A political fight is brewing in the quiet “city in the country.”
Councilmember Tony Blain was censured last month — a first for Poway, and now, he faces a recall effort.
Blain’s been on the Poway City Council for three months. In that time, he’s been accused of vote trading, and threatening and harassing city staffers and other officials — including City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher, who lashed out during a council meeting in January.
“I am no longer intimidated by you Councilmember Blain. I don’t give a flying f--- if you fire me. I will not take this lying down anymore," he said at the meeting. "You are a bully, you’ve been harassing me for months, and I’ve tried to be professional. This is enough.”
John Couvrette said the problem started soon after the election.
"Before (Blain) was sworn in, he showed up for public comment, turned to the city manager, and announced that as soon as he was sworn in, he would fire the city manager, the city attorney," Courvrette said. "He was going to recall the mayor. He was going to recall another councilmember."
Former Poway Councilmember Anita Edmondson said Blain’s actions and behaviors since taking office are “disturbing,” and “jarring.”
"This is not what the district voters were expecting. It's not what they deserve," she said. "It's an embarrassment. It's making a mockery of our local government.”
That's why she, Couvrette and former Councilmember John Mullin have launched a recall effort.
“The district attorney is investigating potential felony allegations — criminal — that he has wanted to trade votes and then extorted councilmembers who wouldn't vote the way he wanted,” Mullin said.
The District Attorney’s office said it cannot confirm any investigations. Blain declined an interview but said this via text and email:
“Write anything you want — political lies and attacks are irrelevant and don’t work. That’s my quote.”
Blain was served the notice of intent (NOI) for a recall at the March 18 meeting. The Registrar of Voters accepted the petition Tuesday, triggering a seven-day period for Blain to respond.
“There were people that signed the NOI that voted for him," Mullin said. "It didn’t take long for them to realize that we have a problem and we need to fix it.”
The petition still needs to be publicly posted or published and that published notice confirmed and approved by the City Clerk's office before the group can start collecting signatures for a recall campaign, which they hope to happen by the end of April.
