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Indybay Feature

Recall of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Underway with High Level of Discontent in City (video)

by Dave Id
In front of Oakland City Hall on July 11, Leigh Davenport of the Anti Police-Terror Project announced community activists' intention to recall Mayor Libby Schaaf. Primary among the concerns cited as cause for Schaaf's removal from office are her failures: 1) to address the massive displacement of long-time Oakland residents; 2) to support local youth and job centers; and 3) to hold Oakland police accountable for corruption, sexual exploitation, and those they've killed. Also referenced was Schaaf's unconstitutional ban on nighttime protests in May 2015. A full listing of the "dereliction of duties" cited is included below.
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The first step in recalling a mayor is to collect signatures for a "Notice of Intent to Circulate Recall Petition" (PDF below). Originally, twenty-five signatures were gathered, twice the dozen thought necessary, but the actual amount needed was fifty, to match the number of signatures required to place a candidate on the ballot in Oakland. Also, the mayor must be served notice of the recall prior to filing intent with the City Clerk.

Additional signatures were collected and the recall notice was submitted to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on July 12. The Mayor had seven days to respond and didn't until July 19. After the initial false start, the "Notice of Intent" was officially filed with City Clerk LaTonda Simmons on July 25. The City Clerk has ten days to approve or deny the petition.

In order to certify a recall effort for the ballot, signatures from ten percent of Oakland's registered voters are required. That translates to over 20,000 valid signatures, ideally with thousands of extras gathered as a buffer to account for those that may be deemed invalid. Petitioners have a generous amount of time in which to collect signatures, 160 days.

While collecting enough signatures to place the recall on the ballot is a tall order, the effort is sincere. The Anti Police-Terror Project has a good-sized committee dedicated to gathering as many signatures as possible and is working with other groups to accomplish the goal.

“The level of discontent is high in the City of Oakland," notes Cat Brooks. "The people in the hills are happy, the developers are happy, but the black and brown and the poor people in the city are sick and tired of being sick and tired."


Activists are using the hashtag #ByeLibby in social media.
Copy the code below to embed this movie into a web page:
(video 6:08)

Video picks up less than a minute into questioning.
Copy the code below to embed this movie into a web page:
(video 5:55)

Video picks up less than a minute into questioning.

sm_recalllibbyschaaf-announcement_20160711_004.jpg
Being short on the number of signatures required and not having yet served notice to the Mayor, the notice of intent was not filed at the time and recall supporters vowed to return.
§NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CIRCULATE RECALL PETITION
by Dave Id
noticeofintenttorecallschaaf_20160711.pdf_600_.jpg
TO THE HONORABLE LIBBY SCHAAF, MAYOR OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA. Pursuant to Oakland City Charter, Article XI- Elections,§ 1104, Referendum and Recall, and California Election Code § 11020, the undersigned registered qualified voters of the City of Oakland, County of Alameda, in the State of California, hereby give notice that we are the proponents of a recall petition and that we intend to seek your recall and removal from the Office of Mayor, City of Oakland, Califomia, and to demand election of a successor in that office.

The grounds for this recall are as follows:

The people of Oakland seek to recall Mayor Schaaf for failing to properly perform her executive duties as chief-elected executive of Oakland, willfully violating constitutional rights, and ignoring the City's most pressing issues: corrupt Oakland Police Department (OPD), housing crisis, disenfranchisement, unemployment, and public safety. Among her dereliction of duties, Mayor Schaaf has:

— Offered no immediate relief to Oakland residents being pushed out of their homes.
— Offered no viable solution to increased violent crime in Oakland.
— Denied youth opportunities by failing to apply for a $2 million grant to fund youth programs.
— Allowed job centers in East and West Oakland to close.
— Failed to push for meaningful Police Department reform.
— Allowed seven Black Men to be killed under her watch — one of whom was sleeping in his car — with no accountability for any of the involved officers.
— Violated civil rights of Black Women and Children by violently unleashing the OPD on them during peaceful demonstrations.
— Neglected to properly manage the transition of police leaders after OPD Chief Whent resigned following the nationally publicized sex exploitation scandal.
— Violated Freedom of Speech in directing an investigation of ''whistleblowers" of the OPD scandals, proving her campaign promise of "transparency" a farce.
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