Recall drive against Arizona schools chief Diane Douglas ends in failure
Dec 30, 2015, 9:07 AM | Updated: 3:18 pm
(Screenshot)
(Screenshot)
PHOENIX — The grassroots effort to push Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas out of office has come to an unsuccessful end.
Volunteers for the recall campaign didn’t come close to collecting the necessary number of signatures on the petition by Wednesday’s deadline.
Recall campaign chairman Max Goshert said the group collected 40,000 voter signatures. The petitioners needed almost 370,000 to force an election.
Goshert said money shortage for promotion material hurt the recall campaign as well as voter apathy.
Earlier this month, the group had admitted it didn’t have 100,000 signatures, but wasn’t more specific.
The petition cited Douglas’ feud with the state Board of Education that eventually included her filing a lawsuit. The petition accused her of beings focused on increasing her power rather than on students and school performance.
The paperwork to start the recall process began in September.
Douglas has said through a spokesman she was focused on supporting students, teachers and schools and wasn’t following the recall effort.
The Republican was elected in 2014.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
