El Dorado County Board of Supervisors recalls, California (2016)
| El Dorado County Board of Supervisors recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Shiva Frentzen Brian Veerkamp Sue Novasel Michael Ranalli |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2016 Recalls in California California recall laws County commission recalls Recall reports |
Efforts in El Dorado County, California, to recall Ron Mikulaco, Shiva Frentzen, Brian Veerkamp, Sue Novasel and Michael Ranalli from their positions on the county board of supervisors was officially launched in Fall 2015.[1]
Recall proponents called for a "clean sweep" of county government, alleging “lack of representation, lack of fiscal responsibility, abuse of power, and cronyism among other allegations” as the grounds for the recalls.[2]
Recall supporters did not turn in petitions for Ron Mikulaco, Shiva Frentzen, Brian Veerkamp, and Sue Novasel by the filing deadlines in late March 2016. The petition for Michael Ranalli was due on April 12.[3]
Below are the recall targets, their districts and the year their terms would end according to the normal election cycle:
- District I - Ron Mikulaco; Term ends: 2016
- District II - Shiva Frentzen; Term ends: 2016
- District III - Brian Veerkamp; Term ends: 2016
- District IV - Michael Ranalli; Term ends: 2018
- District V - Sue Novasel; Term ends: 2018
Recall supporters
El Dorado County Total Recall is the group behind these recall efforts.[4]
Save Our County, a group of activists with the stated goals of "protecting, restoring, and sustaining El Dorado County," is also supporting these recall efforts.[5]
Recall supporter arguments
Kevin McAllister, an organizer and supporter of the State of Jefferson movement, said, "The citizens of El Dorado County are sick and tired of the corruption, cronyism, and lack of representation in the County, and it's time for a clean sweep."[6]
The following statement was posted on the El Dorado County Total Recall website:
| “ |
Whereas, the voters of El Dorado County are a people of fairness, but when money or influence takes precedence over the wishes of its citizens, we the people have a right to remove any or all of the elected officials. We the voters are seeking relief from the tyranny of our elected officials. They have failed to effectively and efficiently operate County government. Government derives its power from the consent of its people. We retain our right to alter or abolish any elected official when they become destructive to the people they are sworn to represent. Therefore, we must recall our elected officials and return to a government that will adequately represent us, protect us, and follow the will of the people.[7] |
” |
| —El Dorado County Total Recall[4] | ||
Recall opponents
Placerville Newswire staff wrote an opinion piece arguing against the recall efforts. An excerpt is below:
| “ |
Recalls are an expensive and time-wasting action that are seldom successful. Recalls are intended to remove politicians from office who have committed a crime or other heinous act such as stealing money, not for the “crime” of disagreeing with a handful of voters. Our supervisors were elected fair and square by their constituents. Let them do their job and if enough folks do not like the job they are doing we can elect someone else in the future.[7] |
” |
| —Placerville Newswire[8] | ||
Response from Ron Mikulaco
Below is Mikulaco's official response to the recall effort that he filed for inclusion on the recall petition form:
| “ |
The effort to recall me is frivolous, meaningless and silly. Proponents have not offered any example of misconduct or tyranny on my part. The claim that the county is not functioning as a result of my actions is absolutely unfounded.[7] |
” |
| —Ron Mikulaco[1] | ||
Unofficially, Mikulaco also stated, “The wheels of county government are moving quite swimmingly. We passed a structured county budget and all county services are open and doing business.” When asked about some land and development project issues that petitioners have focused on when arguing for the removal of Mikulaco specifically, Mikulaco said, "We’ll pick those up when the time comes. As a decision maker I could vote yes or no. People think just because they say you should vote a certain way and you don’t it’s tyranny. There’s a minority of people out there that want to scare people into thinking the board is an evil empire.”[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Those seeking the recalls needed at least 20 signatures from resident voters in order to file Notices of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition. Proponents served these notices to all five members of the board of supervisors. Some supervisors were served with the notice in October 2015. Ron Mikulaco, the last to receive a recall notice, was served on November 17, 2015. After the Elections Department validated the Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition filings, recall proponents had 120 days to collect valid signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters within each of the supervisors' electoral districts. The elections department would then need to validate and certify the recall petition between 88 and 125 days before the election in June 2016.
The deadline to turn in the petitions for Brian Veerkamp and Sue Novasel was March 29. The deadline for Ron Mikulaco and Shiva Frentzen was March 31. The dates passed without any recall petitions getting turned in to the county. The petition for Michael Ranalli was due on April 12.[3]
The signature requirements for the supervisors are listed below:[2]
- District I - Ron Mikulaco - 4,371 valid signatures
- District II - Shiva Frentzen - 4,486 valid signatures
- District III - Brian Veerkamp - 4,252 valid signatures
- District IV - Michael Ranalli - 4,597 valid signatures
- District V - Sue Novasel - 3,545 valid signatures
Related recall
A group of petitioners is also targeting Joe Harn, the county auditor-controller, with a recall petition campaign.[9]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms El Dorado County Board of Supervisors recalls. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Village Life, "Mik responds to recall notice," December 14, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tahoe Daily Tribune, "El Dorado County supervisors served notices of intention to recall (updated)," October 27, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Village Life, "Recall backers miss deadlines," April 4, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 El Dorado County Total Recall, "Home," accessed December 23, 2015
- ↑ Save Our County, "Home," accessed December 23, 2015
- ↑ South Tahoe Now, "Group calls for recall of all five El Dorado County Supervisors," October 27, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ InEDC.com, "Opinion: Wasting Time and Money on Total Recall," November 16, 2015
- ↑ Village Life, "Harn gets recall notice," December 7, 2015
