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Kent voters turn aside recall effort

By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 11:26 p.m. EST, Jan 13, 2009

Voters in Kent overwhelmingly chose to retain five City Council members Tuesday.

Five of the city's nine council members were subjects of a recall effort that some say grew out of a dispute over a tax increase.

''The winners today are the people of Kent and the city of Kent,'' said Jack Amrhein, D-2, one of the five targeted in the recall effort. ''I'm thankful for the vote of confidence.''

In addition to Amrhein, those who retained their seats were Rick Hawksley, D-at-large, on the council since January 2002; Michael DeLeone, D-at-large, on council since January 1998; Heidi Shaffer, D-5, and Tracy Wallach, D-6. Amrhein, Shaffer and Wallach have been on council since last January.

Amrhein, a history teacher at Kent Roosevelt High School, and Shaffer thanked members of the Citizens for a Better Kent group, which campaigned against the recall effort. Members distributed yard signs and went door-to-door, dropping off fliers.

Shaffer said the group's members understood ''while the right to recall is important to retain, this recall was wrong.''

Echoing other opponents of the recall, Shaffer said, the language on the recall petitions ''was very vague, very ambiguous.''

Shaffer, director of Kent Yoga Center, said, ''There was actually not a campaign from the other side to present their case.''

The petitions filed with the Kent City Council that led to the recall election charge that the members have ''acted on behalf of their own interest and neglected the very basic concerns of the city's infrastructure and financial well-being.''

Beth Ostwich, a former Democratic Ward 6 council member who helped in the petition campaign, has said the recall ''is about giving the citizens a chance to change their government'' and about ''letting the residents of Kent have a voice and going forward.''

She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Others have said the recall effort was spurred by the City Council's approval in September of a rollback from 2 percent to 1.5 percent in the tax credit given to anyone who works outside of the city but lives in Kent. The council rescinded the rollback in October.

In Tuesday's special election, the recall effort was soundly defeated, with residents keeping their council members with votes greater than 2-1 or 3-1.

For example, the vote in Ward 2 to retain Amrhein was 399 to 128. In Ward 5, the vote to keep Shaffer was 145 to 51.

Voters citywide were eligible to cast ballots in the recall elections involving the two at-large council members, DeLeone and Hawksley. The vote to keep DeLeone was 1,512 to 401; the vote to retain Hawksley was 1,472 to 446.

Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.

Voters in Kent overwhelmingly chose to retain five City Council members Tuesday.

Five of the city's nine council members were subjects of a recall effort that some say grew out of a dispute over a tax increase.

''The winners today are the people of Kent and the city of Kent,'' said Jack Amrhein, D-2, one of the five targeted in the recall effort. ''I'm thankful for the vote of confidence.''

In addition to Amrhein, those who retained their seats were Rick Hawksley, D-at-large, on the council since January 2002; Michael DeLeone, D-at-large, on council since January 1998; Heidi Shaffer, D-5, and Tracy Wallach, D-6. Amrhein, Shaffer and Wallach have been on council since last January.

Amrhein, a history teacher at Kent Roosevelt High School, and Shaffer thanked members of the Citizens for a Better Kent group, which campaigned against the recall effort. Members distributed yard signs and went door-to-door, dropping off fliers.

Shaffer said the group's members understood ''while the right to recall is important to retain, this recall was wrong.''

Echoing other opponents of the recall, Shaffer said, the language on the recall petitions ''was very vague, very ambiguous.''

Shaffer, director of Kent Yoga Center, said, ''There was actually not a campaign from the other side to present their case.''

The petitions filed with the Kent City Council that led to the recall election charge that the members have ''acted on behalf of their own interest and neglected the very basic concerns of the city's infrastructure and financial well-being.''

Beth Ostwich, a former Democratic Ward 6 council member who helped in the petition campaign, has said the recall ''is about giving the citizens a chance to change their government'' and about ''letting the residents of Kent have a voice and going forward.''

She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Others have said the recall effort was spurred by the City Council's approval in September of a rollback from 2 percent to 1.5 percent in the tax credit given to anyone who works outside of the city but lives in Kent. The council rescinded the rollback in October.

In Tuesday's special election, the recall effort was soundly defeated, with residents keeping their council members with votes greater than 2-1 or 3-1.

For example, the vote in Ward 2 to retain Amrhein was 399 to 128. In Ward 5, the vote to keep Shaffer was 145 to 51.

Voters citywide were eligible to cast ballots in the recall elections involving the two at-large council members, DeLeone and Hawksley. The vote to keep DeLeone was 1,512 to 401; the vote to retain Hawksley was 1,472 to 446.

Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.



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JRid
Kent, OH

Posted 11:39 PM, 01/13/2009

Thank you voters! And to the organizers of this recall, thanks for wasting a bunch of taxpayer money! This goes to show what kind of damage a vocal minority can cause; and this election proved they were a small vocal minority as none of the 5 council members received less than 73% of the YES vote. Unfortunately, vocal minorities have had far too much influence in Kent for a long time.

Yes, recalls are a great tool for democracy, but like any tool they shouldn't be used any time or for any reason. Indeed, they can be used for inappropriate reasons and/or at inappropriate times.
















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