Chief petitioner Jamey Hardy confident group will collect signatures to force a recall vote

Jamey Hardy was born and raised in Baker City, and she’s grown up to

serve her community as a teacher and summertime softball coach. This

weekend she’ll take the Majors all-star softball team, nine girls ages

11 through 13, to the playoffs in Athena.

But Hardy, 27, said she’s grown discouraged over how self-serving

she believes some city councilors have become, an attitude that she

contends culminated with the June 9 firing of City Manager Steve

Brocato in a 4-3 vote.

Hardy is the chief petitioner for committees formed to urge city voters to recall Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder, two of the four who voted to fire Brocato.

The recall committees, which claim about 100 members, have until mid-September to gather 603 valid signatures among Baker City voters to force a recall on special ballot, which will be Nov. 6 at the latest, said County Clerk Tami Green.

That election will cost Baker City taxpayers about $6,000, Green said.

It takes a simple majority of the turnout among Baker City’s 5,760 registered voters to remove a sitting councilor from office.

Hardy said she’s learning as she goes – and she’s glad she entered her first political foray.

“It’s discouraging to see things have changed so significantly since when I was a child,” Hardy said Tuesday, the day after the recall group had its second meeting. “I could get frustrated and do nothing, or I could see a good man terminated unfairly and say, ‘This is the last straw.’ Instead of getting angry, I got involved.”

Hardy declined to divulge how many signatures the group has gathered since it started circulating petitions almost two weeks ago, nor how much money it’s raised. The committees are registered with the Secretary of State’s Elections Division and must file Contributions and Expenditures reports with state officials if they raise or spend $300, Green said.

Those filings are available online at https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=44715 (Dorrah) and https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/sooDetail.do?sooRsn=44697 (Calder).

Recall advocates are optimistic they’ll gather enough signatures to force the vote, Hardy said.

“We’ve put our anger in check,” she said. “People are staying positive and we are constantly reminding ourselves that our purpose is to see positive changes made through the removal of these two councilors.”

If Dorrah or Calder, or both, are recalled, the remaining council members would appoint replacements who would serve the rest of the recalled councilors’ terms.

Calder’s and Dorrah’s terms both expire Dec. 31, 2010.

Hardy declined to comment about whether the committee intends to pursue the recall of the two other councilors who voted to recall Brocato: Aletha Bonebrake and Clair Button.

Neither Button nor Bonebrake is subject to a recall now due to a state law that prohibits recalls of city councilors who have served for less than six months.

Button and Bonebrake were elected in November 2008, but they were not sworn in as councilors until Jan. 13. That means recall petitions against either could not be filed before July 13.

Hardy said committee members have been distributing lawn signs, collecting completed recall petitions and distributing new forms among volunteer circulators. Monday’s meeting included a discussion on how petitions will be circulated during the Fourth of July and Miners Jubilee weekends.

“Soliciting signatures is not easy,” Hardy said. “Some (prospective petition signers) have expressed support for Mr. Dorrah and Ms. Calder. Most of our people work, and it’s tough for them to go door to door. We find our difficulties and we discuss them.”

The recall group’s effort has been bolstered by the use of social networking Web sites, especially Facebook, where recall advocates communicate in a blog titled “Baker City Recall 2009.”

Hardy noted that she can announce a meeting on Facebook and save herself half a day’s work calling all 100 members, confident that people will show up. Indeed, about 50 attended Monday’s meeting.

“It’s a great tool and a good way to stay in touch,” Hardy said. “We use it to shoot ideas back and forth and keep people posted.”

Until Monday, the blog was private – reserved only for friends of the recall effort, Hardy said. She decided to open it up this week so that anyone may read updates.

“There are out-of-towners who want to be up to date,” she said.

As to the cost of the special election, Hardy notes that the city will spend “a significantly greater amount” of money searching for a permanent replacement for Brocato.

Hardy said she’s confident of a positive outcome of the group’s efforts – the removal from office of Dorrah and Calder. The second part of a positive outcome, she said, would be replacements who “are there because of their love of Baker City. We hope to get people who focus on the issues of hand, who aren’t so self-interested but have the heart of the community in mind.”

She’s also confident in her softball team, despite the fact that only nine players remain on the squad after two players dropped off.

“We’re going to win,” she said.