Mid-Year Recall Report: Western states dominate recall news
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Mid-year report |
97 separate recall efforts |
Washington Lincoln, N.D. Dona Ana County, N.M. Manteca USD, Calif. |
References |
June 30, 2015
Employees can be fired for unacceptable behavior; some elected officials seem to forget that they are also accountable to their bosses—the voters. From January 1, 2015, through June 15, 2015, Ballotpedia tracked 137 elected officials targeted by 97 separate recall attempts, in which citizens seek signatures for a petition to remove the targeted official from office. A successful petition campaign results in a special election where voters decide whether to fire or keep elected officials.
In states that allow recall, this process can be utilized at various levels of government including the following: governors, state legislators and other state executive officers; county commissioners and supervisors, county officials, sheriffs and judges; school board members; city council members and mayors, city clerks, treasurers and other municipal officials; and board members of special districts, such as water districts, fire districts and community service districts. In other words, few elected officials are immune from recall efforts. This report compiles the most interesting, impactful and peculiar cases that have come up in the first half of 2015.
This year Oregon alone featured enough high-profile recall proposals to fill a report. Concerns over conflicts of interest in the office of former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D) revolving around his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, motivated two separate groups to threaten recall efforts if Kitzhaber did not resign. Moreover, debates over firearm background checks in the Oregon State Legislature triggered recall campaigns against two state senators and two state representatives.
A recall attempt against Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley (D) was started, citing office mismanagement as well as Kelley's indictment for 10 charges of possession of stolen property, false declaration and attempted obstruction.
At the local level, Mayor Bob Johnston of Lincoln, N.D., motivated both a recall attempt and a proposed change in state law by repeatedly vetoing city council ordinances. In Dona Ana County, N.M., Treasurer David Gutierrez refused to resign after he admitted to sexually harassing a county employee. Gutierrez said he expected the victim to be flattered by his offer of $1,000 in exchange for sex. A recall attempt was started against him soon after.
School district officials drew the most recall attempts in the first half of 2015, with 51 board members targeted. Three board members were targeted by recall efforts related to allegations of election fraud in the Manteca Unified School District in California. Claims that Alexander Bronson and Ashley Drain lied about their addresses on candidate forms and did not actually reside in the districts they represent—which is required by law—led to the arraignment of both officials. Drain and Bronson's fellow board member, Sam Fant, is embroiled in the election fraud allegations, but a recall attempt against him also involves his reaction to a school clerk's Facebook photos reportedly featuring President Obama with a fly on his head and the clerk's family wearing Confederate flag clothing at a "Dukes of Hazzard"-themed birthday party.
Statistics
Results
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From January 1, 2015, to June 15, 2015, a total of 97 recall efforts were organized against 137 officials. Efforts against 74 of those officials are still ongoing. Eighteen did not make it to the ballot. Of the 12 recalls to make it to the ballot, nine were approved and three were defeated. Four other officials resigned before those recalls could go to a vote. A breakdown of the various recall outcomes is displayed in the chart to the right. |
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Targets
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School board officials drew the focus of more recall petitions than any other group in the first half of 2015. A total of 51 school board leaders faced recall campaigns while mayors faced the second-most with 19. Petitioners also targeted state-level officials, filing against nine state legislators and five state executives. A breakdown of the various recall targets is displayed in the chart to the right. |
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Targets by state
California leads the way in officials targeted for recall with 33 through June 15. Arizona and Michigan are tied, with 18 officials facing recalls. The map below displays the number of officials targeted for recall, with darker shades representing high target numbers.
Oregon gubernatorial and legislative recalls (2015)
Oregonians experienced a flurry of recall efforts due to ethics concerns in the governor's office and debates over firearm background checks in the state legislature. Gov. John Kitzhaber faced two recall efforts in early 2015 due to conflict-of-interest concerns for Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes. Hayes faced accusations that she used her access to the governor's office to lobby for clients in her consulting business, including Demos. An investigation by The Oregonian led to the release of emails from February 2015 detailing efforts by Kitzhaber and Hayes to secure funding for a Demos-backed project called the Genuine Progress Indicator and employment for Demos advisor Sean McGuire.[1] Disclosures made to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in January 2015 revealed $118,000 in payments to Hayes from the Clean Economy Development Center that were not reported on state disclosure forms or federal income tax returns.[2] The recall efforts against Kitzhaber proved unnecessary due to his resignation on February 18.[3]
Four state legislators, two senators and two representatives, are facing recall over their support of firearm background checks. Sen. Chuck Riley (D), Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D), Rep. Val Hoyle (D) and Rep. Susan McLain (D) all supported the passing of Senate Bill 941. Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed the bill into law on May 11, 2015. Supporters of Senate Bill 941 believe that firearm background checks are necessary in protecting the public from a loophole that allows criminals or people with mental health problems to buy a gun.[4] Patricia Michaelson-Duffy filed the recall petition against Prozanski because Senate Bill 941 turns "law-abiding citizens into criminals for storing a firearm in a friend’s safe or safeguarding one for a person who has no safe place for their firearm."[5] To move the recalls forward, each recall petitioner must collect enough signatures to equal or exceed 15 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the last election in the legislator's district within 90 days of the date that the petition was filed.[6] If petitioners collect enough valid signatures, the legislator will have five days to choose to resign. If he or she does not, the recall will go to the ballot.[6][7]
Troy Kelley recall, Washington (2015)
- See also: Troy Kelley recall, Washington (2015)
Troy Kelley faced a recall effort as a federal grand jury investigated the auditor's past business dealings. On April 16, 2015, Kelley was indicted on 10 charges including possession of stolen property, false declaration and attempted obstruction during his tenure as the owner of Post Closing Department. The federal indictment also determined that Kelley failed to declare $2,581,653 on his income tax returns.[8] Former state legislator Will Knedlik filed a recall petition with the secretary of state's office on April 3, citing the auditor's legal issues and mismanagement of office. Kelley took a leave of absence on May 4 to focus on his legal defense, with operations director Jan Jutte running the auditor's office on an interim basis.[9] A May 8 hearing in the Pierce County Superior Court ended the recall effort because the petition did not meet the legal requirements for a recall.[10]
Bob Johnston recall, Lincoln, North Dakota (2015)
Mayor Bob Johnston of Lincoln, N.D., angered constituents by repeatedly vetoing measures passed by the city council. Jon Aman of the recall committee said, "He doesn't want to work with the City Council at all. He keeps vetoing all of the council members. He's got a power issue. We've got growing pains in the city. If we don't catch up with it, it's going to hurt us in the long run."[11] After initiation of this recall attempt, the North Dakota House of Representatives approved a bill 90-1 that would allow a city council to override a mayoral veto.[12] Johnston was successfully recalled in an election on June 16, 2015.[13]
David Gutierrez recall, Dona Ana County, New Mexico (2016)
Dona Ana County Treasurer David Gutierrez refused to step down from his position after being asked to do so by the county board of commissioners when he admitted to offering a county employee $1,000 in exchange for sex. Gutierrez seemed unapologetic for his actions, saying that he thought the women he harassed would be flattered. Despite Gutierrez's behavior, which probably would have resulted in his termination from a private sector job or an appointed position, the county commissioners cannot legally fire him. Only the voters can fire him, since the voters were the ones who hired him in 2012, when Gutierrez was elected to his fourth four-year term with a 61.84 percent majority.[14]
Gutierrez gave the following statement: "I will not resign. I have 38,867 reasons why I won't resign. That is the number of people who voted to re-elect me in 2012. The citizens of Dona Ana County trust me and approve of my job performance. I have done nothing over my 14 years in office to violate their trust." After Gutierrez insisted on keeping his position, County Manager Julia Brown encouraged voters to organize a recall petition targeting Gutierrez.[14]
Signatures equaling 33.3 percent of the number of votes cast in the most recent election for county treasurer are required to force a recall election. This amounts to 20,950 valid signatures to recall David Gutierrez, and they must be submitted more than 90 days before the beginning of May 2016, after which it would be too late for a recall election.
Manteca Unified School District recall, California (2015)
Former board members and the teacher's union have led the charge against three Manteca Unified School District Trustees. As of June 21, 2015, one board member, Alexander Bronson, resigned over election fraud charges brought against him and fellow embroiled trustee Ashley Drain. The charges alleged that both board members lied about their addresses on election forms as they did not reside in the districts to which they sought election at that time.[15] [16]
On May 7, 2015, Bronson and Drain were arraigned in back-to-back hearings. While Bronson was granted a continuation of her arraignment at that hearing, Drain pleaded not guilty. A further arraignment hearing for Drain was scheduled for June 3, 2015.[17]
Sam Fant, the third recall target, was named during allegations made by former trustee Dale Fritchen at a board meeting in April 2015. While Fritchen's critiques focused on Bronson and Drain, he also claimed that address changes on those board members' campaign filings were made by Fant. However, Fant's role in the election fraud case took a back seat to controversies surrounding his reaction to a district employee's personal Facebook posts.[15][16]
At a January 2015 meeting of the board, community members brought up concerns regarding the photos posted on the Facebook page of Debie McLarty, the head clerk of Walter Woodward Elementary. The images reportedly depicted President Obama with a fly on his head and McLarty's family wearing Confederate flag clothing at a "Dukes of Hazzard"-themed birthday party. While McLarty would not comment on the matter, saying, "It’s my business." Fant argued that McLarty was incorrect in saying the photos were entirely her business as there were district policies regarding employee social media use. “Those photos absolutely reflect aggression, oppression and slavery," Fant said.[18][19]
While some in the community joined in Fant's reaction, he faces a possible censure from the other three remaining members of the board and threats of a recall election from some community members. Fant was criticized for leaving during the board meeting at which the controversy was discussed to talk to a reporter. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has come to Fant's defense in the matter of the censure. Alan Schlosser, senior council for the ACLU, commented on the vagueness of the board's bylaws regarding the use of censure, saying, “Giving the Board unbridled discretion to regulate speech about such highly charged and controversial issues such as race makes the vagueness of the bylaws that form the basis for the censure resolution particularly troubling.” As of mid-June 2015, the censure had not moved forward.[19][20]
See also
- Laws governing recall
- Recall on Ballotpedia
- Political recall efforts
- 2014 recall analysis
- 2014 mid-year report
Footnotes
- ↑ The Oregonian, "John Kitzhaber controversy: Cylvia Hayes directed state officials on policy she was being paid to promote, emails show," February 6, 2015
- ↑ The Oregonian, "Cylvia Hayes discloses another $118,000 for consulting fees," January 28, 2015
- ↑ OregonLive, "Governor John Kitzhaber announces his resignation," February 13, 2015
- ↑ kmtr.com, "Citizens opposed to background checks want to recall state senator," accessed June 22, 2015
- ↑ registerguard.com, "Eugene’s Sen. Prozanski targeted in recall," accessed June 15, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 blueoregon.com, "Hoyle, McLain, and Riley face recalls by gun activists (even though that's dumb) ," accessed April 22, 2015
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, " Recall an Elected Official," accessed April 22, 2015
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Auditor Troy Kelley indicted by feds, pleads not guilty," April 16, 2015
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "State-auditor employee of 30 years to step in for indicted boss," April 29, 2015
- ↑ Reuters, "Judge blocks recall attempt against indicted Washington state auditor," May 8, 2015
- ↑ Bismarck Tribune, "Recall petition circulated against Lincoln mayor," February 6, 2015
- ↑ Bismarck Tribune, "Veto override bill OK'd by state House," February 12, 2015
- ↑ KFYR, "Wise Replaces Johnston as Mayor in Lincoln Recall Election," June 16, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 KVIA, "Dona Ana County residents protest treasurer who admits to offering employee money for sex," March 10, 2015
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Manteca Bulletin, "Trustees Drain, Bronson asked to step down," April 15, 2015
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 News10, "Manteca school board members charged with election fraud," April 25, 2015
- ↑ Recordnet.com, "Trustees accused of fraud appear in court," May 7, 2015
- ↑ FOX 40, "School Employee’s Controversial Facebook Posts Under Fire," January 28, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Manteca Bulletin, "Meeting ruckus: Political lynching?" May 15, 2015
- ↑ Manteca Bulletin, "Fant Target of Recall," June 10, 2015
