The Facts

It's nice to be reminded that San Francisco doesn't have the most dysfunctional politics.

In Avenal, a small town in the Central Valley about halfway between SF and LA, voters recalled four city council members in an April 28 special election, but three have refused to leave office.

On June 11, the council took up a resolution declaring the recall unlawful and directing staff to keep recognizing the incumbents as still in office. On June 17, Attorney General Rob Bonta granted residents leave to file a quo warranto lawsuit to remove the officials.

The Context

In California, quo warranto is the formal court process used to test whether someone is unlawfully holding public office, and it cannot proceed without the Attorney General’s consent. That means this dispute has moved beyond campaign politics and into the basic question of who lawfully has the power to govern.

The GrowSF Take

As ridiculous as our politics are, remember that it can always get worse!