Supervisor Rose targeted in recall bid
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BY
RICHARD HALSTEAD OF THE MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL Some of the same
people involved in the effort to recall District Attorney Paula Kamena now
have set their sites on Supervisor Annette Rose. Yesterday morning
Ron Mazzaferro, a Sonoma County investigator and one of the leaders of the
Kamena recall, submitted a formal notice of intention to circulate a recall
petition aimed at Rose. The stated reason
for the recall is Rose's personal use of county credit cards, which was
disclosed by Rose's opponent, Toni Kendall, in the March 2000 election. Mazzaferro said
he doesn't know who is organizing this recall effort. But among the 42 people
who signed the notice of intention are Peter Romanowsky, another leader of
previous recall efforts, and Thomas Van Zandt, the Mill Valley patent lawyer
who is seeking to replace Kamena in a May 22 special election. The same group
also failed in its attempt to gather enough signatures to put the recall of
four Marin County judges on the ballot. Neither
Romanowsky nor Van Zandt could be reached for comment yesterday. Marin County
elections clerk Yvonne Guenza said the notice contains the 20 valid
signatures necessary to permit the circulation of a recall petition. Rose now
has seven days to draft a brief answer to the grounds for the recall as
listed on the petition, Guenza said. The response also will appear on the
petition when it is circulated, she said. "I'm a
little taken aback," said Rose, who heard about the recall effort for
the first time early yesterday morning. But she said she sees no reason for
concern. "Last year's
election was an opportunity for the people of Marin to change supervisors if
they so wished," she said. "I did win the election with a higher
percentage of votes than I received in the two previous elections." And she noted,
"No one has presented any new information." A county audit in
2000 showed that Rose had accumulated $32,000 in charges on her county credit
cards during the prior five years. The tab included clothes and other
personal purchases, including $3,500 for cabinets from Home Depot. The charges were
made despite warnings from the county's top financial officer,
Auditor-Controller Richard Arrow, that the personal purchases violated county
policy and state law. Rose eventually
repaid all of the money, and Kamena decided there had been no criminal
violation. Kendall demanded an investigation by the Fair Political Practices
Commission, but there is no evidence that any such inquiry was ever mounted. Kendall has moved
and could not be reached for comment. Once the recall
petition receives final approval, its circulators will have 120 days to
gather the 6,394 signatures necessary to force a special recall election,
Guenza said. All the signatories must be voters registered in Marin's 3rd
District, in Southern Marin which Rose represents, she said. Contact Richard
Halstead via e-mail at [email protected] |
