Update on the Insufficient Recall Count for Jeannine Pearce
After a thorough verification process, the misleading recall effort against Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce has failed to gather enough signatures to force a costly and unnecessary recall election for the second district and the City of Long Beach.
The recall committee submitted what they said were about 9,500 signatures of council district 2 residents who wanted Councilwoman Pearce out of office. The Long Beach City Clerk has deemed that about half of all signatures, which actually totaled to 9,050 after an initial tally by the city clerk, were invalid in several ways. The total number of valid signatures was 4,815. There have been reports that the methods in which these signatures were even collected were misleading and aggressive in nature. It comes to no surprise that more than 1,500 of their signatures were of people who do not even reside in council district 2, and another 1,200 were collected from people not registered to vote.
“I am glad that the malicious recall attempt against Jeannine Pearce has been defeated by people with integrity. Grassroots organizers who have the truth on their side will always prevail. With heart and passion, I will continue to support Jeannine Pearce in all of her progressive endeavors.”
–Chris Duvali, Elected Member of the California Democratic Party, Assembly District 70
Let us not forget that this recall attempt was about one thing. It was about Councilwoman Pearce’s commitment to protecting hotel workers with her strong support for Claudia’s Law, both before and during her time on council. Ian Patton, Campaign Manager for the Committee to
Recall Jeannine Pearce, admitted recently that a committee known as “Friends of Long Beach” served as a partner committee to the recall effort, despite the denial of some of the most vocal recall supporters. This “Friends” committee received over $200,000 in donations, almost entirely from local hotels, and a recent campaign financials filing shows their name to be “Friends of Long Beach to Recall Jeannine Pearce”. These are the same hotels that refuse to grant protections for their housekeepers, stating that sexual assault and excessive workloads are not occurring in their establishment despite the testimony of their own employees.
“Councilwoman Pearce will never stop fighting for the rights of workers. She is fully committed to effective governing for the rest of the council term she was democratically elected to. She looks forward to working without the shadow of a recall campaign lurking nearby; work that includes representing the amazing constituents of the second district. Councilwoman Pearce will also continue fighting for the rights of women, the LGBTQ+ community, small business owners, landlords and tenants, and every resident of the city of Long Beach. The fight for the rights of hotel workers is heating up, and any number of committees designed to stop Jeannine from supporting them will learn that she will not back down from this important issue. ”
– Alberto Gomez, Field Director, Neighbors United to Support Jeannine Pearce
Monique De La Garza, city clerk of the City of Long Beach has certified that the Petition for the Recall and Removal of Jeannine Pearce, filed on May 9, has an insufficient amount of verifiable signatures.
After the proponents filed this petition and based on the County of Los Angeles
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s petition and signature verification system, the city clerk has determined the following facts regarding this petition:
- Total number of signatures filed by proponents: 9,050
- Total number of signatures verified: 9,050
- Total number of signatures required for sufficiency: 6,363
- Number of signatures found sufficient: 4,815
- Number of signatures found not sufficient: 4,235
Based on this examination and in accordance with Elections Code Section 11224, the recall petition is insufficient.
Councilwoman Pearce did not have a comment at this time but her field director, Alberto Gomez reported that she will release one very soon.