State Rep. Len Greene Jr. wants the state to allow citizens to recall local top elected officials, like mayors and first selectmen.
He recently proposed a bill that would change the state statutes to allow for recall of elected officials.
The bill did not make it out of committee, but there is a chance it could be attached to another bill at some point and see the light of day, Greene said.
“It has been brought to the legislature a few times before, recently in 2007, but it hasn’t passed, so I thought it would be good to bring it back out,” Greene said.
The proposal comes up almost every year. Greene said he raised it this year because it ties in with his campaign message, of returning government to the locals.
Between 1997 and 2003, nine such bills were proposed, according to a 2004 report by the state’s Office of Legislative Research. In each case, the proposals were usually referred to the Government Administration and Elections legislative committee. None of the proposals made it any further.
Similar bills were proposed in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2009, the proposal was moved forward past the Government Administrative and Elections committee, but ultimately died.
Greene’s proposal was referred to the Planning and Development committee.
Legislators are more concerned with pressing issues like balancing the budget, Greene said, so there is not much support for the bill at this time.
The Proposal
If a town has a situation where a municipal official has done something to the detriment of the town, such as criminal behavior, the residents would be able to do something about it, Greene said.
He said the bill would be targeted at towns where mayors are elected for four year terms because the time involved in a recall would be impractical for a two-year term. There would have to be a petition, a referendum, and replacement election — all of which would take time, he said.
Greene said there are some times when the procedure would come in handy.
“The best example I can think of is Waterbury, with Phil Giordano,” Greene said, referring to the former Waterbury mayor, who in 2003 was convicted of 14 counts of using his cell phone to arrange sexual contact with children.
After Giordano was arrested, the president of the Board of Aldermen, Sam Caligiuri, became acting mayor. But Giordano was not officially recalled.
Greene said it is necessary to have recall powers, although there could be drawbacks, like when a municipal leader must make an unpopular decision.
“If it was too easy to recall them, there would be constant pressure to make popular decisions,” he said. “On the other side, if someone does something very bad, it is good to do that.”
Five Towns
Only five municipalities in the state have recall provisions — Bristol, Milford, New Haven, Stratford and Westport.
The towns were given special exemption to keep their recall provisions, after the state Supreme Court ruled that towns cannot enact recall provisions by charter or ordinance, according to a 2008 Office of Legislative Research review of a recall proposal before the legislature.
Last year, upset citizens in Milford unsuccessfully tried to recall a member of the Board of Education when the member voted to close an elementary school in his district.
The viewpoint of the public on a statewide recall provision would not be known until there is a public hearing on any proposal. In the meantime, Daniel Waleski, an outspoken Derby resident who is active in community issues in the Valley, said the recall concept is probably not necessary. He would rather see local town charters written with more balance of power in the elected boards.
Waleski said he doesn’t support it.
“This has come up before, but it didn’t have push behind it,” Waleski said.
