IRVINE : Recall Backer Unsure He’ll Make Deadline

The organizer of a recall targeting three council members said he is uncertain whether he will have enough signatures by the Oct. 1 deadline to qualify the measure for next March’s ballot.

Former Democratic congressional candidate Gary Kingsbury said he’s gathered the required 8,500 signatures but acknowledged that 10% to 15% of petition signatures are typically disqualified. “We’ve got three weeks to build up an insurance policy,” Kingsbury said. “Our goal is to have something over 10% for insurance, but it’s nip and tuck whether we’re going to do that or not.”

Kingsbury and his Irvine Recall Committee have targeted Mayor Michael Ward and council members Barry Hammond and Paula Werner for their July, 1994, approval of a plan to borrow $62 million for an additional investment in the ill-fated county pool.

Council members Christina L. Shea and Greg Smith voted against the plan.

Kingsbury had offered to drop the recall if council members fired Treasurer Jeff Niven and City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. The council voted in April to remove Niven from the part-time treasurer’s position, but Niven remains the city’s manager of fiscal services. The council renewed Brady’s contract in July.

The targeted council members have said they would not be “blackmailed” by Kingsbury into firing Brady and Niven and have accused him of “political opportunism.”

Kingsbury said that if the recall effort fails, he will encourage candidates to challenge the three incumbents when they come up for reelection. He has not ruled out becoming a candidate himself.