RECALL FREE-FOR-ALL

Mayor heads to court in fight to stay in office

Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield will go to court today in a case that could cut his term short by nine months. Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hollingsworth will hear Littlefield argue for the second time that a recall election should be stopped.

Hamilton County Election Commission Attorney Chris Clem said he thinks this morning’s court battle could mean the end of legal wrangling that has gone on for 18 months, since anti-littlefield forces gathered signatures for a recall.

“I see that there will either be an election in August or it will be canceled,” he said.

Mayoral spokesman Richard Beeland said Thursday that Littlefield had no comment. Hal North, Littlefield’s attorney, said he’s feeling confident.

“I think the law is still on our side,” he said. “Nothing has changed in regard to the law.”

Hollingsworth must decide whether to issue a permanent injunction to stop the Aug. 2 recall election. It’s Littlefield’s second attempt to stop the recall. In the first, Hollingsworth stopped the election commission from certifying recall petitions. He ruled that state law trumped the City Charter and the recallers needed more signatures.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, allowing the election commission to certify the petitions and set the recall election.

Littlefield sued once more and this morning’s hearing will decide the issue. Hollingsworth said Thursday it might take longer than one day to prepare a written order, but the decision will come soon.

This time around, Clem is questioning the constitutionality of the state’s recall statute. If the judge agrees, the state statute would be null and void and the election would continue, Clem said.

“I think he would have ruled the same way as before, but he hasn’t ruled on the constitutional issue, and I don’t know how he’s going to rule on that,” he said.

Also Thursday, Hollingsworth agreed to allow Jim Folkner, Charles Wysong and Darrell Silvey, members of Citizens to Recall Mayor Littlefield, to intervene in the case.

A PERMANENT INJUNCTION A BATTLE ROYAL Mayor Ron Littlefield will be in court today in a fight to keep his job for one more year instead of having his term cut short by nine months. The results of the court decision could mean more legal battles or a...