Cornelius recalls Tea Partyish "Team 3".
Carla Axtman
On Tuesday in Cornelius, a special recall election found the mayor and two city councilors who'd echoed anti-government themes pushed by the Tea Party, swept out of office in what can only be described as a slam dunk.
Christian Gaston, Forest Grove News Times:
Final Tuesday night returns in a recall election showed voters weighing in 2-to-1 against the city's mayor, Neal Knight and two city councilors, Jamie Minshall and Mari Gottwald.
The recall was initiated by Brad Coffey, who lost his bid for reelection to the city council last fall when Minshall and Gottwald ran as a slate, with Knight, known as Team 3.
Coffey reportedly initiated the recall after Mayor Knight led the way for the firing of City Manager Dave Waffle, causing a huge rift in the town. Knight had pushed Waffle to address his issues with one of Waffle's underlings. Cornelius' city charter precludes the mayor from urging the city manager to make decisions about personnel. Later when "Team 3" voted to oust Waffle, calls for the recall of the three began immediately.
Team 3 rode the Republican wave into office in 2010. Apparently their anti-government sentiment and inept, possibly corrupt management of city affairs won't hold up even in conservative Cornelius, who gave them a boot after less than a year in office. The two remaining city councilor will reportedly appoint replacements for the ousted members, including the mayor.
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10:54 p.m.
Sep 28, '11
This was my favorite news of the week. Bless Cornelius, recognizing that you need a city manager and development fees to run a town, and that these folks really didn't actually know what they were doing. Last I saw the mayor was going down with 70 PERCENT against him. Wow. Carla, what do you know about recalls statewide--I'm wondering if this is the biggest mass recall in state history! (Maybe you have to exempt Rashneesh, or not).
8:12 a.m.
Sep 29, '11
I don't have a handle on what's happening around the state with recalls. Its an interesting question.
Historically I've been pretty skeptical of recalls--mostly because the ones I've observed tend to be frivolous and ideologically based. But this one was done, as far as I can tell, for all the right reasons: an abuse of position by the mayor and a firing of the city manager without cause, making the city vulnerable to court damages.
8:15 a.m.
Sep 29, '11
It's an exciting story and Brad Coffey, who led the effort, will hopefully be appointed to the city council position he narrowly lost in 2010. Wash. Co Democratic Party was only to happy to lend a hand.
8:20 a.m.
Sep 29, '11
That's "only TOO happy to lend a hand."
1:36 p.m.
Sep 29, '11
this is the kind of thing someone should tell the folks at MSNBC.
1:00 p.m.
Sep 30, '11
You should check out the "Gang of Four" recall effort here in Silverton. HOPEFULLY this one will have a different outcome than Cornelius, as this effort is being run by a bunch of disgruntled folks that are mad that they didn't get their way in our recent downtown renewal process, which is now on hold because of this group, until after the recall signature deadline in November...