Roger Purcell recall, Houston, Alaska (2010)

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A vote about whether or not to recall Roger Purcell from his position as mayor of Houston, Alaska, was scheduled for June 22, 2010. However, the embattled mayor resigned from his post just days before the election was scheduled to take place. Purcell, will, however, remain on the Houston City Council as a city council member through October 2010 when his term expires. He does not intend to run for re-election at that time.

Rosemary Burnett was appointed by the Houston City Council to the position of mayor by a vote of 5-2 after Purcell's resignation.

The recall effort was launched in February 2010, with official recall papers filed on March 3.

Kathleen Baken-Barney was a leader in the recall effort. Charlie Seidl was also active in collecting signatures to force the recall election.

Recall organizers mentioned a variety of reasons why they wanted Purcell out of office. These reasons included the assertions that Purcell:

• Travelled to Fairbanks in a police vehicle without council approval.
• Purchased an airline ticket without council approval.
• Authorized the city clerk to file a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission knowing it included a false complaint.
• Used unauthorized blue flashing lights while making a traffic stop.
• Participated in executive sessions without stating the specific topic to be discussed.

Recall petitions in Alaska must cite reasons, and the reason given on the official recall papers is the assertion by Purcell committed "misconduct in office by using emergency lights on a city vehicle while not responding to an emergency." This allegation involves a video that was taken by the camera of a police vehicle Purcell drove to Fairbanks. Charlie Seidl, who was at the time a police sargeant in Houston, downloaded the video from the official vehicle, gave it to a member of the Houston City Council and posted it on YouTube.

Truck delivery expenses

Recall supporters point to trip taken by Roger Purcell took with his wife in December 2009-January 2010 to Nellysford, Virginia, to pick up a used rescue vehicle and bring it back to Houston. The Houston City Council authorized a total expenditure on the trip of $7,835 to to cover airfare, fuel, meals and overnight stays. However, the trip to bring the 1991 Mack back to Houston ended up costing $9,893.13, and Purcell declined to make his expense report for the trip public. At a city council meeting in March 2010, Josh Hanford weighed in on the matter by telling the mayor, "I will take that as, willfully, you are hiding this information." Houston's city clerk said that when he called around before the trip to get bids on how much it would cost to ship the truck to Alaska, the bids he got exceeded $10,000.

Animal control in Houston

The way that animal control is handled in Houston has antagonized some residents.

• In February 2010, city police officer Sargeant Charlie Seidl shot eight animals at the city's animal shelter.
• Some of the animals had been living at the shelter for months prior to the shooting.
• A former city employee told the press that conditions at the shelter were "unfit for animals or the public."
• Seidl says that Purcell told him to shoot the animals.
• Purcell denies that he issued the order.
• Dennis Lords, chief animal control officer for Houston, was fired after the shootings.
• A part-time city employee who worked at the shelter was also terminated.
• Seidl job performance was evaluated and the Houston City Council by a narrow vote decided not to fire him.
• Seidl went on leave.
• Purcell said that Seidl went on leave because Houston's city attorney is investigating some statements made by Seidl during his performance review.

Conditions at the animal shelter may be relevant to deciding whether Purcell has failed to adequately perform his duties as mayor. Those applying for a recall petition must establish, before the recall petition can be authorized, that there are some grounds to believe either that Purcell has failed to adequately perform his duties, is incompetent or has engaged in misconduct.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Alaska

On March 22, Houston's city clerk announced that enough signatures had been submitted by recall supporters to qualify the recall question for the ballot. As a result, the city council must now schedule a recall election. They can do this at their next regularly scheduled meeting on April 8, or they can call a special meeting before then to set the date for the recall election.

The recall election is required by Alaska law to take place in the period of 45-75 days after the recall signatures were submitted to the city clerk. However, Alaskan elections are subject to preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice, and anytime a special election is scheduled, the Department of Justice must approve it. The DOJ's approval process ordinarily takes 90 days. If the DOJ takes the normal 90 days in this case, the recall election could not take place within the required 45-75 days. Therefore, it is expected that the DOJ will expedite their approval process.

73 signatures were required to qualify the measure for the ballot. Petitioners had until April 8 to collect the signatures needed to force a recall. However, they collected more than 140 signatures in four days in March, and turned them into election officials.

The first attempt to get a recall going hit a roadblock due to a determination by Houston's city clerk that the recall petition as worded did not give adequate grounds for a recall. A new application for a recall petition was filed on March 3 that was accepted by Houston's city clerk.

The second application for a recall election says that Purcell turned the emergency lights on in a police vehicle while driving to Fairbanks, and that this is misconduct.

About Houston

Houston is a city in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. It is part of the Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area and its population was estimated to be 1,202 at the 2000 census.

See also

• Laws governing recall in Alaska
• Recall campaigns in Alaska

External links

Wikipedia has an article on:

Houston

• Website of Houston, Alaska

References

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