Effort to Recall Mayor Gray Underway
Vincent Gray defeated incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty in the September 2010 Democratic primary. (luis Gomez Photos)
From Michelle Lancaster. Follow her and tell her your news on Twitter @MichLancaster or email her at [email protected].
You may have seen the news stories on local TV as you recovered from your New Year’s Eve festivities: there is an effort underway to recall Mayor Vincent Gray, who was elected in November 2010.
Here’s the full story in the Huffington Post, which includes the group’s recall efforts of Council Chairman Kwame Brown and Councilmembers Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) The recall effort begins in earnest this week, as organizer Frederick Butler plans to file with the Board of Elections and Ethics this week.
A recall would require more than 45,000 voter signatures in 180 days, and all those signatures must be verified by the Board. Then, and only then, would a new election move forward. While that is a tall order, keep in mind that Californians recalled their governor in 2003 with over 800,000 signatures to usher in the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Viewed in that context, this recall move doesn’t sound that outlandish to me.
In the September 2010 Democratic Primary (the primary win is tantamount to election in this overwhelmingly Democratic town), Gray lost most all the precincts in the Dupont-Logan-U Street area to incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty. In fact, Fenty got more than 70% of the vote in the Borderstan area.
Then in the November general election — after Josh Lopez organized a write-in campaign for Fenty — “write in” garnered 23% citywide and more than 40% in some area precincts.
