Moving as swiftly as the law allows, the Carson City Council is expected to announce the date at tonight’s 6 o’clock meeting of the second recall election in the career of City Clerk Jim Dear.
The County Registrar’s office yesterday notified City Hall that a Recall Jim Dear team, led by former City Councilperson Vera Robles DeWitt, had collected a sufficient number of signatures to warrant an election attempt to remove Mr. Dear from office.
She is hoping that the Council, no friend of the city clerk, will set the earliest date possible, Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Ms. Robles DeWitt, on the Council a quarter-century ago, also was a leader in the earlier recall against Mr. Dear.
The colorful longtime politician, who spent 11 years in the mayor’s chair and successfully beat back a recall attempt in September 2008, is confident as ever he can weather this campaign, too.
Racism, abuse of power and incompetence are the most frequently leveled accusations against the most talked about official in Carson’s history.
Mr. Dear moved over from the much lower paying mayor’s office last March 3 when he defeated incumbent Donesia Gause.
Ms. Robles DeWitt and her Recall colleagues – Karen Avilla, former (elected) city treasurer, Planning Commissioner Mona Pimentel and community activist Dianne Thomas – began organizing in June, in the midst of a classic election flap, a scan 90 days after Mr. Dear took office.
