The Anchorage Municipal Clerk has verified the signatures on the recall petition for removing Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel.
Clerk Barbara Jones said that at least 2,468 signatures of voters living in District 4, Midtown, were valid, and the petition will be submitted to the next regular or special Assembly meeting, which is required to approve a recall election within 75 days.
Zaletel can add more delay to the process, which she has delayed for a year already through prior legal challenges. She can appeal the Clerk’s decision on the signatures within 30 days, which would push the election into the late fall.
Zaletel no longer has the political protection she enjoyed under the Berkowitz Administration, which helped her avoid facing the wrath of voters, however. It’s unlikely the municipality will continue to help her, as it did under Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson.
Russell Biggs, who has been the prime mover behind the recall attempt of Zaletel, said he had hired someone to independently verify the signatures on the petition, and so he is confident that they will hold up against another legal maneuver by Zaletel.
