Recall effort suspended

MAT-SU -- Today is the deadline for petition signatures in the move to recall Mat-Su Borough Mayor Tim Anderson, but members of Citizens to Restore Open and Honest Government said the borough clerk will likely not see any signature booklets.

"There won't be any signatures turned in because we pulled the petitions," said CROHG secretary Lucille Frey after announcing at Tuesday's borough assembly meeting that the group was going to withdraw the petition.

" … our legal counsel has advised us to withdraw our petition on our current recall," Frey told the assembly, reading from a written statement.

Frey was among the original 10 sponsors of the petition to recall Anderson, as was CROHG chair Jim Turner. Turner said Wednesday the decision to stop the petition was due to several factors, including problems collecting signatures. Last week, Turner said, approximately 1,600 signatures had been collected toward the needed 2,323.

"It wasn't a matter of signatures alone," Turner said. "It was a matter of multiple considerations all coming together. The possibility is open that the petitions could be reissued with the appropriate language at a more propitious time."

The application for a petition to recall Anderson was filed on Sept. 18 by petition sponsor Bill Moll, released in mid-October and collection began at the end of October. Subsequent to that filing, petitions were launched against assembly members Jim Colver and Kelly Lankford Ladere.

On Oct. 21, Colver filed a lawsuit against Borough Clerk Sandra Dillon to prevent her from releasing his petition. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski found the petition lacked "particulars" and ruled that Dillon should not release it.

Ladere and Anderson, on Dec. 3, filed suit against Dillon, asking the judge to order Dillon to reverse her decision to release their petitions. The case was assigned to Michalski Tuesday, according to information from Palmer Superior Court, but it was not scheduled as of Wednesday.

Dillon said, while Frey's intentions may be to stop the petition, that is not exactly possible.

"You can't just automatically say 'I take it back,'" Dillon said, "and I just can't automatically say 'I pull it back.' The option is just to wait until the due date, which is Friday at 5 p.m."

If no petitions are turned in at that time, Dillon said, then the process is halted.

With one petition tossed out and the other dropped, Ladere may be alone in her fight to retain her seat -- for now.

It appears Anderson's petition will come back in another form. In her written statement, Frey said, "consequently, as of this moment we are withdrawing our petition and will redraft and reissue the petition in line with the judge's decision at a future date."

Essentially, as Frey and Turner both indicated, the group has put the matter on hold until they know the judge's decision. But Anderson said if the petitions are dropped, his end of the court case filed just weeks ago may be negated, so a ruling on the validity of Anderson's recall may not be forthcoming.

"That kind of takes my grievance away," Anderson said. "By them not having a recall out there, I have nothing [over which to sue]."

The petition's halt does not mean the court case launched by Anderson and Ladere will be dropped, as Ladere's petition is still moving forward.

Ladere's petition sponsor, Sherri Mulhaney, said she is considering dropping the petition drive as well -- if she can discuss it with Ladere.

"To have one person take the fall for everybody -- it just doesn't seem fair," Mulhaney said. "I would like to talk to her … and see if maybe we can work together to accomplish some things."

Mulhaney said signatures weren't at issue -- she was sure the petition supporters could make the Jan. 7 deadline for signatures. She wasn't sure how much good would be accomplished, however, by only replacing Ladere when the goal was to overturn the borough administration as a whole.

"Our plan was to have a new administration," Mulhaney said. "As an individual, she shouldn't take the fall for the real crooks."