Recall effort proceeds without employees' signatures

If Mayor Phil Gordon is forced to stand for a recall election this fall, employees are free to vote for his ouster.

But in the meantime, they can't work to push him out.

City Attorney Gary Verburg has instructed employees that they are not allowed to sign the recall petitions being circulated by American Citizens United. The group argues Gordon should be removed from office for failing to do enough to stop illegal immigration.

The city says most political activity by employees is prohibited by Administrative Regulation 2.16, which is based on the federal Hatch Act. But the ban doesn't sit well with Phillip Quihuis, who is organizing the recall effort.

"I think they're taking an overly broad and liberal interpretation of that (regulation) to keep people from signing," Quihuis said. "I think it's unconstitutional. I don't see how they can stop somebody from signing a recall petition on a Saturday afternoon."

Verburg said the regulation is designed to protect employees from political pressure; to donate to politicians' re-election efforts, for example, or to campaign for them in public.

"It's to make sure the civil service maintains a professional demeanor," Verburg said. "Those laws are really designed to protect the employee, to prevent undue influence form being exercised on them by any candidate, pro or con."

Quihuis said several employees told him they wanted Gordon to be recalled.

"We would run into city employees who said they wanted to sign, but they said they couldn't," he said. "They were afraid a supervisor would find out, and they feared some kind of retribution."

Quihuis needs all the signatures he can get. To force a recall, his group needs to gather 23,751 by the end of August. He declined to say how many he has gathered.

"We definitely have enough petitions out there circulating to get the signatures we need, Quihuis said. "As long as everybody brings back their petitions filled with signatures, there will be definitely be a recall. We're just waiting for out volunteers to start bringing them back."

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Here comes the money - A recall effort can be a major headache for a politician. But for Phil Gordon, it has also been a major fund-raising opportunity.

Gordon raised $150,000 last week at a single fund-raiser, dwarfing in one night the $5,500 raised by his opposition to date. Supporters said that more than 500 people attended the event at the University Club.

The fund-raiser marked Gordon's most successful fund-raiser to date in the effort to defeat the recall effort being mounted against him by American Citizens United.

In his most recent campaign-finance report, posted to the Web this week, Gordon reported having raised $370,398. The vast majority of that was raised during the mayor's 2007 re-election campaign.

Gordon's own fund-raising efforts have been bolstered by Friends for Phil, a separate political action committee that has been raising money on the mayor's behalf. They raised $14,925 between May 1 and June 9.

Casey Newton covers Phoenix City Hall.