OLYMPIA, WA – An effort to recall Gov. Bob Ferguson over his signing of a budget that includes roughly $9 billion in new taxes is likely a symbolic effort at best, given the high bar for removing a governor from office.
Several recall attempts were made against former Gov. Jay Inslee, but all were unsuccessful.
Historically, only two governors in the United States have been successfully recalled: former California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier in 1921.
Shannon Soderlund, a gas station worker in McCleary, a city in Grays Harbor County in Washington state, had gathered over 56,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon to recall Ferguson, who previously served 12 years as state attorney general.
In a Monday interview with The Center Square, Soderlund said she’s never been particularly active in politics, other than posting to social media, but felt compelled to act when Ferguson signed Washington’s nearly $78 billion operating budget into law last month.
“You know, I have to pay property taxes, as do many people, I know,” Soderlund said. “So, my main reason for starting the petition was because Gov. Ferguson is raising property taxes, plus a lot of other taxes. It will affect everyone in Washington and make it more unaffordable.”
The petition starter conceded that gathering enough signatures to get a recall petition for a statewide elected official on the ballot is not easy.
“It is tough. I think it’s more a matter of sending a message and inspiring people to fight back,” Soderlund said. “I’m not sure that this will do anything, but I’m glad that it’s getting coverage and people are aware that we are the people, and we have the power to recall a governor, even though it’s difficult, it still should be done, or at least attempted.”
Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, who also chairs the Washington State Republican Party, applauded the effort but said it’s unlikely to gain much traction.
“I think it’s done in good faith to try to send a message about popular dissatisfaction with the current governor,” he said. “So that’s good. The mechanics of running a recall are very difficult to accomplish.”
Walsh explained that a Superior Court judge must review the charges against the governor and determine if they are legally sufficient to warrant a recall. In other words, policy choices or political differences are insufficient grounds for recall.
“You have to get a court to agree that the petition has merit. And that is different than other types of initiatives or referenda where the courts generally only chime in late in the process,” he explained. “With a recall, the state courts have to basically sign off on the petition at the beginning. And that’s where most recall efforts fall apart.”
Walsh said that if a petition passes the first phase, signature gathering can begin, and that’s where the real challenge comes in.
“The number of signatures you need to gather is higher than the number of signatures you need to gather to qualify an initiative,” he said. “You have to gather approximately 25% of the last election. And that would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 800,000 or a million signatures. That’s about double what an initiative requires to qualify.”
Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, was a lead budget writer for Senate Republicans, who helped craft a no-new-taxes budget proposal that did not go far during the recently concluded legislative session.
“A lot of times, people don’t realize that things are going to get more expensive until they actually go to the grocery store or they go to the gas station to go put gas in their vehicle,” she said. “So I think it’s great that she’s doing this and building that awareness with everybody in the community that does pay taxes, and does go buy groceries, and that has a family.”
Torres admires Soderlund’s effort. However, she agrees with Walsh that the recall effort probably won’t get very far.
“We’ve seen other initiatives, and they cost a lot of money, and a lot of time,” she said. “But again, we’ll see how far that goes.”
Soderlund said in considering whether to file the recall petition, she looked at Ferguson’s mission statement and priorities on his official website.
“He says I make decisions centering on the people or something of that effect. People are centered in your decisions?” queried Soderlund. “No, you just raise the taxes on everyone.”
According to Ferguson’s priorities page, “Bob is fighting to make state government more efficient and effective and center the people in every decision. He’s focused on speeding up government and solving problems. His priorities include making housing more affordable, improving public safety, strengthening education, and reducing costs for Washington families.”
The Center Square did contact Ferguson’s office for comment on the recall effort but did not receive a response.
