of the AMLO recall. I do not know of another recall where the target was the prime backer. AMLO seems to be hoping to gain strength and support for the last three years of his term. For some of the criticism of the recall, here's a Washington Post op-ed.
One of the candidates in the Mequon-Thiensville Board of Education member recall, Scarlett Johnson, lost an election to get on the board.
Johnson was one of the losing candidates in the November school board recall, where Wendy Francour beat Cheryle Rebholz (58.75-41.20%), Chris Schultz defeated Scarlett Johnson (58.93-41.05%), Akram Khan beat Kristopher Kittell (58.16-41.76%) and Erik Hollander defeated Charles Lorenz (59.85-40.11%).
The recall was over distance learning plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Though the plans were for the last school year, and petitioners had an election in April, they seemed to focus on it now due to what they claim are results published from opening meeting request.
Palmer City Council members Brian Daniels, Sabrena Combs and Jill Valerius are facing a recall vote on April 19 over claims of Open Meeting Act violations. A fourth member, Julie Berberich, was targeted, but she lost reelection. The violations were claims that they all belonged to one closed Facebook group for Social Justice. Petitioners got 169 signatures.
After surviving a recall threat in 2021, Norman Mayor Breea Clark lost her reelection race to Larry Heikkila, 53.39-46.61%.
The recall effort, which failed after a number of signatures were tossed out, was is over a vote to cut the police department's proposed budget by $865,000 (it appears not to be an actual cut -- the police wanted a big increase and got only a smaller one). There are also complaints about the council's push to require masks to stave off the coronavirus.
Banks Fire District 13 Board Members Mark Schmidlin and Ed Ewing are battling back against their recall vote on April 12 over claims that they failed to quickly investigate claims that the fire chief sexually harassed a minor as well as made racist and sexist remarks.
This would open up recalls to MLA's (I believe, not clear from the story itself). If this advances, will have some more details.
Alamosa/12th Judicial District Attorney Alonzo Payne is facing a potential recall effort over complaints of being soft on crime. The Secretary of State is reviewing grounds for the recall, The petitions were taken out by Alamosa Mayor Ty Coleman. Petitioners would need 3996 signatures to get on the ballot.
Here's some further complaints.
This seems like what would be a fairly odd piece of legislation, as State Representative Chris Bos (R) proposed a law to allow a recall of County State's Attorney Recall Act, targeting Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx over her prosecutorial decisions. The act does not hit any other officials.
Alesa School Board Chair Ron Koetz (201-157) and Vice Chair Jeff Davis (196-160) both apparently lost a recall race on Tuesday (though the results won't be announced to April 25rh). The two voted to approve a resolution calling for masking to prevent the coronavirus pandemic to be optional, which was in contravention of the state mandate.
Davis was on the board for 12 years, Koetz 7. Marc Thielman, the former Superintendent who pushed for the resolution has resigned to run for the Republican nomination for Governor.
Kennebunk School Board (RSU 21) Member Timothy Stentiford survived a March 29 recall vote, 1716-516. The issue appeared to be a recent teacher contract and claims of bullying.
A Superior Court Justice had to decided whether the recall should follow town charter provisions, not the state school board ones.
Petitions were also taken out against Chair Arthur LeBlanc, with petitioners missing by one signature (they got 664). Petitioners, including former board member Norman Archer, handed in 697 signatures and verified 668, though that was lowered to 665. They needed exactly that.
A recall effort has started against Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich (D) for accepting donations from a nonprofit to help the city run elections to the coronavirus pandemic. This appears to be part of a nationwide effort to attack election administrations.
The recall effort is led by David VanderLeest, who lost a State Assembly race in 2012 to Genrich. VanderLeest also ran (and lost) against State Senator Dave Hansen (D) in the 2011 recall.
Petitioners would need over 11,000 signatures to get to the ballot.
Petitioners claim to be only 350 signatures away from hitting the mark for the recall of Oakdale Mayor Gene Paul over revelations that the city clerk stole $897,000. The clerk has since died. Petitioners would need 934 signatures in 180 days.
Petitioners claim they have enough signatures for the recall of Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson, collecting more than 600. They need about 450 valids. They recall is seemingly over claims that he used a podcast to discuss an underwater hotel in Lake Superior, thereby using his title as mayor to attract investors, and plans to fund city projects with cryptocurrency.
Swanson was one of six Minnesota mayors to endorse Trump in September, which has also led to complaints (though does not seem to be the basis of the recall).
Minnesota is a strict malfeasance standard/judicial recall state and nearly all petitions (but one!) that I've seen have been rejected at that stage. Interesting provision in the charter -- if there are less than two years in the term, the council appoints a replacement. If there are more, than there is a special election.