Activists launch petition drive to recall Miller

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2 activists launch petition drive to recall Miller
They have 60 days to get 72,873 signatures to force another election
09:16 PM CDT on Friday, September 12, 2003
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/091303dnmetrecall.43fcb.html

Two political activists Friday officially filed notice of their intent to recall Mayor Laura Miller.

"The politics in this building are somewhat out of bounds with the city charter," Roy H. Williams, one of the organizers of the recall effort, said after filing notice at City Hall. "I have nothing personal against the mayor, but I don't feel the temperament and the sentiment in the city is the same as it was in May."

Ms. Miller said that her opponents were resistant to change.

"I've been elected twice in the last 18 months by pretty good margins, I'm working as hard as I can, and change is hard, and some people don't like change," Ms. Miller told WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Ms. Miller easily defeated council member Mary Poss in May to win her first full four-year term in office. Last year she beat insurance executive Tom Dunning in a special election to fill the unexpired term of Ron Kirk, who resigned to run for the U.S. Senate.
In order to recall Ms. Miller, opponents would have 60 days to file petitions bearing at least 72,873 signatures – 15 percent of the number of registered voters at the time of the May 3 election.

"We'll get the signatures," Mr. Williams said. "That won't be a problem."

The organizers had a problem submitting a valid notice of intent. One of the five signatures on their original filing did not come from a qualified registered voter. Mr. Williams later submitted notices with seven signatures.

The city secretary's office must certify the notice, though the 60-day period to gather the signatures for the recall began Friday.

Some recall organizers are angry with Ms. Miller over the firing of former Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton.

Although City Manager Ted Benavides fired Mr. Bolton, opponents of Ms. Miller believe she played a role, particularly since she's been a central critic of the former chief since her days as a council member.

But the men who turned in Friday's petitions, Marvin Crenshaw and Mr. Williams, say Mr. Bolton's firing was not a reason for going after Ms. Miller. They say they were more concerned with her efforts to circumvent the charter and fire city officials.

"We're not looking to play the race card; we're not looking to play the victim card," Mr. Crenshaw said. "We want to play the citizen's card."

Mr. Williams and Mr. Crenshaw led the legal effort that resulted in a federal court ruling that 14 members of the City Council be elected from single-member districts, with a mayor elected by all city voters.

The last recall election in Dallas occurred in 1992, when council member Charlotte Mayes withstood a challenge from Diane Ragsdale and Mr. Crenshaw. Ms. Mayes had defeated Ms. Ragsdale in the 1991 council contest.

City officials said a recall election would cost about $800,000 if not held in conjunction with another election.

Ms. Miller said she is getting positive feedback from residents.

"The message was pretty consistent," she said. " 'We're glad you're the mayor, we're glad you're changing things, and we think you're on the right track, so keep going.' And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

E-mail gjeffers@dallasnews.com

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Time runs out for Miller recall
07:21 AM CST on Tuesday, November 25, 2003
By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON and DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/politics/local/stories/112403dnmetmillerrecall.3a4b92b0.html

The drive to recall Mayor Laura Miller sputtered to a temporary halt Monday, as organizers acknowledged that they had failed to collect the signatures needed to force an election.

But they vowed to immediately refocus their attention on a newly launched recall effort, promising perpetual petition drives as long as Ms. Miller remains in office.

Opponents of the mayor had collected thousands of signatures in a frantic effort to meet Monday's deadline for submitting their petitions. But less than an hour before the cutoff, organizers announced that they had fallen short of the 72,873 signatures required.

The ministers who led the recall effort said they would regroup and begin work on a second petition drive. Bishop Harold Edwards filed a recall petition Nov. 14 and has until mid-January to submit signatures from qualified voters.

Organizers of the original recall effort are permitted to transfer signatures gathered after Nov. 14 to the new petition.

"We don't see anything that would prevent us from getting the numbers we need this time around," said Rev. S. C. Nash, pastor of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Dallas. "We've already commenced the second wave."

The mayor said she remained unconcerned about ongoing efforts to replace her, emphasizing that she has twice been elected by comfortable margins during the last two years.

"I think I'm going in the right direction for the vast majority of citizens, and I like what City Hall is doing, and I like where we're going," she said.

Ms. Miller said she was confident she could do her job well, despite the ministers' vow to continue their efforts indefinitely.

"The only time it ever gets in the way of anything is when the media asks me about it," she said. "Otherwise, it's kind of a non-event."

At the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas' Red Bird neighborhood, church leaders from throughout the city promised to continue the recall, despite missing Monday's deadline.

Organizers had held out hope until the waning moments before Monday's deadline that they had met the criteria to force an election. By late afternoon, a team of dozens of volunteers had verified the validity of 47,260 signatures out of an estimated 85,000 or more signatures obtained, Rev. Nash said.

Many of the signatures gathered did not include a voter registration number, which is required for submission, the Rev. Nash said. Other signatures came from people who were not registered to vote, or who live outside of Dallas - primarily people in DeSoto and Duncanville, he said.

"We didn't know until late in the process that you just have to have the voter registration number," Rev. Nash said. "We're not politicians, we're preachers. But we've learned from this process."

Even as the clocked ticked well into the 4 p.m. hour, several volunteers continued scrambling to check and recheck petition sheets piled high atop a church conference table.

The mayor said she remained unconvinced that the efforts of a few represented the views of the majority of Dallas residents. A recent poll commissioned by Ms. Miller's political consultant showed that three-quarters of voters oppose a recall, she said.

"I think that's a pretty strong indication of the fact that the majority of the people in Dallas, Texas, are happy with how I'm handling Dallas City Hall, happy with the way I'm being mayor, and I'm just going to keep moving forward doing what I've been doing for the last year and a half," Ms. Miller said.

She said every mayor has critics, but said she is confident that she is steering the city in the right direction.

"There are always going to be people who don't like what a certain mayor is doing, and my job is to hopefully do things the right way so that most of the citizens are happy," Ms. Miller said.

No mayor in modern Dallas history has been recalled.

The efforts to recall Ms. Miller were spurred by the August firing of the city's first black police chief, Terrell Bolton. While efforts to collect signatures were confined largely to black neighborhoods, critics of the mayor had said they also hoped to target disgruntled city employees, opponents of the smoking ban and others who think Ms. Miller has failed to deliver on her campaign promises.

"It's not about Chief Bolton," said Wendell Blair, Sr., pastor and moderator of the New True Vine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church. "It's about the City of Dallas."

Lelious A. Johnson, pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church, said that he and his colleagues were committed to their cause and would work toward the January deadline.

"It seems like it's just getting easier," he said. "This is not something we're going to try, then quit. We are in this for the long haul."

The Rev. Nash said there was only one way Ms. Miller could put an end to the ongoing recall effort.

"She could resign," he said.

E-mail cmccain@dallasnews.com and levinthal@dallasnews.com

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"It's not about Chief Bolton," said Wendell Blair, Sr., pastor and moderator of the New True Vine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church. "It's about the City of Dallas."

Right....

[mikedsjr]

:eek:

I apologize, on behalf of the Christian Community, for a Reverened lying. That's embarrassing.

[tamtagon]

It would be nice to have a list of grievances from the petitioners, is there one published which could be posted here? In it's design, an act like draws attention the underlyeing, but hidden inequities and raises the awareness of apathetic citizens, but I doubt this mayoral recall is anything of the sort. To me, it seems to be taking an old fashioned and double-standarded approach to rally troups and get attention for what must have been in some eyes the vendication of years of discrimination by way of an Africian American top cop. As much as an effort like this may seem to unify one segment of the population, the potential for futher societal polarization is more likely.

Personally, I think someone like Laura Miller is the best personality as mayor within the structure of Dallas city politics. The city is very lucky (I think) she is mayor at this point in time, as Dallas is at the fulcrum of a successful bid to add "World Class City" to it's resume. Laura Miller cares enough about the city to use her considerable public opinion infulence to keep the city from making long term mistakes. She's as much a realist as an idealist, and I think she has an altruistic vain in her goals as mayor.

[tamtagon]

Lelious A. Johnson, pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church, said that he and his colleagues were committed to their cause and would work toward the January deadline.

I wonder if the mayor is worried.