Moreno Valley Mayor and City Council recall, California (2014)

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Moreno Valley Mayor and City Council recall
Officeholders
Tom Owings Victoria Baca Jesse L. Molina Richard A. Stewart Marcelo Co
Recall status
Recall approved Resigned Did not go to a vote
Recall election date
June 3, 2014 November 4, 2014
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2014 Recalls in California California recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall the mayor and city council of Moreno Valley, California was launched in June 2013. The targeted officials included mayor and council member Tom Owings (District 3), council member Victoria Baca (District 5), council member Jesse L. Molina (District 1) and council member Richard A. Stewart (District 2). Former council member Marcelo Co (District 4) was also subject to the recall attempt until he resigned after being arrested for welfare fraud. Owings was recalled on June 3, 2014. On November 4, 2014, Baca was recalled.

Election results

Recall Tom Owings
Result		Votes	Percentage
Recall		2,728	81.17%
Retain		633	18.83%

Background

In April 2013, a task force of state and federal investigators raided the homes of the five city council members, along with the home of real estate agent Jerry Stephens and the office of warehouse developer Iddo Benzeevi, in relation to a corruption investigation. The task force had been trying to clean up widespread corruption in the general region since 2010. A group calling itself "Concerned Citizens of Moreno Valley" began the recall effort in response to that investigation.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

On December 3, 2013, recall supporters filed a petition against Mayor Town Owings. On January 16, 2014, county election officials certified the petition, meaning that a recall election would be held for Owings. Shortly thereafter, former parks director George Price announced his intention to run against Owings in the recall election. The recall election was scheduled for June 3, 2014.

Owings' wife, Susan Kay Gilmore, also filed to appear on the recall ballot. "My city needs me. The supporters of my husband need a good choice, a good option, and I am that," she said. Other replacement candidates included Brian Lowell, Omorefe Igbinosa, Carlos Ketcham, Harold Anthony Moore, and Jose Garcia. Owings was defeated in the recall. George Price was elected to replace Owings. A new mayor will be selected from the council membership.

Councilwoman Victoria Baca was served with a notice of intent to recall on January 7, 2014. On February 10, 2014, the city clerk's office approved the petition against Baca, meaning that organizers could begin collecting signatures. On May 31, 2014, recall supporters announced that they had finished gathering signatures. Alicia Espinoza, a recall proponent, said, "We'll be going in with strong numbers and Victoria Baca will go on the ballot in November." Recall proponents submitted petitions containing 3,426 signatures on June 9, 2014. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters verified enough signatures to trigger a recall (2,457 valid signatures are needed). The council voted on August 9 to place Baca's recall on the November 4 ballot.

Highland Fairview, a development company involved in the 2013 corruption probe, contributed nearly $300,000 to the anti-recall group Moreno Valley Citizens for Social Justice between July 1 and December 31, 2013. Other anti-recall groups spent approximately $52,000 and recall target Owings spent just over $33,000, for a total of more than $383,000 among the anti-recall groups and individuals. Meanwhile, recall group Concerned Citizens for Moreno Valley reported expenditures of over $19,000. As of October 20, Highland Fairview contributed $150,00 towards the effort to keep Puca in office.

On May 12, 2014, Owings announced that the Moreno Valley City Employees Association's Political Action Committee had endorsed him and was opposed to the recall effort.

2013 efforts

Previous recall efforts directed at the city council in 2013 all stalled. Recall supporters had 120 days to collect signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters in each respective district to trigger a recall election. They needed 3,030 signatures from District 1 by December 19 for the recall effort against Jesse Molina. They needed 3,925 signatures from District 2 by December 19 for the recall effort against Richard Stewart. They needed 3,544 signatures from District 3 by December 5 for the recall effort against Tom Owings. Supporters of this recall turned in more than the required number. They needed 2,878 signatures from District 5 by December 3 for the recall effort against Victoria Baca. No signatures were submitted for this recall effort. Had the recall effort gone forward against Co, approximately 3,244 signatures would have been necessary. The success of an effort against one official is not dependent on the success any others.

The recall effort first targeted Owings, Baca and Stewart. In June 2013, recall supporters submitted initial petitions to the Moreno Valley city clerk's office in order to begin circulating them. However, the City Clerk Jane Halstead invalidated the petition over technical issues regarding incomplete addresses of petition signers. The recall effort was then expanded to cover all five seats of the city council.

By mid-July, recall supporters had served notices of intent to all council members, the City Clerk had validated all recall petitions, and the targeted council members had all submitted their responses. However, the City Clerk later stated that the petitions had errors that needed correcting.

Marcelo Co arrest and resignation

On August 12, 2013, Marcelo Co was arrested on eight felony counts, including grand theft, fraud and making a false claim in relationship to welfare funds he was receiving for taking care of his elderly mother. Those charges were stated to have been completely separate from the corruption investigation that led to the recall effort. His recall petition was approved for circulation the same day as his arrest.

See also

Suggest a link

• Recall campaigns in California
• Political recall efforts, 2013
• Mayoral recalls
• City council recalls

External links

• Moreno Valley, California