McEvoy Begins Righeimer Recall Effort

A MEASURED BEGINNING
On a dark and sometimes drizzly evening, in a modest Westside Costa Mesa home, school teacher and former City Council candidate Chris McEvoy began the long uphill climb to qualify his effort to recall Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer next year.  You can read Bradley Zint's report in the Daily Pilot, HERE.

A SPARSE, BUT ENTHUSIASTIC, TURNOUT
For a couple hours last night a dozen or so supporters made their way to McEvoy's home to sign recall petitions and to pick up a few with which to gather more signatures over the next few months.  The City Clerk indicates he will need just under 9,100 valid signatures, so McEvoy is aiming at 12,000 by the May 15, 2013 deadline.

A TRUE GRASS ROOTS EFFORT
Much like McEvoy's council campaigns, when he and his father cobbled together signs of plywood and 2X2 lumber, this is the purest of grass roots efforts.  There were no signs of the opulence of a well-funded campaign.  No flashy hors d'oeuvres served on expensive china plates and bottles of vintage wine in crystal glasses, consumed while overlooking a golf course fairway.  McEvoy greeted visitors through the unscreened open door to his home as he stood in his kitchen, slicing cheese chunks and salami and dumping crackers on paper plates for his guests. 

AN ATYPICAL GATHERING

There was no snappy banter by well-connected political power brokers over cigars on the patio here, only quiet conversation by a determined young man who greeted his guests as they wandered into his home singly and in pairs and gave them instructions on how to gather the signatures from their friends, neighbors and strangers. His dog slept peacefully in a cage in the corner of his living room and his roommate drifted through the small crowd on his way to a project in the garage.  "Low key" would be a major overstatement.

EAGER VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers quietly came and went, clutching handfuls of petitions as they departed, eager to begin the task before them.  McEvoy, the teacher, coached them on what the petitions represented and insured that they read both the Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition and Righeimer's response on each page.  Both of those statements are shown below.  

(click on the images to enlarge)

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CIRCULATE RECALL PETITION

THE ANSWER OF THE OFFICER SOUGHT TO BE RECALLED

LOOKING FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS

So, now it begins.  McEvoy hopes to recruit a few dozen volunteers to help him gather the signatures by the deadline in six months.  He plans to maintain the Facebook page he created for this event to update anyone interested in this effort, HERE, and the web site, Friends Of Costa Mesa's Future,  HERE, as well.

A LONG SHOT...
In my view, this is a long shot that will take a lot of work by a lot of people just to qualify for a ballot.  There is no financial cost to The City until and unless he actually gathers sufficient signatures.  At that point The City will contract with the Orange County Registrar of Voters to validate each signature.  That cost is estimated to be near $25,000.  A special election will cost around $200,000.

UNFOUNDED FEARS

There are those within the community that are concerned that this recall effort comes at a time when Righeimer and his fellows in the majority on the City Council have indicated a willingness to work collaboratively with employee associations toward a resolution to what Righeimer perceives to be the major problems in our city - salaries and pensions of public employees.  They are afraid this action will undermine those efforts.  Well, Righeimer and his associates only took a couple hours to show their true stripes.  It is very clear that collaboration and cooperation are NOT on their agenda, so those fears are unfounded.