Last updated on 2011.07.05
That Saturday petition push must have paid off for Huron voters seeking to recall Mayor Dave McGirr. Petitioners needed 1250 signatures to trigger a recall election; organizers said Thursday they have submitted about 1500 signatures for the county auditor's approval. You may recall that this recall push comes from citizens unhappy over the suspension and seemingly strongly encouraged resignation of former Huron police chief Doug Schmitt, who had the audacity to tell the Legislature that illegal immigrants work for the local food processing industry. Mayor McGirr says folks have the situation wrong. The mayor also sees racism motivating some petitioners.
Huron appears to be fertile ground nowadays for fomenting ballot uprisings. Saturday was also the statewide "Day of Action" for Democrats and non-Democrats alike to round up the necessary 15,855 signatures to refer House Bill 1230 to a public vote in 2012. I hear Huron was one of the leading cities in adding signatures to the very big pile of petitions that SD-Dems chair Ben Nesselhuf plans to submit to the Secretary of State next week.
No news from the other big petition drive in the state, Barb Lindberg's effort to refer two bills bringing South Dakota into compliance with federal health insurance law (also known as socialist tyranny worse than Pol Pot!). A check of Barb's monkey pile of a website assures they're "almost there!"
Update 2011.07.05: No recall for you, Huron! City Finance Officer Paullyn Carey counts the 1472 signatures submitted and finds 344 of them invalid. That 23.3% invalid rate leaves only 1128 valid signatures, 139 short of the 1239 needed.