Group seeks to recall Norman mayor, council

NORMAN — An effort to recall Norman Mayor Breea Clark and four city council members for cutting police funding and other actions is picking up momentum, with hundreds of volunteers set to begin collecting signatures this weekend.

Unite Norman's purpose is to remove “divisive and radical” figures from local political office, according to its Facebook page.

“We think that the city council legislates their own agendas based on national trends that are radical,” group cofounder Russell Smith told The Oklahoman on Thursday. “They attempted to make Norman a sanctuary city, they have discouraged development as well as discouraged and insulted job creators.”

A sanctuary city limits local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Unite Norman is expected to file recall petitions with the city clerk's office on Friday. The petition to recall Clark would require 18,124 signatures, or 25% of registered voters in Norman, while petitions for Ward 1 member Kate Bierman, Ward 3 member Alison Petrone, Ward 5 member Sereta Wilson and Ward 7 member Stephen Holman would also require the signatures of 25% of their respective wards' registered voters.

That would mean 1,899 signatures for Bierman; 2,566 signatures for Petrone; 2,574 signatures for Wilson; and 1,453 signatures for Holman, according to figures provided by the city.

Smith called the council's June 17 vote to cut $865,000 from the police department and redirect the money “the straw that broke the camel's back.”

“There are a lot of people like me who have watched a lot of these defunding actions happen around the country and they've been disasters,” he said. “And it woke people up in Norman because we are dissimilar in most ways from those places that have defunded their police departments.”

Dave Spaulding, chairman of the Cleveland County Republican Party and president of the Cleveland County Luncheon Club, supports the recall and invited Smith to address about 60 people on Tuesday.

“We've got a city council down here that has lost its mind,” Spaulding said.

Spaulding faults the mayor and council for voting to defund the police and “shutting down Norman and crippling the economy” in response to the coronavirus pandemic.” They took measures in response to what I feel are lies regarding the true nature of the so-called pandemic,” he said. “I think we're being lied to by the national media and others in an effort to derail the 2020 Trump presidential election.”

Russell said between 700 and 1,000 people showed up Wednesday night for a recall meeting. He said between 200 and 300 people have volunteered to collect signatures once the petition is filed.