James Davenport recall, Los Angeles, California (1904)
| James Davenport recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| September 16, 1904 |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 1904 Recalls in California California recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An election to recall Ward 6 City Councilman James Davenport was held on September 16, 1904, in Los Angeles, California. Voters recalled Davenport. The California Supreme Court ruled that the recall election was invalid in April 1905.[1][2]
Recall vote
Arthur Houghton ran against Davenport in the recall election. Houghton won the recall election with 1,837 votes. Davenport received 1,083 votes.[1]
Recall supporters
The recall effort began following a vote by the Los Angeles City Council to award the city's printing contract to the Times at a cost believed to be between $10,000 and $20,000 higher than other bids for the contract.[1]
Supporters of the recall included the Typographical Union, R. H. Norton, who was a retired businessman and the president of the Good Government League, and Dr. John Haynes, who was a member of the Los Angeles Board of Freeholders and president of the Direct Legislation League.[1][3]
Recall opponents
The Times expressed support for Davenport during the recall effort.[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
On June 13, 1904, a recall petition containing 951 signatures was submitted to the city clerk. The clerk ruled that the petition did not contain a sufficient number of valid signatures. The clerk received an amended petition containing 952 signatures on June 27, 1904. The clerk found the amended petition sufficient. A recall election was scheduled for August 11, 1904.[1]
Davenport contested the decision to hold a recall election on the grounds that the signatures were not sufficient. An injunction was issued. Recall organizers began a second petition, and a recall election was held on September 16, 1904.[1]
The recall election was declared invalid in April 1905 by the California Supreme Court in Davenport v. City of Los Angeles. Davenport's term as a member of the city council had expired, but the court ruled that he was entitled to his salary for the time he would have been in office had the recall not occurred.[2]
See also
- Ballotpedia's Recall Report
- Los Angeles, California
- Recall campaigns in California
- City council recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Heilman Stimson, G. (1955). Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (pages 281-285)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 California Supreme Court, Davenport v. City of Los Angeles, April 5, 1905
- ↑ Viehe, F. W. (1988). The First Recall: Los Angeles Urban Reform or Machine Politics? Southern California Quarterly, 70(1), (pages 1–28)
