For the Third Time.....

Last week’s lunar euphoria didn’t last long. By the time the paper came out, the second recall effort had been skunked by city hall. The first time, the recall proponents might have shared some of the blame for not cleaning up confusion created by the county elections office. But this time it was pure engineering by the powers that be.

The plan was hatched at Carmen Wilson’s desk. Carmen, who was designated the recall’s "appropriate elections official" in a turnabout decision by the county (part of the original confusion,) changed her definition of "days" from "business" to "calendar" without notifying the proponents while keeping council members on schedule. On Oct. 26, when the citizens were ready to file the proof of publication and blank petitions two days early (counting business days,) they were deemed two days late using calendar days and declared invalid.

Three times, when confronted with the change by proponent Yolanda Flores, editor Reggie Ellis and myself, Carmen’s response was "I never said it was business days." When each of us protested and reminded her of our individual conversations on that point, she replied "I don’t recall that conversation" each time, as if already on the witness stand.

Having researched the question of "days" in early September, anticipating exactly this problem, I reminded Carmen of the information from the Secretary of State’s office I showed her then: a press release of the timeline from Gov. Gray Davis’s recall issued by Sec. Kevin Shelley using calendar days, and the phone number for Robbie Anderson, the SOS’s expert on local recall elections, who said "everyone knows in government documents if it doesn’t explicitly state "business" days, it’s "calendar." "Did you leave me a copy?" she asked, looking slightly frantically at her desk where I had laid it weeks earlier, as if I might pull it from the pile of papers there. "I think so," I responded affirmatively but backing off, not willing to frighten her more than she was.

Back in September when I produced my evidence, Carmen listened politely, but said she was going to use "business" days instead because then we wouldn’t have to worry about holidays and weekends making it more difficult.

So what happened? Why would she change to a timeframe that makes her job harder? Why would she risk her job with such a fabrication? Possibly her job was at risk if she didn’t. Or maybe she thinks her job is at risk if the proponents are successful in replacing the current council, which is probably true now.

But one thing is clear: whether she acted on her own, at the advice of the city attorney, and/or in concert with the council, Carmen Wilson is not serving objectively as the elections official and should be replaced. We may have to replace the city council in order to have that happen, but fortunately the third effort is already underway. And as everyone knows, the third time’s a charm.