As everyone waits to see how many recall petition signatures are validated by the Lee County Elections Office, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council approved a resolution to cover reasonable legal expenses Karen Woodson and John King rack up to fight the recall.
Town Attorney Nancy Stuparich advised the Town Council that Florida law requires them to cover the legal fees. She’s also researching whether or not insurance will cover the legal fees but said she’s leaning toward insurance not covering them. Both King and Woodson plan to fight the recall in court. It’s unclear at what point in the process they might do that.
If the Lee County Elections Office verifies that the recall committee did get signatures from 10% of the voters the process would continue with King and Woodson getting 5 days to issue a statement of defense (or they could resign). Once that statement is sent in, the recall committee then has 60 days to go back out and canvass again. In round two of the process they would need to get 15% of the voters a new recall petition. Then, the Lee County Elections Office would have to verify those as well. Lee County Election Supervisor Tommy Doyle’s office has until July 2nd to verify the first batch of signatures.
The Town Council resolution passed 3-0 with both King and Woodson recusing themselves from the vote. In support of the resolution, Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said the recall process “encourages slander, defamation and innuendo and those being recalled are guilty until proven innocent.”
The recall committee, led by former Town Council member Bill Veach and former Mayor Ray Murphy, have accused King and Woodson of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law and claim they accepted gifts from developers. They have provided no proof of those accusations nor does the recall process require them to. As the recall committee gathers signatures they are telling voters the recall is about the Seagate vote and the direction the town is going with other big developments.
Regarding the Town Council resolution, Bill Veach posted to his Facebook page the following: “These legal fees could be used to try to bankrupt the recall committees and circumvent the will of the voters. If they really believe them and their positions are so popular, they should be happy to put this in front of the voters.” Beach Talk Radio reached out to Veach by e-mail seeking comment about the approved resolution. He never responded. Taxpayers must also foot the bill for a special election of the recall gets that far. The estimated cost for that is $25,000.
In defense of the resolution, the town attorney said the Town Council really didn’t have a choice. She also quoted a specific Florida case, in Fort Walton Beach, where the Florida Supreme Court ruled that those being recalled for making decisions as elected officials have a right to be reimbursed: “Florida Supreme Court in Thornber v. Town of Fort Walton Beach, a municipality has a common law duty to pay for the defense of a recall petition if the litigation meets the following criteria: it must “(1) arise out of or in connection with the performance of their official duties; and (2) serve a public purpose”; and in Thornber, the Court held that “[t]he purpose of this common law rule is to avoid the chilling effect that a denial of representation might have on public officials in performing their duties properly and diligently”.
The two seats now occupied by King and Woodson are up for election in November of 2026.
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