Virginia: Waverly Mayor hearing recall threats

Mayor Barbara Gray is facing recall threats over budgetary issues, including a water tower maintenance contract totaling $505,264 and a FOIA case (which cost $7000 to fight). It is not clear if the council approved the contract. Whether Virginia, which has recall trials, will allow a recall of a mayor should also be considered an open question.

Wyoming: Kemmerer City council threatened with recall

Kemmerer City Council members were threatened with a recall over paying for an event center. No word on what that will entail.

Michigan: Two Cottrelville Township officials face recalls, one for super drunk DUI

Cottrelville Township Supervisor Kelly Fiscelli is facing a recall  over her pleading guilty to a "super drunk law" DUI (.28 blood alcohol content). Fiscelli's terms ends in November 2016, so

There is a petition filed against her, which cites a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

A separate petitioner, Robert Pfaff, filed recall papers against Clerk Lori Russelburg over the Open Meetings Act. Russelburg claims that the recall is a retaliation for a successful 2007 recall Russelburg launched against Pfaff's wife.

Massachusetts: Ashby Selectman up for vote today

Ashby Selectman Steve Ingerson is facing a recall vote today over his refusal to sign payroll warrants -- with the recall led by his fellow selectmen. The recall has two parts, the first is an up or down vote, the second is a choice of replacement candidates, with Ingerson on the ballot there.

Louisiana: Gonzales City Council seat filled

Since the December recall of Councilman Timothy Vessel, the seat has been vacant.

New Mexico: Additional signatures handed in against Las Cruces Councilman

Petitioners handed in 400 more signatures in the recall effort against Las Cruces Councilman Gill Sorg. This was in their "cure" period.

Massachusetts: Petitions handed in for Hinsdale Select Board Chair

Hinsdale Select Board Chairwoman Bonnie Connor is facing a possible recall, as almost 400 people signed the recall petition. They needed 280 signatures. Voters approved the petition 202-95. Connor had previously faced a challenge in December 2013, when more than 300 people asked for her resignation. Then two months ago, 100 people signed a petition to recall Connor over the firing of the Police Chief and transfer station attendant.

This recall does not specify that reason, just incompetence. They are also claiming violations of open meeting laws.

Oregon: Gearhart mayor survives recall vote

Gearhart Mayor Dianne Widdop survived her recall today, winning 183-320 (63.6%-36.3). Voter turnout was 54.44%. The reasons for the recall was that Widdop allegedly asked a business to remove a candidate's sign from the window and recording a conversation and distributing it.

North Dakota: Lincoln mayoral recall scheduled for June 16

The recall of Lincoln Mayor Bob Johnston will take place on June 16, as petitioners handed in at least 110 valids. The issue is over a veto of council members ordinance and then a veto of a law giving the council a veto override power. Johnston's behavior has resulted in a state law (still to be signed) giving councils throughout the state a veto override provision. 

Arizona: Glendale Councilman facing renewed recall effort

Glendale Councilman Robert Sherwood is facing another recall effort for his flip position to support of a casino, extension of a sales tax and vote to allow wider use for digital billboards. The last recall failed when petitioners did not disclose whether the gatherers were being paid on the top of each sheet of petitions. Petitioners need 2,752 signatures by June 20.

Interestingly, Sherwood beat Dianne Douglas, who went on to win the Superintendent of Public Instruction position. She is now facing recall threats herself.

Massachusetts: Fired Town Manager reinstated by new Sagus Board

The recall in Sagus was over his firing, and now Scott Crabtree is being brought back. However, it could get messy, as the old recalled board signed a contract with a new town manager four days before the recall and swore him in the day before the recall.

Missouri: College sophomore jumps into Columbia Councilwoman replacement race

Here

Michigan: Berrien County Treasurer facing petitions over affair

Berrien County Treasurer Bret Witkowski is facing petitions over his extramarital affair and explicit text messages. However, the petitioner is not looking to actually collect signatures. An investigation cleared the three-term treasurer.

Petitioner would need 11,000 signatures in what is listed as 180 days, but is likely 90 days.

Florida: Fort Myers Councilmember facing threats over racially charged comments about early voting polls

Fort Myers Councilwoman Teresa Watkins-Brown is facing recall threats after discussing early voting poll locations. Apparently wanting to set up early polls in white neighborhoods, Watkins-Brown (who is African-American) said that "White people are sacred to come over into our community." Brown said that the polls should be in "area where everybody will feel comfortable to vote."

There is discussion about launching a recall, though they would need to meet the cause requirement of the malfeasance standard (in addition to getting the signatures of 10% of registereds). As you can see below, in my post on Ferguson, this may not rise to incompetence or whatever other level would result in a recall.

Colorado: Recall against Colorado Springs councilwoman leads to discovery

Apparently, neighbors of Helen Collins' property in Kansas City were complaining about her property, but couldn;t find her. Now, thanks to the recall, they have.

Article in the Forward on Harry Houdini

In my research on Wisconsin's adoption of the recall, I found a surprising obit for Harry Houdini. I wrote this article for the Jewish Forward on it. Here's the link to the original piece in the Milwaukee Sentinel.

Philippines: Detailed look at recall law in two gubernatorial efforts

Here

Nevada: Poll shows strong disapproval of Hambrick recall

This poll suggests that Nevada Speaker John Hambrick has a commanding lead if he faces a recall -- 54% and only 17% are in favor.

Missouri: Will the recall effort against the Ferguson Mayor pass judicial scrutiny?

It looked like the recall of Ferguson Mayor James Knowles was "dead in the water" a couple of weeks ago. But times have changed. There is now a more concentrated -- or at least much better publicized -- effort to have Knowles kicked out. Signatures are starting to be collected and press reports note that petitioners need about 1800 signatures (15% of registereds) in 60 days.

The move may simply be a way to pressure Knowles into resigning (a common result in a recall). But if Knowles doesn't resign, there is an open question -- and possibly conflicting statutes -- as to whether he can be recalled for his leadership of the city. There may also be a question of how many signatures are actually needed for the recall.

The problem here is that the state law may conflict with the local law.

The first statute at play is Ferguson's basic recall law. It requires the signatures of 15% of registered voters in 60 days. It also appears to allow recalls for any reason whatsoever (i.e. political recalls). As a point of knowledge, almost every recall that you have heard of has been a political recall (think Gray Davis, Scott Walker, the Colorado state Senators, Arizona Senate President, etc.)

However, the state of Missouri has a (possibly overriding) statute. Missouri doesn't provide a recall for state officials, but it does have them for Class 3 cities (cities with a population between 5,000 and 29,999). This recall law is not a political one, but instead it is what has been called a judicial recall or malfeasance standard. What this means is that a specific charge has to be put forward in the recall petition, and (in Missouri's case) it has to allege "misconduct in office, incompetence or failure to perform duties prescribed by law."

The statute also requires the signatures of 25% of registered voters, so according to this law, more signatures would be needed.

The first question is whether Ferguson is a Class 3 City. The commentators I've read seem to take the Class 3 status as a given, specifically because of Ferguson's size (21,203). In this article, a University of Missouri-St.Louis Political Science professor says that it is a Class 3 City (though the description of the recall is inaccurate). However, on page 21 of this document from the Missouri Municipal League, Ferguson is listed as a Constitutional Charter city, which may be able to have its own recall law (again, I'm not clear on that or whether the city can't just be both). So it may be that the Class 3 designation is incorrect. I do not see an answer in the charter, but as we will see based on one other case, there is good reason to think that the Class 3 designation may be used by the courts.

If Class 3 is correct, from what I can tell, there isn't any case law that answers the question of how Ferguson and other cities can have recall laws that conflict with the state law (and I don't have access to Westlaw or Lexis so I will gladly acknowledge that there may be a dispositive case that easily squares the circle and would be happy if someone pointed it out). It could be that Ferguson's law is simply in violation of state law and would be thrown out by the courts.

Missouri's case law and use of the recall is quite skimpy, but it does shine some light on the subject.

There was an appellate court ruling in 1988 that stopped a recall in Gladstone because it failed to specify reasons for the recall. The court's ruling is narrow -- it does not seem to say that the recall would have been quashed because it failed to state a valid claim of "misconduct, incompetence or failure."

In the last four years, there have been three recall efforts in Missouri that are worth talking about (the other efforts all failed to hand in signatures). In 2011, the mayor of Lebanon was recalled and removed. They seem to list some reasons that may meet the standard (obstructing a meeting). There didn't seem to be any case law surrounding this recall. In March, a recall against Columbia Councilwoman Ginny Chadwick got on the ballot (over her flip-flop on marijuana). Chadwick resigned before the vote, though I haven't seen any news stories that suggest that she sued to stop the recall. Columbia is a much larger city and would not qualify as Class 3.

But the third one, the recall effort against five Ellisville councilmembers in 2012, may be the one that matters the most. Ellisville has a recall law similar to the one that Ferguson possesses. Ellisville (population 9,173) should has the same questions on whether it is a Class 3 City or Constitutional Charter city. In this case, the recall (over the building of a Wal-Mart) was tossed out by the judge because it failed to state a valid reason for the recall. If a judge follows this reasoning, then the Ferguson effort has the difficulty of meeting the malfeasance standard.

A number of commentators appear to assume that the standard for the recall will be easily met. I can't comment on Missouri law, but a look at how other states with a cause requirement for a recall act suggests that a recall based on the actions surrounding the Michael Brown shooting may not be enough to get on the ballot.

I'm not going to compile a full list, but numerous states and jurisdictions have a similar type of provision, including (for our purposes) Georgia, Minnesota,Washington and Alaska.

Over the last few years, we've seen plenty of attempts to get a recall on the ballot in these states (feel free to look through past posts for examples). Almost all have failed. Minnesota has reportedly never had a recall since it was adopted statewide in 1996. Georgia is no easier -- they are not willing to accept Open Meeting violations, a tactic that succeeds in other jurisdictions.  Alaska and Washington have had some recalls occur, but frequently there has been obvious misbehavior on the part of the official, though both have also regularly rejected recalls. There are other examples -- Here's a jurisdiction in Florida tossing a recall out for the failing to state a proper cause.

The commentators seem to think incompetence is easily shown, but that is not the case. Again, its unclear how Missouri courts would decide whether an official's actions were "incompetent" but other states have a high threshold (it almost seems like a "business judgment rule"). The only recall over the last four years that I've seen meet an incompetence threshold was Kansas' Shawnee Treasurer, who (arguably incompetently) commingled funds from the DMV and Real Estate divisions. Despite a bi-partisan call to resign, they couldn't get the signatures for that recall.

The question becomes what is the cause to recall Knowles. I haven't seen the petitions, but if it is simply focused on his actions following the Michael Brown shooting, that may be tossed out, especially since the mayor's power is very weak. In one article there is the suggestion that Knowles tried to influence a driving ticket for a friend. Strange as it sounds, that could be a much more fruitful avenue to pursue a recall.

At this point, these questions remain open-ended. And they also depend on whether Knowles will contest a recall in court. But while all the articles seem to suggest an ouster is very possible, there may be good reason to believe that a recall against the Mayor (and other officials) in Ferguson may fail in the courts.

Canada: Two Liberal MLA's in British Columbia targeted for recall

Two MLA's Richard Lee and Marc Dalton, are facing recall threats from what seems like an organized political effort (called the B.C. Citizens for Recall) to target 12 Liberal lawmakers who could be defeated in a recall. Dalton was targeted with a recall campaign in 2011, but it didn't get anywhere near enough signatures.

Petitioners need 40% of registered voters in 60 days, which appears to be over 15,000.

The issues are all over the place (underfunding of hospitals, seismic upgrades, poverty rates).

There was apparently one successful B.C. recall effort. In 1998, Liberal MLA Paul Reitsma resigned after enough signatures where collected for a recall. Reitsma was accused of writing self-promoting letters to newspapers.