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Grover Beach violates judge’s order to validate recall petition

May 29, 2024

Recall notice served on Grover Beach Mayor Karen Bright and councilmen Daniel Rushing and Zachary Zimmerman

By KAREN VELIE

The City of Grover Beach violated a judge’s order to approve Grover H2O’s petition to recall Councilman Daniel Rushing. City Clerk Wendi Sims had until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to approve the petition.

Last week, San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen found that Sims violated the law in her rejection of recall petitions for Mayor Karen Bright and councilmen Daniel Rushing and Zach Zimmerman. Sims refused to approve the recall petitions unless certain statements she found false or misleading were removed from the petitions. Grover H2O, Debbie Peterson and Brenda Auer then filed a lawsuit that argued the Constitution and California’s election laws forbid election officials from engaging in this type of unilateral censorship.

Judge Craig van Rooyen agreed and ordered Sims to approve the petition to recall Rushing. Even though the suit noted issues with each recall petition, because both Bright and Zimmerman are up for election in November, the suit focused on Rushing’s recall petition.

Without council approval, city attorney Robert Lomeli then filed a notice of appeal.

During a May 28 City Council meeting, the council agreed to ratify Lomeli’s appeal, before telling him to withdraw the notice of appeal.

Grover H2O’s attorney Ellis Raskin of Hanson Bridgett sent a letter on Wednesday morning demanding the city approve the recall petition by 5 p.m. today. If the city fails to comply, the group plans to ask the court to force the city to obey the order. In addition, Grover H2O plans to seek sanctions against the city.

In order to qualify the recall for the November ballot, the group needs to quickly gather signatures.

“The law allows 60 days to collect signatures for this petition,” Auer said. “However, the city’s actions now leave us with just five days to do so if we are to avoid a $300,000 special election. The city has already illegally blocked a November recall of Mayor Bright and Councilman Zimmerman. All we ask is that the voters of Grover Beach be given their legal right to decide this matter for themselves.”

 


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Vote these scoundrels in once, and it takes an act of God to pry them out of their seats. The government doesn’t defend the citizens; it only defends itself.


3

A very astute observation.


-2

Well, it’s not “widespread” election fraud…..


-9

So what would you call Wendi Sims’s illegal actions?


11

One attorney called it election tampering, which in fact, it is. She conspired to block the recall of three elected officials and was convicted of doing so illegally. She succeeded in stopping two and is still trying to stop the third – to the extent that she disobeyed a court command by responding a day after the Judge’s deadline to approve the petitions.


4

Technically, it isn’t election fraud. It is malfeasance. Which equally sucks.


Malfeasance is intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees.


19

Certainly the people were defrauded out of an opportunity to vote on whether or not their elected officials should remain in office, or not.


0

How Is she still employed?


1