A Key West city commissioner currently facing a recall effort by some voters in her district filed a lawsuit Wednesday afternoon to stop the recall process.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Commissioner Lissette Carey, names as defendants the City of Key West, city clerk Keri O’Brien, Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies and Key West resident Jim Strebeck, who is leading the recall effort.
The 24-page lawsuit claims the ongoing recall process to potentially remove Carey from office is illegal. It asks the court to halt the effort immediately and award Carey financial relief for attorney fees, court costs and “all other allowable relief.”
The legal complaint claims the recall petition that was signed by more than 300 voters is legally insufficient because it lacks specificity. The lawsuit also claims the recall committee, led by Strebeck, did not formally register as a political committee, and that some signers of the petition were lied to about what they were signing.
“The grounds (for recall) must be more than ‘beliefs’ or ‘ideas,’ but must instead be charges of specific misdeeds that have a direct relationship to the official’s performance of the duties of office,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit further states, “Based on the testimony of several individuals that signed the petition, signers were not explicitly informed that they were recalling Commissioner Carey.”
Despite referencing “several individuals, the legal complaint includes only one affidavit from one voter, Ashley Henriquez, who said she did not have ample time to read the recall petition that she signed. (Ashley Henriquez is not related to Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez, who has a daughter with the same name, said city spokeswoman Alyson Crean.)
“I was never explicitly told that the petition was to recall Commissioner Carey and I was not offered sufficient time to read the petition,” Henriquez testified in an affidavit she signed on July 30, the same day the lawsuit was filed. “Instead, I was told the petition was to voice disapproval of an action that the commission took, which I opposed.”
The first line of the petition includes the title, bold and in all caps: MUNICIPAL RECALL PETITION OF LISSETTE CAREY, CITY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT IV, KEY WEST. The recall petition is shown below.
As of last week, more than 300 voters in Key West’s District IV signed the petition to recall Carey, in light of a corruption investigation involving city government, indictments and arrests of three former city officials and a grand jury report that recommended she resign.
Carey has not been criminally charged with any wrongdoing, and has declined to resign, saying at a public meeting last month that she instead would allow the democratic process to play out.
Strebeck on July 23 delivered 327 signed petitions in support of a recall election to the Key West city clerk. The clerk delivered those petitions the following day to Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies, who told the Keys Weekly on July 30 that she was in the process of verifying the signatures to ensure the people live in District IV and signed the petition within the 30-day timeframe.
Once those signed petitions are verified, Carey would have five days to offer a defense of the charges in the recall petition. Then, organizers have 60 days to collect petitions from 15%, or approximately 420, registered District IV voters. Following their validation, a judge will set a date for a special recall election in which voters in that district will cast a yes/no vote about whether Carey should be removed from office.
The lawsuit seeks an expedited hearing, asking a judge to halt the recall effort.
Carey did not reply to a request for comment. Strebeck told the Keys Weekly, “I can’t speak on any specifics of the suit because I haven’t had the opportunity to meet with a lawyer and I have not yet been officially served, but I will say that the state legislature wrote the recall statues because they knew that there has to be a way to remove an official between election cycles. This is part of the democratic process. At the City Commission meeting discussing the grand jury report, Commissioner Carey said she would respect the democratic process. Instead, she’s suing to stop it. This lawsuit is an attempt to interrupt our lawful right to petition for recall and I expect to win in court if it comes to that.”
City spokeswoman Alyson Crean told the Keys Weekly the city cannot comment on pending litigation.
