Mass Confusion Over Recall Process

Over the last week it became abundantly clear neither the Lee County Board of Elections or the Town of Fort Myers Beach had a clear grasp on the recall process. Recalling elected officials is rare and is mostly unsuccessful.

The first 30-day phase of the campaign to recall Fort Myers Beach Town Council members John King and Karen Woodson is coming to a close. It was roughly 30 days ago that former Town Council member Bill Veach announced he started collecting signatures from registered voters to remove King and Woodson. In phase one, Veach needs 10% of the 3,369 registered voters to sign (337). 

As part of our research of the recall process we reached out to Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle who’s been in his post for nearly a decade and has never had to deal with a recall. Over two weeks ago, in a phone conversation, Doyle told us a recall committee needs to register with a municipality before collecting signatures. We immediately checked with Fort Myers Beach Town Clerk Amy Baker who confirmed Veach had not registered.

After confirmation from Baker we went back to Doyle on May 15th and had this e-mail exchange:
BTR: Is there a specific time the recall committee has to file their PAC details with the town?
Doyle: The recall committee should file before they start collecting contributions, spending money or collecting signatures. So the first step is for them is to file just like a political action committee or candidate.

BTR: So without the PAC filed whatever they are doing is invalid because they have not filed? Is that accurate?
Doyle: Yes

If what Doyle said was in fact accurate that would obviously mean every name collected before Veach registered would be invalidated. Veach, perhaps thinking he missed a step in the process, registered his recall operation with the town 3 days ago. 

Before writing this story, and with the 30-day deadline closing in, we went back to Doyle again on Wednesday to confirm if what he said was still correct. 

Here’s Doyle’s “clarified” response:
“The recall committee is required to register with the municipal clerk pursuant to the requirements of chapter 106, Florida Statutes, when the statutory definition for “political committee” is met and the committee anticipates receiving contributions or making expenditures for the purpose of expressly advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate or the passage or defeat of an issue and those contributions or expenditures exceed $500 in the aggregate in a single calendar year.”

“The decision to accept the signatures will be up to the Town Clerk. We will still verify the signatures that are sent to us from the Town Clerk. Not registering as a PAC with the Town will not deem the process invalid.”

With Doyle changing his original position this seemed to put the signature decision-making process right into the lap of Town Clerk Amy Baker. And at first Council member Karen Woodson was told that when the signatures arrived Baker would reject them being that Veach only came in this week to register his group. We reached out to Town Attorney Nancy Stuperich and Baker twice this week with this question: Will you accept the names and pass them on to Doyle’s office for verification or will you reject them. It was clear that being in new and unfamiliar territory, Baker was looking for direction.

It turns out Doyle was also incorrect stating that the decision to accept the signatures was up to Baker.

At 5PM last night, and after consulting a second attorney, Wade Vose from the Vose Law Firm, we received a response from Stuparich (who also works for Vose, the firm representing the town). Vose basically advised Baker that she’s really just a collector of the paperwork. In part, Vose’s opinion to Baker stated: “Even if petition forms are submitted to you in crayon, with clearly too few signatures and/or dates spanning far in excess of the statutory 30-day requirement, it is nevertheless your ministerial duty to submit them to the Supervisor of Election’s office. While it may seem cumbersome (as Florida courts have acknowledged), the remedy for such defects lies with a challenge in the courts (usually brought by an official subject to the recall process).”

When Baker passes the signatures onto Doyle, that’s where they are verified. If Veach fails to accumulate the 337 validated signatures the recall is dead. If enough signatures are validated, King and Woodson have 5 days to either resign or issue a statement of defense (they have no plans to resign. They are both lawyering up.). The recall committee will then be sent a recall petition and defense. The recall committee then has 60 days to collect 15% of the registered voters to keep the process alive. They have to start the process over, they cannot simply add to the numbers they already have. All petition signatures are public.

If both rounds of signatures are validated a special election will be set by a judge and paid for by Fort Myers Beach residents. The estimated cost is $25,000. It’s also possible that both King and Woodson might be eligible for attorney fees paid for by the taxpayers because the allegations are being made regarding actions alleged while in their official capacity as council members.

If there is a recall a list of potential candidates would be listed under the following two items on two ballots, one for King one for Woodson:
“  (name of person)  should be removed from office.”
“  (name of person)  should not be removed from office.”

If a majority of voters vote to remove King and Woodson they cannot be appointed to the Town Council for 2 years and the top two vote getters win those seats. If the majority votes to allow them to keep their seats, the recall fails. If at any point either King or Woodson resign, the Town Council would use their normal process to fill the open seat.

The entire process could take up to about a year to complete. Both King and Woodson’s seats are up for election in November of 2026.

King and Woodson were elected in November 2022 and both were consistently on opposite sides of nearly every issue with Veach that came before the Town Council. Veach quit the Town Council when it appeared the state would require elected officials to fill out a form that showed more of their personal finances. The required form was never approved. 

Veach, former Mayor Ray Murphy, who King defeated in the 2022 election, have, along with several other volunteers, been going door-to-door telling voters they want King and Woodson removed from the Town Council because of their Seagate vote and their views on other redevelopment projects. That, despite alleging on the recall petition, Sunshine Law violations and accusations of King and Woodson accepting gifts. They’ve provided no proof of those allegations and a vote on a particular project is not an issue elected officials can be recalled on. King and Woodson have both publicly denied Veach and Murphy’s allegations but this is not a court of law, the allegations do not have to be true, they just need to fit into one of seven recall requirements:
1. Malfeasance
2. Misfeasance
3. Neglect of duty
4. Drunkenness
5. Incompetence
6. Permanent inability to perform official duties
7. Conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude

Here are the two petitions Veach submitted for the recall:
When Veach delivers the voters signatures into Town Hall over the next few days we will make a public document request to see how many he was able to get.