The effort to recall Garfield Re-2 school board member Tony May has been a success, according to the Garfield County Clerk. The Coalition for Responsible Education in Re-2 calling for his recall needed 2,038 signatures, and the clerk says the petition had 2,441 valid signatures.
The group accused May of bullying district families and staff, and using his position to push a political agenda. He repeatedly advocated implementing the conservative American Birthright Standard for social studies in the district, then tried to keep it off the school board’s agenda. The effort ultimately failed after strong opposition from the community.
Now, the clock starts on a 15-day period, during which members of the community can file a protest against the petition. The protest must give specific reasons that the petition should be invalidated, like behavior from petition circulators that “substantially misleads” the people who signed it. The protester also bears the burden for providing evidence that this misconduct occurred.
After that period, May will have five days to resign, or the county clerk will call an election for May’s seat. Because recall elections cannot take place within 60 days of the Presidential Primary Election this Tuesday, the election would not take place until May 4 at the earliest.
The coalition behind the petition provided the following statement:
“We as a coalition are incredibly grateful that our petition has been deemed sufficient. We express our utmost appreciation for everyone in this community who participated in this process and look forward to completing the final steps to ensure positive change for our students, staff and RE-2 community.”
If May doesn’t resign, New Castle resident Scott Bolitho will run in the recall election to take his seat.
Tony May has not yet responded to Aspen Public Radio’s requests for comment.
