Camp Verde Vice Mayor Bruce George survived a recall vote, defeating challenger Leah Robbins.
George received 1,020 votes, or 52.82 percent, while Robbins received 898 votes, or 46.50 percent. There were 13 write-in votes. Voter turnout for the mail-in ballot was 34.87 percent.
George had been the focus of a recall effort spearheaded by local resident Cheri Wischmeyer and a political committee called Camp Verde for Good Government. Wischmeyer said that voting to raise the town’s sales tax was a way of keeping the matter out of the hands of voters, who had earlier rejected a tax increase at the polls. George was initially targeted along with councilwomen Robin Whatley and Jessie Jones-Murdock after they voted to increase the town’s sales tax by 0.65 percent in January 2015.
Mayor Charlie German had initially been considered for a recall effort, but organizers decided against it because recalling a mayor requires more signatures than other members of the Town Council.
The petitions to recall Whatley and Jones-Murdock were found not to have collected enough valid signatures, leaving George as the only council member who would be on the ballot for the recall election.
Later, it was found that the petitions used to collect signatures, which had been provided by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, were not updated to reflect the latest changes in state election law.
Based on this information, the Town Council then voted to cancel the recall election. Wischmeyer and Camp Verde for Good Government took the town to court, arguing that the cancellation was illegal. Yavapai County Superior Court Judge David Mackey agreed on Nov. 5, ordering that the recall election go forward.
George resigned Nov. 9 to avoid having the town pay for a recall election, but that election is still on the table. George subsequently changed his mind and has rescinded his resignation on Nov. 18.
George originally was going to fight it before the recall was canceled by the Town Council.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” George said in November.
