Houston mayor survives recall

HOUSTON — Mayor Virgie Thompson has survived to serve another day.

Tallies from the city of Houston released just after polls closed Tuesday evening show the number of Houstonians who want Thompson to remain the city’s mayor outnumber those who want her to go by a margin of 2-to-1. Fifty residents voted to recall her while 102 voted against the recall.

And even if all 50 ballots remaining to be counted Monday prove to be votes to recall Thompson, the mayor still has enough votes to retain the position.

Thompson said she sees the poll results as a vote of confidence.

“The best part about it is that it’s positive support from the community,” she said.

Asked if the city will be able to put recent divisiveness aside, Thompson sounded optimistic.

“Oh gosh, I hope so. Let’s just forget any roadblocks and keep being positive and moving forward,” the mayor said. “If the community isn’t pleased with what’s going on with administration, I think they should be more open to discussion and bringing things that they’re concerned about to the council and to the mayor.”

Resolving concerns at city hall, she said, is certainly the cheaper route. As of Thursday afternoon, the city clerk was still tallying the cost of the special election, which came just two months before Thompson’s term is set to expire.

“Legal costs were $4,000 alone,” Thompson said. “Then there’s paying of election workers, printing of the ballots. There’s a lot more costs.”

This recall vote was just one in a string of such attempts in Houston, where more mayors have faced recall in the past seven years than have not. None of the attempts has been successful. Starting in 2004, mayors Dale Adams, Sandy McDonald and Roger Purcell all saw cadres of disgruntled residents attempt recalls.

Purcell resigned before his recall could be put to a vote. Adams and McDonald survived theirs. Only Steve Frost, who wound up resigning after four months, and Rosemary Burnett, who was a temporary replacement for Purcell, have occupied the mayor’s chair without a recall attempt.

Thompson said she hopes such efforts will become a less frequent occurrence in Houston. But the bar to filing them is low; with so few voters in the city, it takes just 50 Houstonians to sign a petition for a recall effort to be valid.

In this instance, the anti-Thompson camp, with council members Ruth Blanchard and Lance Wilson and city planning commissioner Ralph Buzard leading the charge, alleged the city paid Mayor Thompson for hours she didn’t work while she was out of state.

Her defenders, the loudest being another councilman, Paul Stout, said that although Thompson made a mistake when she retroactively filed her timecard, but she did work the 100 hours per month required by city code.

The timecard was the issue stated in the petition to recall Thompson but, as is so often the case in politics, other issues were soon folded into the mix.

The city’s police force was all but disbanded after Capt. Charley McAnally was fired. Thompson’s critics fretted over safety in the city. The city says it’s looking for money to hire a replacement.

Houston seems to have periodic budget woes, a fact that wasn’t lost on Thompson’s critics. But her defenders say the city was just starting to move forward after a tumultuous few years under Purcell’s leadership.

For her part, Thompson said she plans to run again in the fall. Houston’s mayor is also a council member. The election will be for a council seat and after the election the council will pick a new mayor.

The recall election results won’t be certified until a special city council meeting Aug. 2.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.