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Mayor and city council recall, Huntington Beach, California (2021-2022)
| Huntington Beach mayor and city council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Rhonda Bolton Barbara Delgleize Mike Posey Dan Kalmick Natalie Moser |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2022 Recalls in California California recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports |
Residents in Huntington Beach, California, initiated a campaign to recall Mayor Kim Carr and five of the six additional members of the city council in 2021.[1]
The city council members subject to the recall campaign were Rhonda Bolton, Barbara Delgleize, Mike Posey, Dan Kalmick, and Natalie Moser. The Huntington Beach city clerk said that the recall effort against Bolton would not proceed because she was not legally eligible to be recalled, having been appointed to the seat in 2021.[1]
The recall effort ended unsuccessfully after organizers did not submit the required number of signed petitions.[2][3]
Recall supporters
The group Save Surf City initiated the recall effort.[1] In a press release, an excerpt of which appears below, the group explained its motivation for the recall campaign:[4]
| “ |
The Notices of Intention to Circulate Recall Petitions for Carr, Delgleize, Kalmick, Moser and Posey cite failure to protect the interests of the citizens of Huntington Beach and damaging the City Charter by surrendering local zoning control to the state among other grounds for recall. The Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition for Rhonda Bolton addresses her recent appointment to council never having run for office or receiving a single vote thus disenfranchising the voters of Huntington Beach.[5] |
” |
Recall opponents
A group of 13 former Huntington Beach mayors and city council members published an editorial in the Daily Pilot opposing the recall campaign. An excerpt of the editorial, which can be found here, appears below:[6]
| “ |
The petitions to remove and replace the council members have failed to produce any persuasive arguments in favor of recall. These recalls are nothing more than a publicity stunt, haphazardly thrown together by a group of political opportunists seeking to politically profit at the expense of the Huntington Beach resident and taxpayer. Not only does the disorganization of the recall proponents point to a lack of seriousness and direction, and garner little possibility of reaching the ballot, these recall campaigns are disheartening and distracting from the real work and business of the City Council. One of the petitions has already been suspended by the city clerk because the proponents failed to read the state’s rules for recall. In a scathing editorial, the O.C. Register labeled the Huntington Beach recall bids a 'silly effort,' 'an ill-defined hissy fit,' and 'a waste of time.' We believe one local resident in a letter to the Daily Pilot eloquently sums up the state of the recall petitions in the following: 'This is an effort forged from manufactured grievance and a desire for political retribution, and it lacks even the slightest hint of credibility, good faith or actual desire to benefit Huntington Beach.' We recognize that recall is a vital process in the protection of democratic principles. However, it is to be applied with caution and care as a last resort, such as when elected officials engage in criminal activity or breach their covenant with the people. The proponents of these recalls have failed to provide any tangible evidence that real crime or treachery is occurring; instead, their only complaints are false policy narratives and that their preferred candidate in the recent City Council appointment process was not chosen.[5] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall petitions for Barbara Delgleize and Natalie Moser were approved for circulation in 2021. After Save Surf City failed to meet a filing deadline, the city clerk's office informed organizers that the recall process would have to be restarted for Mayor Kim Carr, Mike Posey, and Dan Kalmick.[7] Organizers re-served the notices of intent for recall to the three officials on September 7, restarting the process.[8]
Organizers had until February 7, 2022, to collect signatures on Delgleize and Moser's petitions. For an election to have been scheduled , they needed to collect signatures from 10% of registered voters in Huntington Beach, or around 13,399 signatures.[1][7] The recall effort against Delgleize and Moser ended unsuccessfully when organizers did not submit the required number of signed petitions by the deadline.[3]
The submission deadline for the petitions against Carr, Posey, and Kalmick passed on February 23, 2022.[3] Organizers submitted 14,295 signatures for Carr, 13,966 for Posey, and 14,010 for Kalmick.[9] The recall effort ended after the Orange County Registrar of Voters determined that none of the petitions had received enough signatures to force an election to be scheduled.[2]
See also
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- Political recall efforts, 2022
- City council recalls
- Mayoral recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Daily Pilot, "Recall effort started against members of the Huntington Beach City Council," August 4, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Orange County Register, "Recall efforts fizzle in Huntington Beach," April 7, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Daily Pilot, "Huntington Beach recall petitioners fall short in round one of signature collecting," February 8, 2022
- ↑ Save Surf City, "Home," accessed August 6, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Daily Pilot, "Commentary: Save Surf City from disinformation," August 27, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Daily Pilot, "Recall petitioners against 2 members of H.B. City Council can start gathering signatures, city staff says," September 2, 2021
- ↑ The Epoch Times, "Huntington Beach City Council Recall Reaches 25 Percent of Signatures Needed," October 29, 2021
- ↑ Daily Pilot, "3 Huntington Beach City Council members could face recall, pending verification of petition signatures," February 24, 2022
