Recall Update

Last week, the city library became the epicenter of the signature drive to recall Councilman Lance MacLean. On Wed., July 8, City Manager Dennis Wilberg marched out to the front lines, where he was immediately tripped up by volunteers gathering signatures near the library.

Some city officials, including the city manager, have interfered with the recall. Throughout the day on Wednesday, two activists gathered signatures in clear view of city hall. The activists said they got nearly 100 signatures, and they were buoyed by the positive response from residents. Perhaps city administrators couldn’t resist gawking at the activity from across the driveway in their taxpayer-funded fortress. A problem arose when they didn’t keep their distance. The activists said an unidentified man lurked around them for several hours, and they have reason to believe he’s a city employee.

A second man exhibiting strange behavior appeared, walked between the two activists and sat on a bench a few feet from them. As the man on the bench gazed at one of the activists, she sensed he was recording her words. The other activist came up behind him and watched him using a BlackBerry phone. She later said he was either talking or pretending to talk on the phone when he first sat down. She said he began texting or recording as he listened to them conversing with residents about the recall.

One of activists recognized the man with the phone as Wilberg. She confronted him and used her cell phone to summon other recall proponents to the library. When she informed Wilberg that he would soon be videotaped, he got up from the bench. In fact, the other activist had already used her cell phone to video Wilberg holding his BlackBerry and conferring with his associate who had stalked them throughout the day.

The recall committee issued a press release on May 9 (published on this week’s blog) and requested public records to capture all data from Wilberg’s city-owned BlackBerry. Participation by a city employee in the recall is prohibited by law, and the use of public resources in such activity is also illegal. Ex-Supt. James Fleming was indicted for felonies after he engaged in similar activities in a recall attempt of Capo school district trustees. Fleming is currently awaiting trial.

Activists continued to get signatures in front of the library on Friday, and they said two people opposing the recall set up a table near the library entrance, ostensibly to register voters. The recall volunteers said the table had a sign about voter registration, but those working at the table continually made cat calls to residents signing the recall petition. According to the activists, those doing the harassing didn’t succeed at stopping residents from signing the petition, and they appeared to be deficient at registering voters as well.