Council to set date for Menard recall election

WASILLA — Voters will make history next year when they participate in the city’s first recall election.

A petition seeking to oust two-time city councilman Steve Menard has enough qualifying signatures to put the recall to a vote at a special election, Wasilla City Clerk Kristie Smithers said. The recall petition, spearheaded by the local Conservative Patriots Group, was turned in Nov. 28, and 203 of the 284 signatures were found to be valid. The petition needed at least 201 signees to put the issue to a vote.

In her 14 years as city clerk, Smithers said she has never handled a recall election, and has confirmed this is a first for Wasilla.

“It is. I don’t think recalls, overall, happen very often in Alaska as a whole,” she said. “Well, in Houston, definitely. We get a lot of inquiries, but it doesn’t (go forward) from that.”

Smithers is recommending a special election scheduled for Feb. 7, 2012, and Wasilla City Council members will be asked to vote at their regular meeting Monday to officially set the date for a special election for the recall.

The recall is in response to an August incident where Menard trashed a Sitka hotel room while attending the summer Alaska Municipal League meetings on behalf of the city. Itemized damages in a bill to the city from the Westmark Sitka include two beds and a chair urinated on, vomit on the floor and a burned mattress.

Following the incident, Menard issued a public apology, repaid the $350 cleaning bill and reimbursed the city $1,404 for the entire cost of his trip. He also was censured by city council and prohibited from traveling on city business for the remainder of his term.

That’s not enough, petition organizers have said, maintaining Menard should not be on the council.

Asked why she agreed to be one of the sponsors of the petition, Deana Didrickson replied, “I think that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? I wouldn’t want a person of that caliber representing the Mat-Su Valley. The Valley gets enough attention through other things. People call us ‘Valley trash,’ and we don’t need any of that. It was a terrible offense. What he did to that hotel room? My goodness.”

The petition cites Menard’s misconduct in office as its reasoning for the recall, and Smithers said Menard will be allowed to add a 200-word statement of his own on the ballot.

Menard said he is drafting a statement and said his passion for serving the city and being a city councilman makes it difficult for him to quit.

“The message I want (voters) to know is just simply, I’m humbled by the experience,” Menard said. “I feel that I have changed, that I have learned something from it.”

When contacted on Wednesday, Menard said he’s 117 days sober and sticking to a plan to win his battle with alcoholism, which he acknowledged led to his behavior in Sitka.

“I’ve had a history of problems dealing with alcohol, and my life is an open book,” he said. “We live in a small town, especially in the political realm. My intention in partying down there in Sitka wasn’t Steve Menard the councilman, it was ‘hey, it’s 7 o’clock and everybody went out.’ It’s just that my party continued into my hotel room and the end result, it is what it is.”

Menard said he understands why some would be angry over what happened in Sitka.

“Once a councilman, you’re 24/7 a councilman, and in that alcoholic haze, I forgot that,” he said. “I put on the party hat. (Embarrassing the city) was never my intention. I feel I have over and above done retribution and repaid and repented for my mistake down there. And let me make this completely clear — it was not the council’s suggestion I be sanctioned, that I repay that (money), that was all mine.”

Menard said he feels confident he is a good councilman and that voters knew about his struggles with alcohol before he was elected in October 2010, and still voted for him.

“With all my flaws, they still elected me to a second term, and when I mess up, be human, I am humbled, I repent, I pay back the city, there is forgiveness there, I think,” he said. “He got drunk, he got stupid, he had a party in his hotel room that went out of control. That’s the extent of it. I’m disappointed in my own actions being on city time and on a city trip.”

One big difference between Menard the councilman today and Menard the councilman in August is sobriety, he said. He said he has sought help and hasn’t had a drink since.

When the recall goes to a special election, Smithers said her office will “prepare like a regular election. It’s still the same process, still the same amount of work as a regular election. It’s just a little more condensed in the time frame.”

She said she’s asking the council for an election budget of $4,000, but believes it will cost considerably less.

“We actually have some money left in our budget this year because we didn’t have to have a run-off in the mayor election,” she said. Also, the cost of the ballots will be minimal, “because the ballots cost basically by the number of ovals. When we have those printed, the cost is based on the number of candidates or issues on your ballot.”

Menard said resigning would be the easy choice, but he’s not wired that way.

“I know I’m one of the most effective council people on the council,” he said, adding he might have resigned “if I didn’t love this fricking city so fricking much.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.