09.13.15
The Oregon Secretary of State has refused to qualify the Floyd Prozanski recall for a vote.
The recall committee turned in over 10,000 signatures. 8415 signatures were required.
According to a story in the Eugene Register Guard, “Two separate statistical samplings done Friday by the state Elections Division found the recall failed to meet the required 84 percent verification rate, however. One sampling estimated there were 8,208 valid signatures, the other 8,062, the Elections Division said.”
In a prepared statement, Prozanski said Friday that he was “grateful” for his constituents’ “continued support.”
The Secretary of State said the recall fell short by about 200 votes. This is almost exactly the number of signatures that the recall committee held back from gun stores that had been the target of a complaint by the Bloomberg funded opponents of the campaign. Bloomberg’s people would go into locations that had signature sheets available and attempt to ensnare the gun store personnel into making technical violations like stepping away from the signature sheets momentarily. They then filed specious and false complaints with the Secretary of State accusing volunteers of felonies.
They also interfered with gathering efforts on the part of paid signature gatherers. It’s interesting to note that a complaint filed by the recall campaign against the Bloomberg flunkies has so far been ignored by the same Secretary of State who refused to certify the recall, the same anti-gun Secretary who was appointed by an anti-gun governor, who herself was not elected to the job.
Needless to say, Prozanski and the Bloomberg cabal have claimed that this is a “victory” for gun control. However, nowhere do they mention the over 10,000 people who sought to have Prozanski removed from office, nor do they mention that the commissioners in both counties that Prozanski’s Senate District spans have passed resolutions against enforcing Prozanski’s anti right’s bill.
Ironically, in the failed complaint filed by Bloomberg’s lackeys, they included a photograph of a signature sheet that was on the counter of one of the shops targeted for harassment. The last signature visible on the sheet seeking to oust Prozanski belonged to the sheriff of one of the counties in his district!
How much Bloomberg spent to disrupt the campaign is unknown since they do not report those figures although the recall campaign is required to.
In a press release, Pam Duffy, who was the chief petitioner said “The fact that we got so close sends a strong message to arrogant, out of touch politicians like Prozanski that the people are energized enough to act, especially considering 17% of petition signers were Democrats and another 15% were non affiliated voters.We are considering all of our options to appeal the official results or the possibility of a recount”.
This recall was a tremendous effort against enormous odds. It faced the limitless funds of a New York billionaire and the reprehensible tactics of his followers. Even so, it collected over 10,000 signatures and scared the pants off those who simultaneously belittled it as having no chance and then spent vast sums to defeat it. Much was learned and future efforts will have the knowledge gained in this campaign to do an even more efficient job. We still face the real problem that the votes are counted by people with a big stake in the outcome, but the campaign accomplished more than the establishment ever thought it could. Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported this very important battle.