Milpitas citizens have found reasons to recall 2 city council members

Milpitas Post/Ian Bauer, 3/21/12. "Recall group formally notifies council members." 

Milpitas near bankruptcy

"Milpitas City Councilmembers Armando Gomez and Althea Polanski received formal notices of an effort to recall them via certified mail Friday.  "The enclosed form is your official notification of our intent to circulate a petition to place a recall measure on the Nov. 6 election ballot," the March 15 notification reads, sent by the recall group's spokersperson, Linda Windisch. "You have seven calendar days to submit your answer." 

Throughout her 28 years as an elected official on the Board of Education and city council, Polanski said she had never seen a council recall in Milpitas. "I'm disappointed the people started a recall process; I don't understand the real reason," Polanski said. "It's kind of a surprise and hurtful. As the process goes forward I will be working very hard to uphold my reputation and my dignity. I think this is very politically motivated." Polanski said she would whole-heartedly fight any attempts to recall her from the council."This committed, dedicated public servant is not willing to sit back and take it," she said.

During the city council's March 6 meeting, Linda Windisch, resident and wife of former Milpitas City Council candidate Robert Windisch, told Polanski she did not like her support for medical marijuana dispensaries, though none operates or has been approved in the city.  Dan Manassau, a resident and former member of the Milpitas Citizens Budget Task Force, spoke later and said he had once voted to elect Gomez but  "Your ongoing pursuit of marijuana shops is but one example," Manassau said.added since then the councilman has "worked against the best interests of the residents of our city for far too long."

In January, the city council voted 5-0 to direct city staff to continue studying regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, prior to returning to the council with a full report on the subject next month. Though her group's grievances also relate to the council passing and then rescinding a campaign disclosure ordinance aimed at political consultants, and a public records lawsuit brought by Councilwoman Debbie Giordano that the city lost in court, Windisch said she was most upset about the potential for medical marijuana clinics coming to Milpitas."

"To recall somebody for trying to study the issue is totally unfounded and targeted," Gomez countered Friday. "It makes you wonder what the recall is really about ... it's a complete waste of money."  Gomez said he believes the recall effort likely relates to a prior council vote to stop developers from buying vacant buildings in Milpitas' industrial areas and converting them to housing. Windisch said if the 27 signatures gathered for the notice to circulate a recall petition are verified by the Milpitas City Clerk's Office, they will subsequently need to collect approximately 5,000 signatures from registered voters here. Those signatures will have to be submitted by late July.  Gomez said the city, not the recall group, will have to pay for the recall election if it advances. The exact cost is not yet known."

Posted by Kathy Meeh