Will John King Be On The Recall Ballot?

There is no clear answer on that question yet. As of today, Fort Myers Beach Council Member John King remains on the recall ballot, despite a judge’s ruling that his lawsuit to stop the recall can move forward.

As of Thursday at 5PM, the Lee County Elections Office had not received any order from Lee County Judge Kyle Cohen to remove King from the recall ballot and unless they do so he’ll remain on. King believes he’ll be off the ballot due to Kyle’s ruling which stated: “Because the Court finds that the third allegation in the recall petition was legally insufficient and, because the insufficiency of just one ground in the petition is fatal since it causes the entire recall petition to be deficient as a matter of law, the Recall Committee’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.”

The recall side was attempting to get King’s lawsuit dismissed and believes that this only allows King’s lawsuit to go forward (they plan to appeal Kyle’s ruling). The one and only reason King filed the lawsuit was to get the court to remove him from the ballot.

Even if the Lee County Elections office is told by the court that King is no longer eligible to be recalled, it’s too late to remove his name from the official ballots. The ballots have already been printed for the November 4th election. And, mail-in ballots also have King’s name on them.

If it’s determined King is no longer recallable, the Lee County Elections office will post that information in the voting booths at Bay Oaks on November 4th and discard any recall votes against him that may have been mailed in. That would also mean that Karen Woodson would be the only council member that could be recalled, and only one of the three candidates running would take her seat if the recall against her succeeds. To recall Woodson (and King if he’s still on the ballot) more than 50% of the voters that vote in the recall election have to vote yes. Then they votes for their top one or two candidates. If more than 50% vote no, the recall fails. There are recall ballots for both King and Woodson individually.

In addition to ruling that King’s petition was fatal, Judge Cohen ruled that Woodson’s petition was valid and he dismissed her lawsuit to stop her recall. Cohen said the court’s role in the recall case is very limited. “It does not determine whether the allegations are true or false, only whether the recall petition is legally sufficient.” In Woodson’s case, Cohen ruled that the allegations they listed against Woodson fit into the criteria outlined by the State Legislature.

The recallers allege Woodson violated the Sunshine Law and accepted gifts from developers. Woodson has denied all of the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against recall committee co-chair Ray Murphy. Woodson’s attorney Morgan Bentley says he will appeal the ruling.

Cohen denied Bill Veach’s motion to dismiss King’s recall challenge. As we reported earlier this month Cohen was not comfortable with the 3rd accusation Veach and the recallers made against King regarding the allegation that King tried to fire town employees. That allegation was vague enough that Cohen thought it might confuse voters being that Council members do have the power (together) to fire the Town Manager and the Town Attorney. The allegation was not specific enough for Cohen. And, previous court cases have been consistent that if one allegation does not meet the criteria set forth by the legislature, the entire petition is tossed.