Dateline Carson – Basil Kimbrew, a classmate of controversial Carson City Clerk Jim Dear at Gardena High School in the 1970s, sent out an urgent email at midnight:

“Just a note to all the hard working volunteers: We are turning in 12,300 raw signatures for the recall of Jim Dear today a 10 a.m. at City Hall.”

Mr. Kimbrew, who is black and chairs the California Friends of the African American Publication, long has opposed Mr. Dear on the grounds he allegedly is a racist, who is driven by those feelings to mistreat city employees.

An intended recall election against Mr. Dear was announced in June.

A scant 90 days earlier, he had stepped down as mayor and was solidly elected to the much higher paying position of city clerk.

Only the thorniest form of troubles followed his election.

The city manager hired a Riverside law firm to investigate accusations that Mr. Dear was a practicing racist.

At the end of the probe, the Carson City Council — unable to legally fire him as an elected official — not only formally censured Mr. Dear last week, they placed him in figurative handcuffs in the workplace. He is only allowed to enter certain areas, perform certain tasks at certain hours.

However, Mr. Dear is a seemingly unflappable veteran survivor of recall elections. He is responding to this nerve-wracking daily high drama with a typical shrug, confident, as always, that the people are behind him and he will prevail.