Myanmar: Country considering recall bill

As part of their constitutional review, Myanmar is considering adopting a recall:

The decision came at the end of a heated debate between elected representatives, who said the bill would make it too easy for constituents to remove an MP, and military MPs, who argue that to not pass the law is unconstitutional. 

The bill, proposed by the commission last August, could result in MPs being unseated if a mere 1 percent of voters in their constituency opposed them, as specified in section 396(b) of the constitution. A similar provision was included in the 1947 and 1974 constitutions.

Colorado: Colorado Springs School Board recall fails

The attempt to recall six Colorado Springs School District 11 board of education members failed, with petitioners not handing in signatures. The recall was over decision to close a high school, two elementary schools and sell two defunct schools.

Petitioners needed about 15,000 signatures per. They claimed they were close, but of course didn't hand in petitions. 

Colorado: Four Evergreen Fire District Board members easily survive recall vote

Missed the end result of this one in April -- All four members of the Evergreen Fire District Board board, George Kling, Charles Simons, Jeff DeDisse and David Christense, survived the mail-in ballot recall held on April 23. The recall seemed to be a NIMBY event over a decision to build a fire-training building in Bergen Park.

The four won with 83% in favor -- about 8,000 voters cast ballots (turnout was about 50%), with about 6,500 voting to keep the officials in office. The vote cost about $170,000 to $200,000.

Colorado: Petitions taken out against Five Green Mountain Falls Councilmembers

Five Green Mountain Falls Council members, Mac Pitrone, Howard Price, Ralph LoCascio, Jane Newberry and Margaret Peterson, are facing recall petitions. Three of the targets are either up for election in April or are term-limited out. The recall petitioners are also trying to remove the city clerk from any role in the recall process.

The other two members of the council, Mayor Lorrie Worthey and Trustee Tyler Stevens, are not under threat.

Two meetings in the last year have resulted in walk-outs by some of the targeted council members. Critics of the effort, however, are questioning the substance of the recall campaign and say the current political woes amount to nothing more than personality clashes.

According to the petitions initially submitted to city hall, the group cites a laundry list of grievances, such as opposing open and transparent social media policies, refusing to listen to public input prior to making decisions, not providing the police department with enough resources and thus endangering public safety, exhibiting conduct unbecoming that of an elected official and threatening citizens at meetings. 

California: Sonoma County Supervisor facing possible recall campaign after arrest

A recall campaign is being considered against Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who was arrested on suspicion of prowling and burglary (he was arrestedin his socks and underwear) in mid-July. He was previously arrested after a fight outside of a San Diego nightclub. He was thought to be a possible candidate for the state Assembly.

The North Bay Labor Council and local liberal Democratic groups are considering launching the recall. 

Colorado: Washington Post interview with Giron

Here

California: Three recalls qualify for the San Bernardino ballot

The recalls against San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman and council members Wendy McCammack and John Valdivia have qualified, though the one against Councilman Chas Kelley failed. The recall will be held on November 5. Adding some additional color, both McCammack and Kelley are also running for mayor.

Petitioners missed Kelley's recall by a bit -- they needed 1,326 more signatures, but they have 30 more days to try and collect them if they choose.

He said it would be too late to qualify a recall against Kelley for the November ballot and organizers don’t want to have the city pay for a special election. However, he said if they will investigate whether it could be on a January ballot when runoff elections for some of the city races could take place.

Colorado: District Court Judge tosses out some residency rules, upholds most other recall voting rules

A Denver District Court Judge upheld most of the Secretary of State's voting rules for the recall, but tossed out a special rule over establishing residency:

"The secretary cannot expand, contract or interpret those without a compelling state interest," McGahey said, saying earlier whoever drafted the rules clearly had never had children in college.
The rule dealt with establishing residency and would have made it difficult for college students and members of the military who temporarily live away from home.

The Court allowed the special voter cards mailed by Pueblo County Clerk to work as a valid form of ID.

Georgia: Switch to district-based voting has impact on Fayette recalls

New district seats on the Fayette County Commission and Board of Education is leading the NAACP to ask a federal judge for the county to provide specific special election dates.  The Judge has previously ordered district voting (as opposed to the at-large voting that existed before). This change would affect any recall in the county.

California: San Diego Replacement race will cost about $6 million

The charter is not helpful here, as the recall must be set for November 19, not the (presumably cheaper) Election Day a couple weeks before.

Massachusetts: Lawrence Mayor, focus of 4 recalls, now facing AG suit

Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, who was the focus of four failed recall attempts, is now facing a suit for the state Attorney General for for allegedly accepting thousands of dollars in potentially illegal cash and corporate contributions.

The complaint alleges Lantigua accepted 16 cashier’s checks or money orders worth more than $50, a potential violation of state law, during his first run for mayor between 2008 and 2010.

Coakley’s office claims Lantigua or his committee accepted more than $14,000 in potentially illegal cash contributions in 2009, but “failed to keep accurate accounts of the 22 individual deposits.”

Massachusetts: Former Chelmsford Planning Board Member, who successfully sued to force town to hold a recall, fined for conflict of interest rules violations

Former Planning Board member Richard McClure, who sued Chelmsford over the interpretation of the recall law, has been fined $5,000 for violating the state's conflict-of-interest laws for his pro bono representation in two lawsuits against the town, including the recall lawsuit.

McClure said Monday he felt "vindicated" in that case because a judge ruled the town must hold the recall election, which took place in 2011. 

In the second case, McClure led a property-dispute lawsuit in 2010, just before he became a Planning Board member. Town counsel also warned him in that case that he was violating state laws, the Ethics Commission said. 

In the recall-election lawsuit, a judge disqualified McClure from representing any other party other than himself. He appealed but was unsuccessful, the state said. In the property-dispute lawsuit, McClure withdrew as an attorney after the court allowed a motion to disqualify him.

California: San Diego City Council votes to change "must vote on recall question for vote to count on replacement"

San Diego City Council dumped the clearly unconstitutional provision requiring voter to vote yes or no on the recall question before voting on the replacement.
Councilman Mark Kersey also notes some other issues in the recall:

Also unconstitutional, according to Kersey, is a requirement that signature gatherers be registered voters. He also said one part of the code requires recall backers to submit petitions within 60 days and another part says the deadline is 99 days.

Colorado: Campaign Finance issues continue to crop up

Here's Tessa Cheek at the Colorado Independent taking a look at the numbers, especially noting the use of issue advertising and dark money on the pro-recall side.
Also, here's the New Republic looking at issue, with a deep look at the different supporting players.

Wisconsin: Still protesting

Here's a video of the still-ongoing protests in Madison.

Florida: Tamarac Commissioner recall set for October 15

The recall against Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad, who was acquitted in a corruption trial last year, has been set for Oct. 15. The article notes that this is Broward's first recall in 50 years.

Colorado: Funding reports for Recall shows $350K donation from Bloomberg, $150K from NRA

We are starting to see the first reports of the money being raised in the Colorado recall campaigns. So far, New York City Mayor and noted gun control advocate Michael Bloomberg has donated $350,000 to anti-recall forces. The group Taxpayers for Responsible Democracy claims that 17,000 contributors have donated to support Morse and Giron. Eli Broad has given $250,000 to the anti-recall group.

On the other side of the ledger, the NRA has apparently given $108,000 in support of the recall (the story is not clear if this was spent on issue ads). Hopefully, we'll have a fuller picture tomorrow on this.

To put this in to some context, total reported contributions for both winner and loser in the general election in Morse's last race in 2010 was about $281K and total reported  contributions in Giron's race was about $135K. I have no idea if there were any outside groups, but that does show how much more money is coming in this time. 

Colorado: State Supreme Court rules that requirement to vote on Yes or No provision in recall is unconstitutional

As discussed last week, Colorado's recall law has run into a First and Fourteenth Amendment issue. In response to a prophylactic request by the Governor, the State Supreme Court has issued a 5-2 ruling holding that the provision is unconstitutional. I would imagine that this ruling will be similar to the California decision in 2003 and, since it was handed down early enough to change the language on the ballots, may not have much of a practical effect (especially since there seems to be only one replacement candidate on the ballot in each race). Add: I didn't mention that there could be an impact on the absentee ballot vote.

Here's a link to the decision (h/t Derek Muller's Excess of Democracy blog).

Oklahoma: Piedmont City Council acts against two energy companies that led to recall of Councilman

The Piedmont City Council  against two companies trying to build wind farms. On August 13, Councilman Vernon Woods was ousted due to his meeting with the wind farms companies.

Colorado: Discussion of split vote in Colorado

The Daily Kos notes that Giron is thought to be safe, though Morse is viewed as slightly behind. He also explains some of the tactical change in focusing the campaign on abortion issues.