By Donna Westfall – June 9, 2017 After the publication of the Notice of Intent to Circulate Recall Petition in the Del Norte Triplicate on May 18, 2017, the next step in the recall process is to provide the County Clerk, Alissia Northrup, with Proof of Publication along with two blank copies of the Petition for Recall.
That next step was taken on May 23rd. Then the county clerk had up to 10 days to approve or reject the Petition for Recall which she did and returned the copy with a number of errors that had to be corrected. Once the corrections were made, handed in and verified, the green light was given to start collecting signatures beginning June 8th.
Lori Cowan won the office against long-term 2nd District supervisor, Martha McClure, in part due to the bad press McClure received by the LA Times concerning McClure’s role while on the California Coastal Commission. Cowan being the only other candidate won by nearly 65% in the June, 2016 Primary.
The first sign that something was amiss was when Candidate Cowan aligned herself with Sup. 1st District, Roger Gitlin, and Candidate 5th District, Bob Berkowitz, and their five year plan for an alternate route for Last Chance Grade. Before the Primary vote, according to Sup. Gitlin, she agreed with their platform. A few days after the election, she shifted gears and said it couldn’t be done in five years.
Then, the next controversy involved Sup. Cowan’s desire to go to Japan. It was on the agenda under the CONSENT AGENDA which in the past, has had a pattern of being rubber stamped without thoughtful consideration given to each and every item.
Four free tickets had been provided by a town in Japan to the City of Crescent City and Del Norte County. Selected for the trip were Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore, City Council member, Heidi Kim, City Clerk, Kimmy Scott and Del Norte Supervisor, Chris Howard. Public comments let Lori Cowan know she could have gone if she wanted to pay her own way instead of asking the taxpayers to foot the bill. Her rational – there’s money in the County budget for traveling, therefore the taxpayers should foot the bill. Some of her constituents questioned why there was no documentation or expenses listed.
The next sign of concern came when she nominated herself as an alternate on the Washington DC trip. Since her self nomination was not agendized, it was a Brown Act violation. That violation was cleared up at the next Board Of Supervisors meeting through a Cure and Correct by having the item placed on the agenda. The vote was 3-2, that she could be the alternate.
Previous supporters of Cowan then looked cross-eyed at Cowan voting in concert with Howard and Hemmingsen wondering why someone as inexperienced as Cowan would self-promote instead of sending a seasoned, former Congressional staffer back to Washington DC in the form of Supervisor Bob Berkowitz. And that’s when the idea of recall gained traction.
WHO CAN SIGN AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
624 signatures of registered voters in District 2 are required to put the recall on the ballot. Signatures must be collected within 60 days, turned in on August 7th, and then the County Clerk has 30 days to verify the signatures.
We know how corrupt most of the town officials are already. Did you all know Bob got the grant to divert last chance and the town officials voted on to watch it and as it slowly keeps falling fix it instead of diverting the highway, which was what Bob’s intent was in the first place. Did you know the Town Officials took grants for the Humane Society of Del Norte and spent them on the Dog Pound instead of what the grants are for? Yup its about time all this corruption stops. Because I have turned them in to the proper authorities and blast them out on the internet they have voted to have me mentally tortured and do their best to take all I love from me. Said I deserve it cause I guess the FBI came up into town because of me. Oops I’m sorry shouldn’t of killed my son or did a backwoods murder on me using my medical issues because of standing up for myself and turning the town in for immoral crimes against the poor & elderly of this community. We need to stand tall get all the corrupt Supervisors out and bring in those who want what’s best for the town, instead of those who only want what’s best for them & their families while ignoring the rest of the communities needs.
ATTENTION! Are we so intelligent that when we elect someone to our county that we no longer can critize them or fire them? Do our elected officials have any standards? Lori thinks we should trust her promises when she didn’t follow them. SEE THE RECALL PETITION. We don’t trust government blindly. Yes we have tolerated too much already! A recall is valuable to the citizen becaue it is unpopular, may cost a bit and it exposes corruption. to do a recall. Recall of Lori is the most import “reset” button to restore accountability to DEL NORTE COUNTY! We Citizens forget history and liberty…UNTILL WE PAY FOR IT! What history? The history that government is us who hired servants to follow an oath to bind them down to some standards! Do we as a people in DelNorte want an oligarchy of elite politicians to have unrestricted and unchecked power? NO! Do we deserve Lori’s dictatorship because she won a popularity contest called an election? Should we citizens speak out against corruption? When? How? When do we recognize public servants financial abuse and oppression? Enduring physical and financial abuse is common when the abused do not have any hope in a solution! This is too common with the taxpayer and the Elderly, who, to often, tolerate the abuse until the account is drained or the citizen is disceased. Some will only see Lori as a neighbor and never a corrupt politician whose actions need accountability to we the people and to the law. Her wasting our money is significant and it affects all DelNorte County taxpayers with her swing/tie breaking vote. Yes the recall will cost some money but it’s worth it to stop the abuse AND SEND THE RIGHT MESSAGE!
Recall is one of our Constitutional remedies and a valuable Citizens tool in questioning and stopping the corruption of self serving politicians. THE RECALL IS LONG PAST DUE!
YES, WE WOKE UP TO CORRUPTION and NOW demand honest, good and wise public servants! Public servants who put principles above popularity, above party and above pocketbook! Enough is enough? Lori has to go!
Unfortunately, to many Politicians struggle with simple standards of morality because of access to freebies/benifits AND OUR TAX MONEY!
Lori has her masters and conflicts of special interest. Lori’s history with money, personally and as a supervisor, prove SELFISH AND SELF SERVING decisions! Too much here to publish. The recall gives citizens time to discuss and sign a petition to later decide for her replacement. Yes we the people demand a limited government with rules! Yes Lori’s constituents will vote in a recall election!
We the people will and should respect, understand and support the sacrifices for our liberty! The silent majority is overtaxed and abused by government-we have had enough! ITS TIME FOR LORI TO STOP WASTING OUR TIME AND MONEY WITH SELFISH POLITICAL ISSUES! It’s TRULY sad when a public servant uses her friends and misinformation to justify abuses of power and create confusion! How much ABUSE OF POWER IS ENOUGH!? LORI, YOU SHOULD STOP THE RECALL, SUBMIT YOUR LETTER OF RESIGNATION TO THE COUNTY CLERK!
I do not know Lori Cowan well and yes, I am aware of everything in her past here in the community. I’m not one to hang this over people’s heads. Fact is, if we REALLY wanted to go there, we can pull skeletons out of everyone’s closets that I’m sure they are not proud of. My point is, she is a newer supervisor. Mistakes are going to come as they learn. Just the facts. I’m sure anyone new to office is going to fumble in the beginning. Give people a chance! She has not done anything so ethically terrible to recall her. It seems like a personal issue to me.
Why isn’t her constituents leading the charge you ask? Maybe because they’re scared? Maybe because they don’t want to go down the route of being bullied by those sho want her out? Yes…. I said it. This town is full of bullies when they got their own drama behind them.
It is our right to recall, however the reasons that have been given are not enough to me to want to recall her. Don’t jump on the bandwagon folks. People have their own personal agendas- not just those we’ve elected into office.
I fully support Lori Cowan. She is a new supervisor, for one. Secondly, what’s wrong with her asserting herself and wanting to go to Washington? People need to show some grace, God forbid you ever make errors in your careers. It was long over due getting McClure out and I’m hopeful that Cowan will do a fantastic job. She’s only been in office since January! I think certain people are upset because they hoped she would side with Gitlin and Berkowitz’s agendas and Supervisor Cowan is proving to develop her own voice. I support Supervisor Cowan and urge you folks to think twice about this decision. Another thing, how much is this ridiculous recall going to cost the county? Sounds more like a witch hunt to me.
WTF apologizes for sounding off repeatedly. I appreciate The Crescent City Times providing an opportunity for us to do so, however.
Now about this Lori Cowan thing. I am confused, very confused. Lori does not represent me, so I cannot comment on performance for her constituents. I’m only commenting on your article.
Do you really, truly, believe that there is enough in your statement of facts to recall her? If she is being recalled because she wanted to go to Japan, but didn’t go, what about the folks that went? Isn’t there more cause to recall them?
You want to recall her because she changed her mind on Last Chance Grade? Did you really think a new bypass was going to be built in five years? Did the voters elect Lori based on the five year plan?
Lori shows up for her meetings, appears engaged, and votes. We have one Supervisor that recuses himself more that he votes, and another that has violated First Amendment rights. Aren’t those more egregious actions?
Finally, why isn’t someone in Lori’s District leading this charge? Why haven’t Lori’s constituents spoken out? I’m sorry, but this smacks to me of a witch hunt.