Woodlands Residents and Volunteers Try Again to Recall Tamarac Commissioner

Although District 2 covers a large part of Tamarac, many of the volunteers are from the Woodlands

Members of the recall committee that failed to remove Tamarac Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad from office by 18 signatures in February, have voted to give it another try.

Starting on Saturday, March 23rd, volunteers are now 24-members strong and vow to use greater care to verify all signatures before they are turned into the Supervisor of Elections office.  “We should have verified every addresses before turning them in, said Recall Chair and Section Six Resident Alvin Entin. “Being new at this, we believed that if we obtained 20 percent more than the supervisor of elections required, we would be covered.”

Section One Resident Phyllis Kelley will be heading up Woodlands volunteers who will be working in each section collecting signatures.  On Saturday evening they will attend the City of Tamarac’s free Blood Sweat & Tears Concert where they will  have petitions to sign for interested residents.  The volunteers have requested and received permission from the City of Tamarac and will be wearing matching t-shirts.

Kelley believes that city government has ceased to function for the greater good.  “We as American citizens in Tamarac have to take back power through the recall.”  Kelley is busy preparing walking lists for her volunteers to be able to go back and get signatures from those that signed the first time around.

The Recall Committee or “Team Recall” as they have been named by those that are following their progress – or lately, the disappointing failure in the shortage of certifiable signatures, formed in December after Governor Rick Scott reinstated Atkins-Grad back as commissioner after she was found not guilty on corruption charges.  Atkins-Grad failed to disclose or report the fact that developers Bruce and Shawn Chait not only paid for her election victory party, but also provided her with over $6,000 to lease a BMW and never disclosed any of this before or after voting in favor of the Chaits on zoning matters before the City Commission.  During the trial, she never denied these facts, however, her defense was that she was too “naive” to know she was being bribed.  After she returned after over two years, many residents did not buy her “naive”  defense and believed she should have never have taken office again.

Over 400 residents in the Woodlands signed the petition in January and February. On Saturday, March 30, the residents of Section One will allow the use of their clubhouse for a petition signing from 10:00 am – 3:00pm.

If you’d like to sign the petition,  and did not do so the first time around.  Please email Phyllis Kelley.