Another Houston recall

HOUSTON — Special education teacher Virgie Thompson has been Houston’s mayor for only six months and there’s already an effort to recall her.

An application for petition to oust Thompson was submitted Wednesday to the Houston City Clerk’s Office by Councilwoman Ruth Blanchard and Planning Commissioner Ralph Buzard. The petition claims Thompson “committed misconduct in office by offering a false instrument for recording in the first degree in violation of Alaska Statute 11.46.550 and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received or held in violation of Alaska Statute 11.46.210.”

In a nutshell, they are alleging Thompson didn’t work her required minimum of 100 hours for the month of November, yet still received her full pay of $1,500 for that month.

“She also did knowingly submit false information on her work accounting report in that she did not work the number of ‘routine’ hours claimed for the month of November 2010 because she was not present in the state of Alaska from Nov. 20-27,” the petition application states. “Having served on the city council for over two years, and having taken part in the debate to increase the mayor’s compensation, Councilmember Thompson is fully aware of, but chose to ignore, the requirements for the mayor to receive legal compensation.”

Attached to the application were the required 10 signatures from registered voters, which includes Councilman Lance Wilson. It is not yet known who else signed it, other than Buzard and Blanchard, because Acting City Clerk Sonya Dukes hadn’t yet certified the signatures.

Wilson, Buzard and Blanchard have been vocal critics of Thompson since she was named mayor last October. They have been aligned with former mayor Roger Purcell, who resigned from his seat last summer on the eve of his own recall.

Thompson said she had only three things to say about the recall effort.

“Look at the signatures, consider the source and no further comment,” she said.

Thompson also allegedly is the focus of an ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation involving possible misuse of city funds by City Treasurer Carolyn Grabowski. There, too, Thompson has claimed her detractors are going after her because of bitterness over Purcell’s departure and that none of the allegations have any merit.

In the meantime, Deputy Mayor Jim Johansen has been charged with fourth-degree assasult in Palmer District Court for causing “fear of harm” stemming from a verbal altercation between him and Buzard that allegedly occurred during a March city council meeting.

Johansen, who is to be arraigned on that charge April 16, said Wednesday the charge is completely false and that justice will prevail in the end.

“A person is innocent until they’re proved guilty,” he said.

As for the recall effort against Thompson, Johansen said he’s not surprised given the group of people behind it.

“It’s totally bogus,” he said on his way back to the Valley from his work in Eagle River. “It has absolutely no validity to it. It’s all part of the effort to smear Virgie and take her down. The funny thing is, there are quite a few citizens in the city who are very proud of Virgie and what she’s trying to accomplish for this town.”

Buzard, who wouldn’t comment on Johansen’s assault charge, said he’s been watching Thompson’s actions for a while and feels it’s time for her to step down.

“It’s pretty hard to put $100 worth of work in in a day when you don’t get to work until 3:30 and leave at 5,” he said. “She says she works on Saturdays, but I’ve never seen her car there and I drive by City Hall all the time. Of course, she’s got her gang and she’s going to say it’s a retaliatory thing, but it’s not. Council had a work session last night on the budget and that woman hasn’t got a clue about what’s going on.”

When asked about the recall effort, Councilwoman Natasha Schachle said residents have every right to try to recall a mayor, but Councilman Paul Stout was a little less diplomatic.

He said that although he wasn’t aware the petition application had been filed, he believes it’s simply sour grapes on the part of those trying to oust Thompson.

“November was awhile ago. I know she works a lot of hours and she works very hard,” Stout said. “She’d go in every day and work at home in the evenings. I’ve talked with her more than once after hours and she has a lot of meetings all the time. I think Roger’s just trying to stir up trouble.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersma.com or 352-2252.