Recall Petitions Target Oceanside’s Vice Mayor

Petitions with about 12,000 signatures were filed Monday seeking a special election to oust Oceanside Vice Mayor Melba Bishop from the City Council, where she leads a slow-growth majority.

Community activists said they want to recall the two-term councilwoman for what they say is her heavy-handedness in cutting police and fire services and causing an exodus of city department heads.

However, a key Bishop supporter claimed that the recall campaign is actually an attempt to cripple the slow-growth movement and continue deficit spending in San Diego County’s third largest city.

Ed Wicburg, a recall leader, delivered the petitions to City Clerk Barbara Bishop-Smith’s office, proclaiming “what the majority council has done to this city is irreparable.”

He noted that, in the six months since Bishop’s allies--Councilwoman Nancy York and Councilman Don Rodee--were elected and formed the slow-growth bloc, local government has been shaken by resignations and firings.

Wicburg said that Police Chief Oliver Drummond, City Atty. Charles Revlett and Fire Chief Jim Rankin have been pushed out, and that most of the Planning Commission’s appointed members were summarily replaced.

Further, Wicburg faults Bishop for wresting power over appointments and other matters from Mayor Larry Bagley and for pushing manpower reductions in the police and fire departments.

“I believe there’s a stirring in this community,” said the Rev. Michael Babbin, another recall leader who said the effort has grass-roots backing from “people who have no political ambitions, just people who have a heart for the city.”

But Councilwoman York has a more cynical view of the quest to dump Bishop, who has been hospitalized for a week with a kidney ailment and wasn’t available for comment Monday.

York believes “the people really behind the recall effort” are Bagley, Councilman Sam Williamson and former Councilwoman Lucy Chavez. Chavez, a political enemy of Bishop, lost her bid for reelection to slow-growth candidates last November.

“The old guard wants to hang on to power and continue fiscal mismanagement,” York said. “They want their own majority so they can stop our efforts at slow growth” and other goals.

York claims that developers are financially backing the recall, saying “the money can be traced back through conduits to the developers.”

The recall “is not a populist movement,” she said, adding, “The people who are doing this are the people who were against us (slow-growth candidates) in November.”

Recall leader Wicburg denied that developers were participating in the bid for a special election, saying the recall “is supported by citizens and citizens alone in this community.”

He also denied that Mayor Bagley is working behind the scenes to remove Bishop from the council.

Assistant City Clerk Becky Sheets said recall forces need 8,388 valid signatures from registered voters in Oceanside to quality the issue for the ballot. She said the county registrar of voters has up to 30 days to count and verify the signatures.

If there are enough signatures, the council must promptly acknowledge the recall effort and set the date for a special election within 125 days. The cost of a special election would be more than $100,000 if the city hires the county to run the election.