MISSION VIEJO : Curtis Recall Effort Nears Signature Goal

County officials who are reviewing petitions for recalling Mission Viejo City Councilman Robert A. Curtis verified several hundred additional signatures Tuesday, bringing recall supporters to the brink of the number needed to force a recall election.

In response to the latest count, Curtis all but conceded that the latest tally of signatures means he will probably face a recall election next year.

Final word is expected today.

The number of verified signatures is growing as officials comb through the petitions, searching for valid signatures that were overlooked during the first review.

By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the total number of valid signatures had grown to 7,778, eight more than needed. But early rejoicing by the Coalition to Recall Councilman Curtis was squelched when officials pointed out that 127 of the valid signatures were turned in by petitioners who had incorrectly filled out their affidavits.

That left the coalition just below its threshold but made it appear that the requisite number would soon emerge from the 12,001 signatures turned in on Sept. 28. After a discouraging Monday during which coalition leaders discovered that they were 477 signatures short, Tuesday’s news brought sighs of relief.

“The fat lady hasn’t sung yet,” said Helen Monroe, chairwoman of the recall campaign. “But we’re confident that we’ll get enough valid signatures, much more confident than we were yesterday.”

According to City Clerk Ivy J. Zovel, the county registrar of voters office hopes to find at least 7,950 valid signatures before approving the petitions. That, she said, would provide a safety margin beyond the needed 7,770 signatures.

Curtis, whose enthusiasm bubbled over Monday, was more subdued after hearing the latest count. “I’m assuming they’ll qualify,” he said. “At this point, I’m looking forward to an election. I think it’s the clearest way for the voters of Mission Viejo to send a message to the Philip Morris Co. to stay out of the affairs of this city.”

The New York-based Philip Morris Companies Inc. owns the Mission Viejo Co., which has donated $35,717 in cash and in-kind contributions, including the loan of a political consultant, to the recall effort. Curtis and the Mission Viejo Co. have sparred furiously in recent months, most notably over a proposal to annex Aegean Hills, a pie-shaped area of unincorporated Orange County.

Curtis championed the annexation and the company opposed it. The annexation bid crumbled last spring. The Mission Viejo Co. now leads all contributors in the effort to recall Curtis. In addition, several developers who have done work for the company are among the recall campaign’s other major backers.

The coalition has collected $156,422 and spent more than $124,000 on its recall campaign to date, and observers note that those enormous resources have produced paltry results--about $10 spent for each of the 12,001 signatures, with thousands declared invalid. The coalition’s travails have emboldened Curtis.

“They’ve had to struggle mightily to get this far,” he said. “The time that they spent and the resources that they spent to get these few signatures shows how little support there is for them.”

Monroe declined comment on Curtis’ remarks, saying that she and other coalition members would wait until after the signature verification is complete. If sufficient signatures are declared valid, Mission Viejo’s City Council will be required to set a special election date, probably sometime early next spring.