Amante Recall Petition Served Up Tonight

Organizers of the Recall Amante movement are scheduled to serve Mayor Jerry Amante with a petition calling for his recall at a meeting of the Tustin City Council tonight.

The LiberalOC can report that at least 30 names — three times the number required — are on the overflowing petition.  Amante will be personally served at the council meeting and copies are being sent to his home and his place of business in Irvine (why does the Mayor of Tustin, the owner of a small business, not have his office in the city he represents)?

Additionally, the signers are a mixture of younger residents and older ones; Democrats and Republicans.  Many who signed are also signing up for signature gathering detail.  It appears Amante is a uniter and not a divider.

Some conservatives are already rallying to Amante’s defense; Chuck DeVore, whom Amante isn’t supporting for third district board of supervisors, issued a Tweet today:

A tweet from @chuckdevore: Support Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante defeat a recall: Apr 6, 5:30pm, Tustin Ranch Golf Club, $250 RSVP julie@pauleconsulting.com #catcot

Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/chuckdevore/status/55359970098679808

Wonder if Chuck will show up looking for checks himself to settle his old Senate race debt or raise money for the coming Board of Supes race.

For organizers of the recall, the message is clear; Mayor Amante needs to learn he serves at the pleasure of the voters of Tustin, not the other way around.

We’re still trying to gauge how large the crowd will be tonight.  If you are going to Tustin City Hall, get there early.  Recall supporters are encouraged to bring signs and also show up at Amante’s fundraiser at the Tustin Ranch Golf Center tomorrow; an event some in Tustin are saying may be like a wake for a political career.

11 Comments

    • Ha, ha! Maybe they thought you live in Tammany Hall Tustin, Dan. They just know you would be in the middle of the fracas.

      While not a fan of the recall of a lame duck dictator like Amante, I would be more than happy to sign that petition if and when webfigure out who actuallyvhas it.

    • a little more than 7,000; 20 percent of Tustin’s registered voters. The cost of the recall is less than what the city manager’s severance is and taxpayers will be able to cover the costs through savings in legal fees once the mayor is gone

  1. I attended the Tustin City Council meeting last night coming in from Pasadena due to my job being located in that city.

    Mr. Horvath did an excellent job speaking in behalf of those of us who want Mr. Amante gone. Also, he dressed most properly in a suit showing that he was not a crazed radical but a respectful person that disagrees completely with Tustin’s Mayor.

    The other side provided their usual how much they love Amante diatribe providing him praise after praises that were should not have been exclusively for him but, to all the council members. Obviously, Amante’s promoters left out his “not-so good” experience – How CONvenient!

    The disturbing element however was when after reading a statement signed by multiple business executives praising Amante, Councilmember Nielsen provided a statement of his own against the recall. After he read aloud his statement, Councilmember Murray read his own statement against the recall effort as well. I felt this was absolutely wrong because there was no, and should not have been, commentary made by the other Council members – D. Gavello and B. Gomez at all. In short no Council member should have spoken either way about the recall measure because it is a Conflict of Interest. No council member should speak in a public city meeting in favor or against the recall showing support or disfavor of any other member. However, Councilmembers Nielsen and Murray spoke with conviction against the measure which was WRONG. The people in the city of Tustin can choose to recall anyone – Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, Repuplican or anyone else in office – that is the law. By the way, Mr. Horvath provided the section and code in the allowing for a recall.

    Afterwards when I left the meeting the supporters of Amante were excessively rude to me telling me, to my face, that I ought to be “ashamed” for being against Amante. By the way, during the public commentary segment Amante’s supporters repeatedly used that term “ashamed” like a mantra. When that term was used towards me I responded that there was no shame for either side – they have a right to their support of Amante while I have a right of my rejection of him. It is their behavior that was nasty not mine own and, sad to say, this is the true or real state of affairs in Tustin politics…

    • Randy — you have no reason to be ashamed. No one who spoke for Amante was there as a grassroots citizen. I am amused that Jerry is calling in so many favors so soon. He is obviously taking the recall effort seriously; he has a lot to lose if he’s kicked out of office.

  2. EXACTLY Dan – the shame is ALL on Amante and the two council members who spoke in his behalf as well as the replacement counsel for Tustin City Council. That counsel should have stopped the meeting and prevented those statements to be made by the two council members or at least, inform them publicly that their statements are indeed Conflicts of Interest and thus inappropriate… Truly a sad state of affairs in Tustin due to the status quo of its city politics gone weird…

  3. I have to question if Amante is following Roberts Rules of Order; my understanding is that councilmembers are not supposed to speak during public comments. The recall was not an item on the agenda.

  4. But Dan you forget one thing – In “their” minds they are Robert’s Rules of Order! Case is closed! – of course once again, in “their” minds.

    Let me tell you when I was sitting in the council meeting and hearing the first letter being read aloud by member Nielsen signed by the Big Wig business folk I knew something was odd about that. D. Gavello called a Point of Order but unfortunately her motion to refuse the reading of that same letter was not seconded. Then afterwards to hear the two statements from Nielsen and Murray one could see it was quite obvious they were providing caveats to each of Robert’s TRUE rules.

    Finally, where was the thinking of the newly appointed attorney that should be able to see through all the nonsense? If he was not certain he should have halted the city council meeting, ask to review the very first letter and then refuse to allow any reading of that information. The same thing goes for Nielsen’s and Murray’s letters. I kinda think the newly appointed city attorney was one of the good ole boys… hmmmmmm…

  5. Getting boss Amante recalled really means getting an organized group to go out and get the petitiions signed. At least 8,000 will be needed. Don’t under estimate this fascist! The fund raiser just held on his behalf will be used to fund flyers if enough signatures are secured. We can only hope that the city loses the lawsuit against the school district, which would help the cause.

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