The man behind the Supervisor Rose recall
UPSET: Peter Romanowsky says his beef with a bay agency's decisions on marinas is a main reason why he wants to take over Supervisor Annette Rose's seat. Photo: Jeff Vendsel
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By Richard Halstead Peter Romanowsky, a Sausalito salvager and perennial candidate for political office, says he's pushing an effort to recall Supervisor Annette Rose because he wants to take her place on the Board of Supervisors.
Romanowsky, who played a key role in launching efforts to recall District Attorney Paula Kamena and four Marin County judges, says he is the force behind the Rose recall effort.
"Quite frankly, I want the job of supervisor, because I want to sit on the Bay Conservation Development Commission and correct the terrible things that BCDC is doing to all of the marinas," Romanowsky said.
But, Rose noted, "That's not what they said in their filing."
The grounds for the recall listed on the preliminary filing focus on Rose's personal use of county credit cards, which was disclosed by her opponent, Toni Kendall, in the March 2000 election.
"I do know Peter," Rose said, noting that Romanowsky was once her neighbor at Galilee Harbor where she still lives. "I believe he is obsessed with public office and people who hold public office.
"The proof of this is that he has run many times for assorted offices; I don't believe he is qualified to hold any of them."
Romanowsky has long held a grudge against Rose, said former Mill Valley councilman John Leonard.
"If people knew his animus against Annette and how far back this dates - well preceding anything coming to light about the credit cards - they would have a better idea if whether there is a legitimate basis for what he is doing," Leonard said.
Because the recall process can be launched by gathering a mere 20 valid signatures, "It can become an opportunity to try to discredit or smear someone," Leonard said.
The recall process was launched April 17 when Sonoma resident Ron Mazzaferro filed a formal notice of intention to circulate a recall petition aimed at Rose.
Once the official recall petition has been approved by election officials, which is expected to take several weeks, circulators will have 120 days to gather 6,394 supporting signatures from voters registered in Marin's 3rd District. That amounts to 20 percent of the district's 31,968 registered voters.
Romanowsky said Mazzaferro helped spark the effort against Rose with a phone call to him.
"I just said, 'I guess it's time to do it because everybody wants to,'" said Mazzaferro, who worked on the other recall efforts with Romanowsky. Several participants in the Kamena recall have been talking about the need to recall both Rose and Supervisor John Kress, who also admitted to misusing his county credit card, Mazzaferro said.
"I typed it up, and Peter took it from there," he said.
Kamena case
Romanowksy confirmed he gathered most of the 20 valid signatures necessary to launch the Rose recall effort. He also gathered the signatures necessary to initiate the recall against Kamena. Other than his own, only one name - that of his acquaintance Mary McClelland - showed up on both recall notices.
Although Romanowsky helped initiate the Kamena recall, the cause was later taken up by medical marijuana proponents. The marijuana advocates supplied most of the cash and volunteers needed to gather the 13,942 valid signatures, which made the May 22 recall election necessary. The special election is costing the county about $500,000.
"It is something I didn't give a lot of thought to," said Mill Valley resident Tim Day, who provided one of the signatures on the notice of intention for Rose's recall. Day said he signed the petition as he was leaving a grocery store in Tam Junction. He said it was Rose's misuse of county credit cards that ultimately convinced him to sign.
Lives on a boat
But Romanowsky said he has another reason for seeking Rose's recall. He said he was spurred by Rose's support of a bill - introduced in the state Legislature by Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael - that would shorten the waiting period for removing old boats from Richardson Bay and other Marin waterways from two weeks to three days.
"They're talking about destroying people's homes," said Romanowsky, who lives on a boat anchored in Richardson Bay and makes his living salvaging recyclable materials found around the bay.
Not so, Rose said.
"First of all, the bill is for uninhabited structures that have been abandoned and are derelict," Rose said. "They pose a danger to the navigating public or to property on the shore."
"I'm totally opposed to taking people's homes away," she added.
Romanowsky said he also is motivated by a desire to take Rose's place on the Board of Supervisors. Rose, 59, a Democrat, was elected to the Board of Supervisors in a runoff election against Betty Times in November 1993.
"I personally have been wanting to run for that office for a long time," Romanowsky said. "If nobody better qualified steps forward, I definitely will be the candidate."
If that is the case, Rose wonders why Romanowsky hasn't run against her before, or why he doesn't wait until she faces election again in three years.
Romanowsky said that with Nation's legislation moving forward in the state Assembly, he couldn't afford to wait.
Nothing but defeats
Romanowsky, 51, certainly hasn't been bashful about running for public office in the past. He has run for the state Assembly, the Sausalito City Council, Sausalito Sanitary District board, the Sausalito School District board, the College of Marin board and the Marin Healthcare District board - to name a few, all unsuccessfully.
Filing fees provide no barriers, Romanowsky said. In many cases signatures can be submitted in lieu of paying a filing fee, and there is no fee whatsoever if the office is unpaid.
"I walk in and say I'm going to run for college board: My name is on every ballot in Marin County without paying a penny," Romanowsky said. "$100 I spent on that campaign, and I got 5,000 votes.
"You can see how tempting it is for an activist like me," Romanowsky said. "I can do this forever. I will keep running, keep in the public eye. I might even run for coroner some day."
In 1969, Romanowsky was licensed as a Baptist minister by the New Covenant Evangelistic Association in Richmond, but he says it has been 20 years since he has ministered to a congregation. The one-time son-in-law of former Marin supervisor Ernest Kettenhofen, Romanowsky said, "I've never recovered from my divorce."
Rose notes that the Galilee Harbor Association had to spend nearly $10,000 to evict Romanowsky for failure to pay his rent. Romanowsky doesn't dispute that he was behind in his rent. He says he was forced out, however, because, at the time, he sided with the BCDC, which was insisting that the harbor be put to a maritime use.
Secret donor
How does Romanowsky propose to collect the thousands of signatures he needs to force the recall? Romanowsky says he has a verbal pledge of more than $6,000 from a person whom he declined to identify to aid in gathering the names.
Romanowsky said this individual, as well as some landowners in the North San Pablo Bay area, are upset about BCDC's support for the creation of a 17,600-acre Marin Baylands National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge would include wetlands in Novato, along San Pablo Bay, including portions of the proposed Bahia residential development, Hamilton area and Bel Marin Keys. Rose is a BCDC commissioner.
Rose said, "During recent years there have been a couple of different approaches to re-mapping the wetlands in the North Bay. I have not been on those subcommittees, but I certainly support the work."
She said she obviously isn't looking forward to having signatures collected for her potential recall.
"It is a very unpleasant experience," Rose said. But she resisted making any sharp criticism of Romanowsky.
"What can you do with someone like that?" she said.
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