Politics & Government
Recall Effort - Close But No Brass Ring
Recall supporters get 6,600+ valid signatures but 7,882 were needed.
The Registrar of Voters waited until the last minute to send the City the results of the recall effort. According to their analysis, the recall effort gained 6,600+ valid signatures where 7,882 were needed, thus failing by about 15%.
The totals for Voigts and Hamilton exceeded the votes they got in 2014 (13,324 vs. 12,774) with the biggest difference going against Hamilton (6690 vs 6068).
More than 70% of recall attempts fail on first try so the recall supporters were up against big odds and they did very well getting 85% of the required numbers, but 85% is not a brass ring.
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Here are the totals
· Hamilton – 6,690
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· Robinson – 6,642
· Voigts – 6,634
Recall leaders said that going forward they have a base of more than 6600 people who are well-informed and decided and they can build on that. Using this platform it should be relatively easy to get the required numbers. A second recall is already being prepared. It should be ready by next week, and judging from the recent past experience if initiated in June (against Voigts and Hamilton) they can look forward to an election in March of 2017.
Recall leaders stressed that the focus of the recall needs to be combined with running a candidate against Gang of 3 member Dwight Robinson, so that the Gang of 3 can be reduced to a Gang of 2. Right now they are trying to decide whom to run against Robinson.
In retrospect, one of the recall leaders indicated that their failure was partially due to over confidence and under counting. Going into the final weeks they were firmly convinced that they had enough “pre-qualified” signatures to achieve the levels they needed. Apparently the independent company they hired to analyze the signatures didn’t do a good job
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on August 13 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.
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