Rod Taylor recall, Thomas County, Kansas (2016)
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An effort to recall Rod Taylor in Thomas County, Kansas, from his position as sheriff was launched in December 2015.
David Pabst, Patricia Keiser and Mark Blatt submitted the petition seeking the recall on December 29. In a letter to a county elections officer two days later, the county attorney said that the petition was sufficient and that the collection of signatures could begin.[1]
The recall effort ended when supporters were unable to collect the required amount of signatures. When the deadline of April 4 arrived, they did not turn the petition in to the county clerk.[2]
The recall petition stated that Taylor "willfully engaged in misconduct while in office and willfully neglected to perform duties."[3]
The petition listed eight specific examples:
- He referred to a staff member as "Ms. Cleavage" and told her "hike up her skirt and go back and serve these papers."
- He enlisted Colby police officers to help him move an inmate to an unsecured building.
- He took his wife to a sheriffs conference in 2014 without reporting training hours and charging expenses to the county.
- On his way to the jail with an inmate, he stopped to visit the inmate's parents and buy tobacco.
- He cut the seat belt in his work vehicle "because he didn’t like to wear it and it kept ‘dinging.'"
- He took almost two hours to respond to a battery.
- He left a recently arrested person in his office where a weapon was accessible.
- He arrived at a reported aggravated battery situation smelling of alcohol and then drove the victims in his car.[3][4]
Background
In October 2015, then-Undersheriff Marc Finley gave the county commissioners a copy of an email he sent to Taylor and a list of allegations to demonstrate his "irrational behavior and decision-making." Taylor denied the allegations and fired Finley.[3] A petition for a recall was submitted after the allegations became public, but it was declared insufficiently specific. Proponents then filed the new petition on December 29.[1]
Recall supporters
"As the citizens of Thomas County become more aware of Mr. Taylor’s continuing misconduct and the deterioration of the sheriff’s office, the number of citizens wanting to sign is growing," David Pabst and Pat Keiser wrote in an email to the Salina Journal. Pabst said that he had known Taylor for awhile and considered him a friend, but was alarmed at the change in behavior that he noticed during a personal interaction. "The hardest part of all of this is separating my personal feelings from what is right and what needs to be done for the citizens of Thomas County," he said.[5]
Recall opponents
Taylor denied the allegations and said he had no plans to resign when he spoke with Fact Finder 12 about the recall. When confronted with the accusation that he threatened and used unnecessary force on inmates, he said, "I don't feel at all I have been. I have said some things to inmates at times that if it's taken out of context you could say, yes, he's mean and irrational."[6]
Taylor also responded to the allegation that he drove victims while drunk.
| “ | I had been working on the yard that day. I was off duty. I had a beer at 4:00 and a mixed drink at 5:00-5:30. Later on toward dark, I was cleaning my patrol vehicle and my personal vehicle and I had my radio on. I heard they had a situation with a gun up on 5th street. The first officer who said he was going to respond...in my opinion wasn’t an officer that had a lot of experience.[7] | ” |
| —Rod Taylor[6] | ||
He said he did drive someone to the hospital but that he was not drunk. "I don't think it's right that three people can make up their mind, plus that person at the courthouse on whether I’ve done my job or not," he said.[6] Watch clips of the taped interview here.
Civil lawsuit
Rod Taylor filed a civil lawsuit on January 28 against Thomas County Attorney Kevin Berens, County Clerk Shelly Harms, and recall committee members David Pabst, Patricia Keiser and Mark Blatt. Represented by attorney Julie McKenna, Taylor's suit attested that the grounds for starting the recall petition were insufficient. He sought monetary damages and an injunction to stop a recall election. The defendants named in the suit had until February 18 to file a response.[8]
Kevin Berens filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed on February 17. He asked the court to review the recall petition and the Recall of Elected Officials Act to determine whether there were sufficient grounds for a recall. He also argued that he and Shelly Harms were immune to liability for monetary damages.[9]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Kansas
The number of valid signatures required to force a recall election was equal to 40 percent of the number of persons that voted in the 2012 election between Taylor and his opponent. The number of valid signatures required in Taylor's case was 1,360. Proponents of the recall had 90 days to collect the signatures. The deadline to turn in the signatures was April 4, 2016. The county clerk would then have had 30 days to verify the signatures and 60 days to set an election.[3]
When the deadline arrived, supporters decided not to turn the petition in to the county clerk because they knew they did not have enough signatures. Patricia Keiser said they had collected over 1,000 signatures, but she was not sure how many more.[2]
See also
External links
Recent news
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Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Salina Journal, "County attorney finds petition lists sufficient grounds for sheriff recall," January 4, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Salina Journal, "Thomas County petition signers' names won't be released," April 6, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Salina Journal, "Proponents of sheriff recall have 90 days to fill petitions," January 6, 2016
- ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Thomas County sheriff facing recall effort," January 11, 2016
- ↑ Salina Journal, "Thomas County recall committee members say they expect success," January 16, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Eyewitness News 12, "FF 12 Exclusive: Thomas County Sheriff denies accusations," January 14, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Salina Journal, "Thomas County sheriff fights recall effort," February 11, 2016
- ↑ Salina Journal, "Thomas County sheriff seeking reinstatement of driver's license, halt to recall effort," February 20, 2016
