Buffalo Grove residents file petition to recall trustee

If it's any consolation for Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone, even though many residents want her out of office, going through the recall process makes her special.

"This is not a state that has a tradition of recall referendum initiatives," Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said after a petition was filed Friday for a vote on removing the divisive trustee from office.

"Those are the things that are part of the progressive good-government movement that went on in both the municipal and national level in the 19th and 20th century. You think of states like California, Washington, Oregon," he said.

Officials, including the Cook County clerk's office, don't keep records on recall, so there aren't numbers to show how many elected officials locally have faced the move. Still, analysts like Redfield called the process rare.

Stone faces a recall vote after a 253-page petition supporting a November referendum was delivered at around 8:30 a.m. Friday to Buffalo Grove village hall.

Bearing 2,096 signatures - 30 more than the number of votes Stone earned in last year's election - the petition's filing was a historic moment for Buffalo Grove, a town of roughly 42,000 people where an elected official has never before faced a recall vote. A minimum of 1,000 signatures was required.

David Wells was the one who took the petition to the village clerk. He paused for a moment to reflect on the petition's historical nature.

"This is the first time for Buffalo Grove and, as far as I know, for the Northwest suburbs itself," said Wells, a 14-year village resident who instigated the recall petition. "I know of no other local politician that has been recalled."

Buffalo Grove adopted an ordinance in March that allows voters to recall local officials by majority vote after a petition drive that draws sufficient signatures.

Stone has said that the people trying to push through the recall are those who voted against her, and that it undermines the election process.

"My recall was planned before I was even elected," Stone said Friday. "Trustee (Jeff) Berman created the recall ordinance and he admits it was with me in mind. I'm not surprised at it. And all I can say is that the people will decide in November."

The Chicago-based Better Government Association takes no official stance on recall. But Emily Miller, the organization's policy coordinator, said if the petitions were prepared properly and fair, it makes sense to have an official subject to removal and "give normal people power."

"There's always a potential when you have a referendum specifically aimed at a person for more of a vindictive kind of recall," Miller said. "It can get rid of someone good. It could also get rid of someone terrible."

Wells said residents' anger over Stone's antics on the village board fueled the drive to push her out.

Stone has been reprimanded by the village board for pursuing action against Land & Lakes for its controversial composting operation as an individual while giving the impression she was acting in her official capacity.

Stone has said she felt a moral obligation to act on behalf of residents' complaints, regardless of the consequences.

"She has made several statements that she will break rules as she sees fit," Wells said. "She was essentially bringing the process of the village to conduct village business to a standstill."

Wells said it was his first foray in mass organizing. Once the petition process was set into motion with a rally in May, the effort took on a life of its own, he said.

"We had about 60 some people circulating petitions," he said. "People were actually seeking us out to sign the petition. Our phones were ringing right from the get go."

The vote on Stone won't be the only recall issue on the ballot, however. Redfield noted an amendment to the state constitution to allow the governor to be recalled also will be up Nov. 2.

And he warned the recall effort could lead to a court battle, as it's not entirely clear whether local recall ordinances, like the one adopted in Buffalo Grove, are legal under the state's election code.