Mark Roe recall, Snohomish County, Washington (2015)
| Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in Washington Washington recall laws County official recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Mark Roe from his position as prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County, Washington, was launched in June 2014.[1]
After the first recall attempt did not go to vote, Anne Block, who started the original recall petition, launched a second campaign to recall Roe in February 2015. This second attempt was ultimately unsuccessful as well, as a judge dismissed the recall petition due to lack of grounds.[2][3]
Block posted that she would target Roe in another recall petition in the future.[3]
Roe ran unopposed for the position of prosecuting attorney in 2014.
Recall supporters
Anne Block, identified as a blogger for Gold Bar, filed the first set of recall paperwork on June 27, 2014. Block accused Roe of mishandling an assault case involving a child from 2009.[1] Her recall petition did not go very far. To some degree, the recall could not achieve traction because Roe was up for re-election in 2014. Her second attempt, launched in February 2015, contended that Roe misused taxpayer money to provide legal representation for Kevin Hulten, who harassed Block and others online, including Roe himself.[2]
Recall opponents
Response by Mark Roe
Roe requested the San Juan County prosecutor's office provide an opinion on whether Snohomish County was obliged to provide legal representation to Hulten due to the county's embroilment in the case, an issue that was given as one of the reasons for the recall effort. The San Juan County office stated that Snohomish County was, in fact, required to pay for Hulten's lawyer.[1]
Roe decided to file a request for judicial review of the recall petition, and the recall was ultimately dismissed by the court as invalid.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Washington
Article I, Section 33, of the Washington Constitution says that a recall can only occur if the targeted public official has engaged in the "commission of some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office" or "has violated his oath of office." A petition for the recall of a first, second or third-class county official must contain valid signatures equal to 35 percent of the votes cast for all candidates for the office in question during the most recent county election. In this case, the most recent election for county prosecuting attorney was in 2014, where 153,388 total votes were cast. This number yielded a signature requirement for the successful recall of Mark Roe of 53,686. Signatures needed to be gathered and submitted at least six months prior to the next scheduled election for the targeted position. As Roe's {{{after}}} in November 2018, a recall petition for Mark Roe needed to be submitted by May 6, 2018, at the latest.[1]
Election law dictates that, after signature petition certification, a special election must be scheduled within between 45 and 99 days, provided it is not scheduled to occur between the primary election in the beginning of August and general election in beginning of November.
See law: Washington Constitution, Article I, Section 33
Judge's dismissal
Roe filed a request for judicial review of the recall petition in Skagit County Superior Court based on the constitutional requirement that officials can only be recalled for the "commission of some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office" or for the violation of his or her oath of office.[3]
Skagit County Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled that Roe had not acted in any such way. His final decision to dismiss the recall attempt included the following statement:
| “ |
Mr. Roe exercised his discretion appropriately and within the requirements of the laws of the State of Washington and the Snohomish County Code and consistent with his ethical obligations under the Rules of Professional Conduct.[4] |
” |
| —Judge John Meyer[3] | ||
See also
Additional reading
- The Daily Herald, "Mark Roe Declaration in Court," accessed May 7, 2015
- The Daily Herald, "Mark Roe Recall Court Dismissal," accessed May 7, 2015
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Mark + Roe + recall"
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Daily Herald, "Recall petition filed against county prosecutor," June 30, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Daily Herald, "New recall attempt launched against Snohomish County prosecutor," February 14, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Daily Herald, "Petition to recall prosecutor denied by Skagit judge," February 27, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
