The mayor is weak; talk of recalling him is cheap

Apr. 21—Recall elections are nearly as rare as an on-time audit by the administration of Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber.

Unskilled organizers, poor reasoning and lousy timing doom most attempts to recall elected officials. A group in Santa Fe once hit that trifecta of ineptitude.

Several residents in 1990 tried to recall three members of the Santa Fe school board. The one and only issue was the board majority fired Walter Greene as head coach of the Santa Fe High School football team.

Greene had a 1-9 record in his only season, and one of the unhappy board members had a son on that team.

Greene's most vocal defenders circulated petitions to recall the three board members. Bumbling from the start, those running the petition drive failed to gather enough valid signatures to force an election.

One of the elected officials they targeted for recall had less than a year remaining in his term. He ran for reelection and won, further demonstrating the recall attempt was led by people who were unwilling to do the arduous work necessary to win at the ballot box.

In recent years, a similar farce has occurred surrounding Webber. Recall petitions haven't been obtained, much less circulated. But babbling is persistent about recalling Webber.

Threatening a recall election is easy. Most times it's also foolish. Those clamoring for Webber's ouster would be smarter to find a good candidate for the regular city election in 2025, when he could stand for reelection.

Webber, 75, might not run for a third term. But if he does, what will all the loud proponents of a recall have done to prepare to unseat him?

If history is any indication, the answer is nothing.

Many residents of Santa Fe have jabbered about recalling Webber throughout the last four years. During that span, he easily won reelection in 2021.

Webber prevailed in part because of anemic turnout by his critics. Only 30% of eligible voters — 18,161 people — cast ballots in the 2021 municipal election. Another 42,000 didn't bother to vote.

Poor turnout favored Webber, whose east-side base votes at a much higher percentage than the rest of the city.

His enemies, including those who advocated a recall election, had many grievances against Webber, all of them valid.

Perhaps the biggest was his police department losing evidence in felony cases. Webber tried to blame a retired police sergeant for evidence that vanished in the rape of a child.

Crime, cronyism, bad roads, incompetence in completing financial audits and parks contaminated with hypodermic needles were among other complaints about Webber's failures.

He nonetheless received 55% of the vote in the 2021 election. That was a bulge of 20 percentage points over his main challenger, JoAnne Vigil Coppler.

Few candidates with a shot at winning have run a flatter campaign than Vigil Coppler. Outspent 3-to-1 by Webber, she knew she had to inspire voters to get a large turnout.

Instead, Vigil Coppler was lethargic. So were thousands of people who said Webber had done a bad job.

Another idle threat about a recall campaign against Webber surfaced last week. Even if a serious effort were organized today, the regular 2025 city election would be approaching before a recall petition drive was completed.

Most residents aren't about to sanction wasting tens of thousands of dollars on a recall election in February or March when there's a regular election in November.

Fantasies about recalling Webber probably will continue on social media. Residents who are serious about improving city government will ignore the bluster and recruit a competent candidate for 2025 to oppose Webber or his preferred successor.

Recall campaigns are difficult to win even when circumstances are favorable.

For instance, a bipartisan group set out to recall then-Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, who trespassed at the U.S. Capitol during the riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

The organizers worked hard, but they couldn't obtain enough petition signatures for a recall election of Griffin, co-founder of Cowboys for Trump. Griffin's lawbreaking and participation in an insurrection didn't upset enough of his constituents in a heavily Republican district.

A state District Court judge later removed Griffin from office, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court let stand.

There won't be any extraordinary intervention or any recall election of Webber.

His detractors are happy to display grievances galore. What they haven't shown is the will to prepare for the only time that counts: Election Day.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.