Recall Elections

In what may be the first attempt in California to unseat an entire school board, high school students and supporters who want to oust all five members collected enough signatures to put the issue before voters, the Tuolumne County clerk said Friday. The students organized the recall campaign as a civics project after the board of the Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District voted to get rid of their popular math teacher, a former professional football player.

MADISON, Wis. - When Tim Cullen returned to the Wisconsin state Senate after an absence of 24 years, he might have been an ideal bridge between the state's warring parties. A former three-term Democratic Senate majority leader, Cullen had left the Legislature in 1987 to become an influential Cabinet secretary under then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican. He won his election in 2010 with significant support from both parties, representing one of the state's bellwether regions.

Concerned about possible voter intimidation and coercion, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said Monday that his office will be monitoring today's recall election in South Gate. "Election fraud investigators will be working ... to ensure that the election is coordinated with integrity and the outcome reflects the wishes of the people of South Gate," Shelley said in a news conference outside City Hall.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose campaign to limit the power of public employee unions aroused the ire of labor groups across the country, will face a recall election later this spring, the state's Government Accountability Board ruled Friday. The board, which enforces state election laws, voted 5-0 to order the election. The decision had been expected because the board had certified that there were more than enough petition signatures to force the vote. At stake will be Republican Walker's political future and that of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, also a Republican.

The county registrar of voters certified this week that organizers of the petition drive to recall Mayor Charles V. Smith and three other City Council members have gathered sufficient signatures to force a recall election. City Clerk Mary Lou Morey said the registrar finished verifying signatures Monday. Each petition had more than the 6,938 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot, she said.

South El Monte Mayor Stan Quintana was thrown out of office Tuesday in a special recall election. Widely criticized for his role in an alleged hit-and-run accident in October, Quintana was defeated by about a 3-2 margin. The final tally was 591 for recall and 365 against. Quintana had lied about his involvement in the accident, fabricating a story to explain the damage to his car, police said.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has rescheduled a recall election against three Hawaiian Gardens councilmen for Dec. 17, the same day city voters are set to decide whether to eject a fourth council member. Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne offered minimal explanation for pushing back the election, which she originally scheduled for Dec. 3. Attorneys representing the council members, however, have argued that a consolidated election would save the city tens of thousands of dollars.

His lunch untouched on his desk, his conversation punctuated by gulps from a bottle of Maalox, City Councilman Tony Lam last week contemplated the two-edged nature of his status as the first Vietnamese American ever elected to public office in the United States. Lam's voice filled with pride as he recounted his early struggles in this country, his days pumping gas, his successes as a councilman, his efforts now to be a worthy role model for young Vietnamese Americans. Then his eyes misted.

Spokane Mayor Jim West, embroiled in a City Hall sex scandal, will face a recall election Dec. 6 now that opponents have gathered enough signatures to put his fate on the ballot. Elections Supervisor Paul Brandt said that workers stopped counting after verifying 12,684 signatures, 117 more than needed for a recall election. West, 55, is accused of misusing his office by seeking dates from young men over a website and offering them gifts, trips and jobs at City Hall.

A Latino rights organization sued Thursday to block the recall election of a Santa Ana school board member, contending that petitions aimed at ousting him for his alleged advocacy of bilingual education were circulated only in English in the heavily Latino city. Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund allege that the Orange County registrar of voters violated the rights of non-English-speaking residents by approving the petitions in only one language.

The strain of conservatism that propelled Arizona lawmaker Russell Pearce to a powerful perch in state politics could also prove to be his downfall. Pearce, president of the state Senate, will face off Tuesday against fellow Republican Jerry Lewis in a recall election in their suburban Phoenix district. The election is the culmination of a nearly yearlong effort to oust the controversial Pearce, arguably the state's most powerful politician. Supporters champion his gruff, unwavering commitment to conservative ideals, while critics call him a bully whose tactics are divisive.

The setback that Democrats and their labor allies suffered in the battle to reclaim Wisconsin underscores the challenge they and President Obama face as both parties prepare for the 2012 election. Tuesday's election — an attempt to recall six Republican state senators — was the first test of voter sentiment since the summer's debate over the national debt and the renewed stalling of the economy. Strategists on both sides were watching the contests as an early showdown on the economic themes likely to propel next year's campaigns.

Republicans held on to control of the Wisconsin state Senate despite a ferocious effort by Democrats and allied groups to recall lawmakers who supported controversial budget reforms, an outcome that left both parties publicly declaring victory and privately seeking to discern the potential effect in 2012. Republicans were declared winners in four races Tuesday, while Democratic challengers successfully unseated two others. Democrats needed to win three seats to have a chance to recapture the Senate, which they lost when Scott Walker and the GOP took control of the governor's mansion and both houses of the Legislature last fall.

It's decision day in Wisconsin, where the results of a half-dozen recall elections are being closely watched by national observers looking for a measure of voter angst. Six Republican state senators risk losing their seats in the recall effort, which was spurred by controversial budget reforms undertaken by the state's new GOP governor, Scott Walker. Over the objections of Democrats and their allies in labor, new Republican majorities in the Legislature teamed up with Walker to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Republicans swept three races as they battled Democrats on Tuesday for control of the Wisconsin Senate as voters went to the polls in recall elections that both sides have said are a precursor for next year's fight for the White House and Congress. Six Republican incumbents faced Democratic challengers in Senate districts scattered around the state. Voter turnout was reported to be heavy, with some county clerks predicting it would match levels seen in presidential elections. Republicans were declared winners in three races and Democrats won one, while two other races were too close to call.

As the unemployment rate topped 25% and General Motors planned to cut more jobs in this long-struggling auto town, voters decided to focus their anger on one person: Mayor Donald J. Williamson. More than 17,000 residents signed a petition demanding his recall, citing waste, corruption, mismanagement and sundry other complaints. Williamson resigned 10 days before the vote. "He made people so mad," said Eric Mays, a retired GM worker who led an earlier effort to recall Williamson that failed.

The city got one step closer to holding a recall election targeting four of its council members after a Superior Court judge's ruling this week. The four members of the Lynwood City Council had defied the county registrar-recorder's determination that an election should take place and replaced the elected city clerk with a new election official. But on Tuesday, Judge Robert O'Brien ordered the city to begin issuing nomination papers in preparation for a Sept. 25 recall.

The City Council has set March 26 for a special election to determine whether Mayor Karen Lloreda and Councilman Harold R. Kaufman should be recalled. Nominations will be open Monday for anyone interested in running should the two incumbents be recalled. Candidates have until Dec. 29 to file papers, which are available at the city clerk's office.

Voters in a small rural school district near Yosemite National Park voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to oust all five board members, according to unofficial returns, the first time in memory that an entire school board has been unseated. "The community has given us a mandate," said Gloria Marler, who won a seat on the board of the Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District.

San Jose City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen has survived an attempt to remove her from office. Nguyen, who faced a fierce recall campaign, won 55% of the vote with all precincts reporting. Nguyen, the city's first Vietnamese American councilwoman, found herself in a fight for her political career when she refused to name the city's first Vietnamese shopping district Little Saigon, the name adopted by Vietnamese communities nationwide as a symbol of anti-Communism. Her choice, Saigon Business District, outraged many Vietnamese Americans who felt she had betrayed them.