San Juan Bautista recall proponents learned Friday that they
don’t have the signatures needed to force a vote against two
council members, but those looking to recall District Attorney John
Sarsfield say they gathered enough signatures over the weekend to
force an election that could remove the prosecutor from office.
Hollister – San Juan Bautista recall proponents learned Friday that they don’t have the signatures needed to force a vote against two council members, but those looking to recall District Attorney John Sarsfield say they gathered enough signatures over the weekend to force an election that could remove the prosecutor from office.
The Department of Justice also informed San Benito County Registrar John Hodges that recall petitions do not need to be printed in English and Spanish – a possibility that could have derailed all four recall efforts underway in San Benito County, according to Hodges.
Long-time political activist Rebecca McGovern’s two-month mission to recall San Juan Mayor Arturo Medina and Vice-Mayor Charles Geiger ended Friday after the San Benito County Elections Department declared the effort invalid, according to Hodges. McGovern initiated the recall attempt because they voted, along with City Councilman George Dias, to fire former City Manager Larry Cain in February.
McGovern needed the signatures of 270 registered San Juan Bautista voters to initiate a special election, but Hodges said of the 296 signatures to recall Geiger and 285 to recall Medina, approximately 40 signatures for both men did not meet state regulations. To initiate another recall, McGovern would have to start from scratch, Hodges said.
“I don’t think anyone in this world could have passed those standards,” McGovern said. “I don’t know (if we’ll start over) and I haven’t talked to the other people, but it would be an enormous undertaking. It was a lot of headaches for nothing.”
Both Medina and Geiger were ecstatic to have the recall behind them, and said they are ready to beginning focusing their attention on pressing issues within the Mission City.
“I’m glad we’re moving on. I would hope the people in the community will talk to us about the issues going on,” Geiger said. “We want to come together as a community and work together in making San Juan a great historical town to visit.”
While Medina said he believed the recall was slated for failure from the beginning, Geiger filed an objection to the recall two weeks ago because he believed recall petitions should have been circulated in Spanish and English. But Hodges said a spokesman from the Department of Justice informed him that a federal requirement to provide bilingual election information does not apply because recall petitions are not distributed by the county.
And while Geiger and Medina’s recall woes are over for now, the recall against the District Attorney has been gathering steam over the past couple weeks, according to recall spokesman Ignacio Velazquez.
Velazquez said his group of approximately 20 volunteers, several of whom are being paid to collect signatures, crossed the 5,150 signature-mark over the weekend. That’s how many signatures are needed to initiate a special election. Velazquez hopes to gather 7,000 signatures by the June 10 deadline to ensure he has enough if some are disqualified. If he has enough qualified signatures, the county could host a special election in as little as three or four months, according to Hodges.
“He’s out,” Velazquez said. “People are tired of his attacks, his abuse of his office and they think it needs to change. In a secret vote people are going to use their conscience.”
But Sarsfield said he’s not worried at this time about Velazquez’s attempt to remove him from his post.
“The proponents haven’t turned in anything as far as I know,” Sarsfield said Monday. “If they turn in 5,150 valid signatures, then I’ll worry about a recall election. Beside from that, I’m just enjoying the holiday.”
Sarsfield dealt with the first recall attempt against him last summer, which fizzled after his two family dogs were poisoned and died. He has said this effort is Velazquez’s way of retaliating against him for prosecuting Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz for election violations.
Velazquez was De La Cruz’s campaign adviser during last year’s supervisor race. De La Cruz beat incumbent Supervisors Bob Cruz by only 10 votes, which touched off one of the year’s most heated political battles. De La Cruz also is the subject of a recall effort headed by former Ruben Lopez, Cruz’s campaign adviser.
But whether the recall is retaliation or not, if the group gathers enough qualified signatures the county will have a special election, Hodges said. Hodges said he wasn’t sure if a district attorney recall could be tacked onto a state election if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has several initiatives put to a vote in November.
If the county holds its own recall election, it would have to cough up nearly $100,000, he said.
After Velazquez delivers his signatures on June 10, the Elections Department has 30 days to certify them – but Hodges said it should only take a week. He said an election can’t take place sooner than 88 days after June 10, or longer than 127 days.
And in that time, any qualified attorneys can throw their hat into the recall ring.
“There will be plenty of time for any attorney who wants to run,” Hodges said. “They’d have to qualify and their name would be put on the ballot. And the next step is election time.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
