Warren County Supervisors recall, Virginia (2020)

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2020 Warren County Supervisors recall
Recall status
Did not go to court
Table of contents
Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to remove all five members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors in Virginia did not go to court in 2020. The effort began in 2019 and sought to recall Daniel J. Murray, Thomas H. Sayre, Tony F. Carter, Archie A. Fox, and Linda Glavis after they were indicted by a Warren County special grand jury looking into an alleged $21 million embezzlement scheme from the local economic development authority. The five supervisors were charged on three counts each of misfeasance and nonfeasance for lack of government oversight, but those charges were later dismissed in court as misfeasance and nonfeasance were not listed as crimes in the state's code.

Murray, Sayre, and Glavis were up for election on November 5, 2019. Murray and Glavis did not run for re-election, and Sayre was defeated by Walter Joe Mabe. The petition against Carter and Fox was validated on November 22, 2019. A judge ruled in favor of the petition on a majority of the issues listed. Recall supporters filed an amended petition on January 23, 2020. That petition was later dropped by Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Michael Parker.

Recall supporters

Bonnie Gabbert, a resident of the North River District, started the recall effort with four other petitioners.

The recall petition reads in part:

“

Pursuant to Va. Code § 24.2-233(1), a Circuit Court may remove from office any elected officer residing within the jurisdiction of the Court for neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office. On September 20, 2019, Supervisors Daniel J. Murray of the North River District, Thomas H. Sayre of the Shenandoah District, Tony F. Carter of the Happy Creek District, Archie A. Fox of the Fork District, and Linda Glavis of the South River District were indicted for violating the English Common Law, and specifically, each were charged on three misdemeanor counts …

”

Recall opponents

On October 28, 2019, Circuit Court Judge Bruce Albertson dismissed the misdemeanor charges that were cited in the recall petition.

Demetrios Pikrallidas, an attorney for Supervisor Thomas H. Sayre, said it was difficult for government officials to know what was going on at the local economic development authority. He said that Sayre had questioned those in charge "as soon as he suspected something was wrong." Pikrallidas said that Sayre had been "been put through the wringer on this for no good reason."

“You’re asking people to basically oversee everything, and that’s just not possible,” Pikrallidas said. “There was some smoke there, but no one really saw the fire.”

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Virginia

Recall supporters submitted 941 petition signatures in October 2019. Between 100 and 250 signatures were needed for each supervisor. The petition against Carter and Fox—the two supervisors who remained in office after the November 2019 general election—was validated on November 22, 2019. On January 2, 2020, Circuit Court Judge Bruce Albertson ruled in favor of the petition on a majority of the issues listed. Recall supporters filed an amended petition on January 23, 2020. That petition was later dropped by Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Michael Parker due to "an inherent conflict in a scenario where the evidence for the civil removal action is at minimum related to, and almost certainly would be derived from, an ongoing criminal investigation."

See also

• Warren County, Virginia
• Recall campaigns in Virginia
• Political recall efforts, 2020
• County commission recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Warren County Board of Supervisors
• Front Royal/Warren County Citizens Alliance Facebook page