State closes investigation in recall petition case

A state investigation into irregularities during last fall’s recall campaign against two Baker City Council members has ended, and no one will face sanctions, according to a state Elections Division investigator.

That news relieved recall organizers, but local residents who filed complaints with the state last fall said they’re frustrated about the lack of teeth in the state’s election laws.

Investigator Alana Guiney mailed letters Monday to Jamey Hardy, chief petitioner in the campaign to recall Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder, and others who were accused of violations including signing petitions multiple times or allowing others to sign more than once the petitions they were responsible for.

In her letters to Hardy and other petition certifiers, Kathye Corn, Tracy Yansssens and Jacqueline Adams, Guiney asked them to “be vigilant in complying with election laws” in the future.

The investigation started last fall when Gary Dielman, a former City Council member who himself was recalled from office in 2001, complained that petitions seeking the recall of Dorrah and Calder had been signed multiple times by Shannon Regan, Baker City public safety officer, and Steve Brocato, the former city manager whose June 9, 2009, firing by the City Council prompted the recall campaign.

Guiney urged Regan to “please be more careful to avoid these kinds of discrepancies.”

Regan declined to comment.

Guiney said her investigation showed no evidence of fraud by anyone involved in the investigation.

“There was no determination of any crime,” she said.

Her letters were an attempt to educate the petitioners so as to avoid similar problems, she said.

“We like to let people know that we take these things seriously,” Guiney said.

She emphasized the need for petition circulators to witness signatures.

“Individuals have the responsibility in terms of signing,” she said. “But certifiers have the responsibility to be actively paying attention and witnessing signatures.”

Guiney also was asked to look into allegations that a Baker City Police officer was collecting signatures in uniform during work hours. She was unable to verify that complaint and that issue was dropped, she stated in her letter to Regan and in a separate letter to Sgt. Kirk McCormick.

McCormick said today that City Hall had received complaints that he had been the officer who supposedly was circulating petitions while on duty.

“That didn’t happen,” he said. “I’m not aware of anyone who did it.”

The recall campaign started after Dorrah, Calder and councilors Clair Button and Aletha Bonebrake voted to fire Brocato on June 9, 2009. Button and Bonebrake, who took office in January, had not served long enough to be subject to a recall at the time.

In addition to Dielman’s allegations, Dorrah and Calder filed complaints with the state alleging that the recall petitions contained false information about them, including statements that they denied citizen involvement in voting to fire Brocato.

In her letter to Hardy, Guiney said she had determined that the statements “are better characterized as opinions than factual assertions.”

She said there was insufficient evidence to proceed on that issue as well.

“Because the accusations were either vague or used adjectives open to interpretation, reasonable people could differ on their meaning,” Guiney wrote.

Calder expressed frustration that the petitioners were allowed to “assault her reputation as a business owner and a community volunteer.”

“It’s not good citizenship and it’s not good behavior,” she said. “Somebody’s agenda cost the community a lot of money and a lot of emotion. The citizens spoke. The little, tiny squeaky agenda did not win. It just cost us dearly.”

Dorrah declined to comment, except to rail against the Baker City Herald’s coverage of the recall issue.

“This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous,” he said Thursday. “You guys have just got to drop this. Let it go.”

Dielman criticized enforcement of state election laws, especially as it applies to people who signed petitions twice.

In Guiney’s letter to Hardy, she noted the warning included on every petition that states that falsely signing a petition could result in a felony conviction with a fine up to $125,000 or up to five years in prison.

“You just don’t sign two times no matter what,” Dielman said Thursday before he had seen the letters. “If you let them off with not even a reprimand, then it’s a pretty lax system.”

Dielman responded in an e-mail to the Baker City Herald today after reading the letters, all of which were mailed to the three complainants.

“The problem is with the law,” he wrote. “It’s all or nothing. Either you committed a crime, which must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or you didn’t.

“There should be election violations, like traffic violations, that are punishable by fine,” Dielman said.  “Then, if your signature appears on a petition twice, you get fined. If that had been available to the Elections Division, I have no doubt all those people would have been sanctioned with fines.”

According to state law, signing a petition twice is a Class C felony,  which has a maximum penalty of a $125,000 fine and five years in prison.

Hardy attributed some of the mistakes that occurred, including refiling petitions because of errors in the originals, to her inexperience with the process.

“The matter has been settled and I’m happy about that,” she said Thursday. “It was an educational experience.”

Hardy stood by the statements about Dorrah and Calder that were included on the ballots and emphasized that petitioners were not intentionally seeking double signatures in their attempt to place the issues on the ballot.

“It was ridiculous for it to go as far as it did in the first place,” she said. “We knew we weren’t doing anything wrong.

“Clearly we lost the recall,” she said. “We’re past that. We’ve moved on. There wasn’t any need for it to go further. I’m just glad that it’s done.”