Clerk denies Keogh recall

PALMER — An application for a recall petition against borough assemblyman Warren Keogh failed to pass muster with the borough clerk.

In a four-page memorandum distributed Friday, Mat-Su Borough clerk Lonnie McKechnie cites two main reasons for denying the application. First, she writes, there weren’t 10 sponsors on the application and there were not residential addresses listed for the sponsors it did have. Second, the grounds for recall were not sufficient.

“The application alleges that Mr. Keogh ‘never disclosed his affiliation as founder and agent of Castle Mountain Coalition to the public while running for office.’ Even if true, actions or inactions before being elected to the Assembly cannot form the basis for a recall petition,” McKechnie wrote.

Other claims in the recall petition she found insufficient for other reasons. The allegation that Keogh should have declared his affiliation with the coalition — an affiliation that Keogh says no longer exists — isn’t alleging a violation since assemblymen only have to report gifts or financial relationships and it’s not clear if Keogh had any such stake in the coalition.

Another allegation was dismissed on grounds of vagueness.

“Under state law, petition sponsors are required to write the allegations in the application with enough specifics to allow the elected official to respond in writing to the charges,” McKechnie wrote.

She attached to her memo an eight-page legal opinion drawn up by Anchorage law firm Boyd, Chandler and Falconer.