George Barich recall, Cotati, California (2009)
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Cotati City Council member George Barich was recalled in a special recall election held on November 17, 2009 in Sonoma County, California, for voters in the City of Cotati.[1][2]
- Yes to recall question: 65.7%
- No to recall question: 34.3%
Cotati has 3,986 registered voters and approximately 40% of them cast a vote in the recall election.[3]
Barich was elected to his current position on the Cotati City Council in November 2008 by a five-vote margin.
Reasons given by Barich's opponents for wanting to recall him included:
- The claim that he misused city stationery to write President Obama.
- The claim that he posted a racially charged picture on a personal website.
- His use of an image of the Cotati official seal on his personal website.
- He voted "no" on a resolution to put a half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot; some in the city say that the sales tax was needed to keep Cotati solvent.
Cotati is located about 45 miles north of San Francisco. Its population was estimated in 2006 at about 7,170.
Susan Harvey
Susan Harvey, a planning commissioner and 31-year Cotati resident, won the election for the seat made vacant by the recall vote on Barich. In her campaign, she called for a line-by-line analysis of the city's budget to find areas for cost savings.[3]
School board member Eric Kirchmann and planning commissioner Linell Hardy also ran for the seat that became vacant upon the recall of Barich.[1]
Recall supporters
- Robert Coleman-Senghor, who said "I am for it, not because of Barich’s political philosophy but rather because of his political practices: his bullying and ridiculing of citizens, his skirting of city ordinances, his stretching the limits of his narrow authority, his misrepresentations of facts and twisting of unsettled law, his threats to the fiscal welfare of the city with shrouded intimations of litigation and his willful refusal to allow the people to exercise their collective will in matters of taxation."[4]
- Mark Landman. Landman maintains a tally of how many "Yes on Recall' signs have been stolen from yards in his neighborhood.[5]
Recall opponents
- Ken Coleman.
- Phil Maher.[6]
John Guardino's 2006 campaign
Cotati's mayor, John Guardino, resigned from this position on October 23, 2009. After he resigned, he told city officials that when he ran for city office in 2006, his campaign staff accepted an illegal cash contribution and did not disclose the contribution.[6]
Linell Hardy, who is running for the seat that will become vacant if Barich is recalled, was Guardino's 2006 campaign treasurer. On October 26, 2009, she reported the illegal contribution and failure to disclose to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.[6]
The illegal cash contribution became an issue in the closing days of the Barich recall because four people said that Barich was the source of the illegal contribution. The four people who say the Barich gave the money are John Guardino, Linell Hardy, Michelle Berman and Phil Maher.[6]
Barich denies making the contribution and said in an email to a local journalist, "I object to being implicated in anyone else's corrupt political campaigns."[6]
See also
External links
- List of Cotati City Council members
- George Barich, personal website
- Recall George Barich, website endorsing the recall effort
- Cotati Official Website
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Press Democrat, "3 seek to replace Barich on Cotati City Council", September 3, 2009
- ↑ Press Democrat, "Notes on Cotati's recall", November 18, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Press Democrat, "Barich ousted from Cotati council", November 17, 2009
- ↑ Press Democrat, "Yes on Cotati recall", October 22, 2009
- ↑ Press Democrat, "'Nasty' election season in Cotati", October 23, 2009
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Press Democrat, "Accusations over Cotati campaign donation", November 12, 2009
