Recalling an elected official should be a last resort

We suppose it was only a matter of time before someone tried to recall Sheffield Lake Mayor Rocky Radeff. We say that not because we've seen evidence that would warrant Radeff's removal, but because discontent has infused Sheffield Lake politics in recent years. Beyond that, efforts to remove mayors across Lorain County have become commonplace. Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley faced a recall effort in 2024. The organizers claimed that city workers, including police officers, weren't happy with Bradley's leadership and that the city was becoming a hostile work environment. The city's police union swiftly responded that officers were satisfied with how Bradley was doing his job. The effort went nowhere. Avon Lake Mayor Mark Spaetzel was next, when activist lawyer Gerald Phillips last year filed a legal complaint asking county Probate Judge James Walther to remove the mayor from office. Phillips' complaints were wide-ranging, but they included allegations that Spaetzel had mishandled the implosions at the old power plant on Lake Road. Walther tossed the case because of home-rule issues, but the 9th District Court of Appeals reversed his decision. (Both sides have asked the appeals court to revisit its decision.) Also last year, a group of citizens launched an effort to recall North Ridgeville Mayor Kevin Corcoran over complaints that he had focused too much on residential development. That effort hasn't made the ballot. In all those instances, the complaints about the mayors seemed to have more to do with policy disagreements than actual evidence they had committed the sort of misdeeds that would justify their early removal from office. We've long argued that, absent evidence of serious wrongdoing, the proper way to remove elected officials one disagrees with is during a regularly scheduled election. While people certainly have the right to seek an official's removal earlier, it should be a high bar. That bar doesn't appear to have been cleared when it comes to Bradley, Spaetzel or Corcoran. Nor does it appear that Radeff has done anything that in our view would justify his early removal. Barbara Peck, the Sheffield Lake resident behind the recall drive, accused Radeff of not being transparent and not listening to residents. She told our reporter Garrett Looker that Radeff was supportive of housing development and a recreation center that "citizens don't want." Radeff's actions, she argued, were "unethical," adding that more research was needed to determine if he had acted unlawfully. While Radeff's tenure has certainly had its share of controversy, including clashes with members of City Council and his tone-deaf handling of the hiring a former Lorain police officer who had shot a dog, we haven't seen evidence that he broke the law. Rather, Radeff, who defeated then-Mayor Dennis Bring in 2023, appears to be doing what he believes residents want. For example, a community survey conducted in 2024 revealed that 46.3 percent of respondents would like a recreation or fitness facility in the city. While it wasn't a majority, it's enough at least to justify exploring the possibility. Besides, we imagine such an undertaking would require a tax of some sort to pay for it, which means voters would likely have the chance to give the idea an up or down vote. The same is true when it comes to Radeff continuing as mayor. If he decides to seek another four-year term, that election would be held next year. Voters displeased with his performance can vote for whoever runs against him. That's what happened in 2011, when Elyria's then-Mayor Bill Grace lost his reelection bid in the Democratic primary to Holly Brinda. Two years before he was voted out, Grace had survived a recall vote based on criticisms that he had failed to protect the public's health, safety and welfare. Again, voters had the right to undertake the hard work, including gathering a large number of signatures, to try to remove Grace from office. But, as with Radeff, Grace was doing what he believed he was elected to do. Voters tired of him, and they removed him in the next regular election. Our concern with all these efforts to remove mayors early is that they risk touching off an endless cycle of recalls and elections. The end result would likely be government paralysis in those communities. We're not saying that recalls and other efforts to remove mayors aren't sometimes warranted, but they should be reserved for truly bad behavior, not policy disagreements. Right now, ordinary policy disagreements seem to be all Radeff's critics have to offer to justify an extraordinary remedy.