A petition seeking to recall Jackson City Councilman Derek Dobies will be the focus of a hearing this afternoon. Six recall petitions were filed by a Jackson resident.
The Jackson County Election Commission will be reviewing the wording of the petitions today. If the language is approved, Dobies would be able to appeal the ruling in court. According to an Mlive report, Roger Roty isn't happy with how the council passed the city's recent Non-Discrimination Ordinance, saying the issue was for the people to decide.
The ordinance bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and employment. If Roty gets the green light to move forward, he would have to gather 496 signatures to put the recall on the November ballot.
Dobies who just announced last week that he is running for mayor, says his 6th ward council seat is not up for election until 2019.
He issued a statement to us calling the attempt, "politics as usual".
“I’m running for mayor to make Jackson work for all of us, and that means taking on the good ol’ boys system that would have us regress to a failed status quo,” said Dobies. “This recall scheme is just politics as usual. It’s an attempt by the good ol’ boys establishment to retaliate against me and reverse the progress we’ve made as a city since I took office in 2012. I’ve never been afraid of a tough fight, and as Jackson’s next mayor, I’ll never stop fighting to make positive changes for our city, even when it means standing up against the out-of-touch establishment.”
