Recall Elections

Nothing in her 16 years as an elected official prepared Dana Point City Councilwoman Judy Curreri for this. Over the last few months, she has seen the council chambers transformed into an arena for people to exchange insults and insinuations, and nearly trade blows. The city manager has resigned, a council member has been reprimanded for slipping into City Hall after hours to copy documents, and another has publicly called the council "a joke."

In a year when a pig is nominated for an Oscar, the La Puente City Council's efforts to kick a potbellied porker named Montana out of town has led to a recall effort against three council members.

The state Court of Appeal on Feb. 27 is scheduled to hear Agoura Hills' appeal of a Superior Court ruling that paved the way for a recall election against City Councilwoman Fran Pavley. The recall, which initially targeted all five council members, was launched in 1994, after the council adopted a 4% utility tax. The recall group later turned in what it said were enough signatures to force recall elections against all five members.

A group that tried unsuccessfully to recall two Westlake Village City Council members has missed its deadline for filing campaign finance reports. City Clerk Laura Johnson said Thursday that she sent the group a letter about missing the Jan. 31 deadline. "I would call it a reminder," she said. Frank Abundis, leader of the recall group, said Thursday his group expected to submit the forms today. He said the forms are complicated and have taken more time to complete than anticipated.

A group that tried unsuccessfully to recall two Westlake Village City Council members has missed its deadline for filing campaign finance reports. City Clerk Laura Johnson said Thursday that she sent the group a letter about missing the Jan. 31 deadline. "I would call it a reminder," she said. Frank Abundis, leader of the recall group, said Thursday his group expected to submit the forms today. He said the forms are complicated and have taken more time to complete than the group anticipated.

Latino activists angry over the delay in naming a new superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District voted at a sparsely attended community meeting Thursday night to forge ahead with plans to attempt a recall of school board member David Tokofsky. Although they realized that a board majority was unwilling to promote Deputy Supt.

An Agoura Hills anti-tax group that is trying to recall three City Council members suffered a setback recently when the state Court of Appeal ruled that voter registration cards turned in by the group were invalid. However, the court ruled in the group's favor on two other key points, keeping the effort to recall council members Ed Corridori, Denis Weber and Fran Pavley alive. The group launched the recall effort against all five council members after they adopted a utility tax in 1994.

The attempt to recall four Hawaiian Gardens City Council members was leading in early returns Tuesday, amid fears about the integrity of the special election. The election was widely cast as a political showdown between supporters and opponents of a card club approved by city voters last year.

Calling for an end to the wrangling over gambling in the city, voters in Hawaiian Gardens appeared to cast out as many as three City Council members but have apparently spared the mayor in preliminary returns of Tuesday's special recall election. Mayor Lupe Cabrera had a 116-vote margin with about 150 ballots left to be counted, and appeared likely to pull through a raucous recall campaign driven by hostilities over a card club approved last year by referendum.

Clearing the way for the city's first recall election, a judge has ordered Pico Rivera to schedule a referendum to determine the fates of two city councilmen. This week's decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne overturned a finding by the city clerk that petitions submitted by a group of residents contained insufficient signatures to call an election on Mayor John Chavez and Councilman Gil De La Rosa.