Raleigh citizens group critical of city council begins efforts to recall mayor
A group of Raleigh residents critical of Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and the City Council began an effort Wednesday to unseat the mayor.
Livable Raleigh, an advocacy group that formed after the 2019 municipal election, will begin seeking the 14,000 signatures needed to call for a special election under the city’s charter.
“We decided that’s a very important step for Livable Raleigh to take,” said Susan Maruyama, chair of the group’s advisory board. “And we have a great deal of support from other organizations that will help us. So we are very optimistic that we can deliver the necessary signatures that could force a special election, we hope.”
Baldwin, who is in her first term as mayor, declined to comment Wednesday. She was elected in October 2019.
The group’s advisory board includes two former Raleigh City Council members who lost their elections in 2019.
The group originally was focusing on recalling the entire eight-person city council. But the focus shifted to the mayoral seat.
“We just felt frankly taking the leadership on was more important to us,” Maruyama said. “Changing that leadership would be the biggest impact for our city.”
And while recalling the mayor requires more signatures, Maruyama said it is still easier than getting enough voters from the city’s five districts to recall all of the district council members, Maruyama said.
The decision to seek a recall comes after the Raleigh City Council voted in a closed session to ask state lawmakers to move their election from this October to November 2022. The council also asked to permanently move their elections from odd to even years and move from a run-off method to plurality.
Those changes were criticized for a lack of transparency, but City Attorney Robin Tatum said the discussions were confidential.
“Given the legal issues related to an October 2021 election and the substantial consequences to the City that would occur if an election was held and later determined to be unconstitutional, the discussion and potential solutions were covered by the attorney-client privilege,” she wrote in an email to The News & Observer.
The changes requested by the City Council were included in a now-approved state law that pushed most municipal elections across the state with geographic districts to the March primary. Municipalities with geographic districts are required to redraw their districts using U.S. Census Bureau data that has been delayed.
“We feel the mayor has made a decision that has left the public out of something that is of vital interest and concern to them and she has lost the trust of the public,” Maruyama said. “And it is not the first time.”
Livable Raleigh will hold a meeting at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Carousel House at John Chavis Memorial Park to talk about the recall and begin collecting signatures. Information about the group’s recall efforts can be found at livableraleigh.com/recall-news.
Raleigh’s recall rules are nearly 70 years old and require a petition of signatures of at least 25% of the voter turnout in the last municipal election.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Raleigh citizens group critical of city council begins efforts to recall mayor."
