Carson residents vote to recall City Clerk Jim Dear

Residents in the city of Carson have voted to recall City Clerk Jim Dear, based on semi-official election results showing low participation by eligible voters.

The final count was 53.8 percent in favor of the recall, with all precincts reporting and 8,051 votes tallied. Turnout was 16.4 percent from among Carson's 53,637 voters, according to city election numbers.

Former City Clerk Donesia Gause ran unopposed to replace Dear and will now leave her appointed city council seat.

Dear had come under fire from city officials, amid accusations he harassed city workers, made negative racial remarks and acted erratically at public meetings.

He told KPCC that he had been targeted by his political opponents and has been subject to many false accusations.

Dear was also criticized for leaving his post as mayor with two years left on his term. The city clerk position draws a salary of $122,900 a year, more than five times what the mayor makes.

The subject of a previous recall attempt when he was mayor in 2008, Dear was able to fight off that effort but not the latest one.

"I was outspent 4 to 1,” Dear said. "Basically they used tactics that were gossip. They fed that gossip to the media. The media repeated what was said to them.”

Dear said he has no plans to run for political office again in Carson. But he said he’s proud of the work he’s done for the city and will remain active in the community.

“I’m holding my head up high,” he said.

Sue Herbers, the interim election official for Carson, said it wasn’t a lack of advertising that kept people away from the election.

"There were enough recall signs throughout the city of Carson. It would be very hard to miss it,” she said. 

Herbers said the low participation numbers aren’t all that surprising given several factors. For one, the election was held off cycle and not part of a regular election. For another, she said voters may have been fatigued; this is the third election the city has held in the course of a year. 

Plus, she said, there’s a broader problem of civic engagement in local elections.

"A lot of people don’t necessarily connect with their municipal governments,” she said. That is an ongoing challenge for city workers to address, she added.

Herbers expects to have the final recall vote count by March 3.

Meanwhile, Carson voters may be in for more elections: Albert Robles, the current mayor of Carson, is facing a potential recall vote. April 18th is the deadline to collect signatures in that effort.

Gause's open council seat may also be up for a vote if council members decide to hold a special election, the Daily Breeze reported.

This story has been updated.