Mayors group fights back against recall elections
By Lesley Clark | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by an apparent increase of angry voters looking to boot their mayors out of office, the organization that represents the elected officials is going on the offensive.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is fighting back against a spike in recall elections with a documentary, "Recall Fever," and a public awareness initiative that aims to arm targeted mayors with more information.
"We have laws in place to combat corruption and malfeasance when a local elected official commits a wrongdoing, but it's become too easy to launch a recall campaign, and it's doing a lot of damage," conference director Tom Cochran says in the documentary.
Ballotpedia, a nonprofit organization that tracks recall elections, identified 57 mayors who faced recall attempts last year, up from 23 in 2009. Fifteen of the 57 mayors either resigned or lost their offices. This year, 15 mayors already have faced recall elections, from Portland, Ore., to Miami-Dade County, Fla.
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