By Steve Hoffman, Beacon Journal editorial writer
Thursday, Apr 14, 2011

Reprinted with permission from The Akron Beacon Journal

The title may be overheated, but the documentary Recall Fever released this week by The U.S. Conference of Mayors does raise the specter of a growing number of citizen-initiated efforts to remove municipal executives in mid-term for reasons best left to the next regular election.

Mainly, the documentary serves as a warning to mayors across the country: You could be next. But Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director of the conference, also wants to warn the public about the economic and social costs of campaigns motivated by anger and frustration rather than documented abuses of power.

Recall Fever, released Tuesday in Washington, focuses on recent mayoral recall elections in Akron, Chattanooga and Omaha. All three mayors survived, Akron's Don Plusquellic, in his sixth term, getting 75 percent of the vote in 2009. Especially chilling is Jim Suttle, mayor of Omaha, recounting the Internet kickoff of the recall campaign against him starting one hour after his election in 2009. The recall election took place this year.

Loose charter language creates an opening, as it did in Akron. Akron voters later tightened signature requirements, blocked recalls in the last six months of an official's term and specified a six-month waiting period after an unsuccessful recall election.

Several other factors appear to be at play, driving a recent increase in recall elections. In Recall Fever, Akron attorney Warner Mendenhall, organizer of the petition drive against Plusquellic, appears almost giddy over how his campaign used the Internet as a tool to get organized and spread information. (This writer, interviewed for the documentary, questioned the accuracy of Mendenhall's charges.)

The drafters of state constitutions and city charters that contain provisions on recalls, initiatives and referendums could never have envisioned the use of modern campaign techniques. The signature requirements, for example, are far easier to meet today than in the pre-Internet age.

Another danger is the growing influence of wealthy individuals, after years of income growth concentrated at the top levels. The recall last month of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez was backed by a wealthy businessman who spent $1 million of his own money.

Finally, big-city mayors (who must balance their budgets) are making difficult policy choices in an extremely challenging economic environment. Washington can borrow money. In state capitals, to some degree, fiscal challenges can be shifted to local governments, as Ohio Gov. John Kasich is doing with cuts to local governments and school districts.

That puts mayors in the politically untenable position of either cutting services or raising taxes. Neither one helps popularity ratings. The rise of the tea party movement makes raising taxes especially troublesome.

How big is the problem? The U.S. Conference of Mayors, once headed by Plusquellic, represents about 1,200 cities with populations of 30,000 or more.

According to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit that tracks election results, there were 57 recall elections in 19 states in 2010. That compares with just 29 recall elections in 2009, in 12 states. Recalls, usually special elections, are expensive (Akron's cost about $175,000) and, as Ballotpedia found, not very successful. In 2010, 15 mayors were recalled or resigned just before a recall election.

Thankfully, neither the constitution nor statutes permit voters to recall state officials in Ohio. Adding recalls would further cripple a highly politicized decision-making process.

Unfortunately, that isn't stopping two Democratic legislators from Northeast Ohio, Mike Foley and Bob Hagan, from proposing a bill that would allow citizens to initiate a recall of state officials. Even they admit their plan would never pass the GOP-controlled legislature.

Still, it is fair to ask, where's the beef? Foley and Hagan point to Kasich's low approval ratings and disagreements over budget priorities and collective bargaining for public employees.

Kasich hasn-t been on the job for six months. The collective bargaining bill will almost certainly be on the ballot in November, union and Democratic activists busily collecting signatures. The arguments advanced by the two Democrats amount to nothing more than buyer's remorse.

The solution isn't a recall election, it's a solid candidate and organization in 2014. That's a solution that should be embraced by dissidents in municipal politics, too.