COVINA : New Recall Drive Targets Former Utility Tax Foes

A recall campaign against Covina council members Thomas Falls, Thomas O’Leary and Linda Sarver has kicked into gear, three months after the trio voted for a utility tax despite having run on an anti-tax platform.

The current recall campaign targets some of the council members who participated in a recall drive against the previous council over its vote for a 6% utility tax. Sarver and O’Leary were members of that campaign.

Recall organizers have until the end of April to collect 4,134 signatures in order to place the measure on the ballot, said recall organizer Hank Vagt. However, they hope to collect 5,500 names to compensate for signatures that might be declared invalid.

On Monday, Covina City Council members Chris Christianson and John Wilcox released a statement calling for Sarver, Falls and O’Leary to resign. Wilcox cast the sole vote against the tax in October, 1994; Christianson voted for the tax but had not campaigned as an opponent of the tax.

In the statement, Wilcox and Christianson said the three others had promised to solve Covina’s financial problems without raising taxes but had broken their pledge.

“We believe they are responsible for misleading a substantial portion of Covina’s electorate,” the release stated.

But Sarver said she would not step down unless a recall measure against her, O’Leary and Falls passes.