STANTON : Petitions Circulate to Recall Mayor

A long-promised recall campaign against Mayor Sal Sapien officially got under way Friday with petition circulators hitting the streets to gather signatures needed to force a special election.

Sapien’s critics, including Councilmen David John Shawver and Harry Dotson and former planning commissioner Rand Hogan, have complained about the mayor’s support of a planned $5-million civic center and the return of an auto wrecking yard that the city spent thousands of dollars to eject, as well as alleged campaign improprieties.

In an official, written response that is included on the recall petitions, Sapien called the charges “a bunch of hogwash” and said they are “designed to mislead.”

The city approved the wording of the petition Thursday and recall proponents now have 120 days to obtain the signatures of 2,165 registered voters within the city’s boundaries--20% of the total number registered in the city, said City Clerk Darleen Cordova.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s just a power grab by David Shawver and his cohorts Rand Hogan and (former mayor) Ed Allen,” Sapien said Friday. “They lost the election in November . . . and they are sour grapes and they just want to regain the power they had.

“The charges are totally spurious; they want me to recall me because I want to build my city,” Sapien added.

Shawver said he favored the recall because “we’re going to have a $1.2-million deficit budget and we just need the redevelopment money (earmarked for the new civic center) to increase our tax base. If Mayor Sapien won’t stop this silly waste of money, there’s not much recourse left to the community. I’m refusing to have a $5-million civic center and no city.”

Hogan and Allen could not be reached for comment.

Because of technical errors in serving the recall notice on Sapien, the mayor was served three times--once at a City Council meeting in March and twice at his home. Cordova said the last successful recall of a Stanton mayor was in 1959, although several failed attempts have taken place since then.