Proponents of the recently launched campaign to recall District
Attorney John Sarsfield already hit a bump in the road and will
have to re-file a notice stating the reasons they are seeking his
removal from office.
Proponents of the recently launched campaign to recall District Attorney John Sarsfield already hit a bump in the road and will have to re-file a notice stating the reasons they are seeking his removal from office.
The committee, which served the district attorney July 14 with the notice of recall – a legally-required precursor to a signature-gathering campaign – made two mistakes.
There were not enough valid signatures on the notice, and there were too many words describing their reasons for a recall, said head elections official John Hodges, referring to the stringent mandates for recall campaigns.
Although the committee gathered two more signatures than the required 20, five of the proponents listed addresses that didn’t match the addresses on their voter registration cards. And the number of words on the notice surpassed the maximum of 200 allowed by state law.
Results of a signature-gathering campaign or recall election could be invalidated if the proper steps aren’t followed, said Hodges, who caught the mistakes.
“This is a minor glitch,” Hodges said, adding the group is fine starting the process over. “They’ll just go ahead and make sure they have 20 good registered voters’ signatures.”
On Monday, Hodges informed recall proponent Bob Wilson, a retired school teacher, of the problems. Wilson personally served Sarsfield outside the District Attorney’s Office a week ago.
Wilson doesn’t expect the mistakes will create any problems for the campaign. He counted 185 words on the notice, he said, but apparently state law also tallies the words in a legally required opening statement, which was laid out before the group’s “grounds for a recall.”
He expects to serve Sarsfield again by the end of the week, he said.
“We’re no less determined,” Wilson said. “We want to play by the rules.”
Wilson and other proponents want to oust Sarsfield because they believe he has mismanaged his office, lied to the public and misused his power. Sarsfield is facing separate scandals – one involving his handling of a probe into the District 5 supervisor’s race, the other being two female subordinates alleging he’s having an affair with the office manager that has created a hostile work environment.
Although law would require the committee to gather about 4,800 signatures to force a recall, Hodges believes proponents will have to get closer to 5,000 because of inevitable invalid signatures along the way.
The committee doesn’t expect to get a recall of Sarsfield on the November ballot. Getting the necessary signatures, then, would force a special election some time in 2005.
Kollin Kosmicki can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 331 or at
kk*******@fr***********.com
.
