By: Sharon Aron Baron
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.
“When I was much younger, my mother drummed into my head that if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Recall Chair Alvin Entin wrote in an email to his neighbors.
Committee members met on Sunday evening and voted to do it again. This time, members said they would use greater care and verify all signatures before turning them into the Supervisor of Elections office. “We should have verified every address before turning them in, said Entin. “Being new at this, we believed that if we obtained 20 percent more than the supervisor of elections required, we would be covered.”
In December, the group of volunteers formed 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. 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.
“Our group almost hung it up, moved on, and called it a day,” said Entin, “But so many residents will not let us. Atkins-Grad’s erratic behavior as our public representative has been disruptive at city commission meetings with incessant texting and phone calls. Once, she walked out in the middle of a meeting. Last week, when former Commissioner Gomez was addressing her, she was text messaging on her cellphone.”
Recall volunteers only have a 30 day period to collect signatures and start after Passover, which is March 26th.