Chandler council recall effort failing

From AZ Central today:

Recall drive lacks signatures
November ballot spot not likely to happen

Chandler voters likely won't see the word "recall" on their November election ballots, but councilmen Matt Orlando and Martin Sepulveda's political futures aren't out of the woods yet.

Ray Pilara, spokesman for the Sepulveda Orlando Recall Committee, said since the effort started April 27, his group has collected about 1,000 of the 3,501 required signatures to recall the two councilmen. "Unless there's a miracle over the weekend," he said the group wouldn't have enough to submit them as planned Thursday. But Pilara said they aren't giving up and will continue to circulate petitions until the Aug. 25 deadline.

City Clerk Marla Paddock said given the time required to verify signatures and draft ballot language, next week would probably be the latest petitions could be submitted in time for a November vote. However, if the group gets enough valid signatures by Aug. 25, the recall election could still be in March 2007, she said. Orlando and Sepulveda's four-year terms end in May 2008; both are eligible to run for re-election in March 2008.

Spurred by the two councilmen's role in ousting City Manager Mark Pentz in April,the recall group includes 42 volunteer petition circulators, most of whom are retirees, Pilara said.

Residents' lack of interest in their city's government has been discouraging, he said.

Pilara prefers to imagine it's because people aren't interested in their government, when an equally, if not more, plausible explanation is that the bloodlust to unseat two good public servants really isn't as broadly felt as some agitators wish it was.

After all, it's pretty telling when you can't even gather a third of the signatures required to take something to the ballot. Especially when you have 42 petition circulators! That tells you that the desire to recall simply isn't in the mainstream, and is being driven by a small group of angry folks out to punish a couple of council members for making a decision they don't like.

I've said before, and won't belabor the point, but I'm an electoral conservative and think this kind of use of a recall is actually disruptive and destructive to the community. It also greatly undermines confidence and desire to participate in the electoral process when a small, out-of-the-mainstream group uses a recall to destabilize the incumbency of popularly elected officials.

Councilman Orlando echoes my sense of when you should use the recall:

"Let's stop the divisiveness and move on," he said. "Recalls are very serious; they insinuate something corrupt is going on. They're for malice, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors. If I was lining my pockets with something, then, yeah, recall me. Take me in front of a judge and charge me with crimes."

Orlando said the recall group is "a few individuals who like to keep the pot stirred."

You can read my exclusive interviews with Councilman Orlando and other key players on this subject by following the sidebar link to "Precinct 134 Interviews".