Houston, there’s a problem

HOUSTON — The mayor is facing a recall election next month, but even if his detractors have their way, it won’t be the last city hall sees of Roger Purcell.

In Houston, the mayor is also a council member. After each election the council decides which of its members will serve as mayor.

Though the applicants for the recall petition had said all along their intent was to boot Purcell off the council and out of the mayor’s chair, a clerical error and state law have prevented that from happening. The city council voted Thursday night to have the vote be to remove Purcell as mayor. He can remain on the council.

And, to hear him tell it, Purcell intends to do just that.

“I’m not leaving,” he said. “I was voted into the spot. I’m staying in.”

City Clerk Steve Cunningham takes responsibility for the clerical error. He said that when he put together petitions for the applicants to circulate, he left out the bit about recalling Purcell from the council.

Of course there’s probably plenty of blame to spread around. After all, none of the people circulating the petitions noticed the error either. Cunningham said he thought right up until April 6 that everything was fine. The deadline to file petitions was April 8, 180 days before the next regularly scheduled election.

“We talked about being able to have them re-do the petition and have people go out and sign it again, but we’re already past the 180 days for them to do that,” Cunningham.

Cunningham said he consulted with the state’s Division of Community and Regional Affairs and looked at a number of fixes. None was appealing, and only one seemed to comply with state law. The law says the ballot has to reflect what was on the petition and also bars recalling someone from more than one office.

Cunningham said there is some legal precedent for giving a wide leeway to the public on questions of ballot initiatives. It might have been OK for the city to swap out ballot language removing Purcell from the council, which would then have the effect of removing him as mayor.

“The only problem is that then we open up the door for the mayor come back and say, ‘Uh, you messed up’ and have the whole thing thrown out,’” Cunningham said.

It’s one of those compromises that satisfies no one.

“The mayor doesn’t get all that he wants out of it,” Cunningham said. And neither do his detractors. “They’re going to have to settle with him just being recalled from the office of mayor.”

One bright spot, he said, is that the whole process sheds some light on rough patches and inconsistencies in the city’s municipal code.

“It’s helped us clean up our code a little bit more,” Cunningham said.

As for Purcell, he said the whole thing is a big waste of time. He hasn’t filed and doesn’t intend to file to run for council after his term expires. All the people that want him out had to do was wait until October. He said it’s also a distraction from the good work he’s done, like the $25,000 in grants he said he recently scored for the city’s fire department.

At any rate, the recall election is slated for June 22. There will be one polling place — Houston City Hall. Absentee voters can request ballots up until a week before the election. Early voting begins June 7, also at city hall.

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