A Ward 5 community activist says he's ready to file the initial paperwork this week to start a recall process for Mayor Vincent Gray.
Frederick Butler has been calling for the D.C. mayor's ouster in the summer of 2010, only months into Gray's scandal-scarred administration.
In June, Butler said, "the man that touted himself as a champion of the poor and disenfranchised chose to spend tax payer dollars - and political capital - on increasing the salaries for his friends and members of his administration."
A petition to start the recall process against Gray could not be filed until this January, one year after the start of his term.
After the intitial paperwork is in, Butler has his work cut out for him. In order for a recall petition to be accepted by the District's election board, he'll need to collect signatures from 10 percent of the electorate, approximately 45,000 people.
If he gets the necessary number of signatures, the recall measure could get a vote in a November special election.
“We will file before the end of the week," Butler says on his webpage, "and once we are given the green light volunteers will be in the streets the following day.”
It’s not just the mayor that Butler is after. He has said he’ll also seek the recall of Council members Harry Thomas Jr., Mary Cheh, Jim Graham, and Council chair Kwame Brown.
"I've done nothing but serve the people of the District of Columbia in the most ethical way," Graham said in a response to his inclusion on the website.
