OCEANSIDE – An activist confirmed yesterday that he has launched a campaign to recall Councilwoman Esther Sanchez.
Sanchez defended her record when she was told of the effort yesterday, saying the allegations in the recall petition “dramatically mischaracterize my record. None of it is true. It's false.”
Activist Lawson Chadwick filed papers with the California secretary of state in April stating that he is treasurer of a political action committee known as Oceanside 1st whose purpose is a recall. The papers do not identify the object of the recall, but a petition he intends to circulate names Sanchez.
Chadwick was chairman of the city Police and Fire Commission until he was removed last year by Mayor Jim Wood, who is often Sanchez's ally on the council. Chadwick also has headed the Oceanside-Carlsbad Democratic Club.
He needs 20 signatures on a “notice of intention to circulate a recall petition” and eventually the signatures of 10,677 registered Oceanside voters to put a recall on the ballot at a special election, said City Clerk Barbara Riegel Wayne.
Chadwick said he is shooting for a January or February special election.
In general, the petition says Sanchez should be recalled because she voted:
To cancel plans for the proposed intersection of Rancho del Oro Drive and the state Route 78 and for an extension of Melrose Drive, thus causing “intense gridlock, delay and danger.”
To mandate the construction of “low-income welfare housing.”
To approve “outrageous” pay raises for public employees in exchange for political support from public employee unions.
To push the sale of publicly owned lands like Marina Towers.
To oppose the plans of a successful faith-based group (called the TenPoint Coalition) to work with high-risk youth to prevent gang violence.
To risk fines and loss of federal funds for Oceanside Municipal Airport.
Sanchez did not comment on the allegations individually but said that all are false. She did say she has never voted to put citizens in danger and instead has always cared for the welfare of the community.
People who don't believe she's doing a good job had a chance two years ago to vote her out of office, Sanchez said, and can do the same two years from now.
When first contacted yesterday about why he formed the political action committee, Chadwick said it was premature to name the politician he hoped to recall.
But when The San Diego Union-Tribune obtained a copy of the petition stating an intention to recall Sanchez, he acknowledged the petition was the one he intends to circulate.
“There may not be 20 people who want to recall her” and sign the necessary petitions, Chadwick said in explaining his reluctance to name Sanchez.
In the past quarter-century, Oceanside has voted on two recalls.
Councilmen Ray Burgess and Bill Bell, in the midst of allegations involving possible improper use of city credit cards, were recalled in 1981.
A decade later, Councilwoman Melba Bishop defeated a recall vote.
In 1994, a group formed to recall then-Mayor Dick Lyon and then-Councilwoman Colleen O'Harra, but it never got to an election.
And Adrian Barbour, who both had run unsuccessfully for elected office and ran the campaign of a councilwoman who opposed Terry Johnson in his successful bid for mayor of Oceanside, announced recall efforts against Johnson that failed to get off the ground.
Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com
