BOISE, Idaho — Education activists seeking to recall the superintendent of public instruction over his education reform package filed their first 20 signatures Monday from registered voters.
The Committee to Recall Tom Luna also aims to oust Sen. Mitch Toryanski and Rep. Julie Ellsworth, both Republicans from Boise, for their support of Luna's education package.
To succeed in the push for an Aug. 30 special election, the group must submit 158,107 valid signatures over the next 2½ months to the secretary of state's office.
Even if they succeed in getting the measure on a ballot, they would have to secure at least 268,852 votes in favor of ousting Luna, according to Idaho law.
That represents the number of votes Luna received in the Nov. 2, 2010, election when he beat Stan Olson with 60.5 percent of the vote to secure a second term.
The 20 votes submitted Monday marked the threshold to get the petition drive certified.
Campaign organizer Nancy Berto of Mountain Home said Luna ran last November claiming Idaho schools were doing well then introduced his education reforms that finally cleared the 2011 Legislature last week.
"It's a bait and switch," said Berto, who started her campaign in February. "He did not mention this last November, before the election."
After Berto's group rallied in the Capitol, Luna's office responded that he was confident of fending off the recall.
A separate move is under way to place a voter referendum on the 2012 ballot to repeal the education reforms that take effect this month.
"The people of Idaho spoke in November and made it clear who they wanted to serve as state superintendent and the direction they wanted the public education system to go," said Luna spokeswoman Melissa McGrath.
Toryanski voted for Luna's reforms. Ellsworth voted to restrict collective bargaining rights for teachers and to introduce merit pay before voting against the third pillar of Luna's plan that shifts money from salaries to fund new technology and merit pay.
To force a recall election involving Ellsworth and Toryanski, activists must collect 4,725 signatures from registered District 18 voters then secure at least 6,429 votes to actually recall Ellsworth and 6,455 votes to recall Toryanski.
Morgan Hill, a commercial pilot from Caldwell who is working with Berto, acknowledged the heavy lifting his group must do in order to succeed.
"We're going to launch a massive get-out-the-vote campaign," Hill promised.
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa accepted the initial petition signatures in his office.
"It's a long ways to go in the final push," Ysursa said.
In Ysursa's tenure, there has never been a successful effort to recall a statewide official or a legislator.
The last time voters recalled a legislator was in 1971, when Bonneville County voters ousted two legislators in a dispute over lawmaker compensation.