California:Cursing got a Chino councilman kicked out a century ago

Chino Councilman John J. Houihan was kicked out of office for bad languages and removing his cost in a meeting. Of course this was 103 years ago.

Wisconsin: Review of Democratic Senator's book on Walker's early years as Governor

This is by Tim Cullen.

Colorado: Unions big funders in Jefferson County recalls

I don't think this a big surprise.

Illinois: Washington Post on chances of Emanuel recall

Anyone looking at this blog should know that there isn't going to be a recall there.

109 officials face recalls in the US in 2015; 66 ousted in a vote; 15 resign; At least 435 recall attempts

Once again, we have the Recall Elections Blog's annual end of the year stats, featuring my article in The Week, which provides some further thoughts on why the recalls are taking place. The issues for recalls were all over the map in 2015: gun control; marijuana; police shootings; stadium contracts; education, vaccinations, firing of superintendents and football coaches; keeping a chicken coop and a DUI. However, there were no recalls of state legislators or state level officials (though the Governor of Oregon resigns with a recall threat looming).

Over here, we get to discuss the stats (my numbers are different than Ballotpedia, which I'll discuss below). One caveat -- some of the numbers may change! Sometimes, I find out results weeks and months later.

In 2015, we had 109 recalls get to the ballot or end in a resignation. Of those, removal once again proved very successful. 66 ousted in the vote, and 15 resigned. Only 28 survived a recall vote. I counted at least 434 attempted recalls, so once again, the vast majority of recall attempts do not result in signatures being handed in. I count only 22 recall attempts where petitioners handed in signatures and failed to get on the ballot (because some of the signatures were found invalid). Most recall attempts are abandoned. 

• 17 states had recall elections take place and 2 states (Georgia and Missouri) saw an official resign in the face of recalls (in the case of Missouri, the recall was actually scheduled).
• The big recall states were California (20), Michigan (19) and Arizona (14). It suggests that Michigan voters have begun to incorporate the changed recall laws into the behavior.
• School Boards were big this year. Jefferson County School Board in Colorado was easily the most widely followed recalls of the year, but in total 28 school board members faced recalls in 16 different school boards.
• 10 mayors, 1 mayor pro tem and one vice mayor faced a recall vote.
• Five local jurisdictions adopted recall laws, and many others discussed them. There's no place that voters removed or weakened recall laws
• Recalls have popular overseas, with the beautifully named "Appendectomy Project" trying to push the recall in Taiwan.
• I have not included recalls in Native American territory (there are a few), nor do I include HOAs or Senior Living Communities. 

This year saw a drop-off in recalls from 2014 (which, I never actually wrote up), we had 126 recalls, with 61 removals, 20 resignations and 45 survivals. However, this year's result closely tracks 2013 (the last off-year election), when we had 107 recalls. 2012 we had 168, and 2011 we had 151.

Why the drop off? It's not clear though I would like to point out my comments on the subject in 2013. I think the off-year matters (if nothing else, than because in many jurisdictions, a recall cannot take place until the official is in office for a year).

As I mentioned, the good folks at Ballotpedia put out their year-ender on recalls, and the numbers are different -- they had 40 recall removals, 21 survivals and 7 resignations and 275 attempts. Why the difference? It's not fully clear. The resignations may be an issue of when do you count a resignation in the face of a recall. The attempts are very rough -- it is never clear if someone took out petitions, so that number does have to be taken with a grain of salt.

One thing we can say is that their very user-friendly system allows me to easily search all the recalls they have listed. I'm in discussion with the Ballotpedia team and hopefully we'll figure it all out for next year.

My op-ed in the LA Times on Independent Party Runs for President

Here

California: San Diego charter committee looking at recall law

Looks like they are considering other methods of making removal easier following the Mayor Bob Filner debacle. They don't appear to be examining making the recall easier to get on the ballot.

Wisconsin: Crivitz School Board President survives recall

Crivitz School Board President Mike Dama survived a recall vote, 485-385-29.

Oregon: Kalamath Commissioner recall fails

Petitioners failed to hand in enough signatures for the recall of Klamath County Commission Chairman Tom Mallams. Petitioners need 3426 signatures, they have 2500. The issue was the city's ban on medical marijuana dispensary.

Oklahoma: Midwest City Mayor asks court to block February 9 recall

Mayor Jay Dee Collins claims the petitions are invalid because the actions they wanted him to take would be illegal under state law (he can't order the city manager around).

Colorado: Editorial calls for resignation instead of recall for Colorado State Rep

The editorial by Aurora Sentinel seems focused on the fact that her term is up in May and that the GOP should do something to push Representative Joann Windholz to resign.

California: Lucerne Valley Superintendent receives $3K over legal fees

This following the fight with School Board member Dawn Turnbull, who is facing a February 2 recall.

Wisconsin: Superior Mayor facing recall threats over Facebook comments about Obama

Superior Mayor Bruce Hagen is facing recalls threats after calling Barack Obama a Muslim who has "destroyed the fabric of democracy" on Facebook. Right now, the push is for him to resign, but Hagen does not seem to be amenable to that route.

Florida: Dunnellon Councilwoman facing petitions

Dunnellon Councilwoman Penny Fleeger is facing petitions over allegations that she slapped a city employee at a Christmas event. This is a two part recall gathering process. Petitioners need 131 signatures in 30 days, than need 198 signatures if those are approved.

Colorado: Group backing Jefferson County School Board recall ordered to disclose donors

Here

Texas: Electra Mayor and Commissioners recall looks to be headed to the ballot

It looks like petitioners have handed in enough signatures in the recall of Mayor Pam Ward and Commissioners Kevin Byrd and Ricky Kelley over the firing of the Police Chief. Petitioners needed 100 signatures for Byrd and Kelly, and are said to have gotten more than 150. No word yet on the mayor.

Florida: Pinellas County Charter Review Commission looking into recall law

Pinellas County's Charter Review Commission is being reviewed in their January meeting. Apparently, out of the 18 charter counties, Pinellas is one of only two that is silent on recalls (the other 16 have recall laws). The county is looking into whether to add a recall law.

Texas: Denton City Council recall hits the mark

Petitioners have enough verified signatures to get the recall of Denton City Council member Joey Hawkins on the ballot. The issue is over fracking.

Colorado: Final Campaign finance reports show close to a million spent on Jefferson County School Board recalls

The Colorado Independent notes that this is just the money we can see -- over $400,000 on each side.

Colorado: Recall effort against State Rep over Planned Parenthood/shooting comments raising funds

State Representative JoAnn Windholz (R), who faced criticism for her comments blaming Planned Parenthood for the Colorado Springs shooting in November, has $4600 in the bank and will seek reelection. A recall committee has raised $5,330 -- they need 4714 signatures in 60 days.