While some enthusiastic critics of Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield have made a vigorous effort to force a vote to recall him from office in midterm, there are two very good reasons to reject such an effort.
One is strictly “legal.” The other is “practical.”
The “legal” point was settled Tuesday by a ruling from Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hollingsworth. He said the recall petitioners simply did not meet the legal requirements for a recall.
There are differing state and city laws concerning recalls. The state law would require about 15,000 valid signatures to force a recall vote on the mayor, while city law would require only about 9,000 valid signatures. In such a case, state law prevails, and the recall petitioners did not meet the number of signatures that state law required.
But in addition, for petition signatures to be valid, they had to be accompanied by the dates of signing – which many of the signatures did not have. (The recall petitioners said they had been given bad advice by the Hamilton County Election Commission.)
In any case, the petitions were legally insufficient. So approval has not been given for a recall vote on the Nov. 2 ballot.
But on the merely “practical” point, it is appropriate that the recall effort has failed.
The mayor was duly elected by the people for a stated term of office. Although many voters obviously now strongly disagree with the mayor’s leadership on several points – notably his support of a city property tax increase – seeking to oust the mayor, or any other official, in midterm should require an allegation of some legal or moral impropriety. No such charge has been made in this case.
It is proper to challenge – or support – the mayor or any official on his policies and his votes. But a midterm recall and removal from office should not be attempted only because of strong differences of opinion, even if the objections are valid.
If there is dissatisfaction with an official, the time for him to be rejected is the next election. But to maintain stability in government, it is inappropriate to seek to oust an official in midterm without substantial cause.
Hollingsworth has ruled correctly that the petitioners have not met the requirements to force a recall vote.
Littlefield cannot run again because of term limits. Voters will select a new mayor in the next election.