A recall election on Commissioner Veronica Medina is not moving forward.
News that the recall petition would not be submitted for signature verification came during Tuesday’s meeting of the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) in an exchange between audience member Rachel Suh and County Attorney Todd Weaver.
During that meeting’s public comment on the commissioners’ consideration of vacant land for a county administration building (see related story), the recall petition and the “hundreds of signatures” of people who agree there is an ethical issue were brought up by Suh.
Suh also suggested that others may not have been able to sign the petitions for fear of “retaliation” from “Veronica’s friends,” calling the matter “eye-opening.”
Weaver then interrupted and warned the commissioners that comment regarding ethics and the recall was not appropriate with the topic of the public comment and may not be allowed due to the ongoing recall effort.
Suh then stated that the campaign is over and the petition would not be turned in.
After closing the public comment period, Medina responded to the allegations people were being threatened, calling it “so far from the truth.”
She added the group couldn’t get signatures there and reiterated it is not true people were being threatened.
“I’ve never threatened anybody,” she said.
Archuleta County Clerk and Recorder Kristy Archuleta confirmed later Tuesday that no petition was received by 5 p.m. and the petition organizer, Ashley Springer, reported to her it would not be turned in.
Archuleta previously approved the petition format on July 5, with the petition citing potential conflicts of interest concerning Medina’s votes on purchasing property for a county administration building and on the Archuleta County Land Use Regulations as grounds for her removal.
It also opened a 60-day window from the approval of the petition to collect signatures.
To trigger a recall election for Medina, the petitioners needed to collect 1,829 valid signatures, which is 25 percent of all the votes cast in the last general election for Medina’s office.
Following the meeting, The SUN reached out to Springer for comment.
In response, Reclaim Archuleta — the organization that worked to gather signatures, issued a statement, which states in part: “The efforts to recall Commissioner Veronica Medina took the work of many volunteers from employees of the county, to longtime residents, to local business owners. As time progressed, many of those who chose to sign the recall had second thoughts. Some did in fact reach out to the Clerk & Recorder asking to rescind their signatures. What began with a strong momentum in the beginning of the petition filing, slowly faded for various reasons and those reasons are for those individuals to tell, not a story to come from Reclaim. We can however as a group, speak with absolute certainty that some of the reasons include acts of retaliation, intimidation, and falsifying of facts. It was a very difficult decision, but for these reasons, Reclaim Archuleta ultimately decided not to turn in any petitions.”
It adds the efforts were not wasted, suggesting the community seems to have “awakened” to see what the group alleges: “the corruption, the ethics violations, and the alleged breaking of state statutes by Commissioner Medina.”
It also indicates a complaint has been filed with the state ethics board.
“We hope the state agrees as well, as the Independent Ethics Committee continues with their preliminary investigation into the actions of Medina. As statutes continue to be broken, and more ethical violations are made, the file continues to grow,” the statement reads.
It adds, “We also hope county residents continue to be active at County Commission meetings and let their voices be heard. That is after all, why the petition was filed in the first place. We hope this has been a reminder to constituents that we have a voice and the Commissioners of this County work for us - it is not the other way around.”
On Wednesday, Medina told The SUN, “I think through this process the biggest message that I heard from constituents that actually wanted to speak with me is more about the unknowns of the purchase of land and building an administration building, because the people that I have on a regular basis had interaction with, they knew what was being said in regards to unethical behavior wasn’t really the top of their concern. It was more about what is the county doing trying to build a Taj Mahal ... So, I think that was my biggest takeaway of trying to be more transparent and provide more insight into what the BoCC was doing.”
Medina added the recall “felt more vindictive than based on any factual information.”
She noted the timing was “very coincidental” and she’s glad it is behind her.
She also called it a good learning opportunity to have more conversations with constituents.
Medina reiterated her comments from the meeting that she and her family would never threaten anyone, adding that a petition process is part of our government.
“It’s part of what we as U.S. citizens can do,” she said, and other countries don’t have that opportunity.
She added it’s “perfectly fine” for people to carry petitions as long as they are truthful in what they present, but that some of the information presented with the recall may have been “twisted” and not factual.
She added she has been dragged through the mud, which she knew she was getting into when she ran for commissioner, but that it’s hurtful when things that are not truthful are said about her family and people who care about her.
“I don’t like the lies,” she said.
No additional information was available regarding the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission complaint by press time Wednesday.
