Carl Suta recall, Pondera County, Montana (2017)

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Carl Suta recall, Pondera County sheriff
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Table of contents
Recall supporters Recall opponents Path to the ballot
See also
External links Footnotes

An effort to recall Carl Suta in Pondera County, Montana, from his position as sheriff was launched in July 2017. Recall proponents accused Suta of incompetence, abuse of power, and creating a hostile work environment. Suta denied the allegations, and said that there was "no corroboration or evidence to back up the statements." A sufficient number of signatures was collected and a recall election was scheduled for December 19, 2017, but Suta filed a challenge to the recall petition in November. On December 14, 2017, District Court Judge Jon Oldenburg ruled that the recall petition was too vague, and therefore the recall did not go to a vote.

Recall supporters

Stacy Welker initiated the recall process. According to the Great Falls Tribune, about eight people had joined Welker in the effort to collect signatures. The following allegations were cited on the recall petition:

“	left the county unprotected by having only one officer on duty for the entire county countless times openly created dating profiles while married and cited sex as a hobby has spoken openly about cases with multiple people in his presence has created a hostile work environment not someone who takes responsibility for his actions has abused his power by protecting his kids when they've committed offenses	”
—2017 recall petition

Recall opponents

Suta denied all of the allegations. He said they were "retaliatory in nature by a small number of citizens," and that there was no evidence to support them. A couple of days after the recall petition was approved, Suta said he had received about 200 text messages of support. Suta also claimed that the recall was retaliation for filing a complaint against a deputy who Stacy Welker previously dated, which led to the deputy's firing from the force. Welker said she dated him almost 10 years ago, and that it was not a primary reason for the recall.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Montana

The petition to recall Suta was approved by the Pondera County Clerk & Recorder on July 17, 2017. Recall proponents had 90 days to collect 530 valid signatures, which is 15 percent of eligible voters from the most recent county election. Signatures were turned in on September 28, 2017. Welker said just over 550 signatures were turned in. The clerk & recorder's office verified the signatures on October 12, 2017. Suta had five days to resign. He did not resign, so a recall election was scheduled for December 19, 2017.

Suta filed a challenge to the recall petition on November 6, 2017, claiming that the recall statement was 51 words over the 200-word limit, that the information on the statement was only obtained second-hand, and that the allegations against him did not amount to incompetence. District Court Judge Bob Olson temporarily halted the recall effort and set a hearing for December 11, 2017. After Olson recused himself from the case on December 6, Judge Jon Oldenburg accepted the case and the hearing was rescheduled for December 14, 2017. Judge Oldenburg ruled that the recall petition was too vague, and therefore the recall election was cancelled.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Carl Suta recall Pondera County Montana. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Carl Suta recall, Pondera County, Montana (2017) - Google News

See also

Suggest a link

• Recall campaigns in Montana
• Sheriff recalls
• Political recall efforts, 2017

External links

• Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, "Pondera County, Montana"