California: Christian Science Monitor checks it on San Diego mayor story

I'm cited in this piece, so might as well link to it. It provides an overview of the situation.

Colorado: Secretary of State rejects Pueblo County's attempt to get state to pay for recall

Secretary of State Scott Gessler has rejected a request to get the state to pay for the expense of the recall. Pueblo estimates these costs to $180,000. 

While reimbursement and recall expense is a regular discussion, this one seems to be based on a state statute regarding the term "political subdivision." This is actually one of those rulings that you can see hurting their political positions. Pueblo County voters might be a little more annoyed by the fact that they are paying for the recall (helping the Democratic state Senator Giron). However, that may be too much conjecture on my part.

Maryland: Rock Hall drafts recall law

Rock Hall Town Council unanimously (well, 3-0), approved a charter amendment to allow the city to have a recall. The goal is recall the current Mayor Robert Willis, who is otherwise in office till 2015. No word on what the law looks like, but it could be 25% of registered voters.

Here's some of the problems:

The vote follows a long train of clashes between Willis and the Council that began on April 28 — when he unsuccessfully challenged the integrity of Town Manager Ron Fithian and Councilman Olin “Butch” Price. In the weeks that followed, Willis failed in an attempt to fire MacLeod as the town attorney, and lost management authority of the Clerks Office when he tried to pressure Treasurer Stephanie Loller to hand over her passwords to the town’s online banking system – against legal advice. Willis also lost supervisory powers of the transportation and police departments.

Price said that Willis’ many commu

Oregon: State Republican Party Chair facing recall vote on August 10

Oregon Republican Party Chairwoman Suzanne Gallagher, elected in February, is facing a recall vote on August 10th. The insurgents need 19 of the state's county Republican committees to call for the recall and apparently got it. The issues appear to be questions on the party's finances and hiring decisions.

The is the first party recall I've seen (though it is possible that it occurs under different names).

New Jersey: Montague school board members facing recall threats

The issue is a send-receive agreement with another school. Unfortunately, the big story on this is locked off, so I haven't seen it.

Louisiana: St. Tammany Parish Coroner recall update

The recall effort against St. Tammany Parish Coroner Peter Glavin has gotten only about 35% of signatures at the 40% point (they have 180 days to get 52,000 signatures). Since they probably need a lot more than 52,000, that may make the recall a heavy lift.

Alaska: Whittier, strangest town in Alaska, ousts it's mayor

Whittier mayor Lester Lunceford has been bounced out following the counting of all absentee ballot. No word yet on the totals.

Texas: Enough signatures handed in for four Cibolo City Council recalls

Petitioners targeting four Cibolo City Council members, Ron Pedde, Karen Hale, Larry Carlton and Steve Liparoto, have got enough signatures to get on the ballot (150 for each, or 30% of registereds), The recall is over the council members support for a Walmart.
The City Council took no action on setting up a recall for November 5. Petitioners may have to go to court to get it on the ballot.

California: Claim that Filner backer filed petition to try and kill recall effort

More catastrophes in the San Diego recall law, as a Filner backer allegedly filed a recall petition to start the clock on the recall. Looking at the San Diego law, it seems that he has a decent claim. You may remember that a Scott Walker supporter filed a petition a week before anyone else, but that was simply to start the clock running for fundraising. I don't know if other jurisdictions have a provision that allows one petition to preempt others.

California: Two Banning School Board members facing petitions over new superintendent

Two Banning Unified trustees, President Ray Curtis, and Alejandro “Alex” Cassadas, are facing petitions over the hiring of a new superintendent.

California: San Bernardino petitioners sue City Clerk over rejected signature ruling

Petitioners have filed suit against San Bernardino City Clerk Gigi Hanna to force the count of signatures against James F. Penman. Hanna had rejected the signatures, claiming they were gathered too early.

California: Filner sues city over reimbursement request

San Diego mayor is suing the city seeking reimbursement over his legal fees, and the city is suing him back. I can't say all that much about a general lawsuit, but there have been numerous attempts to get the state to pay for an elected official's expenses in a recall (there was a lot of discussion during the Gray Davis recall). Some states have it mandated that the state pays -- California had this, and Senator Michael Machado looked into it after surviving a recall in 1995. He abandoned the effort. It is not clear what would be paid for in any case. Similarly, the El Paso mayor just tried to get the city council to pay his $500K legal bill, which they rejected, and the Arizona legislature looked to pass a law to reimburse former Senate President Russell Pearce. That did not go anywhere either.

It'll be interesting to see if Filner actually tries to push this one.

Colorado: Denver Post looks at the Giron recall

Here

Arizona: Pecos North Homeowners Association kicks out three members

Three members of the Pecos North Homeowners Association, Sharron Peek, June Peele and Joann Pompa, were removed in a July 17 election. One other member, Peg Strachan, who started the recall against the other members, had petitions taken out against her, but they weren't turned in. The issue was complaints about a management company. The new board has hired a new management company.

This isn't Pecos North's first time at the recall rodeo. They kicked out three board members after the recall law was passed in 2005 (and those new members fired the newly re-hired management company).

New Jersey: Anonymous mailing targets Ventor mayor

Mayor Mike Bagnell is the subject of an anonymous mailing campaign over actions during Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. Bagnell questions the assertions in the mailing.

Petitioners would need 1640 signatures (25% of registereds) in 160 days.

Colorado: NYT story on the recall

Nothing new in here, but decent summary of the basic points.

Colorado: Explanation on the Giron recall numbers

I've discussed this in the past, but the signature failure rate in the Senator Giron recall petitions were shockingly low -- 6%, compared with the Morse signature rate of 37.5%. This article in the Denver Post explains how the petitioners were able to check the signatures with such accuracy.

Colorado: 100 years of recalls

Professor Thomas Cronin, who wrote Direct Democracy, pens this op-ed that gives some of the backstory on Colorado's use of the recall.

Michigan: AP analyzes new Michigan recall law

I'm cited in this piece, which notes the drop off in recalls (though it's not clear if this is a one-time thing or not).

Colorado: Recall leaders deny outside influence in recall

Good look at the recall by Megan Scharder at the Colorado Springs Gazette. The issue of whether a recall is actually a local effort or instead a front comes up regularly in recalls. Even with money, there is frequently no clear-cut answer or there is a "both" response. (witness Miami-Dade, where the recall got on the ballot due to one funder, but the mayor was kicked out with over 88% of the vote against). I would say this is one of those situations, though the donor secrecy may prevent us from knowing how much is outside coordination. The 1994 David Roberti recall certainly suggests that the NRA is at least familiar with using recalls.

From the piece:

The other side paints the Basic Freedom Defense Fund as a front organization for gun activist groups like Magpul Industries, the National Rifle Association or the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, but the three founding members and their attorney dispute that characterization.

Of course:

The reason that's a pill hard to swallow for some is the well-financed and coordinated campaign that sprung up in Senate District 11 and Senate District 3 seemingly overnight. 

The Basic Freedom Defense Fund launched separate issue committees registered with the secretary of state for each of the four recall efforts. El Paso Freedom Defense Committee reported $84,118 in contributions in four months of campaign finance reports. 

And almost all of that money came from sources that have shielded their donors through a non-profit or were reported in increments small enough that no donor had to be disclosed. Recall opponents say the secrecy is suspicious.