Group seeking 3,000 signatures for mayor’s recall

A group of residents is working to drum up enough signatures to petition for a recall election of Mayor Joe Jaworski in November.

To force a recall election, the group, Recall Mayor Joe Jaworski, would need to collect signatures from at least 10 percent of the qualified voters in the city.

With 29,219 registered voters in the city, nearly 3,000 signatures would be required for the petition to be certified.

“The bottom line, the question people keep asking me is ‘why do I want to recall the mayor?’” said Bill Quiroga, who is spearheading the effort. “My question back is to them is ‘What has been done this past year for small businesses and residents?’ They cannot answer the question,” he said.

But Jaworski said that’s not the case.

“As much as I would like to, I understand I can never make everyone happy,” he said. “And while a few might disagree, most Galvestonians like the direction the city is heading. We are moving ahead with plans to rebuild our city, clean up our city and improve our city.”

The group pushing for the recall election has more than 1,000 supporters committed to signing a petition once it’s started, Quiroga said. On the group’s Facebook fan page, 66 people have “liked” the page.

Under Jaworski, business development on the island has stalled, and jobs that pay “livable wages” are nonexistent, Quiroga said.

Quiroga also criticized the hiring of former County Judge Jim Yarbrough as the city’s economic development director and naming Brian Maxwell, also formerly with the county, to interim city manager.

“There’s no true leadership and no true direction where the city should go,” he said.

Quiroga ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2010, only capturing about 2 percent of the vote. Jaworski won the election with 53 percent of the vote.

“I ran on the promise of new energy for Galveston, and energy, as we all know, sometimes causes friction,” Jaworski said. “I won’t be signing the petition, and I hope reasonable voters who want to see Galveston move forward quickly won’t sign it either.”

Quiroga is asking for 100 volunteers to each collect 30 signatures to get the necessary amount of people to force a recall election, and with recent events at city hall, Quiroga said he isn’t worried about hitting the mark.

Last month, the city council voted to fire Steve LeBlanc from his position as city manager. Supporters of the former city manager at the meeting shouted, “recall” during council’s discussion and others interrupted Jaworski when he tried to give reasons for his vote to terminate LeBlanc.

“That’s going to put us way over the number we need,” Quiroga said, minutes after receiving a phone call asking how to join the recall effort. “People are upset about the process and the way it was done.”

Once petitioners start signing, the group has 120 days to submit it to the city. For a recall election to happen in November, the petition would have to be filed by Aug. 17.

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How To Join The Effort
Contact Bill Quiroga at galvestonrecall(at)aol.com