Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Paul Wadsworth and Jerry Johnson recall, Mission Irrigation District, Montana (2014)
| Mission Irrigation District Board recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Jerry Johnson |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| April 21, 2014 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2014 Recalls in Montana Montana recall laws Special district recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Paul Wadsworth and Jerry Johnson from their positions as board members of the Mission Irrigation District in St. Ignatius, Montana was initiated in March 2014. The recall effort was launched, in part, due to the district's financial woes and the fact that Wadsworth and Johnson pushed the district to support the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Water Compact. The compact was designed to create "a legal distribution of water rights on the Flathead Reservation" and led to several years of controversy.[1]
The official reason stated for the recall was that Wadsworth and Johnson violated Montana’s public meetings laws. A recall election was held and results were finalized on April 21, 2014. Both Wadsworth and Johnson were successfully recalled from their positions.[1][2]
Election results
Below are the official election results:[1]
| Paul Wadsworth Recall (2014) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 5,676 | 55.32% | ||
| No | 4,584 | 44.68% | ||
| Jerry Johnson Recall (2014) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 5,479 | 53.27% | ||
| No | 4,807 | 45.73% | ||
- Disclaimer: Voting is based on the amount of acreage owned. Therefore, a landowner with 400 acres would receive 400 votes.[3]
Background
According to the letter of intent to recall:[2]
| “ |
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wadsworth knowingly held a Mission District meeting on June 14, 2013. The agenda stated simply “Discussion on FJBC and recent FJBC actions and activities.” See Exhibit A at www.watermontana.com. This agenda item would not reasonably lead the public to believe the Mission District was going to vote to withdraw from the FJBC. Therefore, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wadsworth violated the public meeting laws. The right to participate in government is a protected right under the Montana Constitution. Therefore, they have violated irrigators’ constitutional rights by violating public meeting laws. On October 16, 2013 the Mission District held a meeting that was closed to the public, thus violating MCA 45-7-403 (e) and 2-3-203. See Exhibit B at www.watermontana.com. At the meeting, they discussed and voted in a closed-door meeting to sue Lake County to prevent its own irrigators from voting on a FJBC referendum to remain in the FJBC. The meeting was held without any agenda item advising that litigation had been proposed against Lake County to prevent the FJBC’s referendum vote. By doing this, they violated irrigators’ rights under Articles II, § 8 and 9 and violated their oath of office to support and defend their Montana Constitution. This constitutes “official misconduct” and is grounds for removal from office. [4] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Montana
Montana has the lowest percentage of signatures required for recalling elected officials in the country. It is only ten percent of voters who voted in the last general election for a statewide official and 15 percent of voters for a district official.
See also
- Recall campaigns in Montana
- Special district recalls
- Political recall efforts, 2014
- Political recall efforts, 2013
External links
Western Montana Water Users Association, LLC
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Valley Journal, "Mission Irrigation District restructures; evaporated Joint Board reformation underway," April 30, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Western Montana Water Users Association, LLC, "Recall Election Letter 3-4-14," March 4, 2014
- ↑ Valley Journal, "Mission Irrigation commissioners recalled," April 23, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
