Petitioners miss April 8 deadline to force recall election
BY TERRY SMITH
Last Friday came and went with no petitions filed with the Blaine County Election Office to force a recall election against Elizabeth Corker, a trustee for the Blaine County School District.
Friday, April 8, was the deadline for submitting petitions bearing the names of 489 residents of school district Zone 5, which Corker represents. The 489 required signatures is 20 percent of the registered voters living in Zone 5.
Zone 5 encompasses the east Ketchum and Sun Valley areas and extends south to northeast Hailey.
An initiating petition, with the names of 20 Zone 5 residents, was filed with the election office on Jan. 25 by Hailey resident Darlene Dyer. The filing of the initiating petition started a 75-day window, by state law, for Dyer and supporters to obtain the 489 signatures.
The Weekly Sun was not immediately able to find out how many signatures Dyer was ultimately able to acquire because she did not return a telephone call to The Sun by press deadline Tuesday.
In her initiating petition, Dyer accused Corker of being “unwilling to accept board majority decisions” and was focused on “self-serving agendas instead of student needs and constituents’ priorities.”
Corker also, prior to Jan. 25, voted against a new three-year contract for district Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes, who was awarded the new contract by board majority vote.
According to the election office, the original initiating petition now has no validity and petitioners will have to start from scratch if another recall attempt is to be made.
Corker, who currently serves as school board vice chair, was appointed to the board in 2013 and ran unopposed for election in 2015.
She issued the following written statement to The Weekly Sun on Tuesday:
“I have consistently worked to be the voice of the people in this community,” Corker wrote. “Community members expect the district to be financially accountable, transparent in decision making, and to prioritize spending on children. This includes parents with children in the system, teachers who want the best for students, and residents who want the best school district possible for the tax dollars they spend.
“I am proud to represent the wonderful people who live here and I always put the needs of children first in every decision I make.”