SPOKANE — Paperwork has been filed to recall Spokane Mayor David Condon, who in November became the city’s first mayor to win re-election in nearly four decades.
The recall statement was filed this past week by David Green, an accountant, and was based on controversies that have followed the forced resignation of Police Chief Frank Straub.
Recall proponents say Condon withheld the release of documents related to Straub’s departure until after November’s election. They also say the investigation of former police spokeswoman Monique Cotton’s complaint that Straub sexually harassed her was flawed.
“Mayor Condon has committed malfeasance and misfeasance and violated his oath of office,” the recall petition alleges.
The recall statement contends Condon lied when he said at a September news conference that no sexual harassment complaints had been filed against the former chief. It also criticizes the mayor for recently appointing a new chief without submitting the appointment to the City Council.
Green is a Democrat who supported Condon’s opponent in last year’s mayor race.
Condon, a former staff member of Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’, said he would fight the recall effort.
“I think it’s well past time to move forward and do the work we were hired by the taxpayers to do,” Condon said in a news release Tuesday. “I look forward to successfully challenging these frivolous and politically motivated charges.”
Under state law, Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell has 15 days to prepare ballot language for a potential recall election. That language, and Green’s statement of charges, will then go before a Spokane County judge within 30 days to determine whether they satisfy legal requirements for a recall.
If the judge approves the recall effort, Green will have 180 days to gather 12,925 signatures to put the recall question on the ballot.
In his document, Green cited an independent investigator’s report into the handling of Cotton’s sexual harassment complaints against Straub, and the withholding of public records related to the complaints until after Condon’s re-election.
Spokane County Democrats have asked Condon to step down.
“It is time for Mayor Condon to serve the public by resigning,” Democratic county chairman Jim CastroLang wrote on Facebook Thursday.
Until Condon, no Spokane mayor had won re-election since David Rodgers in 1978. That is a span of 10 single-term or less mayors for the city of 210,000 residents.
The only Spokane mayor to be recalled was the late Jim West in 2005, the result of a sex scandal for which he was never charged.
The Straub controversy has sparked several lawsuits.
Straub sued the city for $4 million in February, alleging violation of his due process rights. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in June, but Straub has appealed that ruling.
Cotton has not filed a lawsuit. But she was transferred to a job in the city’s Parks Department. As a result, former parks spokeswoman Nancy Goodspeed has filed a $1 million lawsuit claiming she was discriminated against and illegally replaced by Cotton.
