Ousted Councilman Gets Old Job Back

Minutes after calling for unity and an end to divided government West Wendover Mayor Emily Carter cast the tie breaker vote that put recently ousted City Councilman Johnny Gorum back on the council.

Gorum’s reappointment was almost a foregone conclusion from the moment he lost his bid for reelection last month while Carter won her race to unseat Donnie Anderson.

A long time political ally of Carter, Gorum also works for the same company as the new mayor, the Peppermill Corporation. The company connection did not end there. Gorum was nominated by another fellow Peppermill employee/councilman Roy Briggs and fellow Peppermill employee/councilman Saul Andrade cast the tying vote.

The two non- Peppermill employees Izzy Gutierrez and Gerado Rodriguez voted against Gorum’s return to the council.

In addition to the Peppermill’s presence on the council, it was also felt in the audience most if not all of the local gaming giant’s upper management was in attendance at the meeting and stared intently at the new mayor and their other employees on the council as the meeting progressed.

A two term City Councilman Gorum came in fourth in last month’s election being bested not only by Andrade and Rodriguez but also by Wendover Ambulance Manager Casey Snyder.

Snyder who also applied for Carter’s vacant seat was the clear choice of both Gutierrez and Rodriguez. Both men said the would endorse Snyder in the previous council meeting and  tried to make good on their word in Tuesday’s meeting. However Gutierrez attempt to nominate Snyder via phone was thwarted by Carter who cut the councilman off and hand the floor to Briggs.

While Carter’s heavy handiness was criticized by several members of the audience it probably would have made little difference. Even if Snyder had been nominated the vote would have been tied 2-2 with Carter casting the tie breaker against.

In addition to Snyder two other Wendover residents also applied for the job: Mike Miera who served on the council in an interim capacity until the election and Red Garter General Manager David Serafini.

While neither man ran in the most recent election both argued that fact should be a plus rather than a negative since they could come to the council without preconceptions.

Both also echoed Snyder’s claim that given Gorum’s fourth place finish he was uniquely unqualified to serve on the board.

“If you are not going to put the next highest vote getter on the council,” Miera said. “You should in someone who was not in the election.”

That argument did not sway the new Mayor.

While Gorum now returns to the council the make up of the body may not stay the same until the next round of elections in two years.

Some Snyder and Miera supporters are talking calling for a special recall election to be held.

West Wendover is no stranger to the process and in fact held the first successful multiple recall special election ten years ago.

While the law has been changed since then for a city the size of West Wendover it is a very doable option.

The citizens of Nevada are granted the authority to perform a recall election by Section 9 of Article II of the Nevada Constitution, which says:

“Every public officer in the State of Nevada is subject, as herein provided, to recall from office by the registered voters of the state, or of the county, district, or municipality which he represents.”

The broad right of recall in Nevada applies to all elective officers after the first six months of the term to which the incumbent was elected. Although the state’s constitutional authorization for recall includes members of the U.S. Congress, the Nevada Secretary of State issued an advisory letter in 1978 saying that voters in the state cannot actually vote to recall the federal politicians from their state.

Before a petition to recall is circulated, a notice of intent must be filed with the appropriate filing officer. The appropriate filing officer is the official with whom the officeholder being recalled filed a declaration or acceptance of candidacy. This will either be a County Clerk, Registrar of Voters, City Clerk, or the Secretary of State. The notice of intent must be signed before a notary public by three registered voters who have voted in the state, county, district or municipality that elected the public officer in the last election.

In June 2010, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that signatures on recall petitions, in order to be counted, must be the signatures of voters who actually voted in the election at which the official to be recalled was elected. The Nevada Supreme Court decision was 7-0

Circulation of the recall petition must be completed within 90 days after registration. The completed petition must be returned to the original filing officer before 90 days for signature verification.

With slightly less than 600 votes in last November’s election a successful recall petition would have to garner about 150 signatures, a difficult but not impossible task.