Portsmouth board member questions Holley recall petitions

PORTSMOUTH

A School Board member who is working to keep Mayor James Holley in office called into question Tuesday petitions that the city's electoral board chairman circulated to force Holley's recall.

Mark Whitaker, speaking at a gathering of Holley supporters to promote a rally today, showed petitions circulated by William H. Watts and said the work was a conflict with Watts' position on the electoral board.

An official with the Virginia State Board of Elections said the situation does not appear to be illegal if Watts volunteered, but it raises the question of whether it harms the public perception of the electoral board's work.

"It just falls in that kind of gray area," said Martha Brissette, a policy analyst with the state board.

The three-person board is filled by political appointments. It oversees local elections to ensure they are run in accordance with the law.

Watts could not be reached for a response. General Registrar Deloris Overton Short said he was out of town.

Watts collected 324 signatures on 17 sheets in December and January, according to a review Tuesday of the stacks of recall petitions that had been filed in May with the Circuit Court clerk. More than 8,000 people signed petitions to force a July 13 recall election of Holley.

Watts' wife also worked on the effort and was paid a total of $1,375.82 from a political action committee that was formed to bolster the movement, according to campaign finance reports. Watts is not listed as a paid worker.

Robert Marcus, one of the main organizers of the recall, said Watts' work was not a conflict. He said he assumed Watts checked with the state board to make sure it wasn't.

Whitaker, the assistant pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church where the noon rally will be held, also brought up race while speaking to reporters. He said Watts collected his signatures in neighborhoods that are "predominantly white."

The recall effort stems from an episode last year in which a former aide said Holley was verbally abusive and made her do dozens of his personal tasks on city time.

The ballot on July 13 will ask voters whether they want to remove Holley. Whitaker said a "no" vote will signal support for Holley's years of service, his competence and "for justice, equality, due process, fair treatment for all citizens."

A "no" vote, Whitaker added, will also say that "we will not tolerate attacks against our black leaders or communities that are grounded (in) deeply seated racial issues that others have not reconciled in their conscience nor in their actions."

Whitaker was with about a dozen other black community leaders, including Councilwoman Marlene Randall, who voted with the other five council members last year to ask Holley to resign before the recall effort started.

Another speaker, the Rev. Leon J. Boone of Celestial Baptist Church, cautioned against casting the recall in racial terms. He said Holley also has white supporters.

"This is not a black and a white issue," he said.

Marcus, who was not at the event Tuesday, agreed. He said the only people he's heard bring up race in the matter have been supporters of Holley.

Among those with Whitaker was Ret. Lt. Gen. Alonzo E. Short Jr., the president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Steering Committee, which is supporting Holley. Short is the registrar's husband. Whitaker said he didn't view Short's work on Holley's behalf as a conflict because he is "an individual citizen," and Watts was working directly on the recall.

The secretary of the local electoral board, the Rev. Joe B. Fleming, is also a member of the MLK Steering Committee but was not at the gathering. He said Tuesday that he urges people to vote but does not tell them "to vote one way or the other."

Dave Forster, (757) 446-2627, dave.forster@pilotonline.com