CARL DEMAIO ANNOUNCES PLANS TO RECALL C’BAD COUNCILWOMAN

Plans to recall Carlsbad Councilwoman Cori Schumacher were announced Monday at a news conference outside the city’s downtown senior center.

Radio talk-show host and former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who is leading the effort, said Schumacher should be removed from office in part because she sought to silence three of her critics by obtaining a restraining order against them. A Superior Court judge later overturned the order.

“She wanted to smear, bully and harass her own constituents,” DeMaio said. “This is the sort of nasty and outrageous behavior that we rarely see, and that is why it warrants her recall and removal from office.”

Asked about DeMaio’s comments Monday, Schumacher emailed a response.

“We’re seeing similar divisive and highly partisan efforts to disenfranchise

voters happening throughout San Diego and California,” Schumacher said. “It saddens me to see the same toxic and partisan politics being fostered right here in Carlsbad.”

Schumacher has been a polarizing figure on the council, gaining friends and enemies for her staunch support of organized labor, her advocacy for the strong enforcement of COVID-19 public health restrictions, and her efforts to have Carlsbad join other cities in the creation of a community choice energy program to provide residents with electricity from renewable sources.

Carlsbad resident Katie Taylor was the only other person to step to the podium during DeMaio’s news conference, where she called Schumacher “a detriment to the city.”

“She is a devisive and corrosive element,” Taylor said. She and DeMaio were periodically interrupted by chants of “Recall Cori” from the placard-carrying crowd of about 30 to 40 people.

The restraining order granted last fall gave Schumacher protection from Carlsbad residents Anthony Bona and Larry Posner, and from former resident Noel Breen, who later moved to the Palm Springs area, for what she called “veiled threats” against her on social media sites. Posner was released from the case in October, and in March the court ruled against Schumacher, stating that “The only reasonable interpretation of these posts is social commentary, not personal threats.”

All three men have asked to be reimbursed for their legal costs, and the judge has scheduled a hearing on their motions for Friday.

Breen has asked for $38,009.54 in attorney’s fees and costs from Schumacher,

the city and other parties, according to a copy of the motion he provided to the Union-Tribune. The amounts requested by the other defendants were unavailable. DeMaio said at the news conference he expects the total cost to Schumacher and city taxpayers to be more than $100,000.

DeMaio has had at least one of Schumacher’s critics, Bona, on his radio show in the past.

DeMaio also is the founder of Reform California, a political group now pushing for the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. In 2020, the group helped defeat Proposition 15, a citizens initiative that would have raised taxes to help fund public schools, community colleges and local services such as public health and safety. In 2019, the group called on government officials to declare a public health emergency after a survey of pest control companies showed increasing rat populations in the state.

Schumacher was to be served Monday afternoon with an official notice of the intent to circulate a recall petition, DeMaio said.

After that the councilwoman has seven days to file her written response to the notice with the Carlsbad city clerk’s office. Then recall proponents will have 120 days to collect the minimum of about 3,800 signatures of registered voters who live in the District 1 that Schumacher represents.

District 1 covers the city’s northwest quadrant, including the downtown Village and Barrio. Schumacher was first elected to an at-large seat on the council in 2016, then in April 2020 she won a special election to fill the remainder of the District 1 seat left open by the resignation of Councilwoman Barbara Hamilton.

Only registered voters within District 1 could vote in the election.