Michigan: Two Charlevoix city council members facing recalls

Two Charlevoix City Council members, Jill Picha and Bryan Vollmer, are facing recall petitions. According to the complaint, the reasons were open meeting act violations (in a meeting about a community fireplace), and failure to ensure violations of debris and trash. Apparently, the fireplace is the big issue in town.

Apparently, the meeting was advertised, but the petitioners have complaints about how it was advertised. Since this is Michigan (a political recall state), I'm not sure why it would matter.

The issue with the fireplace (which were only brought up after approval) is that  it would block views of the park and Round Lake and objecting to a projected cost of about $6,700 per year to operate.

This is the second attempt by the same petitioner to recall Roth -- the first was rejected for too vague language. The petitioner trying to recall Vollmer ran as a write-in candidate for mayor in November, on the issue of the fireplace. He lost by a nearly 3-1 margin.

California: Signature verification in Coastside Fire District recalls

Some details on the Coastside Fire District Petitions. Petitioners needed 2,714 signatures to certify. Petitioners collected 3,290 signatures for Mike Alifano -- 2,862 were valid. Of the 3,366 signatures for Gary Riddell 2,908 were certified. The 3,327 Doug Mackintosh saw 2,883 certified.

New Jersey: Petitions being filed against West New York Mayor

After a long wait, West New York Commissioner of Public Works Count Wiley is finally set to file a recall petition against Mayor Felix Roque -- it's been in the works since Roque's indictment in May. About 5,000 signatures appear to be needed to get the recall on the ballot.

Wisconsin: Challenge of La Crosse recall petitions shows Viterbo University as home to majority of signatures

Interesting twist in the attempted recall of La Crosse Common Council president Audrey Kader. Kader has challenged 153 of the 252 signatures (petitioners need 158 signatures). Apparently, 71% of the signatures came from students living on the campus of Viterbo University. Most of the signatures being challenge come from 702 Franciscan Way, the Viterbo University student union and the student mailing address.

Idaho: Middleton recall petitions fall short

The recall attempt against Middleton Mayor Darin Taylor missed the mark. After handing in 583 signatures, only 417 were found valid -- petitioners needed 519.

According to the Elections Office, 23 of the signatories lived outside Middleton city limits, three were duplicates and eight were not accompanied by a street address. In addition, 132 signatures belonged to people not registered to vote or not registered to vote at the time the petition was signed.

California: Coastside Fire Protection District Board recall petitions hit the mark, election to be held next year

Three Coastside Fire Protection District Board, President Doug Mackintosh, Director Mike Alifano and Director Gary Riddell, will be facing a recall vote in the new year. The petitions were certified as having more than the 2,714 signatures needed to get on the ballot. The county has to set an election between 88 and 125 days.

Issue is the decision to try and establish an independent fire department.

Michigan: Replacement vote for Troy mayor leading to serious state-local divide

The state Director of Elections is pushing Troy to hold its replacement race in February (as per state law), but the city is still claiming that they can wait till November.

I haven't seen the letters, but I can say that we've seen this state-local fight before -- this killed the Nashville mayoral recall. The end result there was that Nashville had to adopt a new law to come into conformity with state law. We would have seen a sure-fire lawsuit on a different type of state-city problem if the Oakland mayoral recall had gotten to the ballot. Knowing nothing of Michigan law, I suspect that the state has the upperhand in the fight.

The other relevant point (mentioned in the article) is that this could be another example of local officials trying to game the recall for their own ends. The replacement vote would end up costing the city $50K. But there has to be some consideration to the political implications of the decision. The ousted Mayor (a Tea Party favorite) had serious support in the city -- she lost a close vote on an Election Day that saw heavy Democratic turnout thanks to a presidential election. It is very possible that she or an ally could win at a poor turnout winter special election. We've seen this happen before in Michigan, and of course, we've seen many examples of officials trying to control the timing of recalls for their own ends. Not saying that it is the case here, but certainly has to be taken into consideration.

California: San Francisco Sheriff recall motion before Democratic County Central Committee withdrawn

The sponsor of a recall proposal against Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has withdrawn the resolution before the influential Democratic County Central Committee. The article notes that the effort looks to be losing some steam. So far, no petition has been file

Louisiana: St. Bernard Parish President facing recall petitions from husband of fired former legal secretary

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta is facing a recall threat started by the husband of a  legal secretary who Peralta fired after taking office. Petitioners would need 1/3 of registereds in 6 months).

The lead petitioner, Peter Rupp, also recently lost a runoff for a St. Bernard Parish Council seat by 16 votes last year and then unsuccessfully contested its results. The firing was allegedly due to Samantha Rupp giving her husband a passcode to get into the government building.

Colorado: Basalt Mayor facing recall threats

Basalt Mayor Jacque Whitsitt is facing a recall threat, though the reasons are unclear. The petitioner contacted the town clerk asking about the requirements for the recall, and stated that the petition would be presented at Tuesday night's town council meeting (it wasn't presented). Petitioner would need 190 signatures (25% of turnout). The petitioner has been involved in a previous recall attempt against county commissioner Mick Ireland, and has been in a fight with the city over his medical marijuana business.

Perhaps most critically, the petitioner is not actually a resident of the town. There's also this:

The only substantial controversy involving the Basalt town government recently was the parting of ways with police chief Roderick O'Connor. He resigned voluntarily on Monday, according to a joint statement that O'Connor and the town government released.

Maine: Limestone recalls set for January 8

Here's the earlier coverage. Three selectmen are facing recalls.

Florida: Culpeper County Republican Committee Chair loses recall

Culpeper County Republican Committee Chairman Steve Nixon was kicked out of office, 45-7. The vote was in August. The conservative wing of the party claimed that Nixon allowed Democrats to vote at the Culpeper GOP's mass meeting on Apr. 28, which resulted in his election by 3 votes. Al Aitken finished second, and replaced him in the recall.

Texas: El Paso recall petitions rejected by clerk due to technicality

The 500 signature petition to recall city Rep. Cortney Niland was rejected by the Municipal Clerk's Office.  The reason given was that each page was notarized instead of containing an oath "that each signature is that of the person whose name it purports to be." Petitioners need 385 signatures.

Former El Paso Mayor Ray Salazar is leading the recall effort, which is based on the council approval of plans to tear down City Hall and build a $50 million ballpark in its place.

Nebraska: Two Hamilton County Board recall petitions fail, one by two signatures

Attempts to recall two Hamilton County Board members failed. Petitioners handed in 154 signatures for the recall of Tim Bergen. They needed 147. Nine were struck down. 


The petition to recall Hamilton County Board member Doug Andersen wasn't turned in.

The Hamilton County Surveyor was the leader of the recall.

New Jersey: West Wildwood referendum may presage recall threat

Here

New Jersey: Asbury Park recall killed by city due to questionable deadline

The attempted recall of three Asbury Park Council members was quashed by the city, which claimed they did not have enough time to review the signatures to get the recall on the November ballot. The committee handed in the three petitions with about 2,644 signatures each, they needed 1,865. According to the city, the petitions specifically stated that the election would be held at the  November election. So, the petitioners would have had to go back out and collect enough signatures again to get it on the ballot. Note this as well:

Meanwhile, recall proponents said they had never received a deadline from the city. The day before the petitions were handed in, officials said the deadline was hazy because of the state statute governing municipal government recalls.

Missouri: Ellisville recall provision ruled unconstitutional for failing to state cause

After trying to recall five members of the Ellisville City Council, a St. Louis judge has ruled that the city's recall provision violates the state constitution because it failed to state causes for which an official can be removed.

Washington: Investigation into Snohomish County Executive on hold

An investigation into the alleged misuse of staff and a state-issued cell phone by Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon is on hold due to a backlog of cases. However, the recall hearing is set for December 5.

Oklahoma: Sand Springs lowers recall signature requirement

This is from March -- Sand Springs voted on a proposed law to lower its signature requirement from 20% of registered voters to 20% of turnout. The law was overwhelmingly approved with 69% voting in favor.

North Carolina: State rules that Ronda does not possess recall

The state board of elections has ruled that the town of Ronda does not have the authority to recall an elected official. Petitioners had handed in 76 signatures calling for the recall of Mayor Victor Varela. It sounds like the charter adoption was not handed that well:

Portions of the charter, with dates of 1917 and 1920, are handwritten. According to article V, page 225-226 of the town of Ronda Charter 1917, recall is allowed when 25 percent of the voters at the last municipal election sign a petition calling for the recall. The signatures must be filed with the clerk and must contain a general statement of the ground for which the removal is sought.

Varela, who is in his second term as mayor, said state officials say the town, does not have the authority to recall an elected town official. He says that a closer look at the charter demonstrates that a particular chapter or version for recalling elected officials was never chosen in 1920 when the charter was adopted.

He says the charter does not specify removal of public officers. The charter includes three plans or forms of government and no plan was selected.