Azusa Council Calls for End to Recall Bid

The City Council has passed a resolution urging that a recall effort against Councilmen Harry L. Stemrich and Tony D. Naranjo be stopped. The resolution was approved on a 4-0 vote, with Mayor Eugene F. Moses abstaining.

The resolution, approved last week, has no direct effect on the recall drive. Recall proponents have until April 4 to gather the 2,806 signatures needed to force a recall election.

Councilman Bruce Latta, who proposed the resolution, said the council needed to make a statement that recall elections are divisive and destroy the image of the city. Latta added that the $30,000 that would be spent on the election could be put to better use. Latta and Moses were targeted in a vitriolic recall in 1983, in which they retained their seats and two council members they opposed were ousted.

“(Recall elections) distract the City Hall staff. . . . It causes a lot of dissension in the community because a recall is a negative campaign,” Latta said.

Stemrich and Naranjo, who were elected as Moses allies last year, have accused the mayor of inciting and backing the recall, a charge Moses has denied. In explaining his abstention, Moses said the recall was initiated by voters, and they should have the final say.

“It was the people’s choice,” Moses said. “They started it. I didn’t want to irritate anybody by me taking a position.”