Tag Archives: Recall

2023, BOCC, Uncategorized

Flower Recall Election Is a Go

Flower Recall Election Is a GO!
Judge Rules Recall Petition Valid
Slams Hedberg’s Attempt to Stop the Recall

June 7, 2023

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
Looks like ol’ Jordy “Red Bug” Hedberg caused Custer County a LOT of money and trouble again as he tried to derail the recall campaign against Custer County Commissioner Tom Flower with a bogus complaint that caused a huge ruckus. But, in the end, thankfully, justice prevailed and a recall election against Flower will be held soon and hopefully the Flower train wreck will derail and we will have a new Commissioner. Continue reading Flower Recall Election Is a Go →

2017, Archives, BOCC Meetings

Custer County Ballot Results: The People Have Spoken

The People Have Spoken:
RECALL: Two Out of Three Commissioners RECALLED
Third Barely Hangs On
Ballot: No to Building Codes, Yes to School Bond

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

An an astonishing display of voter revolt, the citizens of Custer County have successfully recalled two out of the three current County Commissioners with the third barely hanging on to his office by a mere 122 votes. Commissioners Bob Kattnig and Donna Hood were both successfully recalled by substantial margins.

Kattnig, who had only two years to go on his four-year term was recalled by a vote of 1,354 to 1,174, or 54% to 46%. Hood, who was just elected last year, was recalled by an even greater margin, 1406 to 1,130, or 55% to 45%. Commissioner Printz, who also was elected last year barely managed to survive the recall effort with a vote of 1,323 (52%) against his recall and 1,201 (48%) for his recall, or by a razor slim margin of only 122 votes.

Continue reading Custer County Ballot Results: The People Have Spoken →

2017, Archives

Citizens: We Have Liftoff!

County Clerk Certifies Recall Petitions
1st Time in Colorado History
All County Commissioners on Recall Ballot?


KOAA 5 interviews Ann Barthrop and Ann Willson of the
Custer County Recall Committee  Photo by G. Gramlich
by George Gramlich

In a possible historic first for Colorado, on August 24th, 2017, Custer County Clerk sent a letter to the Custer County Recall Committee stating that sufficient recall signatures have been certified thereby placing the entire Custer County Board of County Commissioners up for recall in the upcoming November 7th general election. (See page 23 for the letter.)
Research by Sentinel staff indicates that this is apparently a first for Colorado in that an entire county commissioner board has been successfully been placed on a ballot for recall.
County Clerk Kelley Camper also provided the recall petition statistics in her letter. Considering there are only about 3,700 registered voters in Custer County, the number of signatures gathered in just four weeks is impressive.
For Commissioner Bob Kattnig, there were 79 petitions turned in with a total of 833 signatures. 470 were required to put Kattnig up for recall. Out of the 833 signatures submitted, only 70 were disqualified leaving an impressive 763 valid ones.
A similar story for Commissioner Jay Printz with 814 signatures submitted on 78 petitions. 582 signatures were required to place Printz on the ballot for recall. Out of that, only 69 signatures were rejected leaving an emphatic 745 accepted.
A somewhat different story occurred in Commissioner Donna Hood’s recall effort. Due to the voting history in her district, a high number of signatures were required to recall her. That number was 735. The Recall Committee submitted 79 petitions for Hood with a total of 849 signatures. 71 of those submitted signatures were rejected leaving 778 valid ones, ensuring that Hood would be up for recall albeit with a tighter margin than Printz or Kattnig.
So, what’s next? After the recall was certified (August 24th), there is a 15-day dispute period where petitions can be challenged. After that, Colorado law has a five-day “Resignation Period”, where if one or more of the three Republican Commissioners resign, the Custer County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) gets to appoint a successor(s) to fill out the entire term of the resigned Commissioners. The CCRCC has ten days to fill any vacancies.
On the November 7th General Election Ballot, there will be a recall question for each commissioner. There will also be a recal petition statement and a commissioner statement from each commissioner The question will look something like, “Shall John Smith be recalled from the office of Custer County Commissioner?” There will be a “Yes” box or a “No” box to check. If there are more “Yes’s” than “No’s”, that commissioner is recalled. If there are more “No’s” then the commissioner will finish out his or her term.
Underneath the recall question will be list of one or more potential successor candidates that have successfully petitioned to be placed on the ballot for that district. Whether you vote “Yes” or “No”, you can vote for a successor candidate. The successor candidate with the most votes for that district will be the new Commissioner for that district.
Note that there will be a recall “Yes” or “No” for each commissioner and a separate list of successor candidates for each commissioner.
As we go to press, we know of seven citizens seeking to be placed on the ballot. Three of them, Bill Canda (District 1 against Commissioner Kattnig, Sandra Attebery (District 2 against Commissioner Printz) , and Kit Shy (District 3 against Commissioner Hood) are running as a “Slate” or team. Also announcing they will run are Dan Fischer (District 1), Richard Posadas (District 2) , Tom Flowers (District 3) and John Johnston (District 3). All Republicans need 300-plus valid petition signatures to be placed on the ballot.

Archives

Rockin’ the RECALL!

‘We The People’ Have Spoken
Huge Signature Counts to Recall
All Three Commissioners

by George Gramlich

Monday, August 14, 2017, marked a milestone in Custer County politics as the Take Back Custer County Recall Committee delivered 236 notarized recall petitions with enough signatures to have a recall election for each of the three Custer County Commissioners, Bob Kattnig, Jay Printz and Donna Hood. The recall election would be placed on the regular November 2017 election ballot at no extra cost to the county.
The Recall Committee was formed as a grass-roots, non-party affiliated, effort to replace the current Custer County Commissioners due to the Commissioners activities since Commissioners Printz and Hood were sworn in January 2017. Commissioner Kattnig took office two years ago. Some of the items that motivated the Recall Committee to form included the incredible mismanagement and lies surrounding the Colorado Extension Agent Robin Young affair; the seemingly endless drive to impose a building codes ordinance on Custer County despite the obvious vast majority opposition to it; the attempt to impose a ‘dark skies’ outdoor lighting amendment to the zoning ordinance that has criminal and financial penalties if you use the wrong outdoor light bulb or fixture; the continued public false statements by Printz concerning whether he is indeed returning the 30% salary increase to the county and not taking the county health benefits; more false statements by Printz concerning his repeated assertions that a building codes ordinance was required to get federal flood insurance; the failure of the BOCC to listen to the people in the public meetings on Young, building codes and dark skies; the obvious arrogant attitude by the BOCC towards the citizens of the county, both in public meetings and on the street; the disrespect shown to the Custer County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) by all three Commissioners when after they were elected in (Kattnig in 2015 and Hood and Printz in November 2016) and using the CCRCC to get elected, then failed to come to any of the regular monthly meetings. In addition, they incredibly refused to attend the most important CCRCC event of the year, the Lincoln Day Dinner (with Kattnig attending the Democrat dinner instead!); and the lies of omission during the campaign last year by Printz and Hood in failing to mention that their intention their top priorities after getting elected were building codes and dark skies.
The trio leading the recall effort and the signees on the applications for the recall were Custer County citizens Ann Barthrop, Ann Willson and Mike Haga. They in turn recruited a non-partisan Recall Committee team consisting of 61 Custer County residents who turned in a astounding 79 petitions handed in for Kattnig, 79 for Hood and 78 for Printz.
The Recall Committee needed the following number of signatures to place each Commissioner on recall in the November 2017 election: Hood – 735; Printz – 582; and Kattnig – 470. The Committee easily beat each number with citizens delivering an amazing 839 recall signatures for Hood, 780 for Printz and 780 for Kattnig. All in just four weeks!
The petitions were delivered to Custer County Clerk Kelly Camper last Monday who will review and certify each signature. If enough signatures are certified for each Commissioner, their name will be placed on the November ballot for recall. The ballot will ask if one wants to recall the specific Commissioner, yes or no, and will also allow one to vote for any candidate who successfully petitioned to get on the ballot.
Ann, Ann and Mike stated that they were honored to have a committee that worked countless hours and gave of their time to represent the voice of the Custer County citizens. The citizens have shown Courage, Bravery and Strength to have their voices heard in this recall effort and need to continue this effort and VOTE on November 7, 2017.
This is possibly the first time in the history of the State of Colorado that all of a county’s commissioners have been placed on the ballot for recall. This is huge, folks.

 

2017, Archives

Take Back Custer County Recall Committee Kick-off Meeting

Take Back Custer County
Recall Committee Kick-off Meeting

–July 6, 2017

by George Gramlich

The Take Back Custer County Recall Committee, chaired by Ann Barthrop, Ann Willson and Mike Haga, held their first general meeting last Thursday, July 6th, at Tony’s Pizza in the events room. Ms. Barthrop and Mrs. Willson hosted the meeting. Over 40 concerned citizens attended. The purpose of the meeting was to review the status of the campaign, outline the timeline for the recall and to train the attendees in the rules and etiquette of gathering recall petition signatures for each member of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).

In addition, three potential replacement candidates to replace the current BOCC, running as a slate, were introduced at the end of the meeting.

The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer led by county resident, Bill Canda. Ms. Barthrop then proceeded to review how the recall petition process works and how once a successful recall is accomplished, the election process works. (If a recall petition is successful, an election occurs where, for each recalled Commissioner, a question is placed on the ballot asking essentially “Do you want to recall this Commissioner? If you check yes, then you may vote for a replacement candidate that is on the ballot. If the majority of people at the election, select “recall” then the current Commissioner is fired. The new Commissioners elected would take office immediately after the election results are certified (sometime in November.)

Ms. Barthrop pointed out that the Recall Committee has set up the recall timeline so the recall election would be on the normal November election ballot thereby eliminating any extra cost for the county.

The meeting then proceeded on how to gather signatures, what is a proper signature (what your voter registration signature is), legal address required (no PO Boxes), areas to be canvassed and etiquette.

An extensive question and answer period then ensued. Many thoughtful technicalities were addressed by Ms. Barthrop who had clearly done her homework with the help of Mr. Haga.

Finally, a slate of potential replacement candidates was introduced: Bill Canda, Kit Shy and Sandra Attebery. One for each Commissioner. The candidates each gave a brief speech with a common theme of restoring traditional American values to our county government including: rebuilding the trust between the BOCC and the county’s citizens; respecting all citizens; that there will be no hidden agendas; that they will govern (not rule) with honesty and integrity always; that they will be transparent and approachable; that they will at all times use due process; and will govern with compassion.

Just before the meeting was closed with a rousing prayer by Bill Canda, the attendees gave Ms. Barthrop and Ms. Wilson a tremendous standing ovation for their work in attempting to restore traditional American values, integrity, honesty and compassion to our county government.