Dan Hobart recall, Independence, Missouri (2021)
| Independence City Council recall |
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| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Missouri Missouri recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall City Councillor Dan Hobart did not make it to the ballot in Independence, Missouri. Recall organizers did not submit petitions to the city clerk's office by the deadline on November 4, 2021.[1]
Organizers opposed Hobart's comments at an October 2021 city council meeting, in which he argued against diverting federal stimulus money from a development project to public safety expenses.[2]
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Resident Tara Kruse initiated the formal recall process by taking out a petition against Hobart.[2]
Organizers objected to Hobart's comments at a city council meeting on October 4, 2021. Hobart advocated against diverting coronavirus stimulus funding allocated to streetscape work at the Square to police department expenses. He said in an address, "Not a single council person has business shopping for the police department, nor any citizen. ... It's not picking out what you want to do and claiming it as right thing to do. It's incredibly arrogant and incredibly short-sighted."[2]
Recall opponents
In a comment to The Examiner, Hobart said about the city council meeting, "I'm completely satisfied with the words and the message I conveyed."[2]
Hobart later apologized, saying, "As smart as I think am, I'm not. ... What I've learned, and what I realized is, I talked down to the citizens of Independence, including the citizens that spoke that night.”[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Missouri
For a recall election to have been scheduled, organizers needed to collect signatures from 8% of registered voters from Independence City Council District 4, or around 1,300 signatures. Organizers did not submit recall petitions by the submission deadline, which passed on November 4, 2021.[2]
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
See also
External links
Footnotes
