Colorado: Additional coverage of the resignation

Here's my comments in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Arizona: Rejection of Yucca Valley signatures leads to lawsuit

An attempt to recall Yucca Valley Town Councilmen George Huntington and Robert Lombardo is leading to a possible lawsuit against the town. The town claimed that the signatures handed in didn't meet the target. On further review, they allowed some additional signatures but not enough to have the recall move forward.

The petition to recall Huntington yielded 2,294 valid signatures and the petition to recall Lombardo had 2,310 valid signatures. Each petition needed 2,461 valid signatures to trigger an election.

Of the 2,722 signatures verified on the petition against Huntington, 428 were deemed invalid by the Registrar of Voters. The county found 410 invalid signatures out of 2,720 against Lombardo.

Florida: Doral Mayor subject to recall threats

Doral Mayor Luigi Boria is facing recall threats, though the reasons aren't clear from the story. Boria has already set up a PAC to solicit donations to fight the recall.

Doral has had some scandals in recent years, and the bizarre end to this recall attempt from April has to rank up there. 

Colorado: State Senator Hudak Resigns before petitions handed in

Big news out of Colorado, as State Senator Evie Hudak resigned today before petitions were handed in rather than face a possible recall campaign. Hudak is the third state Senator to resign, making this only the second time in history that one state will lose three state Senators to recalls in one year (California in 1995 was the first -- in Wisconsin, the recall losses were staggered in 2011 and 2012). As discussed below, Hudak's resignation allows the Democrats to fill the seat and keep their 18-17 Senate majority.

A couple of key points here:

1) Resignations in the face of recalls are nothing new (just scroll to the post right below for one example). In 2012, 26 officials resigned rather than face a recall. There have been at least two state Senators who resigned in the face of recalls, Michigan's David Serotkin in 1983 and Wisconsin's Pam Galloway in 2012. However...

2) Colorado's law is very different than other states. It requires that the resigning official be replaced by a member of the same party. From a recall point of view, there are other state's that allow appointment rather than election for the replacement official, but Colorado may be the only one that mandates that the official serve in the same party. Since the replacement is up for reelection in 2014, and since the law prevents the recall from being held until the official is in office for one year, the replacement likely cannot face a recall until the 2014 elections. (Edit: David Nir at the Daily Kos points out that the seat is up in 2016. Sorry for the error). (Edit to the edit -- the seat is up in 2014 due to the replacement law -- I will have a longer post on this point soon).

3) Hudak's resignation shows the power of the gun rights forces on a few different fronts. The fact that she is resigning before signatures were handed in points out that she must have felt that there was an excellent chance that the petitioners met the standard (she would have had 5 days to resign after the signatures were handed in and still short-circuit the recall).

4) Hudak clearly thought that the voters would not have objected to flipping the Senate from Democratic control to Republican. If past recalls are any indication, she is right. We've seen it done in 1983, 1995 and 2012.

5) The sheer amount of signatures collected shows real strength. Petitioners needed about 18900 signatures. This is more than twice the amount needed for the Senate President Morse recall, and 5,000 more than required for the Angela Giron recall. Only one of the Wisconsin state Senate recalls required more than the 18000 (and Wisconsin's recall law is much looser).

6) In the past, Colorado recall petitions had the signatures struck down at a high rate. The Giron recall was a striking exception, due to the use of new technology. Are we seeing the same thing in place with Hudak -- and might this new technology make it easier and more cost-effective for initiatives and recalls to make the ballot?

7) As I mentioned before, these recalls were symbolic from the gun control forces point of view (that should not be thought of in the sense of meaningless -- many recalls are symbolic and it does not detract from their importance). Even if the recall has succeeded and the Republicans gained control of the Senate, there was little chance that the legislation would be enacted changing the gun laws. In that sense, a resignation may be even more powerful than a recall vote, especially since a Hudak victory would have at this point changed the narrative for the gun rights groups. Gun rights supporters can now claim to have effectively scared a Senator out of a seat after beating two others based solely on the gun control issue.

8) It should be noted that having a resignation occur the day before Thanksgiving is designed specifically to minimize coverage of the move. The signatures were due on December 3, and then there would have been further delays in checking them and possible lawsuits. It is possible that Republicans could have claimed that the replacement vote should not be short-circuited (it has never been tested before), but the law does read clearly on this front. Hudak had weeks to decide to resign. The day before Thanksgiving is chosen for a reason.

Arizona: Parker Councilwoman resigns after petitions handed in

Parker Town Councilwoman Christine Boatwright, who was facing recall petitions, resigned after 103 signatures were handed in (petitioners need 59 valids). She was elected in 05, and won two reelection races. Boatwright confronted two other council members (at least one of whom was assisting with the recall) over their comments on the Police Chief (who is on leave and under investigation.

Colorado: Hudak anti-recall campaign raises $120K, pro-recall campaign raises $64K

New campaign finance reports show that the group backing Colorado Senator Evie Hudak (Democracy Defense Fund) has taken in about $120,000 in the last month. The money has come from unions and the NEA Fund for Children and Education.

The pro-recall group, Recall Hudak Too, raised $64,600.

Michigan: Benton Harbor commissioner now a recall target

Commissioner Trenton Bowens is facing a recall over a vote to add a city income tax. The Clarity hearing is set for December.

Think Progress article opposing recalls

Here's a Think Progress by Josh Israel highlighting the negatives of recalls (I'm quoted in the piece). Rick Hasen notes the unusual ideological match-up.

Colorado: More on the attempted Green Mountain recalls

Here's a deeper look at the problems that are leading to recall efforts against five officials in Green Mountain.

India: More discussion of adding recall law

Some more discussion about adding recalls in India, this time by former Lok Ayuktha Santosh Hegde.

Ohio: Great look at the state's Recall laws

Just a really good piece here in the Dayton Daily News. There is some events reminiscent of recent recalls in Onaway and San Bernardino (where an official loses a recall and wins reelection or another office on the same ballot):

Moraine and Centerville have each seen mayors go through public recall elections since 2000. Moraine’s case became a near-soap opera, as Bob Rosencrans was recalled in 2007 and replaced as mayor by Sonny Johnson. A separate 2008 recall aimed at knocking Rosencrans out of his council seat was nixed because of problems with the validity of signatures on those petitions. Then in 2008, Johnson himself was recalled, with Rosencrans being re-elected mayor in 2009. 

In Centerville, residents unhappy that the city council allowed an auto repair shop to expand in their neighborhood gathered almost 1,000 valid signatures to trigger a recall election against Mayor Sally Beals in 2003. 

“The year they had the (recall) election was the same year she was going to be on ballot anyway in November,” Cave said. “I thought that was a waste of taxpayers’ time and money. She won the recall rather handily, but she got voted out at the general election. The whole thing was bizarre.”

New Jersey: Vineland Mayor facing petitions

Mayor Ruben Bermudez is now facing petitions, with criticism of his recent decision to fire the City Solicitor, and replace him a local attorney who quit after a few days. Council members claim Bermudez doesn'tfully communicate with them. Bermudez claims he is being targeted by a "Good Old Boy network."

Petitioners need 9,444 in 160 days.

Texas: Expanded use of the recall in the state

This is jumping off from the Lubbock recalls. Here's a stat from the Texas Municipal League:

Yet, between 2003 and 2008 only 12 cities reported recall elections, according to a league survey. And of 28 officials targeted, only 12 were removed. 

That number has already been surpassed in the last year alone.

California: Commerce City Council recalls, interpretation battle with City Attorney leads to firing of Interim City Clerk

The recall battle against four Commerce City council members has led to the firing of the Interim City Clerk 
The issue was a disagreement between the clerk and  Commerce City Attorney Eddie Olivo over the publication of the recall notice against three council members. The same issue seems to have resulted in the firing of the previous City Clerk. 

The particulars sound very bad for the City Attorney. The petitioners took out ads in Eastern Group Publications, but the City Attorney ruled that the newspaper didn't meet the legal requirement of a "newspaper of general circulation." However, a separate group of petitioners did the same thing against a councilwoman who is an opponent of the three city council members, and....

In direct contrast to Olivo’s statement, the city “accepted” the legal notices of recall for Denise Robles that were filed with the same EGP paper.

Colorado: Peak to Peak School board to hold recall of two members

A charter school parent group claims to have submitted enough signatures to get a recall of  board president Thomas Willetto and board member Greg Richards on the ballot. The issue is the firing of the long-time principal.  Petitioners will need 66% of the vote and turnout must top 30%.

Louisiana: Sorrento Mayor facing petitions

Sorrento Mayor Mike Lambert is facing petitions over the issue of a canceled police department insurance. Petitioners need 348 signatures (1/3 of registereds) in 180 days to get on the ballot.

Alaska: State set to decide on whether Rep. Lindsey Holmes recall can go forward

The attempt to recall Alaska Rep. Lindsey Holmes (who flipped parties from Democrat to Republican after winning her fourth term) is now being reviewed by the state to see if it meets the malfeasance standard. Petitioners handed in more than 1000 signatures -- they need 808. If certified, they then have to get 2,020 signatures to get on the ballot (25% of turnout).

The article notes past attempts to recall Alaska officials (there has never been a state-level recall in Alaska). Former Senate President Ben Stevens in 2005, Rep. Kyle Johansen, who walked out of the Republican caucus (and gave up his Majority Leader position) during a dispute. Stevens didn't run for reelection and Johansen got slaughtered in his reelection bid.

Apparently, petitions were approved for a recall of Senator Scott Ogan (a Republican) in 2004, who resigned before anything happened. Ogan was accused of using his legislative position to assist a company that employed him as a consultant.

In US History, only one state legislative recall has occurred in a "judicial recall" or malfeasance standard state -- that recall was in 1981, Washington State Senator Peter Von Reichbauer. Von Reichbauer (who won the vote) also went from a D to an R, which flipped control of the chamber. I researched the recall and while there was an administrative dispute on whether the recall should be allowed, there didn't appear to be a lawsuit.

Canada: Op-eds in favor of adopting the recall

Here and Here

Arizona: Five Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District members resign

Five members of the Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District resigned, with four of them facing recall  petitions. The five members were Ray Pugel, Gary Lovetro, Ron Calderon, Richard Dickinson and Michael Claxton, and all but Claxton were facing recalls. The two remaining members of the board can't act without a quorum, though one of them, Sam Schwalm may also be facing petitions (Schwalm is associated with the pro-recall forces).

Because the board no longer has enough members to make appointments, it is unclear if they have to hold a special election or whether the county can run the district until the next election.

The issue was an increase in water rates, board spending decisions, an outage last year and turbidity in the water.

The petitioners are pushing to continue to get signatures as a show of force.r new elections.”

Arizona: Guest editorial looks at Cave Creek recall

Here