Pontiac — An Oakland County citizens’ group is seeking to recall County Commissioner Dave Woodward, the chair of the county’s Board of Commissioners, accusing him of “subverting” the Democratic process during a meeting.
The group I Am Oakland County will have a hearing April 27 to determine if language the group submitted may be used to collect signatures for a recall election on Nov. 3 of Woodward, a Royal Oak Democrat. The recall effort stems from Woodward facilitating a vote to move public comment at the April 8 commissioners’ meeting until after a controversial resolution was passed.
“What we saw was a complete disregard for people’s concerns and a subverting of the Democratic process,” said Justine Galbraith, one of I Am Oakland County’s leaders.
If the language is approved, I Am Oakland County will have 60 days to collect voters’ signatures that are representative of 25% of votes cast in Woodward’s district for all gubernatorial candidates in 2022. Organizer Mike Flores said the group hopes to collect 9,000 signatures — a few dozen more than the required number — to be safe.
If enough signatures can be verified, Woodward would run as the Democratic candidate against someone from his district, which contains parts of Royal Oak, Troy and Birmingham.
Woodward on Monday called the recall efforts “a distraction” from the work of the board of commissioners.
“The people who voted for me in the past, they know what I stand for, they know what I fight for, and they expect us to keep building on the huge success that we’ve done,” said Woodward.
Why recall petition is being sought
Galbraith said the efforts to recall Woodward, a former state lawmaker who has been a county commissioner for more than two decades and has led the board since 2019, came the day after the April 8 meeting. At that meeting, the board of commissioners voted to approve a drone fleet from popular technology company Flock Safety for the county sheriff’s office.
Woodward held a vote for a motion by Commissioner Angela Powell to move all public comment until the end of the meeting and denied Commissioner Charlie Cavell’s request for a roll call vote on Powell’s motion. Boos and jeers loudly erupted from the crowd, which drowned out Woodward trying to call the meeting back to order.
Woodward said he had told members of the Democratic Caucus before the full board meeting that he preferred to move all public comment to the front of the meeting in part because many audience members had strong feelings about the drones.
“I thought I had support there, but when it came time to approve the agenda, a motion was made” by Powell, he said.
In reference to moving past the roll call vote, he said “there’s no one questioning” the commission broadly supported moving the vote.
Galbraith said Woodward didn’t have to be doing anything illegal to be recalled for his actions.
“They don’t have to violate laws to be doing something that’s going against the will of the people,” said Galbraith.
Support for Woodward, friction
County Executive Dave Coulter on Monday issued a statement in support of Woodward. Coulter was a county commissioner with Woodward before being elected executive.
“In close partnership with the Board of Commissioners and Chair Woodward, we’ve brought home real results for Oakland County — like expanding affordable housing and public transit, reducing medical and student loan debt, addressing access to mental and physical health, supporting low-income mothers and newborn babies, reducing homelessness, helping small businesses grow, investing in main streets across the county including in our county seat of Pontiac, expanding access to county parks, and so much more,” Coulter said in a statement Monday.
The recall effort is the latest clash Woodward has had with the left wing of his party. Democratic Commissioners Cavell and Kristen Nelson routinely shout down Woodward during board meetings and have refused to caucus with the Democrats in large part due to Woodward’s outside consulting work.
I Am Oakland County’s Flores has also partnered with Cavell to bring forth demands opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the county. Since February, residents in support of Flores’ efforts have prompted hours-long public comment sessions at full board meetings. Flores and Cavell also attempted a sit-in to block the Democratic Caucus from going into closed session in March.
Woodward said Cavell’s and Nelson’s actions are “a betrayal to the Democrats who worked really hard to get a Democratic majority” on the board of commissioners.
“Their efforts are giving fodder to efforts to help replace me with a Republican,” said Woodward. “It’s not going to happen.”
The hearing for the recall petition will be held at 1:30 p.m. April 27 at the Oakland County Elections Division.
mbryan@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Recall petitions sought for Oakland County Commissioner Dave Woodward
Reporting by Max Bryan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
