Spellman Recall effort sees new leadership

The effort to recall District 5 Supervisor Darren Spellman saw new leadership last week when former District 5 Supervisor Russ Thomas stepped up to the plate and "took the lead" in the recall effort. The effort originally was spearheaded by Valley Springs resident Michael McDaniel who lost a bid for the District 5 Supervisor seat in 2006 to Thomas. Thomas, a longtime political activist and Copperopolis resident, was unseated by Spellman in 2010 by the voters of District 5 by a margin of 13%. Thomas and McDaniels, former political advesaries, are now allied on the recall effort.

In a recent interview regarding the recall effort McDaniels stated "all I can say at this point is that it is going very well" and that his "total commitment right now is to gather the needed signatures and that can only happen if every citizen in Copperopolis realizes the importance of this recall and finds a person with a petition and signs it."

Questions have arisen lately as to the legalities of the who can and who cannot sign the petition. While McDaniels stated that the recall effort had been cleared by the state and county personnel for correctness, the question remains, if the Board of Supervisors approved the new district boundaries at the July 12, 2011, BOS meeting, would the filing of the recall paperwork in early August and final clearance by the County August 26, 2011actually be limited to registered voters within the new District 4.

July 12, 2011 ORDINANCE adopting the adjustment of the boundaries of supervisorial districts as

required by Election Code Section 21500; Technology Services.

According to the California State Association of Counties "An ordinance is a local law adopted with all the legal formality of a statute." A statute is most often effective at the day following the adoption with some special implementation restrictions for certain ordinances. According to Spellman, this particular ordinance was effective 30 days from the majority vote.


To contact:
Darren Spellman dspellman@co.calaveras.ca.us
Michael McDaniel survivormicusmc@gmail.com
Russ Thomas rthomas@gossamercrossing.com
Calaveras County Elections Madaline R. Krska, County Clerk  (209) 754-6376; (209) 754- 6733

By, C. Maness