Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Patrick Meyering recall, Sunnyvale, California (2014)
| Sunnyvale Council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2014 Recalls in California California recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Councilman Patrick Meyering in Sunnyvale, California from his position was launched in August 2014.[1] The recall did not go to a vote after supporters failed to gather enough signatures.[2]
Recall supporters
Former councilmember Christopher Moylan, a leader of the recall effort, accused Meyering of damaging the city's reputation and voting as a contrarian with no guiding principle. "He votes no on everything," Moyland said.[1]
Recall organizers also gave Meyering's censure by the other council members and refusal to sign the council's code of ethical conduct as reasons for the recall effort.[3]
Recall opponents
Chuck Clark opposed the recall effort with the following reasons for supporting Meyering on the site BeFair.info:
| “ |
Pat Meyering has urged fellow council members to abstain from voting on issues where a potential conflict of interest exists. His pleas are almost always ignored as some council members routinely vote where conflicts exist. Consequently, Sunnyvale taxpayers are losing money to special interests (contractors, developers, and to city employees). Equally bad, citizens are also seeing a reduction in the quality of the city. Pat is in a minority of council members who have not accepted money from special interests. Most council members cannot make that claim; by law they must report the money given to them. Pat’s reward for his attempts to promote fairness in city government is the satisfaction that he represents citizens honestly. Pat is greatly outnumbered and consequently some council members and ex-members have ganged up on him. He has been censured by the council for speaking the truth regarding the appearance of conflicts of interest. They don’t want his comments heard publicly in council meetings. Since the council is forbidden to silence him entirely, a group led by now ex-council members (some were also involved in the censuring of Pat) is attempting to permanently silence him by starting a recall effort. Not surprisingly, most of the ex-members have taken considerable money from special interests. Some of them may run for council seats in the future. The recall group poses as a grassroots effort yet they are led by the same gang of developer-backed politicians that has occupied city council for many years. Curiously they want to completely silence Pat just as they contemplate the largest city development project in many years.[4][5] |
” |
| —Chuck Clark (2017) | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall supporters needed to gather 8,200 valid signatures by September 17, 2014, in order to schedule a special recall election for 2015.[1] Supporters only collected 4,530 signatures, so the recall did not move forward.[2]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 San Jose Mercury News, "Sunnyvale: Councilman's rage against the machine results in faltering recall campaign," August 26, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 San Jose Mercury News, "Effort to recall Councilman Pat Meyering falls through," September 24, 2014
- ↑ Recall Pat Meyering, "Home," accessed from Wayback Machine on February 5, 2024
- ↑ BeFair.info, "Home," accessed October 31, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
