May 28, 2003

Recall Effort Grows More Complex As Second Campaign Joins the Fray

Could the effort to recall Mayor Katz possibly get any stranger? Why, yes it can. Today's Oregonian reports that a second campaign, unrelated to the Bettter Portland Alliance, is getting underway:

A race to recall Mayor Vera Katz started Tuesday, with one activist group filing a prospective petition to oust her and another planning to file next week.

Calling the fatal police shooting of Kendra James on May 5 the mayor's latest failure to oversee police, the Recall Vera Katz Committee said Katz has proved unwilling to fire Chief Mark Kroeker or rein in police violence and harassment.

"We want to use this to call attention to out-of-control violence and the need for fundamental structural change," said petitioner Marvin Moore, a North Portland resident.

Think you've heard the name Marvin Moore before? You have. He's the one who filed a complaint with the city and state against the Better Portland Alliance and its recall effort last week.

Ow, my head.

You will note, however, that The Oregonian manages to entirely miss this rather interesting piece of context.

So how can this all play out? Well, get this:

Recall supporters get 90 days from filing a prospective petition to turn in nearly 30,000 valid signatures -- 15 percent of the city's last vote total for governor.

That schedule gives the group that filed Tuesday until Aug. 25 to collect the needed signatures. If they turn in enough signatures by Aug. 25, a special recall election would be on track for mid-October at a cost of $200,000 to $400,000.

It would be to recall proponents' advantage to be the first group to turn in enough valid signatures. The first one to do so would be the first on the ballot; any subsequent effort by the other group during Katz's term would trigger a requirement that it pay all election costs.

So, there's the Better Portland Alliance (coming at us from the right), which intends to file next week, against which a complaint was lodged last week by someone now involved in the Recall Vera Katz Committee (coming at us from the left), which filed this week. Got it?

And so the possibility of a left/right coalition coming together around any one recall campaign has essentially disappeared, as each end of the spectrum now has its own effort underway.

This is going to turn out to be even more entertaining than I had at first suspected.

Posted at 09:27 AM | PermalinkComments (1) | TrackBacks (3)
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