Judge Mary E. Roberts just dealt a major blow to failed Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan after she botched the response to the protests that erupted across the nation.
“This court’s role in this case is limited,” she wrote. “At this stage of a recall effort, the court is to assume that the Recall Petitioners’ allegations are true, and to determine whether if true, they can support a recall.”
With the petition on the ballot, the people behind the effort will have a limited number of days to get the required number of signatures to get the petition on the ballot.
Look, Seattle botched the protests and let anarchists literally take over multiple blocks in the city and only put an end to it when the rioters started killing people.
No doubt that is a bridge too far for even that liberal city.
From The Seattle Times:
A King County Superior Court judge has approved a petition for an election to recall Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, opening the door for a campaign that’s gained steam over the last several weeks.
The ruling Friday on charges filed by a group of five people last month comes after weeks of local protests against racism and police brutality — sparked by the killing of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck for about eight minutes.
Once any recall petition is approved, signatures are needed to qualify for a special election ballot. The petitioners must, within 180 days, collect valid signatures from a number of voters equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last election. In this case, signatures from more than 50,000 Seattle voters would be needed.
The Durkan petitioners’ recall effort, known online as the “Fire the Mayor” campaign, accuses the mayor of “endanger[ing] the peace and safety of the community” by allowing police to “leak false information about fabricated crimes and threats to the media” and issuing a citywide curfew without sufficient notice to the public. The petitioners also accused Durkan of restricting certain property rights in downtown Seattle and Capitol Hill, the neighborhood where many of the protests took place.
“Jenny Durkan’s abuses of power, lack of foresight and failure to protect the public — and the peace — in Seattle leaves us with no choice,” petitioner Elliott Harvey wrote in a statement on the campaign’s website. “This is exactly the kind of case a recall is intended to address.”
In a response Saturday, Durkan’s chief of staff, Stephanie Formas, said the mayor “consistently has acted to protect the City’s public health and safety and to respect the constitutional rights to peaceful protesters,” and defended Police Chief Carmen Best, who Durkan believes “has exercised her challenging duties lawfully and appropriately to protect the public peace,” according to the statement.
