Antioch Mayor Harper responds to revived recall attempt, supporters can begin gathering signatures
By Allen Payton
As part of the recall process, Antioch Mayor Wade Harper had the opportunity to respond to the claims of the recall supporters.
Following is his official response to the Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition, with which he was served at the City Council meeting on January 13, 2015.
“As your Mayor and retired Police Lieutenant, reducing crime continues to be my top priority. Our families deserve to feel safe, that’s why I led the effort to approve Measure C – so Antioch would have the funds to hire more police officers. Our community united and we hired 10 new officers, which I personally swore in (Officers Mike Perez, Kyle Smith, J.B. Hulleman, Marcos Torres, Kenneth Krein, Scott Duggar, Amel Sahnic, Trak Keo-Vann, Ben Padilla and Matt Allendorph). We take pride in hiring the finest crime fighting officers. Aggressive hiring will continue. The cost of this recall may be up to $198,994.50 which could fund another 2 police officers. Under my leadership, Antioch has secured another $625,000 to hire 5 additional officers and our Police Department conducts weekly crime suppression operations – one of which resulted in 87 arrests in just a five-day period. Nothing is more important than keeping our neighborhoods and children safe. But to achieve that goal, it’s going to take all of us working together. We ended work furloughs city-wide and I believe great days are ahead. I respectfully ask that we unite as one community, to reject this recall, so we can continue this fight together.”
According to recall leader Rich Buongiorno, recall supporters were given the green light on Monday, February 9 to begin gathering the needed approximate 8,900 valid signatures of Antioch voters. They have 120 days to do so, in order to place the recall on the ballot. Should that occur, the election will be held some time later, this year.
The election will have two parts. The first will be a yes or no vote on recalling Harper. The second will be an election for a replacement candidate. Should Harper be recalled, the top vote-getter in the second part of the election will take his place as Mayor for the remainder of the term, through 2016.
Where do we sign in support of the recall???
Mr. Brown, thank you for inquiring about the recall.
We have numerous signature circulators that have the petition signature forms and we can meet with you or if you would prefer to wait about a week we will have the schedule for some of the earlier “signature parties” are various locations.
I would recommend joining the Facebook recall group for the latest information. All you need to do is to go to the facebook group named RECALL WADE HARPER and request to join.(https://www.facebook.com/groups/RecallWade/)
You can also send an email to the following:
ReclaimingAntioch@comcast.net
Sincerely, Rich
I have a signature sheet and I could meet you at Starbucks on A Street. Just let me know when it is a good time for you.
Actually, I approved Mr. Buongiorno’s petition on Friday, February 7th with the 120 day period for gathering signatures starting the following day.
They better get to getting because they have a hard road ahead.
If you are a registered voter in Antioch and want to sign for the Recall of Mayor Wade Harper, send an email to neighbors4better@gmail.com