Recallers Outdo Themselves

by Jack McCurdy

As embarrassing as they were a few months ago with their hollow outrages against Morro Bay Mayor Jamie Irons, the recallers may have outdone themselves by claiming — with zero evidence — that they came close to collecting the needed signatures to qualify his recall for the city ballot. Their embarrassing escapades have marked this year as something shameful without precedent as Morro Bay nears its 50th anniversary.

The small coterie of people who sought to recall Morro Bay mayor Jamie Irons started off last September by insulting Irons along with City Council members Christine Johnson and Noah Smukler as well as others who defended Irons. And now that embarrassment brought on by the scornful abuse of the recallers has been doubled, tripled, or quadruped.

Yes, no one would have thought it possible.

But it has — by the fact that despite all their hullabaloo about collecting the needed 1,754 petition signatures to place the recall on the ballot sometime around now, they submitted ZERO signatures to the city clerk's office by the deadline of Jan. 16. Yes, that's right — not a single one! The threat to recall Irons, it turns out, was all bluster.

Not that they didn't turn in enough signatures to qualify the recall for the ballot; they turned in zero signatures. They could have collected 10, 20, 30, 40 signatures — who knows? But that didn't stop them from claiming — are you ready? — they were close to achieving he needed 1,754 signatures.

In a statement after the January 16 flop, one of their "leaders," Bill Peirce, former lackluster Council member some years ago, said this: "The proponents of recalling Morro Bay Mayor Jamie Irons did not get the 1754 signatures necessary to qualify the initiative for the June ballot. We were very close."

Very close? Who said? Where's the evidence they were very or even somewhat close? The recallers presented no evidence or numbers because — could it be because the number of signatures they collected were SO low?

Peirce continued: "The reason that we did not achieve our goal had nothing to do with the efforts of Mayor Irons’ supporters or the bias of The Tribune’s editorial board. It was the result of our inability to knock on enough doors in the 90 days we had to collect the signatures. The shorter daylight hours this time of the year and holiday travel made it difficult to find enough registered voters at home. We are confident that if we had attempted the recall in the spring we would have been successful." Hogwash.

Did they ever think of going door to door on weekends or doing phone-banking during the day and evenings? Obviously, the recallers have little to no experience at campaigning.

Get this — (Peirce said) "We received feedback from the more than 3,500 Morro Bay residents. Regardless of whether they signed the petition or not, they were universally upset that the mayor never gave any reasons why he fired the two employees that most residents perceived as running our city well."

Feedback from 3,500 residents? Doesn't that just happen to be twice the 1,754 needed to qualify the recall for the ballot? Residents over the past four months — amid all the exposed false charges against Irons (Council Majority Attacked) — have become aware that Irons didn't have to give any reasons for the Council majority releasing city attorney Rob Schultz and city manager Andrea Leuker — because they serve at the will of the Council majority with reasons being irrelevant — and couldn't have stated any charges, because it would have opened the city to legal action by Schultz and/or Leuker — needlessly.

Peirce continued: "The second thing we learned from these voters is that they have no interest in paying a premium to reclaim sewer water, to be sold at a loss to farmers, with residents picking up the tab."

That is a very concocted set of falsehoods. No one has said residents are going to have to pay premium rates, that water from the planned new water reclamation Facility will be sold to farmers — at a profit or loss. The gigantic central issue not named or referred to by Peirce is that the City of Morro Bay is desperate for potable water for use in and out of homes all over the city because the state is running out of the water it provides to the city — at an extremely high cost. All communities in the state are being ordered to develop their own local supplies of potable water — asap.

Peirce vowed his group would "protect the privacy of those residents who signed the petitions" and "to keep those who did sign from becoming possible targets for retaliation, all of the petitions will be destroyed."

Why any need to protect the names of those who signed the petitions when not one name has been divulged to anyone, as far as can be determined — certainly not to the city clerk's office. Protection of names that have never been revealed. Pure sham.

For once, blabbermouth John Barta hit the nail on the head (although backwards): "Mr. Mayor, you have done an amazing job of unifying our community — against you." Behind him is what Irons has done. Or doesn't Barta see anymore?

With the recallers loose, Irons has come out looking like one of the city's exceptional mayors of many years — thanks to probably the most outrageous shenanigans committed in the city's near-50 year political history.