County Clerk-Recorder terminates recall attempt against Bruce Gibson 

A miscalculation over a local newspaper's printing schedule became the wrench in the recall efforts against 2nd District San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson.

On Nov. 15, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder's Office pulled the plug on the Committee to Support the Recall of Supervisor Bruce Gibson's process to remove Gibson from office because the committee missed a deadline.

click to enlarge

• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• SPEARHEADING John Whitworth, a self-professed "constitutional conservative" and 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson's former opponent, heads the recall committee against the sitting supervisor. Whitworth plans to restart the process immediately.

The committee needed to submit two blank copies of a petition for circulation and proof of publication in a general circulation newspaper by Nov. 13—10 days after Gibson responded to the committee's intent to publicize the recall petition.

Recall petitioner John Whitworth told New Times on Nov. 16 that the committee planned to submit the proof of publication in a North County newspaper, but its weekly print schedule threw the committee off course.

"We had an issue because the newspaper Atascadero News only publishes once a week," he said.

Self-described as a "constitutional conservative" with a military background, Whitworth unsuccessfully bid for general election candidacy during the primary election last June when Gibson's 2nd District seat was up for grabs. He lost the primary to Gibson and Templeton retired doctor Bruce Jones. Jones, in turn, lost the supervisor race to Gibson by a margin of 13 votes.

Previous New Times reporting found that Gibson believed Whitworth and Jones were behind the recall efforts. While Jones supported Gibson's removal by signing the intention to circulate the recall, he told New Times on Nov. 16 that he didn't belong to the committee.

Whitworth told New Times that he leads the four-member recall committee against Gibson but declined to name the other committee members. He added that the group is working swiftly to restart the recall process.

"This was a small bump in the road," Whitworth said. "We're going to serve [Gibson] again and get the signatures."

A restarted recall process will require the committee to collect 7,500 signatures from constituents who were eligible to vote for the 2nd District supervisor in the 2022 general election. They belonged to the version of the 2nd District outlined in the previously adopted Patten map—with boundaries that pushed out Los Osos and Morro Bay and pulled in Atascadero, Templeton, San Miguel, and Lake Nacimiento.

"We're getting Democrats and people from all walks of life because they know Bruce Gibson wants to raise their property taxes," Whitworth said.

He made similar comments at the Oct. 31 Board of Supervisors meeting where he claimed Gibson's support to reduce the voter threshold for special taxes would result in a repeal of Proposition 13.

"This whole recall is about raising people's taxes on Prop. 13," Whitworth said. "This recall is not by the committee but by we the people."

Gibson refuted Whitworth's claims, adding that most of the committee's grounds for the recall are "inaccurate" while others are "misrepresentations."

"The recall is happening because they lost the elections and they're not happy with that," he said. "I cannot modify Prop. 13. ... I support Prop. 13. It's a part of our state Constitution. I also support the right of the voters of California to consider changes to the state Constitution.

"I think that's what they [recall supporters] don't stand for." Δ