Recall of Andrew Hamilton Succeeds

In the matter of the recall of Lake Forest City Councilman Andrew Hamilton, the Registrar of Voters reported to the City Clerk that 9,155 signatures had been verified and this was sufficient to meet the 8,834 required (20% of the registered voters).

This is the second recall attempt on Hamilton. Last year he avoided being recall when only 6,600 of 7,800 required signatures were obtained. Though the number of signatures for him to be recalled was actually higher than the number of votes that put him in office in 2014, it didn’t reach the 20% of registered voters that was required. This year, 16,225 signatures were submitted and 9,155 were verified,

Hamilton was being recalled for several reasons -

• Lack of fiscal conservatism, as when he voted generous bonuses to the City Manager, or refused to cut the fat from the City’s $40 millon budget.
• Lack of compassion, as when he voted against a local no-kill shelter, against allow Agewell to serve needy seniors in Lake Forest, or refused to move forward on a community foundation.
• Poor behavior toward residents, as when he threatened Police action against people for speaking to each other during Council sessions, angrily put residents and staff in “time out” when they refused to obey his commands to stop laughing or applauding, and cut people off in mid-sentence when they were saying something he didn’t want to hear.
• Perceived corruption when he accepted tens of thousands of dollars from special interests and then voted 100% of the time to give these special interests anything they wanted, even when the public and staff objected to the decisions.

Hamilton’s supporters spent nearly $100,000 to keep him in office, often lying about the situation, claiming a special election would cost $450,000 (it will probably cost between $150,000 and $200,000), and that Hamilton only has 4 more months to serve (he had 16 more months), etc.

Money from unions, developers, and special interests poured in to support Hamilton, yet all they could manage was 886 verified signatures that were withdrawn. Had these signatures not been withdrawn, the total verified signatures would have been 10,041.

According to the Registrar of Voters, 1,405 additional signatures were counted as “invalid” because the “signatures don’t match”. All of these decisions are open to appeal by the recall petitioners, however, given that they already achieved more than a sufficient number, petitioners said they would not be challenging the decisions.

The City Council must meet on September 19 and set a date for a special election. Hamilton had been asked to resign prior to the final count, to save the City the costs of the election. He refused. Now that the count is final, the Clerk must, by law, proceed to an election. However, it still isn’t too late for Hamilton to do the right thing. If he resigns, a special bill could be brought through the legislature to void the special election, thus saving the City the estimated $150,000 to $200,000.