Anthony Adams recall, California, 2009

From Ballotpedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Historical recalls
Recall news
Recall laws
Recall Portal

Contents

A recall effort targeting California State Assembly member Anthony Adams fell short of its goal of collecting sufficient signatures to force a recall election of Anthony Adams. Election officials announced in mid-November 2009 that about 46% of the signatures they reviewed were invalid.[1]

However, supporters of the recall have announced that they will go to court, if necessary, to establish that they did collect enough valid signatures. Tim Whitacre, manager of the recall campaign, said "We will turn over every stone and thoroughly examine every one of the signatures they have. Where we don't find a reasonable, common-sense standard, we're going to aggressively pursue that and seek to have the results overturned."[2]

Recall organizers reviewed a sampling of 40 signatures said to be invalid by the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters and determined that 23 of the signatures should, instead, be counted as valid. They have expressed confidence that they will prevail in a signature re-examination.[3]

Recall motivation

The recall effort is a political punishment for Adams' February 2009 vote with the Democratic Assembly Caucus for a budget package that included $16 billion in tax hikes. Adams was first elected to his seat in November 2006.

The recall effort is led by former state GOP chair Mike Schroeder and Lee Lowrey of Atlas PAC. Through mid-August 2009, recall proponents had raised about $115,000 to fund their efforts.[4],[5],[6]

The recall effort against Adams was the most serious of several recalls that were announced in early 2009 against members of the Sacramento Six.

Timeline

  • April 8: An official notice of recall was served on Adams.[6]
  • March 19: Adams resigns his position as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party after several members call for him to step down due to his vote on the 2009 budget. [7],[8]
  • August 7: Recall supporters say they have collected about 24,000 signatures of the 32,000 they need.[9]
  • August 7: Recall campaign says say they will begin soliciting signatures through the mail.
  • October 13: Deadline for collecting recall signatures.
  • November 20: Election officials publish a "Recall Failure Notice".[10]
  • December 2009: The recall election would have taken place in December if enough signatures are collected to force the recall vote.

Recall supporters

The official committee sponsoring the recall effort was the Atlas PAC. Others who endorsed or supported the recall effort included:

  • The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.[11]
  • Radio celebrities John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI radio's "The John and Ken Show" hosted a four-hour live broadcast in the district in late July urging listeners to sign the recall petition.[12]
  • Small donors. A campaign finance report covering the first six months of the year indicated that about one-half of contributions to the fund to recall Adams were from donors who gave less than $100.[13]

Recall opponents

Former Assembly Minority Leader Michael Villines created the Protect Jobs, the Economy and Education committee to raise money to defend Adams against the recall effort. Villines, like Adams, is one of the Sacramento Six.

Signatures

Those supporting the recall targeting Adams were required to collect about 36,000 valid voter signatures no later than October 13, 2009. According to reports, a total of 58,542 signatures were submitted by the deadline. Election officials had 30 days to scrutinize the submitted signatures.[14] According to the secretary of state's office recall supporters fell more than 11,000 signatures short of the required signatures.[15]

Recall supporters, including Mike Schroeder, a former California Republican Party chairman and Adams recall proponent, question the validity rating in San Bernardino County. Schroeder argued that the registrar's office may have used a sample that didn't "fairly represent all signatures" or there was a "massive fraud." According to Schroeder recall supporters signed with an Arizona-based Campaign Finance Company, LLC to collect signatures who guaranteed a 70% validity rating. Supporters paid the company $110,000.[16]

Signature problems

According to a random sample of the 58,542 submitted signatures about 64% of the Los Angeles County sample were valid and only 49% of the San Bernardino County sample were valid.

According to reports and the registrar of voters, several signatures became invalid in San Bernardino for the following reasons:[17]

  • 41.5% were invalidated because listed addresses didn't match voter registration
  • 31.6% were invalidated because signers didn't live in the 59th Assembly District
  • 22% were invalidated because listed addresses were out-of-county or weren't registered in county
  • 4.9% were invalidated because signers didn't register to vote in time or signed petitions more than once

See also

External links

Additional reading

References

  1. ↑ Daily Press, Adams recall effort fails", November 20, 2009
  2. ↑ San Bernardino Sun, "Adams recall backers to challenge registrar's vote count", November 25, 2009
  3. ↑ Daily Press, "Organizers dispute Adams recall failure", November 25, 2009
  4. ↑ Anthony Adams recall committee formed, March 12, 2009
  5. ↑ Press-Enterprise, "Inland conservative threatened with recall", March 18, 2009
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 VVDaily Press, "Adams served recall at Schwarzenegger fundraiser", April 8, 2009
  7. ↑ Los Angeles Times, "'Sacramento Six' face conservative backlash", March 22, 2009
  8. ↑ Press-Enterprise, "S.B. County GOP chairman resigns in wake of discord over his vote on tax increase", March 20, 2009
  9. ↑ San Gabriel Valley Tribune, "Adams recall supporters turn to mail campaign to attract necessary signatures", August 7, 2009
  10. ↑ "Anthony Adams Recall Failure Notice"
  11. ↑ El Bohemio News, "Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association-PAC HJTA-PAC BACKS THE OUSTER OF TAXRAISER", July 24, 2009
  12. ↑ VV Daily Press, "Radio duo mobilizes residents for Adams recall", July 31, 2009
  13. ↑ Press Enterprise, "War chests soar in recall targeting Inland assemblyman", August 3, 2009
  14. ↑ Contra Costa Times,"Adams recall supporters submit thousands of signatures," October 13, 2009
  15. ↑ Associated Press,"Attempt to recall lawmaker over tax hikes fails," November 20, 2009
  16. ↑ The Sun,"Adams recall supporters say fight not over," November 23, 2009
  17. ↑ The Press-Enterprise,"Multiple SB signature problems in Adams recall," November 23, 2009
v • d • e
2009 recall campaigns
Mayors
City council
School board
County officials
Sheriff
Special district
State legislative
Flag of California
v • d • e
State of California
Sacramento (capital)
Ballot Measures

History of I&R | City and county ballot initiatives | School district bond issues | Laws governing initiatives | Recall process |

Ballot measures by year

1912 • 1914 • 1916 • 1920 • 1922 • 1978 • 1980 • 1982 • 1984 • 1986 • 1988 • 1990 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1996 • 1998 • 2000 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2006 (local) • 2007 • 2008 • 2008 (local) • 2009 • 2009 (local) • 2010

Government

California State Constitution | Governor | Attorney General | Secretary of State | State assembly | State senate |

Elections

Recalls | Vote fraud | 2010 elections |

Judiciary

California Supreme Court | Courts of Appeal | Superior Courts | District Courts | Judicial selection in California | Judicial News |

Transparency Topics

Public Records Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |

Divisions

State | List of counties | List of Cities | List of School Districts, A - L | List of School Districts, M - Y |
Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |

Retrieved from "http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Anthony_Adams_recall,_California,_2009"
Personal tools