Committee pushing for recall gets a big shake-up

Could leave petitions open to challenge

First, it was the petition language to recall all three Gunnison County Commissioners that was changed; now it’s the committee of citizens pushing the recall through that is seeing a shift after a change of heart has caused two of the three committee members to resign their posts.

In letters to County Clerk Stella Dominguez dated April 3 and 6, first Betty Eberhardt and then Alex Laird said they were ready to step down from the contentious committee.
In her letter, Eberhardt says, “I firmly believe in our Constitution but the Petition has changed in scope from what I thought it was originally intended to convey – namely – that we didn’t need or want a bigger, state-of-the-art jail, that many people were dissatisfied with the location, that it was in conflict with the Cattleman’s Days and their parking areas that were needed for the rodeo events. Also, there was no mention of square footage of this proposed jail, no estimated cost figures and no indication of ideas to renovate [the existing jail].”
“Too,” she continues, “it seems that this has become MY PETITION instead of the people who originated it, Bob and Janet Allen. If the Recall had kept to its original idea, I might have stayed on the committee, but, as it is now, I cannot do it. I am sorry.”
While Laird was less specific about his reasoning, the outcome was the same. In his letter he told Dominguez that he would be withdrawing his name from the committee “of my own free will and does not reflect my continuing support for the freedom from tyranny that I firmly believe is being forced upon the people of Gunnison County.”
That poses a problem for the petitioners, who statutorily need a committee of three people to continue their push to collect more than 2,100 signatures to have the elections of Hap Channell and Paula Swenson recalled and more than 1,500 signatures to have the election of Jim Starr recalled.
Now Robert Allen is the lone original member of the committee and as of Wednesday morning, only one person, Gunnison resident George Willis, had stepped up to fill the vacancies. But Dominguez said the committee was working to have a third petitioner sign on soon.
If they don’t get the third person, it could leave the petition signatures open to challenge by the commissioners, since by law the committee members listed on the petition have to match the actual committee.
    Another complication for the new committee is the petition itself. The only way to remedy the discrepancy now is to withdraw the latest petition and submit a new one with an updated committee, but that would start the 60-day signature collection clock all over again.
“Their clock’s ticking. They could always withdraw the petition again and start over, but he made us aware that they already have signatures on the old petition,” Dominguez says. “For Jim Starr to be recalled there’s a six month period [before the election] and after that he can’t be recalled. If they were to drag it along until July, then he wouldn’t be able to be recalled because he’s up for election in November.”
So as it stands, the recall of the commissioners remains in flux.