Baker City Council recall, Oregon, 2009
| Baker Mayor and City Council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Beverly Calder |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2009 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder was initiated in July 2009 after councilors voted on a pair of controversial ordinances. Both recall efforts were defeated and the elected officials retained their seats.[1] City Councilors Milo Pope, Andrew Bryan and Sam Bass all supported the recall and volunteered to gather signatures for recall petitions.[2]
Baker City voters rejected by more than a 2-to-1 margin an effort to recall Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder. The measure to recall Dorrah failed by a margin of 2,288 to 938 — 71 percent to 29 percent. The measure seeking to oust Calder from office failed by 2,187 votes to 1,036, a margin of 68 percent to 32 percent
Election results
| Dennis Dorrah recall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 No
|
2,288 | 70.92% | ||
| Yes | 938 | 29.08% | ||
| Total votes | 3226 | 100.00% | ||
| Voter turnout | % | |||
| Beverly Calder recall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| No
|
2,187 | 67.86% | ||
| Yes | 1,036 | 32.14% | ||
| Total votes | 3223 | 100.00% | ||
| Voter turnout | % | |||
Response to recall
Both Dorrah and Calder said that they have no intention to resign. Both were elected in November 2006 for four-year terms which expired on December 31, 2010.[3]
Signatures
In order to hold a recall election for Mayor Dorrah and Councilor Calder, recall supporters needed to gather a minimum of 603 signatures. In early September, 674 signatures were submitted for Dorrah and 629 for Calder. However, on September 10, county clerk Tami Green announced that supporters were 54 signatures short for Dorrah and 91 signatures short for Calder.[3]
On September 10, 2009 Baker County Clerk Tami Green confirmed that recall supporters lacked the minimum number of valid signatures to hold a recall election, however, supporters had until September 17 to gather additional signatures.[4]
Investigation
In October 2009, a Baker City resident requested that the Oregon Elections Division review the submitted petitions and verify if former City Manager Steve Brocato signed the petitions twice. City council members voted to recall Brocato in June 2009. According to state officials, knowingly signing a petition more than once is considered a felony and carries a maximum penalty of a $125,000 fine and five years in prison.[5]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Baker City Herald, "City Council recalls fail," October 28, 2009
- ↑ Baker City Herald, "Councilors back recall effort," August 10, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Baker City Herald, "Recall: Clerk verifying signatures," September 2, 2009
- ↑ The Record Courier, "Recall Petitions Lack Enough Signatures," September 10, 2009
- ↑ Associated Press, "Ex-manager may have signed Baker petition twice," October 22, 2009 (dead link)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
