Feb. 27, 2007 — Five minutes before the deadline on Tuesday, organizers of a petition to recall four St. Croix senators turned in what they hoped was enough signatures to trigger another election.
Petition organizers began collecting signatures following the passage of a bill at the end of the Turnbull administration that gave sizable pay raises to senators, as well as the governor and lieutenant governor.
Supervisor of Elections John Abramson noted that the organizers, who included radio host Roger Morgan and recall sponsor James Hoffman, turned in several sheets of signatures at 4:55 p.m., with, he said, "five minutes to spare."
Now, Abramson said, Elections staff (not board members) have 15 days by law (or until March 14) to verify the signatures presented.
"We expect a vast number of attrition, and so the numbers that were turned may not be the same as what we find," said Abramson. "If the signatures are unreadable, they are an automatic attrition case."
Signatures will be considered null and void if:
–the signer is a convicted felon or deemed mentally ill by the court;
–the signatures are not legible. Abramson said that all attempts will be made to attempt to verify the signature before it would be considered null and void.
–the person signed their name other than what is on their voter's registration. For example, someone who registered using a maiden name cannot sign with their married name.
–the person did not follow directions — which called for printing AND signing their names.
Hoffman, who initiated the petition, said Tuesday that he was aware of the various nuances that could end a 60-day drive for signatures for the recall.
"I instructed everyone that I talked to that you must make sure that everything is legible," he said.
Meanwhile, Abramson said he is awaiting an opinion by acting Attorney General Vincent Frazer on who should be counted in the recall.
Organizers needed to collect at least 8,691 signatures of registered voters who want to recall three St. Croix senators — Juan Figueroa Serville, Norman Jn Baptiste and Ronald Russell — who voted in favor of the measure giving themselves and the territory's top two officials raises. (Sen. Neville James, who was absent on Dec. 28 during a special session of the 26th Legislature called by Gov. Charles Turnbull, and thus did not vote, has also been included in the recall petition.)
The bill also included sweeping changes to the Government Employee Retirement System and guaranteed a bridge loan to New Jersey businessman Paul Golden, who has been trying for to build a hotel/casino on the island for more than six years.
Specifically, the bill proposed to increase salaries of the governor from $80,000 to $150,000, the lieutenant governor from $75,000 to $125,000 and senators from $65,000 to the pay level of the lowest paid commissioner, which was $85,000 under Turnbull.
It also sought to authorize the issuance of up to $600 million in pension obligation bonds to help pay down GERS' $1 billion unfunded liability.
The measure, known simply as Act 6905, angered residents, especially members of the Emergency Services Coalition made up of Fire, Police and Emergency Medical Services, who can retire after 20 years on the job and receive a sizeable pension. The changes made at the Dec. 28 meeting to the GERS system would force these workers, many of whom work under hazardous and stressful conditions, to stay on the job for five more years in order to be eligible for pension benefits.
On Tuesday Hoffman said that he did not know whether organizers met the threshold — the 8,000-plus signatures necessary to set off a recall.
"We turned in close to 500 pages of signatures for each senator," Hoffman said. "We won't have an idea until 15 days from now just how many signatures we got."
About 1 p.m. Tuesday and with the 5 p.m. deadline looming, Morgan and Hoffman were among 30 residents standing near the two entrances to the parking lot leading to the Elections Office. Motorists honked their horns, gave organizers the thumbs-up sign or pulled over to sign petitions.
Other organizers toted signs that read simply: "Recall!" "Stop the Pirates" and "Senators salary too high." A group of about 30 people stood in line registering to vote at the headquarters, buoyed at the chance of making history.
Recall petitions in past years have targeted governors and senators, but none have succeeded.
However, this one appeared to have gained momentum after some the senators went on the offensive and appealed to the Federal Communications Commission to block a transfer of a license for radio station 93.5-FM to Morgan. Callers to Morgan's show have vented their disapproval of the Dec. 28 transactions at the Senate.
Russell, a lawyer by trade, had also questioned whether the petition was legally sufficient and sought an opinion from the attorney general. Recently, while commenting on radio during the Agricultural and Food Fair, he called the recall attempt "misguided."
Hoffman said Tuesday that he was pleased with the last-minute push to sign up potential voters.
"I was very pleased with the turnout that we had throughout the afternoon. It was a steady stream of people coming in to sign the petition," he said. "People were still registering to vote in order to sign the petition today."
He confirmed that several petitions were "stolen" during the 60-day granted by law to collect signatures. "As far as we can determine, petitions were stolen from Schooner Bay Market Place and Pleasant's in King's Alley," Hoffman said. "I have confirmed with either the owner of the business or official collectors who went there and the petitions were gone – and that was the second time that petitions had disappeared from Schooner Bay."
Abramson said that if organizers meet the threshold, he will alert the Elections Board, which by law has 60 days to schedule an election.
In order for senators to be removed from office, two-thirds of the total number of people who voted in the November election would have to vote for their removal, he said.
The cost of that election would be at least $200,000. Ironically, the Legislature would have to approve the appropriation to fund the election. And Abramson said that if another election is held as a result of the recall petition, that he hopes it's not all for naught.
"There is nothing by law that precludes the senators who were recalled from running again and being voted back in," Abramson said.
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