FULLERTON : Mayor, City Clerk Added to Recall List

Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin and City Clerk Anne M. York will join two City Council members as targets of the first recall election in Fullerton history.

Donald Tanney, Orange County registrar of voters, said Thursday that recall organizers submitted more than the required number of signatures needed for a recall election.

He said his office verified 8,742 signatures in the recall effort against Catlin and 8,512 signatures against York.

Organizers needed 8,329 valid signatures to force an election.

The number of valid signatures needed for a recall election for council members Don Bankhead and Molly McClanahan was certified last week.

The recall election of all four probably will be held June 7 to coincide with the primary election, Deputy City Clerk Audrey Culver said.

“I’m pleased that we’re through with that stage,” said Thomas Babcock, chairman of the Fullerton Recalls Committee. “But I would much rather have never had to do it.”

Catlin called the entire recall process “idiotic” and said Babcock’s group is wasting taxpayers’ money on a special election when the group could campaign for a change in city leadership during the regular election in November.

“It’s not considerate of the taxpayers to use their money on a senseless recall,” Catlin said Friday.

The recall election will cost an estimated $118,000, Culver said.

If one of the four officials is cast out, a special election to fill the seat will cost another $118,000, she said.

The recall effort has been going on since July when the City Council voted 3 to 2 in favor of an unpopular 2% tax on water, telephone, electricity, natural gas and cable television bills, in spite of objections from hundreds of residents.

Council members Bankhead, McClanahan and Catlin voted in favor of the tax, while council members Julie Sa and Chris Norby voted against it.

After the vote, a group of residents formed the Fullerton Recalls Committee to punish what they call unacceptable behavior by the council members.

Babcock said York is a target because she delayed the recall process when she rejected recall petitions against the council members, saying they exceeded the legal word limit.

But York says she was just doing her job and couldn’t have delayed the process because she responded within one day to every inquiry from Babcock’s group.

“They’re just making a big issue out of it because they have no other leg to stand on,” York said.

All four officials have said they will fight the recall.

Bankhead said the four have set up a campaign fund and have received 10 or 11 small checks from close friends but have made no public solicitation for funds yet.

Babcock said his group has about $300 and will probably rely on door-to-door canvassing to get their message out.