NBC 7’s Priya Sridhar spoke to Carlsbad City Councilmember Cori Schumacher about recall efforts brought against her.
The recall frenzy that has targeted California Governor Gavin Newsom and San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell has now moved to North County where a Carlsbad City Council member and an Oceanside City Council member are both facing recall efforts of their own.
A recall is triggered if enough signatures are gathered by voters to trigger a special election, which could then remove an elected official from office before their term is up.
Cori Schumacher, a Carlsbad City Council member from District 1, is facing a recall movement funded and organized largely by Reform California, a non-profit aimed at holding the government accountable.
Schumacher says she has been the target of online harassment by some of her constituents and also faced backlash from some in the community over her efforts to start a dialogue about how the Carlsbad City Council should enforce public health orders after her city became "ground zero" for protests by restaurateurs who didn't want to follow the rules.
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"It was only in these last final moments of the COVID-19 pandemic when there was this partisan push to defy the public health orders that I -- again it was just a request -- to have a discussion about enforcement about face masks, ordinances and public health orders because of the protests," she said.
Schumacher ended up pursuing legal action against some of her constituents who she says were harassing her. A judge dismissed her suit, but she says she has no regrets.
"I have a right to protect my family and, in this case, of course I disagree with the judge's decision," Schumacher said.
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Carl DeMaio, head of Reform California, who is also a conservative radio talk show host and former San Diego City Council member, says some of Schumacher's constituents came to him for help. He adds it was her decision to pursue legal action against voters that caused him to organize the recall effort.
"That is the primary reason for the recall, is her misconduct. She's also wrong on the issues but it's the misconduct that triggered the need for a recall," DeMaio said.
Schumacher says the recall effort is a political witch hunt.
"It makes sense that the GOP has finally figured out that it needs to attack what it considers to be vulnerable local elected officials in order to control the pipeline, the local political pipeline for the next 2 to 6 years," she said.
According to the Carlsbad city clerks office, 3,562 signatures would be needed to trigger a special election, accounting for the about 20% of registered voters in her district, District 1.
The deadline to get those signatures is September 8 and, if deemed sufficient, a date will be selected for a special election.
In Oceanside, a recall effort is underway targeting City Councilmember Kori Jensen.
