A symbolic online petition demanding the removal of Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman and Public Safety Manager Susan Dueñas has escalated into two possible recall petitions targeting current City Council Members Rick Mullen and Skylar Peak.
Spearheaded by The Local Editor in Chief Cece Woods, the recall petitions, if successful, could lead to the removal of the council members, both of whom were elected in 2016.
Mullen and Peak “ignored the will” of their constituents in failing and refusing to recognize the city’s failures before and during the Woolsey Fire, according to the notice of intention to circulate the recall petition posted online in late January. It also alleged Mullen failed to hand off his duty as mayor to another council member in light of his position as an active-duty captain with the LA County Fire Department. The notice questions Peak’s residency, stating he spends “the majority of his time outside the city limits, living in Hawaii, Montecito, and traveling to other countries.”
According to state law, anyone over the age of 18 is allowed to circulate a petition of recall. A notice of intention must be prepared to state guidelines, with at least 20 but no more than 30 signatures. (This is also the number of signatures needed for a local to run for city council.) A copy of the notice of intention must be submitted to local election officials—according to messages obtained by The Malibu Times, this has been done. A copy must also be published “in a newspaper of general circulation;” at press time, the notice had not been published, to The Malibu Times’ knowledge. The proof of publication must then be sent to the election officials. If Peak or Mullen choose to respond, they can do so by submitting a statement to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
Once, and if, approved, the petition must be signed by a certain percentage of registered voters within the Malibu voting district. In 2014, the City of Malibu reported 9,155 registered voters in the district; based on this figure, the petitions must gain at least 25 percent, or roughly 2,289 signatures within 90 days after approval.
Residents known to be in support of the petition declined to comment for this article.
“I think it’s absurd,” Longtime resident and community activist Arnold Bernstein said in a phone call to The Malibu Times. “First of all, it’s extortion.”
He said those behind the petition were mostly the same people who got Mullen and Peak elected back in 2016 as part of a slate with current Mayor Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner. He likened the current situation to, “If you don’t pay me, I’ll throw a rock through your window.”
There is no mention of Feldman or Dueñas in the language of the formal petition, though many speculate the recall is designed to elect council members who would be in favor of ending Feldman’s contract, currently extended through May 2022. Were the recall petitions to be successful, a special election would be scheduled for later in 2019.
“Ms. Feldman would have a lawsuit against the city for termination without reason, and she would probably win,” according to Bernstein.
On principle, however, he agreed with some of the points voiced by angry residents.
“I think there’s something wrong. I think clearly the city’s failed to have an operative disaster plan,” he said. “However, it’s not fair to voice my opinion until the facts are known.
“It is a breakdown. It’s certainly not Peak or Mullen. No matter what they find, it’s not those two guys,” he added.
Many residents, like Bernstein, have been commenting back and forth on the petitions—and the city’s handling of the Woolsey Fire—on social media website Nextdoor.
Neither council member has publicly commented on the recall petitions. However, at the last City Council meeting on Feb. 11, Peak did mention The Local by name during talk of debris removal.
“You know, I think that’s very helpful for people, because I see a lot of information that comes out from non-news outlets like The Local that is not correct and a lot of the stuff … gets put out into the community to drive stuff that’s not factual, so it’s very important for people to stick to the facts in terms of this … ,” he said.
In a public Facebook post from the same day, after writing Peak and Mullen were served the notice of intent to circulate a recall petition that night, Woods said in part, “Peak’s ego could not handle it so what did he do? He slammed The Local Malibu and said our publication was ‘NOT FACTUAL’. Clearly, he’s on a slippery slope.”
Woods did not immediately reply to a request for comment by the time The Malibu Times went to print.
