Recall Hearing Thursday: It Ain't Over Til It's Over

In case you’ve been otherwise engaged in the business of life and haven’t had time to look up lately, Thursday happens to be a pretty big day in this little town’s history and, perhaps, its future.

At 1:30 p.m. in his downtown Bradenton courtroom, Judge Edward Nicholas will hear arguments from Richard Harrison, Attorney for Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus, and from Fred Moore, attorney for Robert Carter as Chairman of the Recall Committee, as to whether or not Carter’s recall petition is legally sufficient (we assume lawyers for City Clerk Alice Baird and Supervisor of Elections Bob Sweat will not be actively participating since their clients’ roles are not substantively essential to the issues before the Court). The Judge has set aside 3 hours for the hearing and it would not be a stretch to assume the lawyers will use every second of that time.

If you want to bone up on the particulars, Mr. Harrison’s Amended Complaint sets out Commissioner Stoltzfus’s arguments succinctly. Click HERE to read it. If you’d like a more detailed analysis, his appellate brief filed with the Second District Court of Appeals provides an in depth discussion beginning on page 19. You can find it HERE. Mr. Moore has not filed a substantive response since being retained in mid July but Mr. Carter did file a motion to dismiss back in May which you can read HERE. (Update: Mr. Moore filed THIS late Wednesday afternoon. At this late stage we'll just let Judge Nicholas' pen do the talking.)

We’d like to tell you that a ruling Thursday will end the thing, either invalidating the recall petition and nixing the election scheduled for September 7th or confirming the petition’s, and therefore the election’s, validity. But both sides have appeal rights and it could be headed back to the Second District regardless of Judge Nicholas’ ruling.

The materials we’ve linked to above seem to indicate that Judge Nicholas’ decision will be an easy one. But there will be two seasoned advocates in the courtroom doing what they do best so a result is far from a given. We’ll report what we know when we know it. So check back Thursday evening to…

…Stay informed.

Bill Yanger