Hearing Date Set for Revised Petition to Recall Troy Mayor
The Oakland County Election Commission will again meet March 15 to determine if each reason listed in the revised petition to recall Troy Mayor Janice Daniels is sufficiently clear.
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The Oakland County Election Commission has scheduled a clarity hearing at 11 a.m. March 15 to discuss the language of a revised recall petition filed Monday by Recall Janice Daniels, a political action committee comprised of "concerned citizens" leading the effort to recall Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, who took office Nov. 14.
The revised petition was filed after one of the group's two recall petitions was rejected during a clarity hearing in Pontiac last Thursday. The rejected petition listed several reasons for recalling the mayor, while the approved petition listed only "voting to reject a $8,485,212 Federal investment grant to the City of Troy on December 19, 2011" as the sole reason for recalling the mayor.
"We did this in an effort to satisfy several members of our broad coalition who felt that the rejected petition made a better case for recall," Troy resident and petition sponsor Matt Binkowski wrote in an email to Patch on Monday. "This revised language addresses the concerns of Judge (Linda) Hallmark and County Clerk (Bill) Bullard."
In the rejected petition, the PAC listed four reasons to recall the mayor, though two of the three Oakland County Election Commission members deemed some of the language unclear.
The revised petition includes language and details that Binkowski says is clearer. The revised petition reads:
"We, the undersigned, registered and qualified voters of the City of Troy, in the County of Oakland, and State of Michigan, petition for the calling of an election to recall Janice Daniels from the office of Mayor, for the following reason(s): (1) for referring to the Troy City Charter as a 'whimsical' document in a November 21, 2011 interview with the Detroit Free Press; (2) for declaring, during an 'office hours' forum on January 9, 2012, that 'the homosexual lifestyle is dangerous'; (3) for publicly attacking city employees during the January 9, 2012 City Council meeting while reading a 20 minute 'position paper' into the record; and (4) for failing to support a Federal investment in the City of Troy of over $8.4 million, by voting against the Troy Transit Center project on three occasions (December 19, 2011, January 17, 2012, and February 20, 2012)."
A meeting notice from the commission states the group will meet in the courtroom of Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark to "determine whether each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is being sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct which is the basis for the recall."
The hearing is open to the public.
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Daniels first came under fire in December for her anti-gay Facebook comment and has remained the center of controversy after voting against the Troy Transit Center (a scaled-down version was later approved), telling the Troy High School Gay-Straight Alliance the homosexual lifestyle is "dangerous" and writing a lengthy position paper some viewed as personally attacking city employees and council members.
For comprehensive coverage of the recall effort, visit the Troy Mayor Janice Daniels topic page.
Debi
9:27 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012
This is crazy. Mayor Daniels won the Mayoral race mainly because she was against that transit center. That is no reason for a recall.
Michael R.
9:26 am on Thursday, March 8, 2012
That's why this expanded language is a wise move on this group's part. What's crazy is the idea of this inept leader remaining in that position for four years. What's crazy is standing by and putting ourselves at risk of another one of her foot-in-mouth moments. Make no mistake, low voter turnout is the reason she won that race. She doesn't even come close to representing the intelligence level of this community. She needs to go.
Ed Lambert
10:24 am on Thursday, March 8, 2012
Michael, thanks for adding intelligently to the political conversation by merely hurling ad hominems at Daniels without backing them up with facts.
You blame low voter turnout for her election. Sorry, that is but an unbuttressed opinion. Low voter turnout can also explain why Daniels also didn't have higher numbers.
You and the other liberals 'round these parts are now realizing that recalling Daniels for what he had promised during the campaign to do might not get the voters to agree. Thus, you must introduce anything you can find in order to try to secure what you want.
This will not give pause to any on your side because you are influenced only by your desire to return the Council to a more liberal approach to fiscal matters: which means find new projects and then extract the funds from the residents to pay for them.
Feel free to continue the dialogue.
Anonymous
8:09 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012
I agree with Mr. Lambert's comments. Also, if you ever saw an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond", Debra calls her sister-in-law Amy a queer (oh, am I allowed to type that word) because Amy said something weird -- which is the connotation I grew up with. The media created the new definition of queer. I had no problem with Mayor Daniels comments on Facebook; they were made before she was running for Mayor and I'd like to know what Liberal went searching for something to call her out on after she was elected. I do have problem with residents from other cities coming to our council meetings to bad mouth our mayor. More people came out to vote for the library millage -- where were these people for the mayoral election? These residents care more about a building than they do about who's running our city. Let's remember, if the recall petition is approved, the City Clerk's office has to carefully check each and every signature on the petition sheets -- a process that has to be accurately done and in compliance with the law.
Jonathan B
2:13 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
This isn't primarily about the 'queer' comment, nor Everybody Loves Raymond. But please share the source where 'queer' was something the media and NOT religions started twisting the definition of in the 1970s to describe non-heterosexuals.
Staying on track: If the eligible voting public feel a need for the hundreds of jobs a transit system would have created, over the personal pride of rejecting a federal loan, then the cards will fall that way. Keeping the library open an extra day a week, holding 'office hours,' administrating city web pages; there's nothing wrong with these ideas. But don't be fooled that these are done pro bono. They still cost money - a lot less, this is true. But it also creates a lot fewer jobs.
As a city in the United States, we have the privilege to choose as a whole who makes our toughest societal decisions. We also have the privilege to choose (as a majority), whether our earlier choice was the wrong one. It's all about who votes and whether each voter takes a good, long look at what they are voicing. There are bullhorns on either side of the line who misrepresent their party affiliation, and unintentionally make their own side look stupid.
Just look at the facts. Don't be mad that there's a recall. Instead be glad that we can experience these freedoms. And if you don't agree with it, then vote.
But make sure you know what you're voting for.