A statewide campaign to recall Governor Mike Dunleavy will begin gathering signatures in downtown Ketchikan Thursday morning.
The Recall Dunleavy group filed incorporation papers earlier this week. It seeks to collect at least 29,000 signatures from voters to begin the process of forcing a special election.
Here in Ketchikan, signature gatherers will be at the corner of Jefferson Street and Tongass Avenue. Local coordinator Frankie Urquhart said there’s been a lot of interest already.
“We had a lot of people actually who have been asking for days now, ‘When is it going to happen in Ketchikan? Where do we go? What’s going to happen?’ So I’m really inspired by that as well,” Urquhart said. “I really think that we’re going to have a lot of people show up on that first day.”
The recall petition lists a number of legal grievances including failure to appoint a judge within the 45-day deadline; allegedly using state funds for partisan campaigning and others.
The recall campaign seeks to capitalize on widely unpopular vetoes that threatened to slash $444 million from the state budget. The group will ultimately need more than 71,000 signatures to send its petition to the Division of Elections for consideration.
Ketchikan Republican Trevor Shaw who ran for House of Representatives last year, said he doesn’t agree with all of the governor’s decisions. But he says he doesn’t think he should be recalled.
“I’m opposed to recalls that are just strictly about ideological differences. We elect people to set terms for a reason,” said Shaw.
Recall Dunleavy campaigners in Ketchikan also plan to set up a booth on Saturday at the Blueberry Arts Festival.
