On Saturday, local FOX news ran a nearly five-minute piece with none-other-than Bastrop recaller, City Councilman Kevin Plunkett who had a difficult time explaining why they didn't comply with the law.
Oddly, the reporter didn't even call the Mayor for comment.
Recall ringleader, City Councilman John Kirkland who is up for reelection next May, gathered 850 of the 1600 recall signatures. Kirkland must have been busy that day, so Council Member Kevin Plunkett, who gathered an additional 450 signatures, appeared. Plunkett was clearly uncomfortable spinning their latest recall story: their failing petition is stuck due to “technicalities.”
This is another false claim by recaller Plunkett. The petition is actually stuck because they didn’t follow the law.
Might the claimed "technicalities" be that municipal petitions in Texas are directed at City Councils to remove members and therefore sitting council members carrying those petitions is a major conflict of interest? FOX failed to report this.
Might these so-called “technicalities” be that these politicians, in order to gather 1600 signatures, had to make false claims involving "misuse of public funds"? So far, this fact seems to be lost in the local media shuffle.
Might these "technicalities" be minor errors in their petition? That's an easy one. None of the recall signatures were invalidated for “technical" problems. Texas petition laws protect our right to petition from minor technical errors being used to disqualify signatures.
In point of fact, the recaller’s “technical errors” aren’t technical at all.
The recallers failed to meet a key provision in the Bastrop City Charter that puts recall petitions – thank goodness – to a modest truth test. On each page, someone has to swear under oath that what they are signing is true. And, that can't be the petition circulator. This truth test was not met on 91 of their 96 pages
Oops!
What the recallers have done is use city funds to attack their targeted political opponent, Mayor Lyle Nelson. Their intent was to trap him in a political quagmire that has, to date, cost the city at least $137,070 of taxpayer dollars.
Who at City Hall helped Kirkland and Plunkett? Certainly, we already know that city employees approved the petition format. City Council Member Cynthia Meyer helped gather a few signatures, as did some former Council Members: Jimmy Crouch and Deborah Jones.
If the recallers keep pushing the issue, could it be that we'll find this is a very inside job? Are some of those involved getting paid to work at City Hall itself? How much city business isn't getting done properly due to petition business?
Keep your eye on Bastrop City Hall tomorrow night, August 27, starting at 6:30 pm. You can get a ringside seat by showing up at City Hall. Or, you can watch it on the city’s YouTube or Facebook page.
Reach me, Linda Curtis, at Independent Texans PAC at 512.697.8809 orinfo@indytexans.org Note: Feel free to reach out to FOX to ask them at least give the Mayor a chance to tell his side of the story.
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