Hearing Date Set for Revised Petition to Recall Troy Mayor

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 , 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 . 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.

Complete coverage

Daniels first came under fire in December for her  and has remained the center of controversy after  (a  was later approved), telling the  Gay-Straight Alliance  and writing a lengthy position paper some viewed as .

For comprehensive coverage of the recall effort, visit the Troy Mayor Janice Daniels topic page.