EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — For the second time in a year, East Cleveland's mayor is facing a recall from opponents trying to force him out of city hall.
Supporters of the recall met at Forest Hill Park to publicly outline why they believe Mayor Brandon King should be removed.
"We need somone who is respectful, who is honest. We need a change," said East Cleveland resident Dawn Jones.
"It's so dark, and when it's dark in Ward 3, you're inviting crime," said East Cleveland resident Lateek Shabazz. "Crime always happens in the dark, so you're not going to control crime if the city is dark. "
Last year, the first attempt to recall King missed its mark by just eight votes.
This time, organizers believe they'll be more successful because they say there are even more reasons to remove King from office.
Clerk of Council Eric J. Brewer told News 5 that residents had 30 days to gather enough signatures to move this petition forward. The number of valid signatures needed to force a recall vote of Mayor King was 396. Brewer says he certified 417 valid signatures — more than enough East Cleveland residents to move the recall forward.
“Based upon the resident who pulled the recall petition, his concern was the deficit that the mayor created, a $62 million deficit, the 19 indicted police officers, the obstruction of city council, the tall grass in the community and the overall condition of the city and mismanagement and public corruption that has taken place at city hall,” Brewer said.
The mayor had five days to respond by either resigning or fighting the recall, Brewer said.
King has decided to take on the challenge.
News 5 tried talking with the mayor Thursday about the effort to vote him out of office, but so far, he hasn't responded.
None of this likely comes as a surprise to King. From past conversations with News 5, King predicted back in May this would happen again.
“As my attorney alluded to, we’ll be back,” he said at the time. “They’ll come up with something else to then try and get me thrown out of office or recalled or something other than doing the job. They’ll do anything to get me out of office.”
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director Tony Perlatti confirms their office received 51 petition pages that contained 789 signatures from East Cleveland’s Clerk of Council on September 26.
This is far more than what's needed for that recall election to move forward; so this week, the elections board set that recall election for December 5.
“What we would do then is conduct the election, certify the results, go through the same processes as you do for any election have Election Day, allow for provisional ballots and post-election absentees to come in according to deadlines and certify the election, and in the weeks following that, we will then certify that result,” said Tony Perlatti, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director.
Per East Cleveland’s charter, Brewer said Council President Juanita Gowdy would ascend to the mayor’s office and fill out the rest of his term if voters are successful.
